September 23rd, 2016
Qatar Airways 1148 Doha (DOH) - Muscat (MCT) Departure: 0040 Arrival: 0259 Duration: 1:01 Aircraft: Airbus B777-2DZ(LR)
Registration: A7-BBE Seat: 4B (First Class)
After coming out from the First Class Lounge in HIA, I went directly to the gate to try my second Boeing B777-200LR on the regional first class. I have flown with the long range 777s couple of times out of the horrible 16 hours flight from Los Angeles. It was always on economy class so the pain was double.
Qatar Airways usually deploys B77Ls to long range distance such as Houston and LA but there are also large number of passengers inside the Middle East so quite a number of wide body fleets are used in which B77Ls are one of them. On a international flight Qatar Airways sells premium class as Business Class but when they fly regionally, it is marked as First Class. The advantage of regional first class is that you can access the famous "Al Safwa First Class Lounge" at Doha with a reasonably priced first class.
The B77Ls are configured in two-class: First and Economy. First Class (=Business Class) has a cabin layout of 2-2-2 and economy class with 3-3-3 cabin. I have written a blog about the economy class (Click here) when I was on my way from LA few months ago. This time the "First Class." With 78 inches of pitch and 22 inches of width it offers a angled lie-flat bed seat. When I checked the seat map, it states that it is 180 degrees fully flat seat but it turns out to be angled. The flight depart around 1am in the morning and since it was a ultra short-haul, I did not expect a lot of in-flight services. Also I had to spend the night? at the airport as I was just doing turnaround catching up the 0645 flight back to doha.
The Cabin:
As you can see from the cover picture as well as the photo of the cabin below, a blue and purple mood light is shone throughout the flight. Because it was midnight, I can see Qatar Airways' kind consideration to all passengers that they do not get jet lagged even though it was only one hour flight. When entering the aircraft, the first thought will be "It is definitely business class!"
I am not sure how they set up the cabin on a day flight but the general atmosphere on night flight was more comfortable and quiet. There were couple of crews assigned in the First Class section so they can speed up servicing on such a short flight.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Cabin.
The Seats:
Most of the airlines uses Cradle Sleeper Seats on ultra short-haul flights but when the demand is too high for the passenger traveling to certain countries, the companies have to deploy a bigger birds on these route. For example, Singapore Airlines flies two-class B777s "9" times every day with almost 80 percent of seats occupied. As on my flight to Muscat, there were few passengers on First class, I saw a number of people boarding though Door 2L.
Qatar Airways' exclusive burgundy colored lie-flat seat were waiting for me as soon as I board. Seats are all equipped with 15 inch LCD display and a remote controller. There were a lot of storage spaces on different parts of the seat: By the armrest, below the IFE screen and in front of the tray table. However, it generally looks a bit outdated compared to the business products on B787s and others. Only the two middle seats are direct aisle accessible and the 4 on each window are not.
Also there is no window directly by the side on seat 4A and 4K so it feels more isolated in these two.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Seats: 4A and 4B
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Seat: 4B
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Seats: Angle lie flat bed.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Seat: Seat recline controller.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Seat: Water bottle holder.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Seat: Storage for books and small items.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Seat: Front storage space.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Seat: Blanket.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Seat: Reading lights.
In-flight Meals:
As a welcome drink, you can choose variety of different beverages and also the cabin crew will come by and give you a cup of arabic coffee with some Dates. Dates are always extremely sweet so it is a good combination with the arabic coffee.
When the aircraft climbs out, the meals-ready were immediately heated and served. There were not a lot of food served on the plate but better than nothing. I was able to fill up my stomach before another fight back to Doha in economy class.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Welcome Drink: Champagne and Arabic Coffee.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Meals: Chicken slice with Pita breads and a cake as a dessert.
In-flight Entertainments:
With 15 inch anti-glare monitor screen installed on each seat, passengers can enjoy variety of shows during the flight. The only thing disappointing is that the remote controller was old school and was not a touch screen. The buttons were so sensitive compared to recent touch screen controllers. This Oryx One entertainment (Panasonic ex2) is the same throughout the whole fleet.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class IFE: Touch screen monitor.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class IFE: Touch Screen Monitor.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class IFE: Noise cancelling headphones.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class IFE: Old type remote controller. (My remote controller was stuck inside the casing so I had to watch tv shows on 4A.)
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class IFE: Remote controller.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class IFE: Power socket.
Lavatories:
Lavatories have relatively wide sink and few amenities and facial sprays. It is always cleaned up perfectly after someone uses it. Water faucet is sensor type while changing the water temperature is manually done.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Lavatory.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Lavatory.
Qatar Airways B772LR First Class Lavatory: Razor blade and toothbrush set.
Summary:
It was such a short flight, as soon as I had the meal, we were descending to Muscat International Airport. The crews were rushing from take off to landing to ensure every in-flight services can be finished on time. I think the number of passengers traveling at 1am in the morning is really low as no one was sitting on row 2,3 and 4, I had a maximum privacy. Airline meals are always delicious for me so I don't have to mention that though the portion was very little. Crews were friendly and attentive throughout the flight. No wonder it is the best airline.
I am really impressed Qatar Airways sells First Class ticket which you can actually enter one of the best First lounges around the world. As I mention in the opening, you can pay less to try the Qatar Airways First Class Lounge next time if you travel around the Middle East.