We recently came back from our South African Safari trip. We had planned the flight bookings for this trip about a year in advance to ensure we could grab the Qatar Airways Qsuite business class flight to Johannesburg via Doha, and we were massively excited to try this famous business class experience for ourselves, which goes by the slogan ‘first in business‘.

In this post I will provide a full review of the flight from Doha DOH to Johannesburg JNB on board Qatar Airways’ Boeing 787-9. While this plane does not boast Qatar Airways Qsuite business class, it does feature Qatar Airways newest seat, which is the same seat that United, American and Hawaiian/Alaska are installing on their Boeing 787-9. It’s a popular reverse herringbone seat, and it’s comfortable. Overall, this flight was very good, with kind and attentive service and great food. But, I can’t deny that the Qsuite, purely in terms of the seat itself, is the winner. But had I not flown qSuite right before this one, I would have been none the wiser!

Specifically, this review concerns Qatar Airways flight QR1363 on May 16, departing 3:05AM from Doha DOH and scheduled to arrive in Johannesburg JNB at 10:30AM.

How I Booked This Flight

I’ve previously written in detail on how to book Qatar Airways business class seats. The approach to booking these seats would be identical regardless or whetehr they feature Qsuite or not, but you can count on the itineraries that use Qsuite to be very popular, and especially those between the US and Doha. So, you’ll want to be prepared, stake out the pattern of seat releases, and be ready to snatch them when they become available, a little under a year in advance. Or, be prepared to plan a trip at a moment’s notice when you find availability.

By planning in advance and booking right as the schedule opens, I was able to grab us two Qatar Airways business class seats for 95.000 Avios plus $287.20 per person in taxes and fees, with the following itinerary:

• Qatar Airways flight QR706 departing New York JFK on May 16 at 1:20AM and arriving in Doha DOH on May 17 at 8:45PM the next day.
• Qatar Airways flight QR1363 departing Doha DOH on May 18 at 2:35AM and arriving at Johannesburg JNB on May 18 at 10:00AM (this review).

Note that due to the war in the Middle East, our initial flight was cancelled, but we were able to rebook the same itinerary one day earlier. There were some small schedule changes, though, so the final itinerary was as follows:

• Qatar Airways flight QR706 departing New York JFK on May 15 at 1:20AM and arriving in Doha DOH on May 16 at 9:05PM the next day.
• Qatar Airways flight QR1363 departing Doha DOH on May 17 at 3:05AM and arriving at Johannesburg JNB on May 17 at 10:30AM (this review).

While I’d written last November about how our flight from Doha to Johannesburg had seemingly been upgraded from a Boeing 787-9 to an A350-1000 with Qsuite, that ended up being changed back. So, we ‘only’ had Qsuite on the leg JFK-DOH.

NOTE: these days, if you want to book Qatar Airways flights through Privilege Club for a companion, you need to add them onto your ‘List’. What that is and how to do that you can read in my step-by-step guide.

Doha Transfer Experience and Lounge Visit

We arrived in Doha from Qatar Airways flight QR706 from New York-JFK. I already published my review on Qatar Airways’ Qsuite Business Class on the A350-1000. We quickly transited transit security, and after a quick tour through the beautiful Orchard indoor garden, first made our way to the Al Mourjan Business lounge – The Garden (which I also reviewed), which is one of two fantastic Qatar Airways business class lounges at Doha.

At the Garden lounge we had a great shower, relaxed a bit, and had a small meal from the a la carte menu before visiting the other business class lounge: the Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge – South (which I reviewed as well). This is the original business class lounge, closer to the main security checkpoint as the famous ‘bear lamp’ statue. This is also a very nice lounge with very good amenities. However, in my mind the Garden lounge is superior. As such, also seeing that our flight would depart from gate C18, we went back to the Garden lounge and relaxed for the remainder of the time.

Boarding Process

While our departure time was supposed to be at 3:25AM, on our boarding passes it actually said 3:40AM, with a boarding time of 2:55AM. We were told in the lounge that, and I quote: “that’s just for the economy passengers. you can arrive at 3:15AM and that’s early enough”.

