sadiqhassan
Aug 18, 08, 7:59 am
My sincere apologies for the extremely poor quality of the pictures – I don’t own a camera so had to use my iPhone. If nothing else, this report will show you that the iPhone’s camera is not the best. :p
August 16th 2008
Qatar Airways QR319
Karachi - Doha
Scheduled: A320 Actual: A321
Sch Dep/Arr 0720 0650
Act Dep/Arr 0755 0710
Class: Economy (B)
Reg: A7-ADS
Note: At the end of each section, I am going to add a few comments that compares the experience to the equivalent on Emirates.
Background
After being on an anti-EK rampage, it was time to finally put my money where my mouth is and stop flying EK. In this specific situation, EK was about $50 cheaper, I would have been able to stop in Dubai and I would have been able to upgrade DXB-LHR with miles to J (on the old Boeing 777-300 which wouldn’t have been that nice anyway.) Alas, I decided to give QR a try anyway. The route would be KHI-DOH-LHR on the A320/321 and A340-600 which I was quite excited to sample, even if it was only in Y :(
The ticket was not cheap – came out to about C$2,000 (Rs 141,000) RT KHI-DOH-LHR-YYZ vv, but I couldn’t find seats on other carriers such as GF/EY/KU/WY etc. The main problem was that I needed a 1 year validity ticket; most airlines ex KHI only offer 4 or 6 month validity tickets. Business Class was about C$4,100 (Rs 285,000) but with four of us travelling, this was a bit out of budget.
I pre-assigned seats 12D and F on the A321 and 28 AB on the A340-600. Unfortunately no bulkheads were available.
Departure
Qatar Airways does not offer online-check in; already one minus point compared to EK. In places like KHI, OLCI really helps as queues can be horrendous particularly in the early hours of the morning when the bulk of the flights to the Middle East depart.
Luckily, in Karachi, we usually have someone to check us in and then we go to the airport around 30 minutes before departure and go straight to the gate/lounge – something that in the West is not possible.
Since our flight was so early (07:20am) our bags were going to be collected the night before, along with our passports and we could arrive at the airport at 06:30am instead of 05:20am. However, on our last day in Karachi dinner ran late and we didn’t get home till 11:00pm by which time our “liason” if you will had gone to bed so we would have to go to the airport with our bags and check-in like normal (:o) people. Of course being Pakistani, we left at Pakistani time and arrived at the airport at 06:25am. Unfortunately, QR319 did not plan to run on Pakistani time so we got a “I’m sorry, the flight is closed.” After a bit of yelling and fighting we were on the flight and they accepted our 3 pieces of luggage, all overweight, without an issue.
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways093.jpg
Check-in area
However, unfortunately, seat 12D apparently did not exist on the A321 so we were moved to 30EF – the third last row on the plane. Neither the seatmaps on www.qatarairways.com nor www.seatguru.com are accurate – this was also true for the second flight.
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways099.jpg
My BP. I actually found it quite ugly.
I pleaded for an aisle instead of that middle but was told that the plane was full. Bags were checked in through to Toronto even though we had an overnight in LHR (<24 hrs though.)
I’ve said it in previous reports, and I’ll say it again: I love Karachi airport! We were through immigration and security in about three minutes even at such a busy time of day, and were at the gate at 06:45am for a supposed 07:20am departure. Some new duty free shops have opened up, and the airport was livelier than the last time I remember it. ^ EK605 (the flight I was originally booked on), supposed to have departed already, was not yet boarding. :rolleyes:
There were numerous ‘free internet’ terminals around the airport. The internet connection was slow and the screens were at an awkward angle, but definitely usable. I went to www.qatairways.com and saw that the inbound from Doha was substantially late, meaning that QR would have to manage a 20 minute turnaround if our flight was going to be on time. Nevertheless, the agents insisted that the flight would be on time. At around 07:25am boarding started. No priority boarding was announced, and it was quite a scrum at the gate. I chose to board last since I didn’t fancy being stepped on, yelled at etc. :p
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways095.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways096.jpg
One of the first things I noticed was the demographics of those at the gate. While EK is usually quite a healthy mix of passengers, QR seemed to be almost 100% Pakistanis or Afghanis with only one white passenger on board. On EK, the J cabin is almost always at least ¼ European or American.
