I enjoyed a delicious lemon mint drink before the ultra-longhaul flight from LAX to DOH on Qatar’s A350-1000 Qsuite Business Class. Photo by: Evan Berman

This year, I am really taking to heart the concept of endless summer as I once again found myself escaping the North American winter by traveling to the Southern Hemisphere. Don’t worry, I packed sunscreen! I flew from the US to South Africa via Doha, Qatar, using one of the great sweet spots in the points & miles game: US to South Africa in Business Class for just 75,000 American Airlines miles (and $52, for those keeping score)!

On my flight from LAX to Doha, I flew the A350-1000 (A35K) in the lauded Qsuite Business Class seat. Then, after just over an 8-hour layover, I continued down to South Africa in the A350-900 with reverse herringbone seats. I opted to fly out of LAX for a couple of points and miles reasons–

• I wanted to ensure I flew the Qsuite and the A350-1000 which is assigned to the LAX route is the only plane type where all Qatar planes have the world-renowned Qatar Qsuite Business Class seating.
• I wanted to fly American Airlines’ Flagship First product before it disappears sometime next year, so this trip was the perfect time to do so as I ended up flying JFK-LAX in First on the specially configured A321T with lie-flat seats in a 1-1 configuration. This also allowed me to try the new Chelsea Lounge at JFK, which is AA and British Airways’ new First Class Lounge (you may only access with a valid First Ticket, it is not a oneworld Emerald Lounge)
• Finally, I also got to experience Qantas’ First Class Lounge at LAX before my flight due to my oneworld Emerald Status with American Airlines. I really enjoyed having a leisurely meal at the airport with solid Australian wine and a nice liquor and champagne selection. Reviews of all of the above to come soon!

This was not my first time flying on Qatar, as I previously flew from Bangkok to Doha in First Class on the A380-800 and Business Class on the short flight from Doha to Kuwait City in a Boeing 777-300ER leased from Cathay Pacific, featuring reverse herringbone seats. I’ll focus on the QSuites experiences that many people view as the pinnacle of modern Business Class but will also use my experience on all of these flights to give additional color.

What is this “Qsuite?”

The three most common types of seating configurations are:

1. staggered,
2. reverse herringbone, and
3. Apex Suites

Each of these have distinctive pros and cons. Staggered seats are what I have flown on LATAM (but only on the 767-300 and some 787-9 planes, not the 787-8 that I flew from Lima to Miami back in 2022. I have since flown the other two, reviews are coming!) and Turkish Airlines (but only on their A350-900 and 787-9) and will be recounting my experiences of flying United’s 777-300ER (and all their widebody planes) and Thai Airways’ A350-900. Seats alternate from row to row. Imagine 8 possible seats, A, B, D-G, J, and K. That means the odd rows will feature seats 1A, 1E, 1F, and 1K while the even rows will feature seats 2B, 2D, 2G, and 2J. As you might imagine, those even rows feature “window seats” that are closer to the aisle and so-called “honeymoon seats” that are close together in the middle. On the flipside, the odd aisles have true window seats while the middle seats are further apart (and closer to the aisle). Many people such as myself like these seats, particularly the true window seats for individuals or the honeymoon seats for couples. That said, the footwell is a hole in the storage table next to your seat, which means that it may be quite small.

Reverse herringbone seats are named after the herringbone pattern (or at least the inverse of it!). Every seat in this type of business class cabin is exactly the same, though the bulkhead seats may be bigger and/or have more room. Unlike with the example of the staggered seats, the rows would be consistent such as 1A, 1C, 1D, and 1F for odd rows and then 2A, 2C, 2D, and 2F for even rows as well.

Apex suites are in a 2-2-2 or 2-3-2 layout but each seat has aisle access. How does that work? the adjacent seats (so 1A and 1B on the window or 1D and 1E in the middle) are slightly offset. The window seats and center middle seats are positioned slightly in front of the aisle seats or aisle middle seats such that there is a walkway that allows you to get from the window to the aisle without stepping over the person next to you. The upside is that you have nearly unlimited legroom and no footwell issues, which can be great for tall people such as my 6’2″ self. However, you have very little storage room.

Which one is Qsuite?

Business Class Seats have come a long way. In 2000, British Airways introduced the first lie-flat seats in Business Class. As recently as 2016, United Airlines primarily flew a long-haul Business Class with seats in a 2-4-2 configuration! In fact, those seats are still found on certain United flights, almost exclusively to/from Hawaii. Turkish Airlines, to whom I gave such high marks for their food and seat, still features a 2-3-2 configuration in Business Class on many routes, including the 5x daily flights to New York (2x to EWR, 3x to JFK).