Boarding procedures at Doha are somewhat similar to those in Singapore. That is, the gate has a pre-boarding waiting area, ‘fenced’ off with glass partitions. You wait outside until closer to boarding, and then you pass a boarding pass check to get in, and you keep on waiting in that waiting area (though they only checked boarding documents and there was no security check, even if the equipment was present).

We listened to what the lounge attendants said, and arrived at the gate when all other passengers had already passed their checks and were seated in the pre-boarding waiting area. Boarding ultimately started at 3AM, with priority passengers called over first. We had learned from our flight JFK-DOH, and understood this included business class passengers, besides families and people needing more time down the jetway.

We showed our boarding passes at the gate doors and were promptly allowed through. Dual jetways were in use, and so we were able to take the first jetway, which had a sign welcoming those in business class.

By the jetway the friendly flight attendant welcomed me on board and motioned me to the second aisle on the right, where I quickly found my seat on the left side, at the window.

Boeing 787-9 Business Class Seat

Qatar Airways’ Boeing 787-8 business class cabin is not equipped with Qsuite. Qatar Airways doesn’t have a particular name for this seat product, but it’s based on the increasingly popular Adient Ascent seating platform, which is also used these days by airlines including including American Airlines, United and Alaska/Hawaiian on their Boeing 787-9 aircraft. It is a reverse herringbone seat in a 1-2-1 configuration, with privacy doors.

However, you’ll notice something interesting: it is not a full reverse herringbone seat. In fact, the window seats are reverse herringbone, whereas the center seats are herringbone seats. The intent is that in the center seats you can sit closer to your travel partner this way, since in a reverse herringbone seat you’d be sitting closer to the aisle.

As you can see, below, the center seats have a retractable divider in-between the seats. This can be pushed down in a similar fashion as in Qsuite. However, it never becomes a a double suite or double bed as in Qsuite, due to the angle of the seats.

I chose seat 2K for myself, which is the window seat in the second row on the right side of the plane, and my husband was behind me, in seat 3K. As you can see, this is a true reverse herringbone seat. It’s angled such that you more or less face the window. There is a small console on the right, with a closed storage compartment and a light. There are also doors. However, these could not be closed until after takeoff, so the picture sof that will follow later.

Truthfully, the seat appeared a little cramped to me. Not because the seat was actually cramped – it was perfectly fine with a respectable 21″ width and 42″ of pitch. However, after Qsuite any seat is bound to feel cramped given that Qsuite is a staggered layout where you’ve got the entire rectangular footprint allotted to you. Besides, Qsuite’s seat width is 21.5″, so not that different.

Sitting down, the seat feels comfortable, with a soft, well-padded seating surface and backrest. The high definition 18″ entertainment monitor is immediately in front. This is an excellent screen size, though perhaps no longer unique among the newest seating platforms. Right below that is the footwell, which looked like it may turn out a little tight. There is no additional storage there, so you can only put things on the ottoman itself.

On the aisle side of the seat is an armrest that can be raised. There is a button on the front that can be pushed to move the armrest up or down.

On the window side of the seat you’ll find the console with all seat functions and storage compartments. There is a little shelf to the front, and immediately below that the seat controls. Then there is a large shelf on top, and this is where a very nice-looking amenity kit was waiting for me. The back wall of the seat included a closed storage compartment, two lights, a holder for your phone, electrical and headphone plugs, and a remote control.

The seat controls include presets for lie flat, lounge mode and full upright, as well as buttons to separately control the legrest, and a ‘don’t disturb’ button. Note that the preset buttons can be held and released to put the seat into any position between upright and lie-flat, so it’s not like you’re stuck with 3 presets only.

The shelf held a pre-packaged wet towel with Dyptique branding, and smelled very nice. In terms of plugs, there was a universal electrical plug and below that a USB-A plug. Right beside that was a headphone plug.