Ground Staff 7/10
Airport 8/10
Boarding Process 2/10
Compared to Emirates:
Check-in is usually better on Emirates are they have far more desks, but the area is also a lot more chaotic. The main advantage with Emirates is that I can choose one of the three other (better) departure times, if I want a quieter experience.
Boarding with Emirates is just as much of a scrum, but if an EK agent sees your blue J BP, they will usually let you cut in the queue. You just have to act all ‘DYWKIA” and wave your BP around in the air. :rolleyes:
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways102.jpg
GF A320 bound for BAH
Cabin
The first thing I noticed about the A321 is that it is a narrow but very long plane. It seemed forever before we got to our assigned seats. My first impressions onboard QR were very positive. The cabin was clean, fresh and new and the seats looked well-maintained, comfortable and roomy. My sister, who had flown 2 days prior had lucked out and gotten an A330-300 with AVOD, but this A321 had no personal IFE, just main screen monitors every four to five rows. :(
The seating arrangement was quite peculiar; the exit row seats had a “wall” type thing in front of them so that the pax really couldn’t benefit from any increased legroom. As the agent had said, seat 12D did not exist. There was a pillow on each seat and blankets (nice ones) were available on request. Headphones were soon handed out and were the normal in-ear types. I prefer these to AC’s horrible fiddly over ear ones.
About five minutes after we boarded, the doors closed. Lo and behold, 30D was empty. In fact, it was the only empty seat on the flight. My sister quickly moved from 30E and voila! We had a free middle seat :D
The crew soon came around with sweets for passengers (VERY nice touch ^) and refresher disposable towelettes. EK is the only airline I have flown in Y that gives actual cloth ones instead of paper.
Presentation 10/10
Amenities 7/10
Compared to Emirates:
The main + for Emirates is the personal IFE on all flights, but for this flight I didn’t really care as I planned to sleep anyway. The QR cabin felt more spacious (despite being a narrow body), was cleaner (it seems that EK flights aren’t really cleaned between their arrival from DXB and their departure to DXB) and felt newer.
Seat
On the way to my seat, I passed the J cabin. It looked like a typical north American domestic first seat which was fine for this flight, but I’d be upset if I had paid J fare and got this seat to somewhere like DAR.
However, I had no idea a Y seat could be so comfortable. The seatback was very thin, but the seat was still comfortable – not too firm and not too soft. The seat back was mostly plastic instead of metal. The tray table was well designed and had a sort of cut-out so that it didn’t ram into your stomach. There was also a drop down cup holder and footrests (EK is removing these.) However, the most impressive thing about the seat was the recline – it was ridiculous! I may be over exaggerating but it seemed equal to J on other airlines. The downside of this was that if the person in front of you reclined they were practically in your lap and there was no way you could eat or operate a laptop let alone get out of your seat!
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways101.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways103.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways104.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways107.jpg
Very generous recline!
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways108.jpg
I love the engraving on the seatbelt! A lot of people thought I was talking a picture of my crotch and gave me rather dirty looks! :eek:
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways114.jpg
The biggest complaint was that the armrests don’t go fully up – more like half up so if you have a free seat next to you, you still can’t use it to sleep
Comfort 9/10
Recline 10/10
Storage 7/10
Compared to EK:
The seat is miles ahead of EK’s Y seats. On the A330, I find EK’s seat to be too firm, and on the B777 it is a bit narrow. EK is also removing footrests and has pesky IFE boxes on all flights – QR does not have this on short-haul flights.
Catering
There were two option for breakfast – Keema roti (minced meat with bread) or omelette but by the time they got to use the omelette was finished. It didn’t matter – the keema was delicious, probably one of the best Y meals I have had. It was also quite filling, and presented at a perfect temperature. We were also given fruit which tasted a little bland. All food served on Qatar Airways is Zabihah halal.
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways105.jpg
Presentation 9/10
Taste 10/10
Compared to EK: I would give the slight edge to QR. EK’s food is usually very good but can also be atrocious. Since I have only have this one QR Y experience so far, I am not yet sure if the product is consistent on all flights.
IFE
Some western TV shows were played alongside a ridiculous number of advertisements for QR’s Premium Terminal. Do they have to show this in Y and make us all jealous?
