This is my first ever flight report on 2 different versions of Qatar Airways A330-200 aircraft in economy class mainly focusing on the comfort of seat, and facts about the new Hamad International Airport.
I have no idea how to call those different versions so let’s say they are the Old 332, Classic 332 and New 332. On my journey from LHR to HKG via DOH, I took the old and new 332. And there is definitely a strong contrast between them.

Old-A332 A7-ACC
I took this flight from LHR to DOH (Hamad) a few days ago. And the only word that I can conclude about the flight was HORRIBLE.
No one greeted me and other Privilege club members when we boarded before everyone else does. I don’t think they even know who actually in the cabin have status. Regular queuing in LHR finally started my journey. The whole economy cabin was packed full and I think there were only 4 to 5 cabin crews to serve 192 passengers. I sat at seat 17K which located at the second row in the whole cabin. The IFE box in front of me was massive. Taking over 1/3 of the foot rest. The control is set at the side of my armrest and can’t be taken out. Pressing the buttons on the side is just too difficult that I couldn’t be bothered to use the control panel, partly because the screen of the IFE is extremely small, about the same size as BA B747. Flight information and Inflight map is not working. No power provided in any mean. No socket and no USB.
Not sure about where the catering of that flight came from, all the way from DOH or in LHR. I am not a big fan of inflight catering but at least I can tell the food is really bad with the basic sense of tasting. A thin box which is about half size of a standard QR meal I eat every time is given out. 3 chops of beef and just little potato on the side make up the whole dinner. I told the cabin crew to get me a can of coke after meal. She didn’t come back and totally forgot about it. I wouldn’t say it was her fault as she had a lot work to do inside the cabin after meal. There is just a problem with the lack of cabin crew in economy. At the end of the flight, they didn’t announce the connection gates for onward connection flight. It made me feel a bit nervous because it was my first time transferring in Hamad.
Conclusion, one of my worst flights in my whole life.

New-A332 A7-ACF

The fantastic refurnished A332 brought me all the way to HKG from DOH as my second half of my journey and that was a pleasant flight.
I picked seat 11K and notice that the flight isn’t full during online check in; only 50% of seats are occupied. I decided to use my privilege to ask for a block seat (open seat) next to me by asking the cabin crews to change my seat. Boarding from the hold room in DOH as a privilege club member, I was able to talk to the cabin crew and ask for consecutive empty seats because the flight is not full. In fact, one third of the seats are empty so I had a chance to move to 10K, One of two empty bulkhead seats in the front from 11K. Seat 11K is a standard Y seat. IFE is big and support touch screen, the same size as QR’s B787 and CX’s new long haul economy. Having a control (old style long one but not IPod like one on 787) under the screen and put horizontally. I never need to use it because the touch screen is sensitive enough to use. I think you can watch TV like BBC and CNN through the satellite TV before takeoff. I forgot to try it in the sky. Onboard Wi-Fi is available in a high rate. USB power in every seat next to the IFE and one socket between two seats is provided. The whole seat is almost identical to BA A380 but with more space. IFE box under every seat is small. It takes almost no space from your leg room. This is a brilliant improvement as window seat lover like me may concern about airlines putting 2 massive boxes under the window seat and end up with having no leg room. However, no foot rest is provided on new A332. The cabin crew who is in charge of the section I am sitting in greeted me and asked about my breakfast preference politely. She said this is to secure my first choice meal (even when I am sitting in the front row? I think it is just part of their work). No comment on the meal as I don’t really care about catering as long as it is not too devastating or fabulous that I have to mention. The whole flight is excellent because of the nice seat and friendly cabin crew.

A332 is the smallest aircraft that can fly non-stop to HKG so there shouldn’t be aircraft change on this route because of the low rate of seat occupied. And it is very unlikely for QR to stop the HKG route. However, QR has signed lots of codeshare agreements with CX to Asian destinations. And the QR815/816 flight are likely to get more passengers in the future (I don’t think it would be much as no much people visit from or to Doha, and no one world choose to transfer 2 times to travel from Asia to Europe through DOH and HKG). Getting open seat next to you can become harder in the future. So bear in mind that you might not get this privilege on this route later. It is not a guaranteed service on this flight. Once the flight is all packed with passengers, the nightmare happens in QR2 can happen here and I really don’t hope so.

Hamad International Airport

Similar to BKK and LHR T3, they use hold room where passengers in any classes stay together in a room after having their boarding pass checked and get onboard in the following order. First and business  OneWorld Emerald and Sapphire and QR silver  Other economy passengers.
This is good for status holder because you feel like you have more privilege. And cabin crew can greet you separately before everyone else gets onboard.

No racism, I have found that those fly from India cut the queue just to save couple of seconds. A group of students drived through the whole queue together and the airport staffs said nothing about that. One kid just grabbed my luggage screening box from me after I put it on the rack and lifting up my suitcase from the ground. I couldn’t take it anymore and I said ‘excuse me’ and throw my suitcase into the box which is already in his hand lifted from the screening track readying to carry his stuff through the security check. I was so insane at that moment and didn’t even think about my laptop inside the suitcase.

In DOH, you don’t need to take your laptop or Ipad out of your suitcase when screening. I presume they have better technology (maybe worse attitude? haha) than other major airports in the world, and kept secretly for many years.