The back wall had a small spotlight besides the larger light, which could be turned on by pushing the top of it in. Right below that was a nifty feature: a wireless charing pad for you phone built into a phone holder, with a tight clamping mechanism. This worked great! And I think it’s such a smart way of doing this, too. This way, your phone doesn’t move off the charging pad with turbulence, to ensure it keeps charging.

Beside the charing pad is a storage compartment, which held the noise canceling headphones. On the compartment door was also a large mirror.

To the left of the entertainment monitor was the literature pocket. This included all the usual safety cards, as well as the menus: a dining and a drinks menu.

The table is stowed away under the screen. This can be pulled forward with relative ease, and it can then be rotated to the right to use its full width. Once rotated, the table can also be moved back and forth, to allow yoiu to get out of the seat during dinner (though it’s still a bit tight).

Finally, to my delight, Qatar Airways has individual air nozzles on it’s Boeing 787-9. To be fair, they also have it on the A350, but since there are no overhead bins in the center, the honeymoon seats don’t have the air nozzles either. At least on the 787-9, I was able to stay relatively cool during all stages of flight, even when fully flat and trying to sleep.

Overall, the (reverse) herringbone seat on Qatar Airways’ Boeing 787-9 is a very comfortable seat that compares favorably with other seats of its kind. It utilizes the space well, with a large, high definition screen, smart placement of the table, console and storage compartment, and I love the unique wireless phone charger. There isn’t much storage at the seat unfortunately, but that’s not uncommon with such seats. The seat also offers privacy: you can’t see any other passengers thanks to the walls and openings being positioned such that you won’t see anything besides the occasional leg of a neighbor. And when you vlose the door, it’s just you.

By the way, Qatar Airways has a cool 3D virtual tour of the seats on this plane: check it out.

Business Class Amenities

Waiting at the seat were several amenities, including noise canceling headphones and a bottle of water. The headphones are a little small for my ears so were not all that comfortable unfortunately, but they worked well.

Also at the seat was a beautiful amenity kit, which was in collaboration with French perfume brand Dyptique. I think this is one of the most exciting and impressive amenity kits currently out there. Note that there’s multiple variants as well: On this flight there were blue rectangular pouches for the men and red cylindrical ones for the females. This stands in contrast to the selection on our JFK-DOH Qsuite flight, which were different design in green and eggshell, and were equally pretty.

In terms of the content, there’s eye shades, socks, ear plugs and a dental kit, as well as a selection of Dyptique products. These included a lip balm, body (hand?) lotion, a facial mist and perfume. The perfume appeared to be different depending on whether it was a male or female-oriented kit, though all the other products were the same. Overall, what an excellent amenity kit!

Qatar Airways also provides pajamas on flights over 5 hours in length. These are made by The White Company, and feel soft and comfortable. At the time of writing these pajamas are Formula 1-themed, which is pretty cool. The pajamas include a long-sleeved shirt, long pants and slippers, though as usual, the slippers were a little small for my feet.

At the seat were also a set of bedding, including a large, substantial pillow, a smaller pillow that’s a little bit more flimsy, and can actually be taken home, as well as a large, velvety and soft blanket. This is a great set of bedding, better than you’ll find on most airlines. Note that you’ll also get a mattress, but the flight attendant will be happy to place that on your seat when you’re ready to go to sleep. At that time she’ll also put down a cover for the seat, and for the pillow as well.

Finally, there were a drink and a food menu available as well.

Overall, Qatar Airways presents you a solid selection of amenities, with the highlights being the impressive Dyptique amenity kit, and the high-quality selection of bedding. It’s nice to see that these amenities are available on flights of different length, be it from New York to Doha or Doha to Johannesburg, and also are not specific to the kind of business class seat you find yourself in.

Departure from Doha

Very soon after getting seated, the flight attendant serving my aisle introduced herself as Ivy, and welcomed me by name. She would turn out to be lovely and very personable! She asked what welcome drink I’d like, and I requested the Brut Champagne. I only waited about 5 minutes for that to be brought to me (in a real champagne flute!), and a short while later, the cabin supervisor, Michelle, came by to introduce herself as well, and welcomed me on board.

