jday

So had my first couple of QR flights yesterday after much anticipation. The first ARN > DOH leg was excellent and I could understand why everyone liked QR. However the DOH > SIN leg was pretty meh. Food was pretty poor. Service was similar. It seemed very robotic without real soul. They say it's dine when you want. But clearly my choice to dine a little later on in the flight instead of with everyone else didn't go down well. I'll see how the two return legs go before I make my final judgement as you can always have an off flight.

However the thing which really got me is that there were no paper towels in the toilets, only tissues which you can't dry your hands with without them falling apart. I thought it was just a mistake on my first flight, maybe they had run out from the outstation. But no it seems this was intentional after the second one from DOH. I don't think I was the only one having issues as the sink area had a lot of tissue bits lying around where they would just fall apart. Seems a bit of a bizzare omission in my mind, or maybe you dry your hand differently in Qatar?

Dr. HFH

Very odd, agreed, but it's been like that pretty much forever. Make that the third area in which CX F still beats QR J IMO, the other two being the bed and smaller (and therefore less activity) cabin. Otherwise, QR J wins hands down in my book.

makrom

The hand towel discussion, didn't we have that a while back?
After reading about it the last time, I curiously paid attention on my next flight. Yes, they generally have these Kleenex style tissues, but somehow this subject is beyond me. I̶ ̶n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶h̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶h̶a̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶w̶a̶y I usually use around 2 of them and never had any issues. I have a much stronger opinion about the 777 foot rest than this.

WorldLux

Probably a less motivated crew. I had so flights where the service was fabulous and you could actually eat whenever you wanted (though waiting till the very end may leave you without actual choice) and other flights were the service was - as you said - robotic, soulless, etc.

All of that said, I urge you to take into account other passenger. If everybody's sleeping or - at the very least - not eating, I would personally refrain from ordering anything else than a snack.

That's an issue that has been discussed at length. The quality of the "paper towels" is clearly a problem.

remdk

This was discussed on the http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qatar...ems-qr-28.html thread starting at post 417.

AVIATORPJ

along with the sub-standard showers.../sauna amenities in Al Mourjan and Al Safwa lounges at HIA.

Wonderful if Both can be finally fixed together?

WorldLux

The showers are IMO very nice at Al Mourjan. Compare that to the many C lounges that don't have any shower or that have 2 or 3 at best and where you'll get to wait at least an hour.

So far, I've never had to wait for a shower in DOH but I suspect the "secret" showers in the quiet area will be know to more passengers as the attendant at the central showers proactively told me to go there as there isn't any queue at the moment.

Zolex

Yea I don't think there is anything wrong with the showers.

Dr. HFH

They're unventilated. If you're from SEAsia and accustomed to or prefer taking cool showers as many people here do because of the climate, you probably won't notice it. If, however, you prefer warm/hot showers as I do, it can fairly quickly get uncomfortably steamy and humid in the small shower room.

hotwingz

I agree. Always wonder how people are able to shower in this steamy conditions, but I guess it's a matter of preferences and what you got used to growing up.

Anyways, I found steamy / unventilated showers to be a problem on more or less every airport lounge. It's nothing where I would say QR is worse than other lounges.
I'd prefer the showers in Al Mourjan be better ventilated, but it's something I got used to I guess.

I am also sure there is limited fresh air in the shower rooms on the EK & EY A380 :P

WorldLux

Cool showers can get somewhat tricky at DOH. Earlier last month, even on the coldest setting the water was still 90F or so hot.

jday

Showers I didn't have an issue with.

Well shame they stopped the paper towels, due to toilet clogging according to that other thread - who does that anyway. I wonder how every other airline manages it? Might save my linen serviett for drying my hands in the future.

The QR PJs were also disappointing after all the raving about them. Found the large very large and the medium very small. The quality didn't feel that great either. Much prefer my BA PJs.

lhrpete

I agree about the food offering between DOH-SIN, I've used all the flights and always get off hungry. The daytime one is the worst, they offer breakfast and a very small snack and you arrive at about 21.30, by the time you get to the hotel you are too late for anything except room service which I don't really like.

There's certainly room for improvement on this route. In reverse it's OK but not great.

hotwingz

Taking the famous DOH-SIN "dayflight", let's see if I can manage to not get off hungry :P
Luckily, Singapore has many many awesome food options and most are opened until late

WorldLux

Yeah the combined size thing is quite annoying. And I have to agree with you that the size is - to say the least - strange. The large is extremely wide but lacks in length (both parts of the PJ). On the other hand, we have to acknowledge that many airlines don't offer PJs in C and those that do usually limit it to a handful of routes.