Selection 1/10
Reliability of system 10/10
Compared to EK: No argument whatsoever, EK is much better.
Cabin Staff
Until this point, my QR experience was almost faultless. I was already studying the QR route map to see where all I could take QR over EK but alas QR does have some shortcomings. The cabin crew service was one of the worst I have ever experienced in my life. KHI-DOH was not as bad as DOH-LHR, but the crew on this sector was still distant, uninterested and downright rude. They simply ignored our row when it came time to serve meals. When I said “excuse me, can I have a meal” they rolled their eyes and practically threw one at me. They then walked off without giving one to my sister. She chased them down the aisle to get one though, it was quite comedic.
Later on I asked them if they knew whether we would make our connection to LHR, they looked at me as if I had said some horrible swearword and then continued chatting among themselves. I thought maybe they didn’t speak English so I tried in Urdu, but to no avail.
Friendliness 1/10
Quality of Service provided 2/10
Compared to EK: It pains me to say this, but I have never had such a bad EK crew. Some have come close (yelling at passengers with babies, stuffing people’s $3000 purses into the overhead bins etc.) but this QR crew took the cake.
Arrival
We landed quite late and taxied to a remote stand (there are no jet bridges at DOH). Deplaning was done from the rear of the aircraft and the bus went straight to the regular terminal. If you wanted to go to the Premium terminal, you had to show your invitation and then were directed to a separate bus.
The bus wasn’t actually that bad; it got us to the connection area in less than 10 minutes. In DXB you spend that much time walking to the connection area.
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways110.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways111.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways115.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways116.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways117.jpg
Compared to EK: I would say both are about on par with each other.
Overall
Overall, I was quite satisfied with QR. With the exception of the crew, everything met or exceeded my expectations. The cabin was much nicer than I was expecting and the seats were very comfortable. The food was also quite good, but it did seem like QR was trying a bit too hard to show that they were a five star airline (it was a pity that this didn’t rub off on the crew who weren’t trying at all.) For example, the IFE said ‘your five star airline’ after saying Qatar Airways which got a bit silly after the 20th time. The announcements also went on and on and on about how amazing QR was as did the IFE magazine. This Skytrax award has really gotten to the airline’s head.
Any comments welcome
Cheers,
August 16th 2008
Qatar Airways QR319
Karachi - Doha
Scheduled: A320 Actual: A321
Sch Dep/Arr 0720 0650
Act Dep/Arr 0755 0710
Class: Economy (B)
Reg: A7-ADS
Note: At the end of each section, I am going to add a few comments that compares the experience to the equivalent on Emirates.
Background
After being on an anti-EK rampage, it was time to finally put my money where my mouth is and stop flying EK. In this specific situation, EK was about $50 cheaper, I would have been able to stop in Dubai and I would have been able to upgrade DXB-LHR with miles to J (on the old Boeing 777-300 which wouldn’t have been that nice anyway.) Alas, I decided to give QR a try anyway. The route would be KHI-DOH-LHR on the A320/321 and A340-600 which I was quite excited to sample, even if it was only in Y :(
The ticket was not cheap – came out to about C$2,000 (Rs 141,000) RT KHI-DOH-LHR-YYZ vv, but I couldn’t find seats on other carriers such as GF/EY/KU/WY etc. The main problem was that I needed a 1 year validity ticket; most airlines ex KHI only offer 4 or 6 month validity tickets. Business Class was about C$4,100 (Rs 285,000) but with four of us travelling, this was a bit out of budget.
I pre-assigned seats 12D and F on the A321 and 28 AB on the A340-600. Unfortunately no bulkheads were available.
Departure
Qatar Airways does not offer online-check in; already one minus point compared to EK. In places like KHI, OLCI really helps as queues can be horrendous particularly in the early hours of the morning when the bulk of the flights to the Middle East depart.
Luckily, in Karachi, we usually have someone to check us in and then we go to the airport around 30 minutes before departure and go straight to the gate/lounge – something that in the West is not possible.
