September 25th, 2016
Qatar Airways 743 Doha (DOH) - Boston (BOS) Departure: 0839 Arrival: 1403 Duration: 12:24 Aircraft: Airbus A350-941
Registration: A7-ALE Seat: 9A (Business Class)
Qatar Airways was the launch customer of Airbus A350XWB on December 2014 and was the first commercial flight initiated on January 2015. As of now there are 10 A350s being flown and 70 more -900s/-1000s are on firm order coming soon. The A350 always amazed me since it entered production with its signature curved wingtip.
Qatar's A350 carries more passenger compared to their competitors Boeing 787s. There are 283 seats: 36 in business class with 1-2-1 configuration and 247 in economy class with 3-3-3 configuration. I found it interesting that Airbus usually has 2-4-2, 8 seat per rows with less width but Qatar Airways' A350 has 3-3-3. 9 seat with 18 inches of width. That's a thumbs up!
My flight to Boston was in business class cabin, each seating with direct aisle access. The seat, supplied by B/E Aerospace, are Super Diamond Seat design with 80 inches of pitch and 22 inches of width which goes 180 degrees fully flat. It is trimmed with finest Frette linens in maroon color just like the color of Qatar's flag. The seats are really comfortable and when duvet is added, it feels just like your home bed. By the way, Qatar Airways provide duvet starting from medium haul flight to maximize the relaxation of passengers traveling and 12 hours flight to Boston - probably no jet lag.
The Cabin:
With mood lighting time by time and beautifully designed refreshment area. Now I understand why Qatar Airways stays on the top 3 best airlines.
Qatar Airways Business Class Cabin: Charming combination of blue and purple mood light on the main business cabin (Row 1 to 6). It is also called light therapy to counteract the effects of jet lag.
Qatar Airways Business Class Cabin: On board, spacious beverage area with fresh fruits and champagne.
Qatar Airways Business Class Cabin: Technologically advance galley. I find the galley well designed than other types of aircraft.
The Seats:
Now, it gets more interesting. I kind of take privacy important factor while flying and the reverse herringbone seats on the A350 ensures that I can travel in comfort. There are quite a number of airlines introducing these reverse herringbone seats such as Air France, Cathay Pacific and many others. There might not be closed space unlike the APEX Suites in Korean Air, Japan Airlines, Oman Air etc., reverse herringbone seats are charming in many ways.
First of all, the window seats are the best since it faces away from the seats beside the aisle. There are more personal space for you and since its direct aisle seat, you don't have to be in a situation where you have to disturb other passengers when accessing the aisle.
Qatar Airways Business Class Seats: This is the mini cabin (Row 7-9) which feels less crammed than the main cabin.
Qatar Airways Business Class Seat: Seat 9A, window seat. Since seat 9E faces opposite, privacy is guaranteed.
Qatar Airways Business Class Seat: Seat selection buttons for different modes. Note that the arm rest is automatic contrary to the ones in A340-600s.
Qatar Airways Business Class Seat: Bright LED reading light.
Qatar Airways Business Class Seat: Just before sleep, duvet was provided by the cabin crew.
Qatar Airways Business Class Seat: Fully 180 degrees flat bed mode.
Qatar Airways Business Class Seat: Storage compartment right in front of left arm rest.
Qatar Airways Business Class Seat: Storage.
Qatar Airways Business Class Seat: Luxurious leather footrest with another storage space underneath it.
Qatar Airways Business Class Seat: The armrest that moves automatically upwards and downward from the modes.
Qatar Airways Business Class Seat: It is also a storage space for water bottle and headphone.
Qatar Airways Business Class Seat: Mini storage space for shoes.
Qatar Airways Business Class Seat: Huge space by the magazine rack.
In-flight Meals:
Qatar Airways has a on demand à la carte dining on long-haul flights. You can choose whatever you want to eat whenever you want. There are numerous options from the menu as well as the beverages. The food quality and plating was really impressive: Fresh ingredients and fresh fruits were all 10 out of 10. *On this flight, I forgot to take pictures of menu so I don't remember what exactly the meals were. But I will let it updated once I receive the menu booklet.*
Qatar Airways Business Class Welcome beverage.
Qatar Airways Business Class Menu and Beverage Menu.
Qatar Airways Business Class Breakfast: Cornflakes, croissant and muffin.
Qatar Airways Business Class Breakfast Appetizer: Ham, sun dried tomatoes, olives and goat cheese
Qatar Airways Business Class Breakfast Main: Scrambled egg with potatoes and steak.
Qatar Airways Business Class Breakfast Dessert: Fresh fruits.
Qatar Airways Business Class Snacks: Cheese plate with crackers and nuts.
Qatar Airways Business Class Lunch: Miso Soup.
Qatar Airways Business Class Lunch Main: Lamb Stew.
Qatar Airways Business Class Beverages: Non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice and orange mocktail.
In-flight Entertainment:
Oryx in flight entertainment system is the famous Qatar Airways 4th generation IFE with more than 1000 movies, music and many others. There were quite a number of latest released movies which are still not out in the public. Viewing these movies on a 17 inch high definition touch screen monitor with noise cancelling headphone is like your own quiet movie cinema.
Another IFE feature is the Wi-Fi and GSM services. Although the speed was slow, I had no problem uploading photos and blogs on social media. I have not tried the GSM services but it allows us to send SMS messages to people on the ground.
For those who always need to charge their devices, multi adapter power socket and USB port is by the armrest beside. I am not sure what is the use of the plug below USB port but it seems like some audio port.
Qatar Airways Business Class TV screen.
Qatar Airways Business Class Power and USB port.
Qatar Airways Business Class noise canceling headphones.
Qatar Airways Business Class touch screen remote controller.
One of the best features of A350 is the impressive tail camera. A wide camera is installed on the tail which enable passenger to view whats going on outside the aircraft. Well done!
Lavatories:
Pretty decent lavatory with amenities such as razor blade for male passenger and toothbrush set. You can see the flush button is actually on the top of the sink instead of usually being right above the toilet seat.
Qatar Airways Business Class Lavatory.
Extras:
The seat belt and non-smoking panel is actually in electronic screen which was new to me. There were even notification and writing appearing on the screen.
Qatar Airways Business Class seat belt panel.
Summary:
First of all, its already been almost 2 years but I would like to congratulate Qatar Airways being the launch customer of A350 series and letting me experience as this was my first time on board Airbus A350XWB. I saw a lot of improvements airline manufacturers are putting in to make airline travel exciting.
The cabin crews were professional and exceptional and I would like to thank all the crew members who were on this flight. One funny thing the crew told me on this flight was a passenger who was sitting across me pushed the call button almost like 100 times, which means back and forth 100 times for the crew members...
Anyway, this flight was enjoyable and I learned a lot of new things: From cabin design to different types of services on board plus the tail cam and the electronic fasten seatbelt panel. There are already quite a number of airlines with A350s and I am looking forward to all of them.