About 10 minutes past and Ivy returned to ask for my meal preferences. I decided to make all my selections before departure, as I was curious if everything would be brought as ordered (spoiler alert: it was!). In the next 5 minutes we talked through the menu, and she inquired about all the details. I much appreciated her patience! For example, it was possible to leave certain ingredients out, get drinks served at certain times, down to the detail of whether I’d have liked a cookie with my tea. I thought the attention to detail was impressive.

At 3:30 it seems were were about ready to go. A short prayer was screened, and then the safety video, which features Kevin Hart and is… sort of funny.

We pushed back around 3:35am, about 10 minutes behind schedule. A few minutes later the crew came by to collect the glassware of the welcome drink and any napkins that had been served with it. By 3:40am we started taxiing and we were on our way. At first it seemed like the windows were locked in dark mode (Qatar Airways’ Boeing 787 has the dimmable shades), but fortunately they were unlocked for departure.

We only had a short taxi to the runway, and we got to runway 34L, our departure runway, a few minutes later. We had to wait for some landing tarffic, but at 3:51am we rolled onto the runway. After a short stop, the engines spooled up for takeoff power and we advanced into the night, lifting off for a smooth climb out shortly after.

At 3:58, less than 10 minutes after takeoff, even though the fasten seatbelt sign was not turned off yet, flight attendants sprung into action, starting by closing the curtains to the galley. They then turned up the lights in the cabin and passed by to unlock the suite doors. I gave it a try to see what that felt like. The door moves smoothly and doesn’t need much strength to put it in motion, but as you can see it doesn’t close completely: there’s a 1cm gap. I do like the private feeling this gives.

It took a while for the fasten seatbelt sign to be turned off. My chamomile tea and the juice I ordered as a start to my breakfast was brought around 4:08am. At 4:15am the signs still weren’t turned off, so I decided to just go ahead and go to the restroom to change into the loungewear.

What’s interesting in this Qatar Airways Boeing 787-9 is that they actually kept the bar in the back: this is a feature I’ve never actually seen yet, but it’s quite lovely. It gives the cabin an open feeling unlike anything I’ve seen on this plane type. This is also where during the flight the crew has a grab-and-go kind of snack buffet, with packages snacks, fruits, and napkins.

Lavatories

On their Boeing 787-8, Qatar Airways has only two restrooms in business class: two at the back, and none at the front. These are reserved for business class, at least, so there shouldn’t be any economy passengers to share it with.

These lavatories are very nice! For today’s standards, where lavatories seem to be getting smaller and tighter all the time, this is a very spacious lavatory indeed. In front is the sink, and to the left you’ll find a variety of amenities. Also, there is a window! Not that there’s anything to see out the window right now, it being dark outside.

In terms of amenities, these are all by Dyptique. There is hand soap right by the sink, and then there’s a facial mist and a hand lotion in the cabinet on the left. Above that you’ll find dental kits, which I also used to brush my teeth at this time. finally, you’ll find a foldable table, which is affixed to the back wall, by the door. This is meant as an infant changing table, but I find it very useful to put stuff as I change into the loungewear.

Overall, a great lavatory on this Qatar Airways Boeing 787-9. It is spacious, has a window, and the selection of Dyptique amenities are high quality and smell nice. I will also add that the lavatory was kept very clean throughout the flight – the crew did a great ob keeping the lavatory smelling fresh.

Entertainment System and WiFi

Qatar Airways entertainment system is called oryx One, and it’s renowned for boasting an excellent selection of content. I had gotten acquainted with the system on the A350 on the previous flight, so I was interested to see that the 787-9 appeared to have a slightly different version of the system.

On th surface it looks quite similar, with these columnar division of the main screen, and each column being a category of content. The categories were a little different compared to the A350, and actually I thought it was easier to find things in here. For example, the Camera Views were right there, whereas on the A350 they were a little hidden.

If you tap the menu icon in the top left, you’ll access the categories as well, and this can be useful to quickly change between categories. On the top right, then, there is a settings menu, with various options for both the entertainment system and the seat. That includes dimming the windows for instance.

