Qatar 777-300 Business Qsuites SEA-DOH

Qatar 777-300 Business Qsuites SEA-DOH

Back in December, I got in on one of the most amazing points deals.  American Airlines and Mastercard was offering 5x miles through the SimplyMiles shopping portal.  I was able to earn over 200,000 AAdvantage miles with a $840 donation to Conservation International — a cost of about 0.4 cents per mile.

As American and Qatar are partners, I was able to book a one way Seattle to Amman, Jordan via Doha in Business Class for 70,000 American miles which I had essentially purchased for under $300.  Using Alaska miles, the same ticket would be 85,000 miles.

I flew Qatar last summer in Economy, and was excited to try out their Business Class Qsuites this time around.

Flight QR720 from Seattle to Doha is just under 14 hours.  It departs SEA at 5:10pm and arrives in Doha the next day at 5:20pm.

Prior to the flight, those in Business Class have access to the British Airways lounge in the South Satellite.  It is an outdated lounge space; I would recommend using The Club next door if you have Priority Pass.

Boarding was a bit chaotic as there really wasn’t a queue set up for Business Class passengers so it was just a large mass of people.  The other “zones” were a bit better laid out.

SEA only uses one jet bridge per plane that uses the 2nd door.  This means all passengers enter in the Business Class section between rows 6 and 7.  I picked seat 10A but due to the spaciousness of the seat, the loading of passengers wasn’t a big deal.

On the 777-300 with Qsuites (seat map), the best seat for a solo traveler is going to be either A or K.  These seats are the most private on the plane.  Qsuites are set up in staggered formation in a 1-2-1 configuration.  Seats A and K are next to the window while Seats B and J are next to the aisle.

The one thing to be aware of is that Seats A and K are also backwards facing.  It didn’t bother me but might bother others.

I picked Seat 10A as it was in the middle of the smaller Business Class cabin and had the most privacy.

This photo is of Seat 11B — the seat is directly next to the aisle with the bench on the window side.

The middle seats can be opened up to connect and would be good for people traveling together.  The barriers can come down  if traveling as a couple, and the barriers in front can also open if you are traveling as a group of four (in the photo directly below this would be the purple sections in the middle and front).

The seat isn’t particularly wide but this is Business Class, so don’t expect a wide seat like you would find on Cathay First.  On the window side there is an armrest that goes up and down.  On the aisle side is a small bench that also goes up and down.  Inside is storage including water and noise canceling headphones.

The seat faces a large TV.  Directly under the TV is a pull out desk/tray table that unfolds to offer a large space for dining.

To the left of the TV is a small counter space.  Two pillows, blanket, amenity kit and COVID hygiene kit were already at my seat upon boarding.

Just below the counter is a gap where the menus are held but where I stored my amenity kit during the flight.  Just below that are the seat controls in addition to the wired remote with touch screen.  One thing that confused me is that the overhead light was only controlled by the remote while the footwell lighting was controlled by the physical button near the seat controls.

The additional ports you see are (L-R) an NFC tap location, HDMI input, headphone outlet, USB port, power outlet with USB charger, and retractable remote.  Unfortunately this plane does not have Bluetooth so you can’t set up your own ear phones.

Near the headrest was a reading light that had four adjustments: low, medium, high and backlight which is the setting in the photo below.

I was also impressed that each seat had two air vents that could be controlled.  My seat stayed nice and cool for the duration of the flight.  Most flights I am too warm but being able to regulate the air flow made the trip much more pleasant and allowed for quality sleep.

The plane is equipped with Wifi (free for the first hour or $10 for the flight), though the time I tried to log on it wasn’t available.

Before departure, I was served a beverage and a warm towel.

The flight attendant then brought a set of pajamas that included slippers.  I think that pajamas on airplanes are a gimmick, but I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable they were and made the long flight that much more enjoyable.

Inside the amenity box was a bottle of hand cream, face creme, lip moisturizer and refreshing spray.  All the items were too perfumed for my preference.

Under the bottles was an eye mask, ear plugs and socks.  Toothbrush and paste was available in the lavatory.  No case besides the box was provided.

The food and beverage menus are below.  On our flight, the standard service would be dinner after take off and breakfast before landing; though you can order food at any time.

The flight attendant took my dinner order before take off.  I ordered a glass of the Vintage Champaign 2005 Charles Heidsieck Rosé Millésimé.  It was served with some warm nuts.

To start I ordered the Maine lobster bisque.  It came plated with rolls and a choice of dippings; I picked a balsamic chili tomato olive oil.  The tray had a battery powered tea light.

For my next course I had the American style tapas.

For the main course I picked the chicken hariyali.

Later for dessert I had the berries with rosewater.

All of the food was delicious.  I would say the chicken was not overly impressive but every other course was top notch.  I imagine departures from Doha would have even higher quality food than that prepared at an outstation like SEA.

After watching a generic Marvel super hero movie, I got ready for bed.  The flight attendant set up my seat in a lie flat position and added a pad and pillow case.  The blanket (not shown) was thick and long enough to cover me entirely.

Each seat has a door that can be shut for privacy.  This is another luxury that I saw as a gimmick, except that because my seat was backwards facing, I was looking right at the person across the aisle so a door was nice to have.

I slept extremely well.  The temperature was perfect.  The only downside is that for someone over 6′ tall, the seat was just a little cramped.  Still, I slept a solid 9 hours with few interruptions.

I woke up with about 2 hours left in the flight.  The flight attendant offered me breakfast.  I started with the fruit plate that came in a lovely presentation.  The mango was unripe but the other fruit was very good.

For the main course I had the breakfast nachos.  While not particularly pretty to look at, they tasted good.  The only negative was the eggs were powdered.

Just before landing the flight attendant delivered a box of chocolates and mints as well as a hand wipe.

We landed right on time at Doha.

With the good food, service and comfortable seat, the 14 hours flew by.  It was without a doubt the best Business Class flight I have ever had and ranks up there with my top flights of all time — First Class included.  The highlight for me was the seat itself; I finally see why people rave about the Qsuites.  The only negatives for me were the spotty Wifi and inability to pair your own headphones with the inflight entertainment (newer Qatar airplanes allow you to do so).

I can’t imagine a better way to fly to the other side of the world for less than $300.

3 thoughts on “Qatar 777-300 Business Qsuites SEA-DOH”

  1. NON! I prefer having to pay $1800 a/r for SEA-NTE for Delta Comfort Plus! Why would I want to eat and sleep that well? OK, sleeping on hard ground without a sleeping bag while camping is also better.
    Nice. Next time I’m flying to Qatar to Paris

    Reply

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