Trip Report: Qatar Airways, Houston to Lahore via Doha (September 2019)

Trip Report: Qatar Airways, Houston to Lahore via Doha
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I was traveling to Lahore, Pakistan from Houston and for this route there are a couple of options: Emirates, Qatar, and Turkish.  I usually take Turkish (see review here) or Emirates (see review here) but this time I took Qatar Airways.  I have flown Qatar regionally (see review here) but it has been over 10 years since I have flown them long-haul and everyone keeps talking about how Qatar's onboard product is nice and one of the best.  I was not that impressed when I flew them 10 years ago (which is why I haven't been back) and I wasn't overly impressed with them on the regional flights, but the price and flight timings were good so I decided to try them again.  Also, Emirates' service has dropped somewhat in the last couple of years so while the entertainment system is great, their onboard service is not as great as it once was.  

The flight from Houston was scheduled to depart at 6pm and arrive into Doha at 4:40pm the next

day, and then our next flight was scheduled to depart Doha at 8:10p and arrive into Lahore at 1:40am.  Both flights were scheduled to be operated by an Airbus A350-1000.  Booking the flight and managing the reservation were simple and easy both through the website where you could select your seat, request special meals, and request special assistance.  You could also check-in 24 hours prior to the flight, either through the app or the website; I choose to check-in at the airport.  The flight was scheduled to depart Houston at 6pm and I got to the airport about 2:45pm and this early there was not much of a line so checking in, checking the luggage (two bags at 23kg each), and receiving the boarding pass was quick.  For those in economy, there was a chance to purchase an upgrade to business class; the business class would only include the Houston to Doha sector (no additional sectors or transfers) and would not include access to the lounge in either Houston or Doha.  The price for the upgrade was double that of a single economy ticket, and while the chance to upgrade is welcomed the price was extremely high especially given that you would not be able to access all the amenities (and considering other airlines like Turkish allow similar upgrades, from Houston to Istanbul, for half the price and you still get access to the lounge in Houston).  

Boarding was to commence at 5pm so many passengers were congregated near the gate at this time waiting for the boarding announcement, but none came; only after passengers asked was an announcement made that boarding would be delayed due to late arrival of the aircraft.  Boarding finally commenced at 5:30pm and was done by Groups, with the first group being those with families and those needed special assistance.  Boarding took a long time, was a bit chaotic and hectic, but finally all passengers were on board (I do have to point out that Qatar was not as strict on its carryons as other carriers such as Emirates has been).  After a safety video was shown, we finally took off about 30 minutes behind schedule.  The operating aircraft was an Airbus A350-1000 with a 3-3-3 seat layout.  Each seat came equipped with a PTV with a screen that was a decent size, a USB port, headphone jack, space below the screen to store your own device, a plug, a decent size tray table, and three seatback pockets one of which contained a folder with the airline magazine, the safety card, and bunch of other literature.  The seat was well-equipped for the long-haul flight.  The seat width was generally good and so was the seat pitch, as they were both generous enough for the long-haul flight.  The seat comfort on the other hand was a bit tough. especially after the 12th hour, but kudos to Qatar for making the seat last that long.  On the seat itself was a pillow and blanket as well as headphones and amenity kit - the amenity was standard and included toothbrush, tooth paste, socks and eyeshades and they were a welcome addition.   The PTV had a selection of movies, TV shows, news, music, and games and while the selection was decent, it was not wide enough to keep one entertained for 15+hours. 

Once boarding had been completed, a menu card was handed out regarding the inflight meals (I am

not sure why menu cards are still printed as the menu can be digitally added to the PTV screens and save tons of paper!).  Once we reached cruising altitude, the inflight service started with dinner and drinks.  A complimentary meal was served along with complimentary drinks - I ordered a special meal so those were served first followed by the regular meals.  The meals itself were limited in portion quantity and quality and not appetizing, pleasing, nor filling for the long-haul flight (this was not just my opinion but other passengers who congregated in the back had the same issue with the food).  I found that on all my flights, the catering on Qatar was definitely well-below expectations.  Coffee and tea were served after dinner, the meals trays were cleared, and then the lights were turned off so passengers could get some rest.  Throughout the flight drinks were available in the back along with a select few snacks (and I do mean few) and passengers could help themselves.  Mid-flight the crew did come around with snacks and light drinks, but generally the cabin crew were not present throughout the flight.  Before landing, breakfast was served (even though we landed at night) and again the catering at Qatar was not good as the food was low in quality and quantity.  We landed at Qatar, deplaned, went through security, and then roamed Doha International until the next flight.  

Doha International is a brand new purposely built terminal and I have been there before and the same issues I had then continued; there is only one food court for all the passengers, the food and drink selections are severely limited, the food and drink are nowhere near where the gates are, the service is extremely poor, and the prices are ridiculously high. 

The second flight was also supposed to be operated by an Airbus A350-1000 but instead got switched to a Boeing 777-300ER and immediately upon boarding you could tell the difference.  The plane's quality and interior were a bit older and not as comfortable, so I could not imagine traveling on those for 15+hours.  The plane was in a 3-4-3 seat layout and were designed in the same way as the Airbus except these had the older PTVs, no space underneath them, and the USB, headphone jack, and cable jack were on the side of the seat.  As the plane was only 40% full, all passengers could stretch and many moved to the rear section where many passengers got an entire 4-seater to themselves.  Again, upon boarding each seat had a pillow, blanket, and headphones and once boarding was completed menu cards were handed out.  After reaching cruising altitude, complimentary meal and drinks were provided followed by coffee and tea.  Again, the catering was subpar as both the quantity and quality of the food were abysmal.  We landed in Lahore, taxied to the gate and deplaned. 

My return flights were both on Airbus A350-1000 and I had the same experience.  Qatar has a nice hard product - they have new planes with nice amenities but its the extras that Qatar lacking.  Qatar has all the ingredients to make a good airline, but none of it comes together to make it cohesive or work.  The planes are nice and have all the amenities, but the onboard service is poor and the food quality is terrible.  In Doha (and in my experience in many other stations as well) the ground staff barely want to do their job and have horrible customer service (and it has been that way for a couple of years now).  My fellow traveling partner opted for the upgrade from Houston to Doha and said that the only good thing about Qatar Business Class was the lie-flat bed, the pajamas, the slippers and the amenity kit.  The food in business class was not good at all and the size of the individual pods was very tight and narrow and made the entire experience cramped and uncomfortable.  We flew Turkish business class earlier in the year (check out the review here) and when comparing the two, both have issues with their ground staff but Turkish has been quality food, their hard product may not be as up to date but its better in terms of quality, their staff has better customer service, and their pricing is more competitive.  As I said, it had been a while since I had flown with Qatar long-haul and my previous experience was not good so that is why we had avoided them but I wanted to try them again to see if anything had changed; in my opinion, nothing has changed and Qatar's product does not seem worth the time nor money I would spend on their product.