Tapping one of the category ‘columns’ will change the background of the system, and can also bring up a variety of subcategories, such as you can see below when tapping ‘My Trip’. You can also scroll to the right, to reveal additional categories.

evidently I mde these photos while still on the ground, but as you can see there is a forward-facing and a down-facing camera to choose from:

The map feature is always fun and useful to keep track of your flight. it has all the usual features, including various pre-set views of the route, with a 3D version of the plane as marker of your position, and a screen with various flight details.

Selecting a category brings up sub categories, which you can pick from, but tapping that will bring you to a screen where you can actually scroll between these categories. From here you can select content to watch or listen. There were plenty of choices, including movies and TV shows…

…as well as different choices for audio. I like the mix of content, too, reflecting the passenger profile that Qatar Airways serves, which includes passengers from around the world.

Finally, there were also games to pick from, which mostly seemed to be ‘simple’ boardgame-type games or word puzzles and such.

I decided to continue watching the ‘Second Best Marigold Hotel’, which I’d started watching on the flight to Doha, but never got to finish. Note that there is also a controller, which is not really needed but can be helpful during meal servcie, for example.

Besides the entertainment system, Qatar Airways has Wifi from Inmarsat Global on its Boeing 787-9. This is a step down from the WiFi on the A350, which is by StarLink. That proved to be a transformative experience, with fast speeds and low latency. Unfortunately, for much of the first half of the flight to Johannesburg, there actually wasn’t any WiFi connectivity at all. This is not uncommon over Africa, mind you. Thankfully, Starlink is on the way for the Boeing 787-9 fleet as well.

It was only around 9:30am, after waking up from my sleep, that I tried the WiFi and it appeared to work. Logging it was easy using my Privilege Club account details (email and password), and this was enough to get 1 hour of free WiFi. Unfortunately a full flight pass seemed to be $10, and wasn’t complimentary for business class. Mind you, $10 is cheap for a full flight pass, but it did seem to be non-functional for half the flight.

Overall, Qatar Airways’ entertainment system is very good. It’s easy to navigate, responsive to your taps and commands, and has a ton of options ranging from movies to TV shows and audio and games. The WiFi on the 787 is a bit of a letdown, as it wasn’t free for business class passengers, and was not operational for quite some time. That’s not Qatar Airways fault, though.

Qatar Airways Breakfast Service

As I mentioned, the full drinks and food menu was provided at the seat, so I had time then to go over it and give Ivy my choices before we even took off.

Similarly, I had asked for particular drinks at certain times, such as the chamomile tea to start.

At 4:34am Ivy came to set the table with the white table cloth, and then soon returned with the bread basket, faux candle, cutlery and butter. I was also offered a choice of jam, and I selected the strawberry jam. I really love that candle. I know it’s kind of a gimmick but it’s a little touch that elevates the setting from a airplane to more like a restaurant, and I think it’s a clever idea.

I had chosen the fresh fruit as the starter, which was presented on a rectangular, dark plate. The fruits were refreshing, and I especially liked the sweet and sour contrast from the pineapple and kiwi. I thought it was nicely presented, cut down to bite-size pieces.

For the main I selected the Qatari breakfast, which came with raw tomato, cucumber and lettuce, and then pita, olives and a dish called ‘Foul bil tahina’, which was supposed to come with feta. I had asked if it could be served without, and was curious if it’d indeed be served this way – and it was! It’s fantastic that you can ask to customize your meals this way.

Overall, a very nice breakfast service. The food was tasty and refreshing, and it was nice to taste something from the Qatari kitchen as well. The service was great, with Ivy being personable yet efficient. All in all, the last dishes were cleared at 5:07, only about 40 minutes after it started. That’s a good pace of service, and reflects the personalized nature of it all: since food is delivered at your pace, brought to you individually on a tray rather then from a cart rolled down the aisle, everybody can enjoy their meal at their leisure. A truly lovely way to dine without feeling like you;’re just sitting around waiting for others to finish theirs.