For better or for worse, depending on your perspective, the trend in Business Class has been towards privacy. That means two things: 1) most widebody Business Class cabins are arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration and 2) DOORS! Doors are all the rage with cutting-edge seats. Nearly every airline that has come out with a new business class in the past 7 years have installed some sort of door and now call the business class seat a suite.

Delta Airlines kicked off this revolution by introducing doors on their Delta One products– though it is a bit confusing as Delta calls all International Business Class cabins Delta One. They only introduced doors on the Boeing 777-300ER (now retired), A350-900 planes (except for the ones they acquired from LATAM), and the A330-900neo. However, Qatar beat them to the punch by rolling out the now famous Qsuite in 2017, months before Delta put their Delta One cabins into service.

Qsuites are a modified staggered configuration. As mentioned previously, this means that each row alternates between having true window seats with center seats that are further from each other than window seats closer to the aisle with center seats that are next to each other. Qatar Airways takes this to the next step– the direction that you face is alternated based on the row as well. This means that the rows which are closer to the window and further apart in the center face backwards (towards to the tail of the aircraft, rather than the nose) while the rows which have window seats closer to the aisle and center seats next to each other are forward-facing.

In the center seats, Qatar has designed the barriers between rows and seats such that if you would like (if you are seated next to a stranger, you do not have to do this of course!), you may turn the center seats into a double bed and even lower the barriers between rows such that you can have a business meeting or spend family time with four people!

How Was the Flight?

With that out of the way, let’s get into the flight. Nearly every aviation site ranks Qatar Qsuites as the best Business Class and Akbar Al Baker, the former chairman and CEO of Qatar Airways– and someone you can always count on to provide *unbiased and very realistic* language– called it First in Business aka Business Class so good that First Class would become obsolete. So, I understandably had high expectations. On my previous two flights with Qatar, I had terrible service in First Class from Bangkok to Doha (the FA seemed to dislike me and not only ignored me for the entire flight but appeared upset when I asked for more water, dessert, etc. The purser, on the other hand, was quite friendly and nice) and excellent service on the short Doha-Kuwait flight of roughly 47 minutes takeoff to touchdown. Unfortunately, I had the same experience this time around– the longer flight to Doha featured uneven and at times rude service while the shorter flight from the Doha hub had attentive and friendly service.

The LAX-DOH flight is the 18th longest flight in the world, clocking in at 8,306 miles and with a blocked time of 15 hours and 35 minutes on the eastbound flight (due the way winds flow, flights to the east are shorter in duration than those flying west). As such, I had plenty of time to enjoy the comfortable seats, have delicious meals, watch some tv and movies, and sleep! Here is a recap of my experience, with categories going from most to least important, according to me:

Seat:

The seat is the most important part of a long flight such as this. If you are a normal human being, you are not accustomed to sitting upright for 15 hours without going to the bathroom, sleeping, stretching your legs, etc. This is why business class seats are so important on long-haul flights. This is one area where I felt the hype around the Qsuites was overblown. I believe that doors are a gimmick, rather than a terrific aspect of the modern business class seat. One reason? The seats are narrow. The doors take up valuable space so that the area you have to move about and store items is restricted. In fairness, this product is still excellent and one of the best business class seats I’ve ever experienced, tied with LATAM’s 787-9 1-2-1 configuration, behind only United Polaris. Here are some photos:

Food and Drink:

Some people might disagree that the quality (and quantity) of food and drink is important on a flight, but 1) it’s my blog 😉 and 2) on a flight that lasts 15+ hours and takes the better part of 2 full days with the time zone adjustment, you’ll want to have good food! In this case, the food was very good but not quite great. I’d prefer that an airline get the dishes right even if it is just a grilled cheese, rather than try and serve “luxurious dishes” that are just ok. I found that the food was significantly worse than Turkish Airlines. Of course, that is a high bar to surpass, but the difference was material. In fact, I had better food on a flight with American Airlines the night before (this was technically Flagship First Class, but on a shorter JFK-LAX flight)! Here are the menus:

Here are photos of the meals and drinks:

Service:

Service unsurprisingly does not get any pictures. Let me first state my expectations. After all, I don’t rate a Spirit Airlines flight attendant the same way that I rate an Emirates First Class flight attendant. As mentioned above, I had flown Qatar Airways twice previously, once in First Class on the A380, and once in Business Class in the 3-class “Qatar Pacific” 777-330ER leased from Cathay Pacific. The former featured surprisingly unpleasant service with an FA who seemed to dislike me personally, was invisible, and even when the call button was used (which is encouraged on most Middle Eastern and Asian carriers, unlike on US carriers), seemed inconvenienced, while the latter featured a extraordinarily friendly service, pre-departure beverage, 3-course meals service and highly encouraged to-go alcohol on a ~45 minute flight. All of that to say, I went in with slightly lower expectations than you might assume based on the nearly undisputed #1 Business Class ranking that Qatar enjoys on many travel sites. Unfortunately, I was still underwhelmed. Here are a few concrete examples:

• Early on, my seat did not recline (I do not hold this against either the airline or the FAs, it could happen to anyone) and eventually got stuck less than 1 hour into the flight. A very nice purser in training came over and seemed eager to get it fixed. She called for her supervisor, presumably the purser (not that he introduced himself!) whose first interaction with me was to castigate me, “you probably put something under the seat. Make sure there is nothing under it or else it won’t recline.” After politely assuring him that there was nothing under the seat, he made sure to double check and then later tell me to stay clear of the area under my seat– if that’s not why the seat malfunctioned, could you at least apologize for the inconvenience or be friendly (ex. “here you go, hope you enjoy your flight!” after fixing the issue)?
• The FA was very by the books. I asked for breakfast just over 1 hour before landing and she informed me that the kitchen was closed. I had to make do with some pastries. Not a big deal, but i’d like to highlight the way that this was phrased– as someone who worked in the upscale restaurant business (which is what an FA on Qatar is attempting to replicate), you are trained to respond by offering a substitute or equivalently attractive offer. Notice how my preferred, “I’m sorry, the crew has informed me that the oven has been powered down. Can I interest you in some pastries and juice?” is superior to the actual “The kitchen is closed. You can have bread if you want.” Notice how the latter insinuates that your (or my, in this case!) request is a hassle, rather than a reasonable request? See above notes on how I have previously been treated on a Qatar flight, nonetheless, to a 3-course meal on a 47 minute flight! This is not an impossible ask!

While the service was not bad (except for the purser/cabin manager, I’m still not sure what his position was), it was no better than ok which is disappointing on an ultra-long haul flight on Qatar’s flagship A350-1000 plane.

Entertainment:

I know that some people are quite picky about what they watch. As someone who does not regularly watch tv shows or movies, I am very easy to please on a plane. I enjoy the natural entertainment the most– looking out the window, especially when the sun is rising or setting (and if I am lucky, as with the Boston to Dublin flight in May of 2024, catching a glimpse of the Northern Lights!). When it gets dark and I am looking to watch something, I’ll usually go for an easy to follow/enjoy show or movie. Case in point, I watched Back to The Future II and Gods of Tennis, a docuseries focusing on the impact (both off the court and on the court) of several famous tennis players. Here are a few highlights of the views and inflight entertainment:

Recap:

I flew Qatar Airways’ A350-1000 in their famous Qsuite Business Class and came away underwhelmed– yes, the seat was very comfortable, the food and drinks were terrific for Business Class, and the A350-1000 is an incredible plane, but the service was again poor– even with lower expectations than when I flew them in First Class previously– and the experience was not as good as either Turkish Airlines or somewhat surprisingly United (granted, my only Polaris Business Class experience thus far was on the Honolulu to Guam route, which is legacy Continental and still a pride point in the UA operation). If you can find availability from the US to Doha and onward to your preferred destination for 70,000-85,000 miles or Avios, definitely do so.

That being said, I will likely choose to fly Etihad Business Class to the Middle East the next time instead (and would certainly prefer flying Turkish Business Class through Istanbul, then connecting onward)! Doha’s Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge gets unbelievably busy during peak times (10pm-3am and 7am-9am) and while the Al Safwa First Class Lounge was amazing (I spend several hours here after my First Class flight from Bangkok), there are few routes where you are eligible– just the majority of the Middle East routes (excluding a few such as Salalah, Oman) and the routes where there is 3-cabin First Class… Bangkok (occasionally), Perth, Sydney (occasionally), Malé (the Maldives, occasionally), Paris, and London. This list is of course subject to change.

As always, please let me know your thoughts after reading. Have you flown Qatar before? Do you agree with my review? Stay tuned for more picture-focused reviews such as this one– I’ve had a wonderful start to the year with travel and look forward to sharing with you!