After I and every single other person in the lounge took a photo of this sunset, I headed down from the lounge towards the gate.




Poor Qatar, being forced to board their flight from a gate labelled "American Airlines." Must be rough.



I was here well before the posted boarding time but they let me board almost immediately, after some initial confusion between the gate agents about which lane they wanted business class pax to line up by. They then started boarding us at the exact same time as wheelchair passengers, which I'd never seen before. Either way, that's how I ended up as the first pax in the business class cabin.



Qatar Airways QR 702: JFK – DOH
Boeing 777-300ER, A7-BAI
6/1/2025 22:00 EDT – 17:25 AST
"Qsuite" Business Class, 3A (rear-facing window)



Okay, this is a stunning seat.






Up until now, ANA's The Room had been the best business class seat I'd ever flown in, with nothing else coming particularly close. This being my first time in QSuites, I finally have to give some actual thought towards which I think is better. This is a very impressive hard product.



For comparison, I snagged a photo of the front-facing seat as well. I do agree that the seat feels a little too close to the suite wall, but otherwise looks just as comfy.



The door is really high. I'm starting to understand the hype around Q Suites a bit. They just feel intangibly... different from any other business class seat I've been in, even those that have doors. I think part of it stems from just how high the walls and doors are. Especially during boarding, with all the overhead bins down and almost touching the suite walls, it makes walking through the aisle almost feel like walking down a hotel corridor looking for your room instead of finding your seat. I'm not sure if I'm describing it properly, but something definitely feels different. I respect that.



And just when I thought that every aspect of the seat was going to be unimaginably impressive, bam. A 240p non-interactive moving map.

To be fair, I actually find these very nostalgic, as they remind me of long-haul trips I took as a kid. But it's objectively hilarious to have a 4k (I assume) monitor playing a 240p video loop in the year 2025 on your flagship product.



Service started with a lemon mint. That's the amenity kit in the background.



I was also offered some pajamas. I didn't realize until much later in the flight that the slippers were also in this bag. Could've taken my shoes off so much sooner.



And suddenly out of nowhere, Kevin Hart was saying something about the safety procedures on this aircraft, I think. Idk, the volume was pretty low, and there were no English subtitles. Not sure how that's even compliant.



Jet bridge pulled back, and we were off.



Ooh, a JAL A350. Haven't tried that one yet. Maybe some day.



Also I lucked out on a plane with free internet.



Speeds were very respectable, seemingly a bit better than what Viasat can do. I am quite impressed by the latency, though. Also just how fast the rollout has been. Too bad my next leg doesn't have it yet (I say, typing this sentence on said next leg).



Got some fun mood lighting...



Pulled onto the runway after quite a long taxi...



And next thing I knew, we were in the air.



Goodbye America.



After the seatbelt sign was turned off, I went to check out the bathroom. It was clean, and had toothbrushes and stuff.



No foot pedal for the trash can, though. 0/10 terrible airline, literally unflyable. The cabinet panel also seemed to be loose.



They took my order before takeoff for both dinner and breakfast. Service started once we were in the air with some nuts and the Orangeade mocktail I ordered.




Next, the table was set and some bread was brought out. I believe the professional trip reporters would now say it is, what's the word, "showtime"?




An amuse came out. Idk what this is, but it's surprisingly punchy. Had a bit of a sour kick to it. There was, however, a piece of hard crab(?) shell left inside, which put a bit of a damper on the otherwise enjoyable dish.




Next I got the Arabic Mezze, which was pretty good. I'm not normally too into this type of cuisine, but I can respect a well made dish.




For the main, I went with the beef tenderloin. The meat was cooked very well done, which made it a bit dry and bland. The gravy was decent; I could've used a lot more of it. The potatoes also went well with it. The kale, though, just wasn't my thing.




I finished my Orangeade and switched to the Apple Cooler. I think I like this one a bit better, though they're both pretty good.

I will say, however, that the service flow here moved at an absolute crawl, and it seemed the crew were maybe a bit overworked. I heard one of them say they were simultaneously trying to juggle 10+ seats worth of orders, and if that's true, it would explain why they, despite being very nice, all seemed quite frazzled through the entire dinner service flow.

For example, when I placed my order, I assumed, like most airlines, that I only needed to order my main and that my dessert order could be made at time of service (and no one told me otherwise). However, after my main, they came and tried to remove my tablecloth. When I said I wanted dessert too, they let me order, but then it took over 30+ minutes to get mine, with them forgetting one and me needing to ask for it again.




I asked for both the berries and the chocolate mousse, along with a glass of Port to pair with the mousse.




The berries were delicious, and I adored the syrup. Elderflower syrup, was it? I checked the Wegmans app but it doesn't seem they carry the syrup itself (although surprisingly they have some type of liquer with a similar name). Shame. I totally would've bought this stuff in bulk.




10 minutes later, I got my mousse. Another 20 minutes went by without the Port I asked for showing up, so eventually I flagged down another flight attendant and asked for it again.




I wanted to try pairing the Port with the mousse, but honestly this 20 year old Tawny they were pouring was just too strong for me.




By the time I finished eating, the sun had already begun to rise.

Look, the service was friendly and well-intentioned. But something about this service flow is not working. Either there needs to be more staff, or the order of operations needs to be streamlined (maybe each course comes out on a cart or something?). Because while it's great that in theory a flight attendant personally delivers each course to me after I finish my previous, in reality I'm sitting there for 20+ minutes at a time waiting for nothing to happen while multiple attendants are sprinting through the aisles visibly rushed and frazzled, all while my orders get forgotten. I know a dessert cart wouldn't give off the premium vibe they're going for, but frankly I'd rather get my food in a consistent and timely manner, and seeing the flight attendants all so visibly stressed doesn't exactly put me in a relaxed mood to enjoy my meal either.

I need to emphasize this again (because I'm worried some middle manager at Qatar is going to see this and think, "I know, we should punish the crew for being too slow. The beatings will continue until morale improves"): I don't think this is the crew's problem. I'm sitting in F right now typing this and the same service flow works great - because there's like a 3:1 FA to pax ratio. If you want first class service flow, you need first class staffing. You can't just push more work on the same number of crew members and expect it to work well. The fact that the FAs looked so stressed was a big black eye on the dining experience, and you can't fix that by forcing them work harder.




After dinner, I went to go brush my teeth, only to discover the lavatory had run out of toothbrushes. I ended up stealing one from the other lavatory across the aisle.




I also took this opportunity to change into the pajamas.



I could not find the eye mask inside the amenity kit. I ended up asking a flight attendant, who also could not find it and had to go consult the others. She did end up coming back with an answer. Turns out, the eyemask is rolled up in the middle of the socks. You have to unroll the socks to get to the eyemask inside. I'm sure it's all clean when unopened but intuitively, I would not have thought the thing for your feet and the thing for your eyes should be packaged together. Ah well.



The FAs made my bed for me while I changed. In retrospect, I should've taken this photo with Night Sight on. You can't see anything in this pic. I realized that fact only after I crawled into bed, and I certainly wasn't about to crawl back out to take this photo again.



Anyways, good night. (Same lighting conditions, I just remembered to turn Night Sight on this time. I'm not very smart).