Fully flat: Sleeping on the Qatar Airways Boeing 787-9

After dinner, I was offered a hot drink by Michelle, the supervisor. I ordered some chamomile tea which was brought a few minutes later. I sipped it slowly, putting my seat in more of a lounge mode to finish the Marigold Hotel. After doing so, I moved on to Life of Pi, which believe it or not, I still hadn’t seen after all this time. But, soon after I started my eyes started to close and I figured it was time for bed.

At 5:26am I called the flight attendant for turndown service. This is where they ready your seat for bed by putting the mattress and a mattress cover, and also covers for your pillow. I then put it fully flat myself and unfolded the blanket, to ready the seat for sleep, like so:

I really, truly love this bit of the service. Qatar Airways is not the only airline to provide this, but I was pleasantly surprised how happy and ready to do this the flight attendants are, both on this flight and on the flight to Doha. They are efficient about it too, taking only a minute or two. Just keep in mind that multiple passengers are likely to want to go to sleep at the same time, so sometimes you may have to wait shortly for them to get to you (as was the case for me here, but I only waited 2 minutes).

I went to sleep around 5:33am. The bed was comfortable. It’s of course more cramped than in Qsuite, but it didn’t bother me. I thought it was cozy and that feeling was amplified with the door closed. The footwell, while seemingly tight, wasn’t too bad either: as a side sleeper, I wasn’t uncomfortable. But, thank god for the air vents! Qatar Airways does like to keep its cabins on the warmer side, so having the air vent proved important to keep me from getting to hot.

I think I took me a little bit of time to fall asleep, and my sleep certainly wasn’t deep. That said, it was around 9am when Ivy came by to wake me up. We were over Tanzania at that time:

Overall, the seat is comfortable and private in bed mode. With the mattress especially, the seat makes for s oft sleeping surface and I love the feeling of the suite with the door closed. It feels like your own private cocoon. Definitely a place where one can get a good sleep.

Pre-Landing Lunch Service

I was about half-awake when Ivy came by, and I kept on lying a bit longer, resting my eyes. She was back at 9:10 to set the table for the pre-landing meal, with all the items presented and the starter arriving at 9:17am. As you an see, the selection of bread reflects that this now a lunch service, as the croissant is missing and instead we have a selection of rolls. Truthfully, I was still full all the food on the flight to Doha and at the lounge, but I was determined to finish this meal as well!

For the started I had selected the herb-crusted beef roll, which actually turned out to be a cold dish. This wasn’t my favorite dish, as the cold serving made the beef a bit hard and lose its taste. The herbs were pleasant though, and I liked the sweet potato and mushroom it was served on.

The appetizer was cleared at 9:24am and soon after my main arrived: the Moroccan spiced lamb. This was served hot with some saffron rice, and this was very tasty. The sauce was tomato-based, and was complemented well by the spices. The lamb was properly cooked and was quite tender. Overall a great dish that I would have been sad to return, so despite being very full I still managed to finish it.

I finished the dish about 20 minutes later, and Ivy stopped by to clear most everything, except for the candle and the glass of water. Within 5 minutes the dessert arrived, which was the ‘gourmet ice cream selection’. In hindsight, I should have had the toffee pudding, but I was very full and I thought the ice cream would freshen me up a bit. Which it did, but the ice cream was so frozen that I couldn’t eat it. Fortunately it didn’t take long to soften and I finished it 15 minutes later. At that point Ivy cleared the table and asked if I wanted anything else, so I resorted to my old favorite: chamomile tea.

So despite the fact that I was rather stuffed already, I still managed to finish my pre-landing meal, courtesy of the tasty food. I will say that the started wasn’t my favorite, and I think it would have been better if served warm. The main was delicious though, and so was the dessert, after it had softened. Overall, yet again a great meal service!

