| Qatar Airways | Singapore (SIN) → Doha (DOH) | A350-900 | Business Class | 28/05/2023 | Current review |
| Qatar Airways | Doha (DOH) → London (LHR) | 777-200 | Business Class | 28/05/2023 | |
| Qatar Airways | London (LHR) → Doha (DOH) | 777-300 | Economy Class | 09/06/2023 | Short review - 4.6/5 |
| Qatar Airways | Doha (DOH) → Singapore (SIN) | A350-1000 | Economy Class | 10/06/2023 | Short review - 4.4/5 |
| Qatar Airways | Singapore (SIN) → Doha (DOH) | A350-900 | Business Class | 28/05/2023 | Current review |
| Qatar Airways | Doha (DOH) → London (LHR) | 777-200 | Business Class | 28/05/2023 | |
| Qatar Airways | London (LHR) → Doha (DOH) | 777-300 | Economy Class | 09/06/2023 | Short review - 4.6/5 |
| Qatar Airways | Doha (DOH) → Singapore (SIN) | A350-1000 | Economy Class | 10/06/2023 | Short review - 4.4/5 |
Welcome, everybody, to my very first full Flight review! Today, I will be taking you along with me to fly in Qatar Airways' Qsuites on the A350-900 from Singapore to Doha.
This Detailed review will cover the airport experience in Singapore, as well as the onboard hard and soft products. I will not cover my experience in Doha, as I will cover it in my review of my connecting flight coming soon.
For each aspect of the experience, I will rate it on a scale of 1 to 10. The final score for the full experience will be out of 100.
I apologize beforehand for the lack of Changi Airport photos. The airport was packed with people when I was there, and I generally do not like to take pictures with a bunch of strangers inside. Don't worry, there are plenty of in-flight photos.
I arrived at a very busy Changi Airport Terminal 1, some 2-and-a-half hours before my flight. The queues at check-in were rather long, and it took more than 20 minutes before it was my turn, despite it being the Business Class queue. The check-in staff was quite nice, and once it was my turn, I was given my boarding pass almost instantly (why took the people so long I will never know) and I headed toward the departure gates.
The check-in experience gets a 6/10.
When departing Changi Airport, I was eligible to use the Automated Immigration Lanes, and I did so. The procedure was a breeze, and I was airside within 30 seconds.
Immigration gets a 10/10.
Being a Business Class passenger, I was eligible for lounge access. However, it was disappointing that Qatar Airways' relatively new Premium Lounge only opens from 18:00 to 03:00 to cater to flights QR947 (Dep. 21:00) and QR945 (Dep. 02:40). Passengers on board QR943 are thus made to use the default SATS Premier Lounge, which was, as expected, completely full. At the entrance of the lounge stood a large menacing sign that screamed “LOUNGE AT MAX CAPACITY” at us, so I just went to my gate instead.
Lounge experience sadly gets awarded a 1/10.
Unlike most other airports, Changi does its security at each of the gates. While this does prevent the scary queues in one big crowded hall found at most other airports, one will be entrapped in a not-very-large seating area by the gate once past security, with no access to toilets whatsoever. On the plus side though, the gate areas generally offer some quite awesome views of the aircraft.
This section gets a 7/10.
^ Views of the plane
The overall rating for the airport experience: 7/10
Flight date: 28/05/2023
Airline: Qatar Airways (QR/QTR)
Operated by: Qatar Airways (QR/QTR)
Flight number: QR943
Route: Singapore (SIN) - Doha (DOH)
Scheduled Departure Time: 10:45 (UTC+8)
Actual Departure Time: 11:05 (UTC+8)
Scheduled Arrival Time: 13:30 (UTC+3)
Actual Arrival Time: 13:26 (UTC+3)
Scheduled Flight Time: 7h45min
Actual Flight Time: 7h21min
Aircraft Registration: A7-AMG
Aircraft Type: Airbus A350-941
Engines: 2× RR Trent XWB-84
Line Number: 207
First Flight: 21/09/2018
Aircraft Age (as of flight): 4 years 8 months
Aircraft Delivered: 26/10/2018
Seating Configuration: J36M247
*Aircraft parked at DOH 08/10/2021-29/04/2023 due to QR A350 surface degradation issues
Business class passengers and Oneworld Alliance status holders were called to board first. Soon, I was walking down the jet bridge into the recently reactivated A350.
