weero

The CX PE product is not superior to WT+. It is often dated and shabby. WT+ on the 777s is far better IMO.
No question about F but LH's Biz on most routes is no match for BA's. Even the newest seats on the 748 and the upgrade Airbus are inferior to CW. In terms of serving as a bed, IFE and soft product, I like LH better.
If just their food was more multinational and not limited to their own culture. This would be am area of improvement at no noteworthy expense.

HMPS

If it is of no noteworthy expense one wonders why BA doesn't implement it, given its wide international network ?

orbitmic

I find that a very odd comment. QR J food almost systematically includes Arabic, Indian and Western choices, all very well executed.

I also disagree with your statement on WT+ which I find one of the worst premium economy products around. Sure, CX is not great either but some others (e.g. TK, QF, NZ) are vastly better.

I agree with you on LH new J seats which I find mediocre at best. However, either all or the new AF, AZ, IB, LX, OS, AY, AB, SN, AA, DL, US, CX, QR, EY, MU, CZ, VN, etc are all very significantly better than CW.

lost_in_translation

You forgot EK, SQ, SK, QF, WY, ........

shefgab

Without having read all the other replies, my response just goes back to the OP. I'm also a QR Platinum (and BA Gold).

The new DOH airport is a bit of a mess. Arriving from an A320, we were bussed in. There were at least 20 busses trying to drop off pax, but the designers only allowed room for 1 or 2 busses to drop off at a time, meaning sitting in a bus queue for 15 minutes.

The lounge is nice, but two lounges half the size would be more manageable. Some shortcuts across the pond would also be good. Wait for a shower was ~30 mins. Couldn't get a table at breakfast as it was so busy. As soon as food was put out at the buffet, it was nearly immediately finished. Never had problems like that with BA lounges.

I don't fly QR much nowadays, although on my last flight on QR (the A380 to London in Business), I wasn't greeted onboard (let alone by the lead crew member), and no one called me by name.

Half way through the flight the IFE at my seat died pretty much completely. The crew person I spoke too reset it (took a good half hour), but it never worked again. And that was it. No remedial action taken.

Food was ok. Breakfast was unappetising enough for me to subsitute it for a lunch time choice. Everything came with quails eggs, which gotboring very quickly.

The onboard bar was good though, as were the seats themselves.

All the staff seemed overworked and generally rather unhappy, with the exception of the lady working in the bar.

I've got a few flgihts with QR in July (a A350/B787 combo), so hopefully things with DOH will be a bit more sorted, as the crew will have cheered up (I highly doubt that!).

ppp909

Be careful. If you're booking J, most itineraries will put you in F for the hop to Dubai (loads of TP for such a short flight) but some put you in Y for some reason. Just be careful not to pick those. QR's web site tends to show only the F flights (or at least that's all I've ever seen) but travel agents and Matrix show the others. Fare difference is negligible.

ukgooner

[QUOTE=orbitmic;24845530

I agree with you on LH new J seats which I find mediocre at best. However, either all or the new AF, AZ, IB, LX, OS, AY, AB, SN, AA, DL, US, CX, QR, EY, MU, CZ, VN, etc are all very significantly better than CW.[/QUOTE]

How can you be an ambassador of this forum to say such nonsense? At best it's your opinion, and typically you of all people (given his much time yiu must spend on this forum) should know this is a minority view.

V10

You're being unfair. Ambassador or not, the opinion has just as much validity as yours does.

Having Ambassadors that aren't addicted to the BA Kool-Aid is a benefit to this forum.

Phil the Flyer

+1. Totally at odds with my extensive experience.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qatar...14-2015-a.html

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Qa...O&ved=0CDAQsAQ

orbitmic

One thing I checked before accepting to become ambassador was that I was being asked to be ambassador of the forum (greeting new members, encouraging a debate relating to facts and experiences rather than people etc), and not of the airline as I fiercely value my independence. All FT moderators and ambassadors are independent, none of them represent an airline or another company (some airlines such as BA contract official reps from their team for that).

So yes this is (not sure about the "at best") simply my opinion. However, in addition to spending much time on this forum, I spend much time in the air (in my case, over 200 flights/yr. some other members clearly more than me but this is already not insignificant) and all the examples above are based on personal experience. I'm happy to hear which of the examples I mention you think are nonsense and explain why I find each of those J experiences better than CW specifically. Note that I left out airlines where there is one great plane type but no prospect of improvement in many others. For instance, EK is great on the A380 but I find many other plane types underwhelming. Or KL I find the front 747 j cabin with its couple of throne seats great but even the new seat on the 777 does not quite make the CW cut imho.

Incidentally, for what it's worth my impression is certainly not that mine is necessarily a minority opinion. It seems to me that many regulars on this forum (including some ambassadors and moderators ) have explicitly shared the belief that CW which used to be "best in class" in the 1990s has now been overtaken by many other long haul j offerings and is probably not even "top half" any more. Some sweet spots (eg upper deck window on 747) remain but a majority of seats are simply not up there with the best any more.

Steve_ZA

Indeed, if you book this as a J/F return you will get 400TPs but a J/Y will only net 300.

IAN-UK

It's really not nonsense at all. The latest seating offered by many other airlines is better in both objective and (most) subjective terms than that found in BA cabins. I modify the "subjective" reference because I'm guessing a lot of people have simply got used to the BA seat and find comfort in familiarity: you may be one them, but clearly our Ambassador is not.

Sure, there's a measure of comfort in the seclusion and privacy found in the couple of "prize" seats in the BA dorm: but for many - particularly among new recruits - the standard seating will simply seem odd: shabby and antiquated, and tinged with difficult social encounters.

travelwithross

But the connections queue was quick, right? Unlike Heathrow.

So just like BA then.

So just like BA then, everything either has cheese or is unappetising.


On par with BA.


Swings and roundabouts...

ukgooner

"All very considerably better" though? I've read posts where one or two of your list are praised, and certainly many (recently) where BA are compared unfavourably. That's not my issue. I've never seen anyone list over a dozen airlines in the way you did. It seems extreme and overly provocative, and I say this not because of any BA passion but because this forum has become recently a bunch of repetitive threads talking up other airlines and running down BA. The energy has changed for some reason. I'm suspicious of some peoples motivations and have noticed that more frequent / established posters tend not to contribute to this stuff anymore. Perhaps I'm in the minority. Maybe there is unquenched thirst for unlimited "I flew j on BA and it was rubbish" threads

I thought (particularly with the notice of trolling) there was an effort to get back to a bit more balance where this forum exists to help people get the best from the airline / ffp. As it is it seems to becoming the home of the disenchanted / disenfranchised / neverbeenfranchised which hasn't hapoened to quite the extent in the other airlines' forums. But as you say perhaps I've misunderstood the role of ambassador.

itsmeitisss

Perhaps but couldn't this have been added to the already existing thread about QR? Quite why the board needs yet another negative whinging post that's really about another airline.