The review I wrote last year of a Qatar Airways trip from London to Melbourne was highly complimentary and still sees a lot of traffic from Google. Sadly, a repeat experience with Qatar several months later failed to match the expectations that were set en-route to Australia. It’s not that the flights were at all unpleasant, but there definitely seems to have been a drop in standards, particularly in regard to catering - the variety, quality and quantity of food on offer has dropped through the floor. I’m not sure if this is a conscious policy, or if I was previously spoiled because the Melbourne flight is afforded preferential treatment thanks to it’s extremely long duration.
My biggest complaint about this trip is the, apparent, assumption that no substantial meal needs to be served on an overnight flight. This might be the case if there’s a decent offering in the lounge before take-off, but otherwise, something should be offered to those that are boarding the aircraft after a twenty hour day.
Before going into specifics, it should be said that the seats on the 777 aircraft are still excellent, and the staff were all courteous and professional.
London Gatwick to Doha
For various reasons, I took an outbound flight from Gatwick rather than Heathrow and have to say that the Qatar Airways staff there were fantastic. Business class passengers were greeted at check-in and all escorted from the lounge to the aircraft. On the other hand, the Servisair lounge used by Qatar at Gatwick is horrendous - noisy, cramped and packed with people. Since I flew, No. 1 Traveller have opened an alternative lounge at Gatwick’s North Terminal and I hope that Qatar is now sending its customers there.
After takeoff, drinks were served, accompanied by a delicious date filled with cream cheese (above).
The Arabic mezze, as a starter option (above), was still excellent, but the first sign that things had changed in relation to the food offering came with the main course - a fish stew that was both tasteless and small (below).
Just before landing, a rather curious selection of snacks was served as “afternoon tea” (below); a slightly odd decision given that it was approaching midnight. Sadly, the treat of scones and clotted cream was ruined because the cream had, inexplicably, been heated along with the scones, so arrived as a running liquid mess.
Doha to Shanghai
I slept for most of this leg, but it’s safe to say that this was the best of the four flights. The seafood noodles served after takeoff were excellent, I was starting to hope that the catering on the previous flight was down to localised problems with the supplier at Gatwick. Before landing, the stewardess noticed that I wasn’t enjoying the omelette I had ordered for breakfast, so happily brought me a plate of fruit salad.
Shanghai to Doha
As at Gatwick, the lounge available to Qatar airways passengers in Shanghai is grim. There was no food on offer and the alcohol selection was limited to beer and a bottle labelled “RED FRENCH TABLE WINE”. Yum.
Having, by then, been awake for almost 21 hours and eaten lunch ten hours previously, I was desperate to do some serious damage to the food offering on the place. Sadly, the most substantial item of the evening snack menu that was offered was a lobster caesar salad - a few leaves and two 4mm thick slices of lobster. The salad was followed by two small slices of pineapple as dessert. Not really what I had in mind.
Before dinner, the stewardess asked everyone when they would like to be woken for breakfast, suggesting that most passengers liked to have breakfast 90 minutes before landing, but that it could be as late as 45 minutes ahead of touchdown if we wanted more sleep. Both myself and the guy in the neighbouring seat asked to sleep for as long as possible, so were more than a little confused when we found ourselves being woken almost three hours out of Doha, barely four hours after the last meal was cleared away.
Doha Premium Terminal
The separate terminal offered for business and first class passengers connecting through Doha is heavily promoted by Qatar, but very tight connections on all my previous flights with them meant that this was the first time I’d really had a chance to spend any time there. Given the relentless hype Qatar spout about the facility, I found the whole experience really frustrating.
Somebody has taken the decision that nobody will help themselves to drinks and be served food whenever possible, but hasn’t bothered to provide enough staff or adequate facilities to accomplish this. The result is a series of farcical situations where distraught staff try to serve one customer while attempting to stop others helping themselves. Most ludicrously, one man attending a single, small, Nespresso coffee machine was attempting to, slowly, brew coffee for a line of customers, while fighting off the dozens trying to help themselves to soft drinks from the fridge behind him. This arrangement might have been charming when the airline was half the size it is today, but it needs to be swept away now. The drinks situation is exacerbated because everything is served in tiny glassware - very strange when the airline, commendably, uses adult-sized glassware on aircraft.
On top of the strange service protocols, the lounge also suffers from some very poor quality food and a desperate shortage of bathrooms. Not the premium experience Qatar promote an a million miles from the flagship lounges of airlines like Cathay Pacific, QANTAS, BA and even Finnair.
Doha to London Heathrow
Any thoughts that poor catering were down to local issues in Gatwick and Shanghai were dispelled on this final leg. The breakfast featured a startling combination of tinned peaches and unpeeled kiwi fruit. Lunch, featuring a chicken kebab (below) was better but, again, very small.
Overall, nobody would argue that these were uncomfortable flights, but after such a great experience with Qatar earlier in the year, it was a very disappointing trip.
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