Qatar 787 Business Class Doha to Penang

This is my second experience with Qatar business class this year. I had not previously flown their 787s/this specific business class configuration. Penang is a recent addition to Qatar Airways vast network, where they currently fly once daily.

Being an overnight flight, it will be brief as I mostly tried to sleep and shall focus on that.

Flight details

Route: Doha – Penang
Flight no: QR850
Departure time: 0155
Aircraft: 787-8
Seat: 2A

Qatar 787 Business Class Check-in

I had a short stopover in Doha. Check-in was uneventful, and I quickly went through the business class security.

Lounge

All Qatar business class have access to Al Mourjan Business class lounge in Hamad International where I spent about 3 hours prior to this flight.

Boarding Qatar 787 Business Class

When I noticed my flight was boarding, I slowly started making my way. The gate was quite far from the lounge itself and felt a bit of a trek, involving going up and down several escalators, twists and turns and a terminal train.

Once there, I got the impression everyone had already boarded, so I picked up pace for the last few metres. Only this was the opposite case. The flight was delayed and our plane was not even at the gate! Not great. We were informed the flight would be about 1 and half hour delayed, though this was not in the flight status boards.

I decided to go back to the lounge and relax there, without realising I could re-enter. In the lounge once they were aware of the delay, they let the few who came back in.

Once they found a replacement 787, our flight eventually departed 4.05am, over 2 hours late. I was super tired by then.

On Board Qatar 787 Business Class

The entrance to the cabin is stylish, with a quite large bar area (without it being a bar), more on that later. I liked the colour scheme and lighting within the cabin and very much off the Qatar brand palette.

I could not help but notice how exposed the cabin looked though, especially after flying the Qsuites only few days ago.

This was quite a full business cabin.

Early service

Shortly after being seated, I was offered drinks and a choice of papers/magazines. I just had some water. (yeah I know I’m really not making the most of this am I!). A few minutes later, I was asked if I would prefer to eat anything for dinner, which I turned down. I had an exhausting day, my focus was to sleep.

Amenities

In the seat was already the amenity kit (exact same contents of face creams, lips balm, eye shades etc as previous flight) The pouch itself was slightly different here though.

There was a modest size pillow and the same velvety blanket as previous Qatar flights.

I was also offered Pajamas by the White Company.

The seat and bed

This is a reverse herringbone seat, but looks and feels more spacious than other carriers. I like how Qatar has customised it with the class burgundy accents from cushions and blankets to the entertainment panels.

There are two closed storage compartments for your belongings you want to keep close to hand as well as the top side

The seat itself felt comfortable. Shortly after takeoff I put on my pyjamas and turned the bed myself. I fell asleep pretty quickly, though about an hour and half in, I got woken up by quite abit of turbulence, after which I’m not sure I really fell back into proper sleep.  I did notice the lack of mattress topper on this flight however. Not sure if this was due to me being too eager to sleep straight after take-off. However, I was cosy enough as far as one can be with a stranger sleeping only 4 feet away.

Breakfast

About an hour before landing, I ordered the arabic breakfast.

The service here was abit rushed to say the least. Perhaps because I did not order any starters for the breakfast. The arabic meal itself was ok, not particularly memorable.

Final thoughts

Once again, this is another excellent business class product, which I think it up there amongst other leading premium carriers.

The business cabin does have some good space that could be used as a bar area, which feels is underutilised here. Nonetheless, its good to have space for passengers to really stretch out during the flight.

I’m unsure if turn down service was actually on offer in this flight or I just missed that by going to sleep straight after take-off. I felt the breakfast, being the main and only meal I had on the flight was rushed. Understandably, it was a short overnight flight. For such fights, I would probably still to have a meal in the lounge anyway to get as much sleep onboard. The main disadvantage of this product over Qatar’s QSuite is the lack of privacy. Which on a night flight can really make a big difference.