Quick F and J report on BA, QR, and EY
Sep 2, 2016, 11:00 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 19
Quick F and J report on BA, QR, and EY
Last week I had to do a quick trip from Boston to Pakistan, the trip included Qatar (J & Y), Etihad (J), BA (F)
Outbound
BOS -> DOH (J class QR): this was in Qatar's new A350X. The airplane and seating area was beautiful - clear sense of spaciousness. Almost like flying first in other airlines. In flat/bed mode, the bed was big enough for me (184cm) but could feel a bit of a wedge in the seat. Slept well regardless with the provided PJs! Dine when you want was great. However the snacks were not as great as those that you find in CX J (shorter flight though). IFE was large and responsive - standard movies.
I had a lay over in Doha and the airport and lounges were fantastic. Good food and comfy chairs and areas. In the back of the lounge there's a quiet area where you can lay down.
DOH -> LHE (Y class QR): Flew in some sort of airbus (Qatar again), narrow body. Typical coach class feel. The guy next to me was a bit big and got into my space a bit. But all in all standard Y class experience.
LHE -> AUH (J EY): Etihad on B777. Nothing to write home about. I really just tried to sleep. The airplane looked worn out.
AUH -> LHR (J EY): Etihad on A380. To be fair, the reason why I chose this routing which allowed me to fly for first time in an A380/J for a decent price. I sat in the first J class row... unfortunately did not get to peek into the residence or F class. Maybe next time! J class did not feel as spacious as I had hoped for, but certainly comfy. This was a night trip so I slept the the lie flat seat, comfortable but preferred the Qatar Airlines hard product. Food was ok, again preferred QR which was a little more personalized. Also, there was no Arabic Mezze that I had been hoping for
Prior to departure the the lounge in AUH had been busy but with ample room to sit down in. Food and deserts were very good (maybe better than in DOH).
LHR-> BOS (F BA): frankly I didn't ask for it, but I had the miles and it provided me with the best routing to BOS - I don't feel F class is worth it on a 7 hour flight (unless of course someone invites you
. This was the evening flight and to my annoyance, there were no biscuits with clotted cream. The service was highly personalized and FAs referred to me by name and were friendly, I pretty much tried all the wines because I couldn't make up my mind. The hard product (althuogh fancy looking with the big windows and the night lamps), was not as good as many other F class, and even not as good as QR or EY: the seating area was very similar in size and privacy (mind you, I'm not a fan of suites) - but that's comparing F to J. Also, the IFE was very dated: not as large or clear and had an old style controller (not a mobile like device).
Prior to the flight I went to London and spent most of the day there. On return I got myself a good 3 hours to spend at the Concorde room which was very nice: good food, well presented, and well personalized.
So in summary:
BA F: Soft - A, Hard - B, IFE - C
QR (A350): Soft B, Hard - B, IFE - A
EY (A380): Soft B-, Hard - B-, IFE - B+
Outbound
BOS -> DOH (J class QR): this was in Qatar's new A350X. The airplane and seating area was beautiful - clear sense of spaciousness. Almost like flying first in other airlines. In flat/bed mode, the bed was big enough for me (184cm) but could feel a bit of a wedge in the seat. Slept well regardless with the provided PJs! Dine when you want was great. However the snacks were not as great as those that you find in CX J (shorter flight though). IFE was large and responsive - standard movies.
I had a lay over in Doha and the airport and lounges were fantastic. Good food and comfy chairs and areas. In the back of the lounge there's a quiet area where you can lay down.
DOH -> LHE (Y class QR): Flew in some sort of airbus (Qatar again), narrow body. Typical coach class feel. The guy next to me was a bit big and got into my space a bit. But all in all standard Y class experience.
LHE -> AUH (J EY): Etihad on B777. Nothing to write home about. I really just tried to sleep. The airplane looked worn out.
AUH -> LHR (J EY): Etihad on A380. To be fair, the reason why I chose this routing which allowed me to fly for first time in an A380/J for a decent price. I sat in the first J class row... unfortunately did not get to peek into the residence or F class. Maybe next time! J class did not feel as spacious as I had hoped for, but certainly comfy. This was a night trip so I slept the the lie flat seat, comfortable but preferred the Qatar Airlines hard product. Food was ok, again preferred QR which was a little more personalized. Also, there was no Arabic Mezze that I had been hoping for
Prior to departure the the lounge in AUH had been busy but with ample room to sit down in. Food and deserts were very good (maybe better than in DOH).
LHR-> BOS (F BA): frankly I didn't ask for it, but I had the miles and it provided me with the best routing to BOS - I don't feel F class is worth it on a 7 hour flight (unless of course someone invites you
. This was the evening flight and to my annoyance, there were no biscuits with clotted cream. The service was highly personalized and FAs referred to me by name and were friendly, I pretty much tried all the wines because I couldn't make up my mind. The hard product (althuogh fancy looking with the big windows and the night lamps), was not as good as many other F class, and even not as good as QR or EY: the seating area was very similar in size and privacy (mind you, I'm not a fan of suites) - but that's comparing F to J. Also, the IFE was very dated: not as large or clear and had an old style controller (not a mobile like device).Prior to the flight I went to London and spent most of the day there. On return I got myself a good 3 hours to spend at the Concorde room which was very nice: good food, well presented, and well personalized.
So in summary:
BA F: Soft - A, Hard - B, IFE - C
QR (A350): Soft B, Hard - B, IFE - A
EY (A380): Soft B-, Hard - B-, IFE - B+
Sep 2, 2016, 2:15 pm
#4
Join Date: May 2014
Location: DFW
Programs: AA EXP (probably nothing w/ AA next year :)), Delta Platinum, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Gold
Posts: 405
thanks for posting!
Interestingly enough and somewhat related, there's a deal, o/w LHE-AUH-JFK with A380 EY F for the second leg for $1900 right now, so you could probably try a longer F experience with EY for very affordable. LHE-AUH is in J.
There's a post with details in the Mileage Run Premium forum.
Interestingly enough and somewhat related, there's a deal, o/w LHE-AUH-JFK with A380 EY F for the second leg for $1900 right now, so you could probably try a longer F experience with EY for very affordable. LHE-AUH is in J.
There's a post with details in the Mileage Run Premium forum.