Hello everyone, and welcome to a new flight review! First off, I would like to apologize for the long gap between trip reports, and also for the poor lighting and angles in many of the photos below. I did my best taking photos but did not want to disturb my family or anyone else on this red-eye flight by turning on the lights or taking photos for too long.
This was the fourth flight on my summer 2018 trip and was heading from Kilimanjaro, Tanzania to Frankfurt via Doha on Qatar Airways. This review will only cover the second leg; the flight review from Kilimanjaro to Doha can be found here. The introduction to this trip can be found here.
Anyways, enjoy the review!
After getting through transit security after our flight from Tanzania and walking a bit, we were let out into the central area. Boy is the new Hamad Airport absolutely gorgeous. The architectural design was amazing! Also, despite it being after midnight at this point, there were so many open shops to choose from in every concourse.
The airport has a spider design, where there is a gorgeous central hall (where the famous bear is located) and different concourses branching out in every direction. There are trains that quickly transfer people from one part of a concourse to another.
The main area had two temporary features. One was living statues dressed as soccer players (you can see them in the picture above). The other was a Formula One car on display. Given that I am an avid Formula One fan, this got me really excited.
Since we were departing from gate D23, we had to go very far and took the indoor shuttle train. We then ran downstairs (we were at a remote stand) and got to the gate just as boarding was starting (we were spending too much time in the main area, and misjudged how far the gate was). The train really saved us!
We then had to take a bus to the plane. I did not complain, given that I got to see the massive 777 plane and engines right in front of my eyes!
Flight Information
Qatar Airways 69
Doha (DOH) – Frankfurt (FRA)
Plane Registration: A7-BEQ
Plane Type: Boeing 777-300er
Flown: July 2018
Flight Time: 5 Hrs 45 Mins
Flight Distance: 2,854 Miles (4,593 Km) (Gulf Blockade route, not direct route)
Seat: 32K (Economy)
We boarded through door L2. The first thing I noticed was that our plane featured the stunning new Qsuites, arguably the best business class product in the world. I wished I could grab an empty one of those seats instead! I felt better when I walked into the Economy cabin and noticed that we had the new cabin!
This plane was delivered brand new to Qatar Airways in March 2018, so was just four months old when I flew it. The cabin seemed modern and spotless.
Waiting on the seat was a nice fleece blanket, pillow, and an amenity kit. What a nice touch for Economy Class! The kit contained a toothbrush, toothpaste, earplugs, lip balm, and a pair of socks.
Each seatback had a USB plug, a power outlet for larger devices, and a large Inflight Entertainment system. Unlike older tray tables, this one had a latch, which made it so much easier to stow and release when needed. The slimline seats were in a 10-abreast configuration, which some people might find tight, but the padding was a lot more comfortable than the ones on United’s new 777 for sure! A sturdy headrest was also included.
According to SeatGuru, the seat had 31-32 inches of pitch and 18.5 inches of width. While I do not believe the width too much, seat pitch was more than sufficient.
Seat recline was great.
The plane was mostly equipped with purple mood lighting with some yellow and red on the sides. Very relaxing on this overnight flight, but definitely made it very difficult to take pictures!
There was the normal safety card, magazine, airsickness bag, etc. in the seatback pocket, but there was also a pair of headphones and a menu. Also great touches in Economy!
Soon, boarding was completed, and towlettes were handed out. Nice!
Soon, the safety video started playing. We pushed back, had a quick taxi. I’m pretty sure I only saw one plane that was not Qatar Airways at the airport (a Jet Airways 737), and could not even take a photo of that one.
We took off on time. Unfortunately, I did not record the takeoff time, but there were great views of Doha as we took off.
Now let’s take a look at the inflight entertainment system. The IFE was a touchscreen but could also be controlled by a handheld remote.
The system was unarguably the best I have ever seen. It was extremely large and responsive and was packed with loads of movies, TV shows, and games. I also really liked the interface and variety.
There were many map views. This HUD view was my favorite. The second one below was extremely detailed.
There were also some games.
There was also a Holy Quran and a compass showing the direction of Mecca, in case anyone wanted to pray inflight.
Because I had slept so much on the previous flight, I could not sleep and decided to take advantage of the IFE and decided to watch Madagascar, my first animated movie in a while, and it was oh-so-cute!
The 777 seemed to have WiFi with a very reasonable price of $10 for the full flight, but I did not try it out (so it may have been switched off). Older 777s in Qatar’s fleet do not have WiFi.
A snack was served soon after takeoff. The chicken pastry and muffin was pretty decent, but I did not finish it and soon went to sleep. (after finishing Madagascar, of course.) 😉
I slept for a few hours and woke up as we were over Europe. The flight took a bit of an indirect routing in order to avoid Saudi Arabian airspace, but it was not nearly as bad as on the previous flight.
At this point, we were about 1.5 hours out of Frankfurt, and breakfast was being served. I was thinking of ordering the poha shown the menu above, but given that they were out of it and my dad did not want to have his special meal, I had his food instead.
The vegetarian oriental meal consisted of noodles with tofu and was honestly really good. Although there was a croissant, fruit, candy, juice, and other stuff on the tray, I did not eat anything else.
Soon after the meal, at 5:58 AM local time, we commenced our descent. Unlike on the last flight, this flight had Qatar’s newer boarding music.
We had nice views of Frankfurt on final descent.
We touched down around 6:34 AM, about 45 minutes early. Unfortunately, we landed on runway 25R, which is the farthest runway from the terminal, meaning we had a long 15-minute taxi to Terminal 1.
At least we saw some interesting traffic!
We obviously still arrived at the gate on time, and were quickly let out..
While navigating the maze that is Frankfurt Airport, got one last view of our beautiful aircraft.
Overall, this flight was extremely enjoyable. From the great amenities to the abundant entertainment to the kind service, nice food, and early arrival, Qatar pretty much nailed this flight. Besides the tight seating arrangement, this is probably the best Economy Class can realistically be.
Once again, sorry this report was less detailed than some of the other ones, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway.
Now I just need to find a way to try out Qsuites… 😉
Jetbridge Journal 