Two weeks ago I flew Seattle - Doha on qsuites, and just today I flew back Dubai - Seattle on Emirates 777-300 business class so I was able to make a fresh comparison.
Qatar business lounge seems way more luxurious and elevated than the long Emirates lounge. The offerings are mostly similar in both lounges (showers etc), except Qatar lounge has many lounge/daybed style options, their shower room is bigger, and their dining area feels like a proper restaurant. Much "nicer" experience.
Qatar offers dine-on-demand which is so so so much better. Like, noticeably infinitely better. On Emirates it was like pulling teeth asking for an extra appetizer or anything out of order (e.g. asking for lightbites before the main course etc). I was honestly a bit shocked that Emirates staff seemed hesitant or pushbacked to fulfill my request for an out-of-order snack or extra desert with a drink. They kept saying "well, we can do it but typiically we give lunch in an hour, and then light snacks on landing, are you sure?". And then made a face like it would be a bother so I was like "okay fine, i'll just do things as planned, I didn't realize we couldn't dine on demand". My last few flights on Qatar had gotten my used to dine on demand, had forgotten other airlines don't do things that way.
Emirates menu did not have any vegetarian lunch main course dining option by default (only beef/chicken/fish options), so you better preselect vegetarian. Qatar menu had veggie options by default. Again, I was a bit shocked by this given that 90% of the passengers on Emirates Seattle-Dubai route seemed like indian descent who are typically vegetarian.
I found Emirates 777-300 on Seattle route to be basically lie-flat, no issues there. Similar lie-flat to QSuites. No issues either way.
Emirates had a proper cocktail menu, which was better than Qatars.
Qatar's chai is better. Emirates coffee is better.
Emirate's ICE entertainment was way better.
Qatar wifi was slightly better (didn't seem to go off for two hours, while Emirates did go offline over the arctic). But maybe I didn't notice Qatar's going offline.
Qatar gives pajamas, which I wore on Emirates since they don't. Rest of basic amenity/dental etc kit is similar who cares
The QSuites are obviously guaranteed private, but in Emirates 2-3-2 I didn't have a neighbor so it was similarly private in window seat. No issues there as long as flight loads are low, very similar experience. It would definitely massively suck if you have a neighbor in the future higher Emirates flight loads. Total deal-breaker in that case if you're a single traveller.
Both airlines basically allow you to be mask-free when on the seat since no one is around to enforce it, so that was similar also.
Last edited by nomiiiii; Apr 12, 2021 at 4:30 pm