Arrival at Johannesburg JNB

At this point we were getting closer to Johannesburg, and it had started to become light outside. It was awesome to finally be able to see Africa below:

I set out to finish Life of Pi, and this is what I did for most of the remainder of the flight. Around 10:55am, which was only about 35 minutes before arrival, I viisted the lavatory to chang back to my normal clothing and brush my teeth. It’s really nice to be able to sit in the plane in pajamas and change back at the end of the flight, as it keeps your day clothing relatively fresh. At this point we were very close to Johannesburg already:

When I returned to my seat, I found the seat had returned to its normal state, with the mattress and such removed, and the blanket neatly folded and left on my chairs. What a nice attention to detail!

The captain was then back on the PA to announce we were about 30 minutes out and would start the descent soon. We’d be arriving around 11:05am local time at the gate, which was about 35 minutes later than the original itinerary. But, our boarding passes did state a departure time 20 minutes later what we originally thought, so some delay was expected. Overall, not bad at all. He also gave some details on the weather and such, and thanks us all for flying with Qatar Airways. Ivy came back around to collect the menus and any trash, and soon after also passed by with wet towels to freshen up before landing.

As we were descending lower and lower, we got to see South Africa for the first time this trip, with its beautiful landscapes. Around 10:30am local time (South Africa is 1 hour behind Qatar) the captain asked crew to get seated. On the way down, I got some great views of the sprawling city below me:

We finally touched down at 10:45am local time, left the runway, and taxied over to the stand, where we arrived at 10:55am local time.

It didn’t take long for the jetway to be connected and the door opened. We were disembarking through the second set of doors, and were out soon enough. I took one last look at the lovely 787-9 that brought me here, before following proceeding through the jetway.

Following the arrows to immigration, here waited us a final, pleasant surprise: at Johannesburg, there is. premium passenger line, specifically for first and business class passengers! This is awesome. We took it, and our boarding pass was checked to ensure we could use it. We waited shortly for the next available agent, but within 5 minutes ro so, we were stamped into South Africa. A 26-hour journey or so had finally come to an end, but it was a fantastic set of flights!

Qatar Airways Service

Qatar Airways is well known for a high service standard, and this flight was a good example of that. My main interactions were with Ivy, whose service was lovely throughout the flight. She was generous, kind and efficient, bringing requested items speedily and always with a smile. Above all, I was struck by how happy she and the rest of the crew were to provide requested service.

For example, when Ivy took my meal order, she patiently walked me through the menu and carefully noted my requests, including removing certain ingredients, and ensured that my requests were always honored. When I requested turndown service, Ivy was happy to oblige, and provided the service efficiently. The cabin supervisor, Michelle, was equally pleasant, and always was happy to step in if Ivy was serving others.

This experience does tell me that despite the high service standard at Qatar Airways, there are differences between individual flight attendants. Which I suppose is not strange – we’re all human after all and we all have our good and bad days. Case in point: the attendant serving my aisle on the flight to Doha was not quite as good as Ivy. The difference is less in the physical effort of serving meals and such, and more in the attitude while doing it. She was less personable and less proactive. Though I should also clarify that the service all-around is still very high! But even at the top, there’s differences between ‘very good’ and ‘great’, and that’s merely what I’m pointing out.

All in all though, the service on this flight was excellent and I’m looking forward to my next flight with Qatar Airways!

Summary

Qatar Airways truly nails it, I gotta admit. This flight from Doha to Johannesburg was on their Boeing 787-9, which does not feature Qsuite seats. It’s only because of that that I wouldn’t say this is the best business class out there – because that honor I already bestowed on Qatar Airways’ A350 with Qsuite.

That said, the (reverse) herringbone seats on this plane (reverse or not depends on whether you sit by the window or aisle) is still very good, and a pleasure to fly in. It’s comfortable, as a seat and as a bed, and has a range of new technologies that are also smartly executed, such as the wireless phone charger with a clamp, so you can charge the phone vertically in its own slot. The food is equally good and I’d say the service, on balance, was better on this flight than the one to Doha. Overall, I can absolutely recommend Qatar Airways business class – just confirm what plane you’ll be flying or the seat may look a little different from what I’ve reviewed here.