Round The World and other travels

Flight Log: QR180

Oslo Gardermoen (OSL) - Doha (DOH)

As I boarded the Qatar Airways Boeing 787-8, I reflected on how good it felt to be back in one of the best business-class cabins in the sky. It speaks volumes about Qatar Airways that rather than resting on its laurels, it had on the previous day revealed a brand-new QSuites product, planned to replace the airline's ageing 777 product in the first instance, and which would presumably also replace the popular 'reverse herringbone' layout on the 787 in due course. QSuites had received an enthusiastic welcome from online commentators in the frequent-flyer community.

ABOVE: First impressions on boarding the Qatar Airways 787-8

Moving the focus back to the current product, the boarding process had just provided a striking example of Qatar's excellence. It had only been a few weeks since my previous flight on a Boeing 'Dreamliner' - a British Airways example bound for Hyderabad in India. On arriving at Door 2L, the view that greeted me on that occasion had been the decidedly utilitarian sight of a standard aircraft galley. In contrast, stepping aboard the current plane looked more like entering the lobby of a five-star hotel or perhaps the reception area of a rather swish office building.

I received another warm welcome as I settled into Seat 2A, and was subsequently served a glass of apple juice and given a choice of a hot or cold towel. (With snow lying outside, I'm sure you can guess my selection.) It wasn't my first experience of the product, but I once again found both the space and the storage facilities of my seat area to be impressive. A bottle of water and a high-quality headset were waiting to be found in a compartment beneath the armrest, while the triangular shelf area between my seat and the cabin wall provided ample storage space for the various items that I wanted to have readily available during the journey. At some point during this initial settling in, the expected flight time was announced as 6hrs.

Attractive menu booklets and stylish amenity kits were handed out, with meal orders also taken prior to pushback. With Qatar offering a genuine 'dine on demand' service involving absolutely no pressure to fall into line with any kind of standard routine, I asked for my main meal to be served at noon (Norwegian time).

The menu was as follows:

À LA CARTE MENU Tempt your taste buds with our on-demand menu designed to your desire, in any order and at any time during your flight.   Soup   Champagne Roasted butternut squash soup with lemon and herb crème   Billecart-Salmon Brut fraîche   Piper-Heidsieck Rosé Sauvage       Appetisers   White wine Classic Arabic mezze: hummus, tabouleh and   François Martenot Chablis 1er Cru 2015, Burgundy, France muhammara, served with Arabic bread   Saint Clair Family Estates Sauvignon Blanc 2015, Smoked salmon with pea and potato salad, served with   Marlborough, New Zealand confit tomatoes and lemon dressing   Gustave Lorentz Gewürztraminer Reserve 2015, Alsace,     France Mains     Arabic spiced chicken with machboos sauce,   Red wine accompanied by machboos rice with fried onions and raita   Chateau Brane-Cantenac Assemblage Cabernet & Merlot Grilled fillet of beef with horseradish jus, accompanied   2012, Bordeaux, France by parsley mashed potatoes, maple glazed carrots and   Two Hands Angels' Share Shiraz 2015, McLaren Vale, baby onions   Australia Panneer tikka masala with makhani sauce, served with   Villa di Vetrice Sangiovese 2011, Tuscany, Italy coriander and mint basmati rice, spiced asparagus and     black-eyed beans   Dessert wine     L'Ouest de Lamothe Guignard Sauternes 2009, Bordeaux, Cheese plate   France Cheese selection served with crackers         Port wine Bread   Gran Cruz Colheita 1992, Porto, Portugal A selection of artisan breads         Cocktails
Dessert		Champagne Cocktail
Lime and coconut panna cotta, served with mango and		Buck's Fizz
passion fruit coulis		Cuba Libre
Gourmet ice cream		Whiskey or Brandy Sour
Seasonal fresh fruit		Old Fashioned
		Screwdriver
Light options		Pink Gin
Assortment of hot savoury pastries		Dry Martini
Fillet of beef in a brioche roll sandwich, served with
sweet red pepper relish and aioli

ABOVE: At the de-icing station

Pushback was five minutes behind schedule, and this was immediately followed by the showing of Qatar's rather zany football-themed safety video. Cabin crew supervisor Ahmed went round the cabin to introduce himself while we taxied to the de-icing station. Following a subsequent short taxi to runway 19L, we finally took off thirty minutes after leaving the gate.

Once we had settled into the cruise, I fired up the in-flight entertainment system,  selected the movie Now You See Me 2, and was immediately dismayed to see the message: This film has been edited for content. A glass of the rosé champagne was soon delivered, together with some nuts. Both were quickly topped up.   We had set an initial course for the Polish city of Łódź - kudos if you know how to pronounce it. (Hint: it's not an 'L', it's not an 'o' and it's not a 'z'!) Next up - below, actually, but you get my drift - was Krakow, and then we turned towards Bucharest. With my first movie now over, I chose The Accountant from the impressively up-to-date selection. A rather different pproach had been taken with this one: The following programme contains scenes of an adult nature which must not be viewed by younger passengers. Thank you, Qatar - any chance of adopting this approach across the board?

By now it was my requested lunchtime, and it seemed that everything had been organised to fulfil my requested timing - simply superb service in a Business (as opposed to First) Class cabin. The pairing of a smoked-salmon amuse-bouche with a smoked-salmon starter seemed a little odd; fortunately, smoked salmon is one of my favourite foods, so I wasn't in the least put out by the repetition. The Sauvignon Blanc provided a pleasing accompaniment to both. My main course was the Arabic chicken, and the Chablis worked nicely with that. I had the panna cotta for dessert, but my requested cappuccino was delayed for quite some time by a succession of seat-belt sign alerts, thanks to rapid-fire spells of turbulence. Impressively, though, it was not forgotten.

RIGHT: Qatar Airways main meal service in Business Class

With two movies, a very nice lunch and a substantial amount of wine all under my belt at this point, I settled back into my seat and passed the remaining time with a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory. Before long, thank-you visits from one of the cabin crew and from supervisor Ahmed signalled that we were approaching our destination. We landed towards the northwest in the twilight, just before 6pm local time. Having never recovered from the need to de-ice prior to departure, our arrival time at the gate was 22 minutes behind schedule. After a truly excellent flight and with no great rush for my connection to Singapore, this didn't trouble me in the slightest.

Date: Thu 09 Mar 2017

Aircraft: Boeing 787-8

Scheduled dep: 0915

Actual departure: 0920

Scheduled arrival: 1745

Actual arrival: 1807

Cabin: Business Class

Seat: 2A

OSL Premium Lounge

Early-morning relaxation prior to boarding, in pictures:

Home | Major Trips | Short Trips | About this site | Index