[Anonymous]

[NiceTravelAdventures]

A short trip to Doha led to us travelling on Qatar Airways’ flat bed business class from Doha to London Heathrow. I’ve put together a quick look at Qatar’s offering, which may be worth checking out on a Friday afternoon!

Qatar Airways have recently joined Oneworld, and are increasing their flights from London (to 6 a day!) as British collectors of BA Avios points start to take an interest in them. The addition of Avios to their offering seems to be a big success, and it’s likely that there will be revenue-sharing venture with BA on this route soon.

They have fully flat beds on this route in business, with most – but not all – seats having direct access to the aisle.

Qatar’s business class seats are worth considering if you’re a couple, although British Airway’s seats are far more private if you’re travelling alone and don’t mind the lack of flight choices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz8TpFIr0Bk&hd=1

[SergeantMajor]

Nice trip report! Sadly plagued by lots of Canadian Tourism advertising which jams up my browser.

How much does Qatar charge for this round trip?

[NiceTravelAdventures]

My flight wasn’t particularly cheap – about £1k o/w – but then they have a monopoly on non-stop flights to Heathrow.

Qatar offer terrific value if you’re prepared to fly via Doha on your way to Asia out of Heathrow – with more BA Tier Points being offered at the cost of some interrupted sleep!

[rodders]

Alas they do NOT have fully flat beds in business on all flights, 2 of the 5 have them the &*& and the 777, the Airbus 330 or 340 flights have the much older angled lie flat seats, so check the schedules before booking. The new all business class service will have the flat beds also….

[esselle]

Recently flew MAN-DOH-MEL on QR for a little over £3k in J. 330 has angled lie flat, but 772 on DOH-MEL horizontal. Food and beverage quality outstanding.

[AMcWhirter]

Hello rodders

Qatar is upgrading its business class product for the A330 and A320 as we recently reported.

Several aircraft have already been refitted with fully flat bed seating.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/100191/qatar-airways-upgrading-a320-a330-business-class

[NiceTravelAdventures]

Yes, this is one of their most focussed-on routes and is clearly doing well for them. 6 rotations a day! There’s not many international routes from Heathrow that have more with a single airline – JFK, CDG, AMS and FRA spring to mind – but there’s probably some more.

[ChrisJR]

I flew LHR-DOH-NBO in business last weekend. The A330 out of LHR was full to the brim, with the old seats (165 lie flat) – I thought it felt a little claustrophobic until the cabin lights were dimmed. It was a day flight so I didn’t try and sleep (or recline my chair beyond a comfortable seating position). Problem was the power socket was in a very awkward position so I couldn’t actually plug my laptop power supply in. The business lounge in premier terminal in Doha is very good in my opinion (except when it gets really busy – I think in the morning) – chicken biryani was great. The flight from DOH to NBO was on a newly refitted A320 with the same seats as on the B787 – brilliant seats especially if you have no one sat next to you – in my opinion close to the BA first seat for space, comfort etc (again only if you don’t have someone next to you), and power socket easily accessible. Prices for J are very good, less than £2000 for business LHR-DOH-NBO out and JHB-DOH-LHR back – cheaper than any other carrier.

[AMcWhirter]

ChrisJR – Since writing about business class improvements to the A320 and A330s – see link above – Qatar Airways has today confirmed that the fully flat bed seats are being installed in seven A330-200s and nine A320s. Completion date is third quarter of 2014.

[Author]

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