Flying during the pandemic is largely the same as it was before, except there are less people on a lot of the flights. Various things at airports are closed, and generally the experience of airport security is fast and painless.
Qatar Airways are one of the airlines that have kept their on board service relatively the same throughout the pandemic. They have also kept most of their network intact as well, keeping the world connected and transporting a lot of air freight. Here's a review of a flight from Stockholm to Doha in the middle of December in business class.
There was no lounge available in Stockholm, so I passengers received a 100 SEK voucher (US$12/€10/£9/AU$16) to spend in the airport. I spent 99 SEK on a tube of Pringles and a smoothie.
Once done with my purchase, I proceeded to the gate where I stood waiting for a short period before boarding was called. Everyone is issued a face shield and must wear it, along with face masks when boarding and on the flight. After moving to the holding area, eventually we were asked to board the plane.
QR170 – Stockholm Arlanda to Doha (ARN-DOH)
15 December 2020
Airbus A350-900 – A7-ALR
Seat: Business Class 2A
Departure: 08:15 Arrival: 16:25
I hadn’t removed the inside plastic liner on my face mask, so I was fogged up when I arrived at the door to the aircraft, which caused the crew much amusement! They then escorted me to my seat. After I stowed my cabin bag, I elected to have a glass of Champagne to start the flight. The crew saw me taking photos and offered to get one of me in my seat, which was nice.
There were just four passengers in business class today, which meant even more attentive service than usual. Soon enough, everyone was on board and we headed to the runway and into the air.
You can dine on demand on Qatar Airways and for this flight I wanted breakfast straight away. You can have pretty much what you want from the menu, which can make for a large meal. I opted for the breakfast smoothie, greek yoghurt, fresh fruit and Assiette of cold cuts… for my starter! That was a lot of food on its own. Each element arrives on a single tray and covered, for health and safety reasons at the moment.
My main course, the herb and cream cheese omelette.
Everything turned out to be excellent as usual and I had a green tea with my meal. Once I had finished, the main dish arrived and that turned out to be lovely too. Well satisfied, I decided to go online, as Wifi is currently completely free on the Qatar Airways A350 through to the end of January to celebrate 100 aircraft with the service fitted.
Qatar Airways always have completely clean toilets throughout the flight. This is because the hard working cabin crew actively check them as they’re used. It can’t be stressed enough how good it is to visit the facilities and always find them clean. If there’s anything that destroys an impression of a flight, it’s terribly unclean toilets.
Thanks to the light load and passenger distribution, I was able to wander about getting some decent shots of the Qatar Airways A350 cabin. Usually flights are so full that it is quite difficult to get these.
The rest of the flight passed uneventfully. I had a great chat at my seat with one of the crew, who kindly let me take a photo of the Taittinger Champagne bottle.
The Internet service did stop at one point towards the end of the flight, so I switched to the external cameras. We landed in Doha without incident and another good flight came to an end.
Qatar Airways A350 business class is excellent, even with what are now the old seats. Newer aircraft feature the Qsuite, which is considered one of the best seats in business class in the world. Even with the changes due to the pandemic, flying Qatar Airways feels the same as it did pre-pandemic. Attentive service from the crew, decent food and a comfortable cabin – what more could you ask for?
Have you flown with Qatar Airways since COVID-19 hit? What do you think of the changes? Thank you for reading - remember, to see all the pictures, click here - and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