^ Inside the aircraft
^Quick peek at the flight deck
Once onboard the aircraft, two flight attendants, including the Cabin Manager, warmly welcomed me onboard. I walked through the forward galley and turned right, and found my spotless seat quite quickly. Immediately, another flight attendant, Osathee from Thailand, flew over to my seat to introduce himself and tell me that he would be taking care of me on this flight. He then asked me for my choice of a welcome drink, and I opted for a Lime&Mint (QR's signature drink) and Soda water mix.
Soon, Osathee came back with my beautifully presented drink, alongside a Diptyque refreshing towel and the menus.
Pre-departure service gets a 9/10.
^ Lime&Mint x Soda water + refreshing towel
^ Menu and wine list
We pushed back soon and the safety video was shown. QR's new safety video features a multitude of their destinations. If I'm being honest, this was far from a captivating safety video, and I miss the old football-themed one (but all this is just my personal preference). During the taxi to the runway, Osathee came around taking meal orders but had to abandon another passenger halfway as we lined up on Changi's runway 02L for our take-off towards the south. The rotation was at 11:07, 22 minutes behind schedule.
^ Taxiing to 02L
^ Climbing out of SIN
Now is a good time to take a look at our flight path. Our route out of Singapore was a very straightforward one, which took us over Southwestern Malaysia, North Sumatra (Indonesia), the Bay of Bengal, Southern India, the Arabian Sea, Oman, the UAE, and finally, the Arabian Gulf before we started our descent into Doha. We cruised at 38000ft and 40000ft.
^Screenshot from Flightradar24
As we make our way towards our cruising altitude of 38000ft, this is a good time to take a good look at the QSuite.
Seat: 3K (Backwards-facing window suite)
Seat Type: QSuite
Seat Manufacturer: Collins Aerospace
Class: Business (J)
Cabin: Forward business cabin (between doors 1 and 2)
^ Qsuite 3K
^ Suite door and Side counter made of fake marble
^ Seat controls and some storage
^ Footwell
^ Qsuite cabin - aisle view
^ Qsuite cabin - overview
Seat Comfort: The suite was very spacious, and the seat, along with the large leather headrest, was well padded, making it very comfortable. The seat also came with a massage function, which didn't seem to work very well on my flight. There were also many set positions available via the seat controls, and I had some fun playing with them. 9/10
Seat Privacy: The high walls and sliding doors ensured absolute privacy for the entire flight. It's as good as privacy gets in Business class. 10/10
Legroom: Is that even a question? My legs could stretch out in whatever way I liked throughout the flight! 10/10
Seat Storage: There were many places where one could store their things, there was an ottoman-like raiseable armrest beside the seat that opened up to reveal some storage space. This came with a pair of headphones and a bottle of water before every flight. There was also some storage below the marble-like counter, conveniently right above some charging ports. The footrest could also be used to hide the bedding if one wishes to. 9/10
Overall for seat comfort: 10/10
Qatar Airways offers Dine-on-demand in Business Class, meaning passengers could have their meals whenever they wanted to. I opted to have my meal as early as possible after take-off since I could not have any breakfast in a lounge and I was getting quite hungry. Note that aside from the main meal, there were also light hot snack options available throughout the flight.
Meal service started off when Osathee came over to my suite to give me some warm nuts and a beverage of my choice. I went with a glass of So Jennie, a luxury non-alcoholic bubbly. This was quite a nice way to start a meal service and scores 8/10 from me.
^ Toasted nuts and So Jennie; Accessory pillow and Amenity kit in the background
Osathee then came back to my suite and set up my table for me. This included a massive white tablecloth, some delicious butter, a bottle of Monte Vibiano Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil, QR-branded salt and pepper shakers, a bread basket, an electric candle, and a glass of water. This is simply a brilliant presentation. 10/10
^ Meal Presentation
^ Candle
A trolley came by just as I was wolfing down some of the delicious Artisan Bread. The flight attendant told me that they were serving Amuse Bouche, which is kind of like an appetizer for the appetizer. She then proceeded to give me the tiny portion of Smoked Salmon with Tartar sauce and Roe, even topped off with a small piece of gold!