Since our flight was so early (07:20am) our bags were going to be collected the night before, along with our passports and we could arrive at the airport at 06:30am instead of 05:20am. However, on our last day in Karachi dinner ran late and we didn’t get home till 11:00pm by which time our “liason” if you will had gone to bed so we would have to go to the airport with our bags and check-in like normal (:o) people. Of course being Pakistani, we left at Pakistani time and arrived at the airport at 06:25am. Unfortunately, QR319 did not plan to run on Pakistani time so we got a “I’m sorry, the flight is closed.” After a bit of yelling and fighting we were on the flight and they accepted our 3 pieces of luggage, all overweight, without an issue.
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways093.jpg
Check-in area
However, unfortunately, seat 12D apparently did not exist on the A321 so we were moved to 30EF – the third last row on the plane. Neither the seatmaps on www.qatarairways.com nor www.seatguru.com are accurate – this was also true for the second flight.
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways099.jpg
My BP. I actually found it quite ugly.
I pleaded for an aisle instead of that middle but was told that the plane was full. Bags were checked in through to Toronto even though we had an overnight in LHR (<24 hrs though.)
I’ve said it in previous reports, and I’ll say it again: I love Karachi airport! We were through immigration and security in about three minutes even at such a busy time of day, and were at the gate at 06:45am for a supposed 07:20am departure. Some new duty free shops have opened up, and the airport was livelier than the last time I remember it. ^ EK605 (the flight I was originally booked on), supposed to have departed already, was not yet boarding. :rolleyes:
There were numerous ‘free internet’ terminals around the airport. The internet connection was slow and the screens were at an awkward angle, but definitely usable. I went to www.qatairways.com and saw that the inbound from Doha was substantially late, meaning that QR would have to manage a 20 minute turnaround if our flight was going to be on time. Nevertheless, the agents insisted that the flight would be on time. At around 07:25am boarding started. No priority boarding was announced, and it was quite a scrum at the gate. I chose to board last since I didn’t fancy being stepped on, yelled at etc. :p
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways095.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways096.jpg
One of the first things I noticed was the demographics of those at the gate. While EK is usually quite a healthy mix of passengers, QR seemed to be almost 100% Pakistanis or Afghanis with only one white passenger on board. On EK, the J cabin is almost always at least ¼ European or American.
Ground Staff 7/10
Airport 8/10
Boarding Process 2/10
Compared to Emirates:
Check-in is usually better on Emirates are they have far more desks, but the area is also a lot more chaotic. The main advantage with Emirates is that I can choose one of the three other (better) departure times, if I want a quieter experience.
Boarding with Emirates is just as much of a scrum, but if an EK agent sees your blue J BP, they will usually let you cut in the queue. You just have to act all ‘DYWKIA” and wave your BP around in the air. :rolleyes:
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways102.jpg
GF A320 bound for BAH
Cabin
The first thing I noticed about the A321 is that it is a narrow but very long plane. It seemed forever before we got to our assigned seats. My first impressions onboard QR were very positive. The cabin was clean, fresh and new and the seats looked well-maintained, comfortable and roomy. My sister, who had flown 2 days prior had lucked out and gotten an A330-300 with AVOD, but this A321 had no personal IFE, just main screen monitors every four to five rows. :(
The seating arrangement was quite peculiar; the exit row seats had a “wall” type thing in front of them so that the pax really couldn’t benefit from any increased legroom. As the agent had said, seat 12D did not exist. There was a pillow on each seat and blankets (nice ones) were available on request. Headphones were soon handed out and were the normal in-ear types. I prefer these to AC’s horrible fiddly over ear ones.
About five minutes after we boarded, the doors closed. Lo and behold, 30D was empty. In fact, it was the only empty seat on the flight. My sister quickly moved from 30E and voila! We had a free middle seat :D
The crew soon came around with sweets for passengers (VERY nice touch ^) and refresher disposable towelettes. EK is the only airline I have flown in Y that gives actual cloth ones instead of paper.
Presentation 10/10
Amenities 7/10
Compared to Emirates:
The main + for Emirates is the personal IFE on all flights, but for this flight I didn’t really care as I planned to sleep anyway. The QR cabin felt more spacious (despite being a narrow body), was cleaner (it seems that EK flights aren’t really cleaned between their arrival from DXB and their departure to DXB) and felt newer.
Seat
On the way to my seat, I passed the J cabin. It looked like a typical north American domestic first seat which was fine for this flight, but I’d be upset if I had paid J fare and got this seat to somewhere like DAR.
