The Airline: QR
The Segment: DOH-MAD
The Aircraft: A7-BHF, Boeing 787-9
The Date: Sunday June 23, 2024

After the lounge fail, I had roughly 50 min to do a walk-around of the art installations before the long walk to Gate C25, so I took the obligatory pic with the #CreepyBear and proceeded in that general direction.





This was a kids play area and slide.


I was enthused to find some kind of resemblance in this sculpture.


Today's vehicle.


I was among the last to board as I actually got distracted by my explorations, but there was still enough time for PDBs and for my meal order to be taken, and a chat with the Cabin Manager and the FA who would be looking after me on this 6.5hr journey.

Once again, I chose the signature lemon and mint juice, and took some time to settle in to seat 1K.







I was surprised to be offered PJs for what I thought was a daytime flight, and offered turndown service. The PJs will be a nice souvenir instead.

​​​​​​Pushback was on time and the maps updated our ETA to be 2025 which was over 30 min earlier than scheduled. I have an onward flight at 2300 so this was good news for me.

Wheels up and 20 min later the beverage service commenced.

I am not much of a champagne drinker, but the Gosset Grandé Reserve was quite nice.






The amuse-bouche was a lobster tartare, which was incredible.


For my appetiser I opted for the dill marinated tiger prawn and paprika scallop and the soup of the day which was a celery soup, served with tomato bread and olive oil.






For the main I went with the grilled Black Angus beef fillet with herb jus and potato dauphinoise and summer veggies. I liked that it came with a small mustard jar too.


A Frapin XO VIP was also served near after I finished the Gosset.


The Frapin went down a treat, although I managed to mess up the napkin quite badly with jus and mustard, and it wasn't even that bumpy🫤


Dessert was a chocolate brownie with nuts and hot fudge sauce which was divine.


I was watching Mamma Mia - Here We Go Again and the movie wrapped up just as my dessert plate and glasses were being collected so I took the chance to walk some laps of the aircraft and some of the crew proactively chatted with me.

During the movie I had noticed the scenery outside had changed from the deserts of Egypt and Jordan to the Mediterranean sea and we were tracking past Crete and south of Sicily. I figured there was a chance we might overfly one of my favourite islands in the world - Malta!

And yalla habib, we did fly over the Maltese Islands so I captured this with an engine view.

I also got some engine and wing shots from Door 2R and 2L as we overflew Crete and Malta respectively.








North Eastern Malta with Comino in the centre and Gozo to the right of picture.


I had not visited Malta since 2012 so it was nice to see the place again, even if from above.

An EK 77W also paralleled with us for some time, even laying down some chemtrails across the south of Sicily.




Some Läderach chocolates were given out at the top of descent.


Some Spanish countryside just outside of Madrid.


We landed on Runway 32R 36 min early and had to endure a 10 min wait as there was nobody to operate the aerobridge, and the entire plane had to disembark from door 1L in the end.

Overall, a really lovely flight and great crew. I enjoyed how each course was given in stages and savoured rather than a single tray with crockery and silverware, which is still nice, but even on a 4 hour sector, it that still felt rushed.

​​​​​So, 2 hours to chill in the airport for my IB flight in Y to LIS...