I finished it in two small, but heavenly bites. 10/10 from me.
^Amuse Bouche
Having heard some brilliant reviews about QR's mezze, I was very excited to try it out. This particular combination of Singapore-made mezze consisted of Moutabel, Muhammara, and Hummus. All this was served cold as a dip for the two pieces of warm Pita Bread.
I started to dig into the Moutabel: OH. MY. DAYS. The texture was way slimmer than it looked, the taste was extremely bitter, and was way too underseasoned. Of course, this is only my personal preference, but the Moutabel sadly gets a 1/10 from me.
I moved on to the Muhammara. Surely this wouldn't be as bad? Nope, it wasn't as bad. In fact, I rather liked it. It was fantastic tastewise, and had it not been way too overseasoned, I would've loved to eat it by itself in large portions at a time. 8/10
Finally, the Hummus. Like the Muhammara, it was very good tastewise but overseasoned. This gets a 7/10.
All this was served with two small pieces of Pita Bread. Even after getting Osathee to heat up some extra pieces, I still finished them before the mezze. 6/10
Overall, the Classic Arabic Mezze gets a 6/10 from me.
^ Classic Arabic Mezze: Moutabel, Muhammara, Hummus, Pita Bread
*The other appetizer option was a seared tuna with green papaya salad.
The main soon arrived at my table. This was some Braised beef short ribs with creamy polenta, sautéed asparagus, cherry tomatoes, and Kenya beans.
The beef was delicious; it was soft and tender and melted perfectly in my mouth. 9/10
The polenta smelt very strong, but I was surprised when it turned out to be rather bland when it entered my mouth. Still, it was quite enjoyable. 6/10
The asparagus though, reminded me of bar soaps: both the texture and the taste. 1/10
The cherry tomatoes were fun, dangerously fun. They explode when poked with a fork. And they tasted like cherry tomatoes. 7/10
The Kenya beans were a little less fun, they were rather soggy and cold by the time I got to them. 3/10
Overall, I give the main course, a 7/10
^ Beef short ribs with polenta, asparagus, tomatoes, and Kenya beans
*The other options were Singapore roasted chicken rice, Prawn biryani, or Shanghai noodles
Dessert was served soon after. I decided to give the berries with rose water syrup a try, after having heard great reviews about it online.
The berries were great. These were very fresh and juicy and were very enjoyable. 9/10 for the berries.
BUT - the rose water syrup. It had neither tasted like rose nor was it syrup, so I just ended with some berries in water. SAD! 2/10 for the water and 5/10 for this dessert item.
^ Berries with water
*The other dessert choices were Chocolate brownie or Gourmet ice cream.
Overall Rating for the Meal service: 8/10
A Diptyque branded amenity box was waiting in every Qsuite during boarding. This consisted of multiple Diptyque creams, lotions, and perfumes. There was also a pair of loose socks, an eye mask, and a pair of cheap plastic earplugs.
The amenity kit receives a 10/10 from me.
^ Amenity kit
On this flight, a full-size pillow, an accessory pillow, and a blanket were provided. These all worked quite well and were very comfortable. Keep note: the blanket comes extremely tightly wrapped in a plastic seal, and is rock hard when unopened. Should an onboard pillow fight break out, this could do some serious damage in your favor.
However, as this was a daytime flight, many amenities were not available. This includes pajamas, mattress covers, and slippers.
The bedding gets 8/10.
The lavatories weren't the cleanest that I've ever seen, and towards the end of the flight, the floors were slightly sticky. More Diptyque products can be found here. Lavs gets a 6/10 from me.
The overall score for Amenities: 8/10
Each Qsuite comes equipped with a 21.5-inch IFE Touchscreen and is of High Definition quality. It features Qatar Airways' “Oryx One” system, which is advertised to have over 4000 entertainment options, including movies, TV shows, music, and games. Everyone gets loaned a pair of high-quality noise-canceling headphones for the duration of the flight. Each Qsuite in the A350 also comes equipped with a touchscreen Panasonic remote control. Moreover, Qatar's A350s come with not one, not two, but THREE outboard cameras!
IFE System gets a solid 10/10.
