Today I’m reviewing Qatar Airways Economy Class in their Boeing 777-200LR on a 7 hour flight from Doha to London Heathrow. This was the final leg of a somewhat foolish trip I made travelling back from Rome to London via Abu Dhabi and Doha. And I snagged this flight as a last minute reward booking for 28,500 Avios plus fees. So here I’ll explain both the good and the bad of the Qatar Airways Economy Class experience to help decide whether you should fly with them on your next trip. Also, feel free to check out my Youtube review below:
Plus, if you want to check out the other journeys I made on this trip, click the links below:
- Wizzair A321neo from London Gatwick to Rome (actually pretty good, for the price)
- Etihad Airways Boeing 777 from Rome to Abu Dhabi (excellent)
- Qatar Airways Boeing 737 Max from Abu Dhabi to Doha (also pretty good)
Qatar Airways & Ticket Details
I booked this flight as part of a connecting ticket from Abu Dhabi to London Heathrow via Doha. For the time I booked the one way ticket price was hovering at around £450. I used Avios on the British Airways website and it cost 28,500 Avios + £112.90. That’s a respectable redemption rate of about 1.2p per Avios, which is quite good for an Economy Class flight.
The flight itself was scheduled to leave at an eye-watering 2:45am and arrive in London at 7:20am after just over 7 hours in the air. The departure time was a pain, but I always like arriving home early in the morning as it gives me a whole day to rest after a trip.
Doha Hamad International Airport
Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH) is was opened 10 years ago in 2014. Since then it has rapidly grown into one of the global hub airports, serving 46 million passengers in 2023. Obviously it’s the home of Qatar Airways, but it’s also served by 52 airlines in total to a whopping 255 destinations around the world. In the Middle East at least it’s the 2nd busiest airport after Dubai.
They have it all here. Loads of luxury shops if you want to splurge. A pretty good selection of restaurants and lounges to rest and refill. And they’ve just got a lot of cool, awe-inspiring structures. Like the huge teddy bear above, or the huge rainforest with a giant waterfall to walk around in…
Doha Hamad Airport really is a contender for best airport in the world, there are just two things holding it back from beating somewhere like Singapore Changi:
- It’s insanely busy, even at around midnight. The central area was way too crowded.
- Despite being so big, it seems half of the flights here use bus gates. It slightly detracts from their status as a “global transfer hub” when you’re spending 30 min getting a bus to/from the plane and eating up your layover.
The gate for this flight was A1, luckily not a bus gate, right in the centre terminal area. I’d been spending the last few hours of my layover at the opposite end in one of the lounges. The airport is so big this would have been over 1km of walking between the two. Luckily there’s a cool monorail inside the terminal which takes you from one end to the other. Zooming over the heads of people on the monorail was great, so even if you don’t have to, I still recommend going for a ride.
And by the time I arrived at the gate (exactly at the scheduled boarding time) there was already a big queue. So I ended up in the back of the line.
The Plane & Seat
Our aircraft today was a 15 year old Boeing 777-200LR registered A7-BBB. Qatar Airways fit 42 Business Class seats and 230 Economy seats into this aircraft. The Economy seats have between 31-32″ of seat pitch. More or less the industry standard for legroom. And width is okay too. I was sitting in seat 17A for this flight, the 2nd row from the front of the Economy cabin.
Legroom was pretty good, only issue there was a big box for the entertainment system by my feet which significantly obstructed it. The seat is also comfortable, with ample padding and an adjustable headrest. A pillow and blanket are also provided, though the pillow is kind of bad. They also provide a pair of good headphones (for economy). Plus the seat has both a universal power socket and USB port. Just normal USB though, not USB C. Overall, a pretty good Long Haul Economy Class Seat. Comparable to the likes of Etihad and Singapore Airlines for sure. Though in my opinion, not quite as good. Then again I haven’t flown in Qatar’s newer cabins so perhaps they’re slightly better.
The screen size was just okay and a bit dated looking. I know Qatar’s newer aircraft have much sleeker looking and larger screens. So it just depends how lucky you are on whether you get a good screen.
One of the best things about the Qatar Airways Economy Class, from a comfort perspective, is the amenity kit provided. Or more accurately, the two amenity kits. One has your standard fare with earplugs, eye mask, dental kit and socks. The other is a “protective kit” with a face mask, disposable gloves and hand sanitiser. That’s great considering many airlines these days don’t even provide amenity kits on flights twice this length.
Food & Drink
This 7 hour flight had two meals. A light midnight snack served just after takeoff. Then a main breakfast meal, served 1.5 hours before landing. I’ll start with breakfast as it’s the more interesting of the two.
I’m generally not a big fan of breakfast meals on aircraft, and I always avoid the egg option if I can as it makes me feel bloated. Unfortunately for me, both options on this flight were egg based. So I got the sweet potato frittata with chicken bacon pictured below. It was okay, though rather bland. On the side it came with a very squashed stale croissant, some stodgy bircher muesli and a fruit bowl. The fruit bowl consisted of one grape and a few types of melon. Sadly for me, I don’t really like melon. So overall, this meal was not suited to me, but as far as Economy Class breakfasts go, I would say it’s average (if you like the dishes). To drink I just got a black coffee. And was a bit disappointed they didn’t offer 2 drinks like many airlines would at main meals.
The midnight snack was just a choice of either a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich, or a sweet corn and coleslaw sandwich. With a drink served on the side, I just went for water, though the standard full drink menu was available (including alcohol for those wondering). The sandwich actually wasn’t bad, equivalent to a smoked salmon sandwich you’d find in Tesco or Sainsbury’s.
One cool feature of Qatar Airways is that they make the full inflight menu available online a few weeks before the flight. So here’s the exact menu for the whole flight if you want to see everything…
Everything Else
Qatar Airways have a really good selection of entertainment on their Oryx One system. I won’t go through all the choices here, but if you want to see check out my Youtube video at the top of this page which shows it in detail.
Service on this flight was kind of bad. I can sympathise with the cabin crew though, nobody wants to be working such unpleasant hours. But it’s a bit disappointing when most of the cabin crew can’t crack a smile and are very brusk. Compare this to my experience with say Singapore Airlines and even China Southern (both had very friendly cabin crew) and it makes a big difference.
Oh, and here are the Business Class QSuites. Definitely want to try these someday, but for now I’m stuck in Economy.
Final Thoughts
Overall I found this flight with Qatar Airways to be just okay. Definitely not living up to their status as one of, if not the best, airlines in the world. The seat was comfortable, but legroom was just average. The amenity kit provided was great, and I wish all airlines did this. The inflight entertainment selection was also really good, but it was let down by an old and small tv screen. Then the food was also acceptable but nothing special. However, I did find the cabin crew in general to be quite cold and unfriendly. Perhaps that’s because it was a night flight, or maybe it’s because Qatar Airways overwork their cabin crew. All that being said, I got this flight for a good points redemption, and they’re still better than British Airways. So my overall score according to my very scientific methodology is a solid 76.25%.
More from me…
Please feel free to check out other related posts I’ve written:
- British Airways Boeing 787 from Hong Kong to London – Avoid Economy Class!
- The Sofitel Luxembourg Review – Chic Business Hotel
- The Plaza Premium Lounge at London Heathrow Terminal 2
And if you fancy earning some fantastic rewards and Avios points through American Express, please use my referral links below:
- The Platinum Card – You Receive 60,000 Membership Reward points after spending £6,000 in the first 3 months of membership: https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/platinum-credit?ref=fREDEGgRA5&XLINK=MYCP