synd

SFO777,

Qatar is a great airline, and while the seats & bathroom are much nicer in F, i find it harder and harder to justify paying the premium of price of F. The food offerings are pretty much the same except for the caviar.

I have had the prawns & soba noodle starter in J just a couple days ago as well as the arabic spiced chicken with machboos sauce. The alcohols are a step up in F, but I find it hard to justify a 3000€ supplement per rt when there is so little difference in service & food. Lufthansa thats another story, for example as I can definitively see a huge gap between C & F, F is worth the difference and C so dreadful, but on QR not really imo.

With miles thats another story ofc... I just booked a cdg - syd in F for next year, especially since the price was the same in QR miles for C or F lol...

zip10001

SFO777,

I understand you speak French fluently, but it is still quite a performance to clear security without a proper boarding pass.

Someone got balls!

nequine

Food looks very nice! ^

offerendum

Really a nice product! I especially like the kit.

synd

didn't know the *A CDG lounge was also Priority pass. That's good to know! thanks for the info! But yes the QR CDG Lounge beats any T1 lounge by a few miles!

Madone59

That QR A380 F cabin and bar look fantastic ^^ Inspiring indeed.

DanielW

Great start with the QR F flights, SFO777.

The whirlwind tour of Guangzhou looks enticing, especially with the Canton Tower all lit up. They've just laid the foundations for a similar tower in Dubai, but it will be twice the height!

I'm guessing the SFO777 Gold medal for best ME3 First Class goes to Etihad, with Emirates and Qatar vying for runner-up.

SFO777

Al Safwa First Class Lounge at DOH


From Gate A3, it was a short walk thru an empty concourse to the main central terminal complex of shops, restaurants and lounges.









HIA's huge showpiece signature teddy bear.



Stunning architecture as we wander around trying to locate the Al Safwa Lounge.







The relatively new terminal is a pleasure to visit but signage leaves a lot to be desired. Major directional signs show directions to First Class Lounge which just turned us in circles. The only explanation I can think of is that there is a generic First Class Lounge for all but Qatar.



The gorgeous Al Mourjan Lounge is still where is was three years ago.



Even with directions from the Al Mourjan sentry, it still took another 5 minutes to find the promised land.









Talk about an impressive entrance.







The Lounge is huge, indeed mind-blowingly large with numerous wide corridors. It's not particularly warm lounge though. It kind of reminded me of a modern museum but without the art.













There is also a convenient and secure check-room behind the inside First customer service counter, where we left our carry-ons during our visit.























I set up shop in what is arguably the nicest Business Centre of any airline lounge, anywhere.



​



And one of the most gorgeous restrooms in any lounge.





The bar and dining area is huge, sleek and modern but not very personable or intimate.



With a selection of serve yourself and/or serve for you counters. You can also order off the menu.







We headed for the bar.











Are you serious? The house champagne is the La Grande Dame. Wow.



And Showtime, Al Safwa style. The menu was lovely but I forgot to take a pic. My bad.





Our starter was excellent.



And the pasta dishes simply out of this world.



And your everyday bottle of wine that you will not find served at your government subsidized Sky Club.





OMG, I don't think I need to eat on our Doha-Guangzhou flight.

SFO777

Thanks very much cmd320.

Thank you synd. QR Business Class does appear to be one of the best in the world and I can understand why it might be difficult to justify a big price differential for First. As you note, with miles, a complete different story.

Thanks zip10001. Not fluent but enough to get by although my Quebecois must seem like our equivalent of a southern accent to most French.

Thank you nequine. Food was great and I put on 5 lbs. in 3 days.

Thanks offerendum.

Thank you synd. I didn't know either about the *A lounge. I was just lucky to be speaking with a great lounge dragon.

Thanks very much Madone59.

Thank you DanielW. The Guangzhou skyline is impressive, even in the rain. OMG, twice the height? 1,345 meters. Why does that not surprise me?

As for my ranking, they are all great and Etihad indeed wins the Gold medal for best suite. But both EK and QR beat them with food and wines and on the ground. Overall, I'd rank them:
• Gold: Qatar
• Silver: Emirates
• Bronze: Etihad

nequine

Kind of not surprised to hear that, and the food at Doha looks very tempting indeed.

I like your analogy of it being like a museum but without the art, sums it up well I thought! ^

Bretteee

The starter in the Dubai lounge looks like Kebbe (Syrian / Lebanese style). However the Iraqi Kebbe is different (more time consuming to make) and also is delicious but not fried. My aunt used to make both and I regret I never took the recipes.

I wonder whether less people are chosing to fly on Qatar due to the boycotts.Anyway clearly no food shortage.

brg

Great report with wonderful pictures.
Thanks

TheTakeOffRush

I always think F reflects what an airline wants to be at its best. Lovely to see them succeed in making something worth desiring! Great TR [again!].

1P

Away from FT for two weeks, and so am late to another excellent TR from SFO777. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into bringing these alive for all of us!

On a side note, "Le G" from Château Guiraud (your UA transatl flight) is very acceptable for a business class offering (but not for F of course). People tend to think that dry whites from Sauternes are inferior, but actually some of them are pretty good, like this one, which is also organic. Just visited the vineyard the other day to buy another case..... (I never take any notice of Robert Parker, BTW! Better to listen to the sommelier of one of the top London restaurants....)

Looking forward to the rest of your trip!

VH-RMD

Al Safwa is a large and seemingly empty space, but I actually like the lounge a lot. Even when 'busy' it never feels full.

The catering could be better, but that is down to the silly no cooking rule in the airport.

The bar is very good and I'm advised by friends, because I have not needed to use them, that the sleeping rooms are very comfortable.