cheltzel

Those are the "Business Classic" fares (Booking Class R) and do not include assigned seats and Lounge access. If you have any layover at all and want lounge access in DOH, it will be just under $100 each for 6 hours of lounge access, each way. If you want to get assigned to specific seats, there will be a charge for that as well and the seat charges are per flight. This could add significantly to the total trip costs as there could be 4 lounge charges and 4 seat assignemnt charges for your party for the entire trip.

If you upgrade to "Business Comfort" (Booking Class I), it will be about $2870. IMO it is a better value for you, assuming you will want lounge access and/or specific seats.

My wife and I are in your age group and we understand your perspective on long haul travel and the advantage of stopovers to break up a trip. We often do this, especially when we have to take multiple >10 flights to get to a destination.

If Qatar is open to visitors when you go, a bit of a stopover would have two advantages. First you would get time off the airplane, out of the airport and go into town. Also you could book on a DOH-ATH flight that has a real business class seat. Your shortest (< 3 hour) connection at DOH is on an A320 between DOH and ATH and could be the equivalent of a US domestic first class seat. Perfectly comfortable for a short flight. Currently the DOH-ATH flights you would likely get on longer connections include the 787 and A350.

If Qatar is not open to visitors when you go and you book a longer connection, you would have to stay at the airport and possibly book the airside hotel. This is not as good as getting out of the airport and into town, but still gets you a bit of a break in the travel.