^ Tail camera in action
Qatar's A350 aircraft are equipped with what they call “Super Wi-Fi”. The connection speeds of this are relatively fast and have absolutely no problems with text messaging. Privilege Club members get one hour of free Wi-Fi, and a full flight pass only costs US$ 10.
Wi-Fi gets 9/10.
There was a power socket and a USB-A charging port on the side console. There were more charging points and an HDMI port under the IFE Screen. 10/10
The overall score for IFE: 10/10
After watching a couple of movies on the IFE (I highly recommend the Rush Hour and Bourne trilogies for those who haven't watched them yet), I decided to take a nap. I simply pushed the bed button on the seat controls to convert the seat into a bed and threw on the provided bedding.
^ Qsuite bed
^ Ample amount of foot space
Bed comfort: As I said before, the surface of the seat is very well padded. This made for a very comfortable time laying down. However, do note that the seat does not go fully flat, although it is barely noticeable. Also, the large headrest may get in the way of side and front sleepers. As a back sleeper, I had no problems with the bed whatsoever. 10/10
Bed length and width: The bed measures 200cm long and 55cm wide, enough for the average traveler. 9/10
Foot space: The footwell was pretty big, and my feet had plenty of space to move around. 9/10
Sleep quality: Really not bad, I'm in a private suite on a comfortable bed, in a spacious cabin (Qatar's A350 doesn't have central overhead stowage in Business class, which makes the cabin very spacious), on a very quiet aircraft. I couldn't ask for more. 10/10
The overall rating for the bed: 10/10
Just mere seconds after I woke up from my 2-hour nap while we flew over Oman, Osathee magically appeared at my suite and offered me a rose-scented hot towel to freshen up, as well as a hot beverage. I opted for a hot chocolate which I enjoyed while I caught up with some light work. The hot towel gets a rating of 10/10, the hot chocolate gets a score of 9/10, and the work probably gets a fail.
^ Views of Oman from 40000ft
^ Rose-scented hot towel
^ Hot Chocolate
Just as we started our descent into Qatar, Osathee came by every suite to hand over a box of Laderach Swiss chocolates to every passenger, as well as thank everyone for choosing Qatar Airways. This is a very thoughtful gesture by the Qatar Airways cabin crew, and I greatly appreciate it.
^ Läderach chocolates
The chocolates were fantastic by the way, they score 10/10.
Pre-landing service gets an easy 10/10.
While we descent into Doha, this is a great time for me to share some of my thoughts on the cabin crew of this flight:
Osathee was always walking down the aisle to check on his customers and was very attentive and professional. Conversations with him were always very pleasant, and he did a very good job to make me feel entirely at home for the entire flight. Felt good to (kind of) know him. Osathee will score 11/10.
Meal service overall was not the fastest I've ever seen, but was just fast enough seeing that the flight was completely full. Personal requests for Osathee, however, were fulfilled with speed. General service speed gets a 9/10.
All the Flight Attendants appeared enthusiastic to be doing their jobs and always smiled in front of the passengers. The Cabin Manager, an older Southeast Asian man, also occasionally walked past my suite, smiling at me.
General service attitude gets a 10/10.
Overall, the cabin crew on board will get a score of 10/10.
We were soon on final approach into Doha's Hamad International Airport's runway 34R, and we touched down (very hard landing by the way) at 13:26 local time, 4 minutes ahead of schedule.
^ Final approach runway 34R
^ Taxiing to the gate
^ Last look at our aircraft
I dejectedly made my way off the aircraft and started thinking about what ratings I should give to each and every aspect of the flight (no I didn't actually do that, I had another B777-200LR Qsuite flight to look forward to back then, I only started reflecting about the A350-900 flight just now before I started writing this review). Here goes:
Changi Airport: 7/10
Seat Comfort: 10/10
Bed Comfort: 10/10
In-flight Entertainment: 10/10
Aircraft Comfort: 10/10
Aircraft Cleanliness: 8/10
Meal Service: 8/10
Amenities: 8/10
Other Service: 10/10
Cabin Crew: 10/10
Overall rating: 91/100
So, that was a very deep dive into my Qsuites experience on Qatar Airways' A350-900 from Singapore to Doha!
If you made it so far down, thank you so much! I really hope this review (my first Flight review), as well as all my future reviews, can help you decide how you want to travel in the future.
Travel safe, and goodbye for now!