However, I had no idea a Y seat could be so comfortable. The seatback was very thin, but the seat was still comfortable – not too firm and not too soft. The seat back was mostly plastic instead of metal. The tray table was well designed and had a sort of cut-out so that it didn’t ram into your stomach. There was also a drop down cup holder and footrests (EK is removing these.) However, the most impressive thing about the seat was the recline – it was ridiculous! I may be over exaggerating but it seemed equal to J on other airlines. The downside of this was that if the person in front of you reclined they were practically in your lap and there was no way you could eat or operate a laptop let alone get out of your seat!
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways101.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways103.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways104.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways107.jpg
Very generous recline!
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways108.jpg
I love the engraving on the seatbelt! A lot of people thought I was talking a picture of my crotch and gave me rather dirty looks! :eek:
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways114.jpg
The biggest complaint was that the armrests don’t go fully up – more like half up so if you have a free seat next to you, you still can’t use it to sleep
Comfort 9/10
Recline 10/10
Storage 7/10
Compared to EK:
The seat is miles ahead of EK’s Y seats. On the A330, I find EK’s seat to be too firm, and on the B777 it is a bit narrow. EK is also removing footrests and has pesky IFE boxes on all flights – QR does not have this on short-haul flights.
Catering
There were two option for breakfast – Keema roti (minced meat with bread) or omelette but by the time they got to use the omelette was finished. It didn’t matter – the keema was delicious, probably one of the best Y meals I have had. It was also quite filling, and presented at a perfect temperature. We were also given fruit which tasted a little bland. All food served on Qatar Airways is Zabihah halal.
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways105.jpg
Presentation 9/10
Taste 10/10
Compared to EK: I would give the slight edge to QR. EK’s food is usually very good but can also be atrocious. Since I have only have this one QR Y experience so far, I am not yet sure if the product is consistent on all flights.
IFE
Some western TV shows were played alongside a ridiculous number of advertisements for QR’s Premium Terminal. Do they have to show this in Y and make us all jealous?
Selection 1/10
Reliability of system 10/10
Compared to EK: No argument whatsoever, EK is much better.
Cabin Staff
Until this point, my QR experience was almost faultless. I was already studying the QR route map to see where all I could take QR over EK but alas QR does have some shortcomings. The cabin crew service was one of the worst I have ever experienced in my life. KHI-DOH was not as bad as DOH-LHR, but the crew on this sector was still distant, uninterested and downright rude. They simply ignored our row when it came time to serve meals. When I said “excuse me, can I have a meal” they rolled their eyes and practically threw one at me. They then walked off without giving one to my sister. She chased them down the aisle to get one though, it was quite comedic.
Later on I asked them if they knew whether we would make our connection to LHR, they looked at me as if I had said some horrible swearword and then continued chatting among themselves. I thought maybe they didn’t speak English so I tried in Urdu, but to no avail.
Friendliness 1/10
Quality of Service provided 2/10
Compared to EK: It pains me to say this, but I have never had such a bad EK crew. Some have come close (yelling at passengers with babies, stuffing people’s $3000 purses into the overhead bins etc.) but this QR crew took the cake.
Arrival
We landed quite late and taxied to a remote stand (there are no jet bridges at DOH). Deplaning was done from the rear of the aircraft and the bus went straight to the regular terminal. If you wanted to go to the Premium terminal, you had to show your invitation and then were directed to a separate bus.
The bus wasn’t actually that bad; it got us to the connection area in less than 10 minutes. In DXB you spend that much time walking to the connection area.
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways110.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways111.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways115.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways116.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee353/sadiqhassan89/QatarAirways117.jpg
Compared to EK: I would say both are about on par with each other.
Overall
Overall, I was quite satisfied with QR. With the exception of the crew, everything met or exceeded my expectations. The cabin was much nicer than I was expecting and the seats were very comfortable. The food was also quite good, but it did seem like QR was trying a bit too hard to show that they were a five star airline (it was a pity that this didn’t rub off on the crew who weren’t trying at all.) For example, the IFE said ‘your five star airline’ after saying Qatar Airways which got a bit silly after the 20th time. The announcements also went on and on and on about how amazing QR was as did the IFE magazine. This Skytrax award has really gotten to the airline’s head.
Any comments welcome
Cheers,