Qatar Airways Review

IOur flight to Doha was scheduled at 9:20pm. I received a phone call at about 4:30pm from Qatar Airways ticketing office. The lady on the line explained that the flight was fully booked, and they are requesting for 'a favour' to put me on Turkish Airlines instead. The Turkish Airlines flight was scheduled at 11:30pm and would arrive Athens earlier at 9:30am, instead of Qatar's 12:30pm. They are also giving USD150 per passenger as compensation (but not in cash, I had to redeem it in person at the Paragon office after my trip). Noting that Turkish Airlines is much inferior than Qatar, I asked the lady whether there is a possibility for an upgrade to business class on the Turkish Airlines flight. She replied no, as the qualification for upgrade in Turkish Airlines was not managed by Qatar. I persisted and asked whether I could be upgraded during the flight back instead (which she confirmed was on Qatar). The answer to that request was no as well. After much consideration with the husband, we decided not to take up that offer although the timing was much more favorable (no need for a 7 hour transit at Doha) and able to get some $$$. The husband's point of view was "don't make your problem my problem". Though he did think that we were probably the only ones that rejected the offer.

So anyway, here we are at Changi Airport Terminal 3, at 8:35pm, waiting to board the plane. The plane is not here yet! And we have the crew sitting outside at the waiting area with us. I have no complaints if there are delays, mainly because it is quite cosy here and we have a 7 hour transit awaiting us in Doha.

[Updated at 12:32am at Hamad International Airport, Doha] Depsite a slightly late start, the plane arrived 15 mins ahead of schedule. The first thing we noticed upon boarding is a standing bar-like area in the business class. The cabins were lighted up in purplish-pink (Qatar's colour) to give a cosy feel. I was impressed by the personal entertainment centre. It was a touch screen panel and the controller was also a touch screen panel. But the husband highlighted that the selections were limited (as compared to Emirates). The seats were quite spacious. They served us sweets and packed towels at the start before take off.

The meal service was rather slow (SQ was much faster as they had 2 people operating each cart) but the food was good! Both the nonya fish with rice and roast chicken with mash potato were flavorful. The bun was also warm (SQ serves cold buns). Service throughout the flight wasn't that good though. I had to make my way to the galley to get drinks as unlike Emirates or SQ, the cabin crew does not walk down the aisle with a tray of beverages. 

Nonetheless it was a smooth flight and thank God we safely arrived at our destination. We have 7 hours to spare till our next flight to Athens so I'll probably write a post on Hamad International Airport next. 

The service staff onboard the Doha-Athens flight was also very friendly. We had sausage & omelette or pancakes for breakfast, both were very yummy as well. On this flight, the staff walked down the aisle with drinks (the point I complained earlier). Another thing to note is that you can actually start watching movies on the  entertainment set even before take off and even after landing. This is something i experienced on Emirates & Delta as well, but not on SQ.