Qatar Airways Business Class JIB-DOH Review. Great Fish, Bribes, Souvenirs And Men With Guns

ByEdward Pizzarello
a man and woman standing together

In case you’re just joining us, here’s what I’ve covered so far on my trip to Djibouti for a UNICEF relief delivery:

This will be a quick review, mostly because I was pretty exhausted when I boarded the flight.  We had our interesting diversion to Athens and our fun in Djibouti, but the sleep meter was running pretty low.  Maybe it was the men with guns?

At any rate, the 4 of us were near the front of the pack to board since we were all flying in business class.  This was a relatively short redeye flight, my least favorite flights.  Normally, JIB-DOH would be a 2.5 hour flight.  But, due to a severe deterioration in the relationship with neighboring countries, Qatar Airways has no choice but to fly the very long way to Doha.  Our flight time was scheduled for 5 hours.  So, maybe 4 hours of sleep if I was lucky?  We trudged across the tarmac to our awaiting plane.

I must have looked at the seat maps wrong when planning my trip, because I was pretty sure I saw a standard “domestic US” style reclining business class seat.  Or, it could just have been pre-disposition to expect that an Airbus A320 wouldn’t have lie-flat seats.  One of the folks traveling with me thought we might have lie-flat seats even for the short flight.  I was so happy to be wrong when we boarded.

The seat itself is pretty comfortable.  I’m neither overly tall or wide, but I fit in the seat just fine. Fully reclined, I had plenty of space to spread out and turn on my side.  The business class cabin wasn’t full, so I even got an extra pillow from the seat next to me.

a man sitting in a chair

a seat in a plane

a man and woman standing together

I received the appropriate pillows, blankets and amenity kit that you’d expect on a long-haul business class flight, not necessarily one as short a duration as this one.

a pair of socks and a pouch on a table

a seat in an airplane

As we taxied out to the runway, we rolled right by our inbound Norwegian UNICEF plane.

an airplane on the runway at night

Food Service/In-Flight Entertainment

I was 100% determined to sleep as much as humanly possible.  Catering was the furthest from my mind.  However, I did take a quick peek at the menu before nodding off to sleep.

a menu of a restaurant

I’d be shocked to get offered a drink on a 5-hour domestic US red-eye, let alone a 3-course meal with my choice of entrees.  I can tell you absolutely nothing about the food as I was quickly off to sleep.  I’ll update you more on the catering for my longer flight from Doha to Dallas.

The touchscreen controls for the entertainment system were easy to use.  It was more like an iPhone than a remote control.  Movie selection was plenty fine, but I was headed for sleep.

a hand holding a cell phone

a hand holding a device

a close up of a device

Ground Service

When we landed in Doha the sun was just creeping over the horizon.  Qatar Airways planes dominated the landscape of the airport.  No surprise since they are the dominant carrier at Doha.

a body of water with buildings and a city in the distance

a runway with a building in the background

a group of buses and airplanes on a runway

I was a bit groggy from my “longer than a nap but shorter than real sleep” nap.  As the 4 of us gathered our belongings we pulled up to a hard stand.  A hard stand is where the airport wheels a set of stairs up to the plane and you descend to be crowded into a bus like sardines for a ride to the terminal.  This is more common overseas than it is in the US.  The one bright side to our hard stand?  Something I hadn’t seen before, a private bus for business class.

a group of people sitting in a bus

The Final Two Pennies

The gang and I had a last few minutes to reflect on a crazy 24 (48?  Who’s Counting?) hours before going our separate ways.  All of us were bound for separate destinations around the world.  4 friends, some new, some old.  Halfway around the world and ready for our next adventure.

Stay tuned for lounges and a loooong flight home to the US.

The post Qatar Airways Business Class JIB-DOH Review. Great Fish, Bribes, Souvenirs And Men With Guns was published first on Pizza in Motion

My goal in life is to fill my family’s passports with stamps, creating buckets of memories along the way. You’ll find me writing about realistic ways for normal people to travel the world, whether you’re on a budget or enjoy luxury. I also enjoy taking us on the occasional detour to explore the inner workings of the travel industry.

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