Home > Qatar Airways > Review

Taken December 2004 from London, England (Heathrow Airport) - LHR to Dubai - DXB

Very slow, chaotic check-in at LHR, with lines blurred between Emirates, Malaysian and Qatar check-in. Ground staff nowhere to be seen until at the point of check-in desk. Cocky check-in guy. I asked for a window seat, but he assigned me a seat in the middle section. When I noticed this, he tried to pretend it was a window seat, but it seemed pointless to take issue with this, as by this point I had been queuing for 45 minutes. Boarding process was better, called by rows. Brand new A330-300 looked great inside and most of the cabin crew were warm and friendly. Seats v hard (maybe because they are new) and legroom not 34 inches as advertised, but 32inches and cramped because of the IFE boxes underneath.

Flight full to capacity. Service was friendly, but very slow - we were not served dinner until 3 hours into flight and they forgot to offer drinks with the meal - all in all, decent food, but haphazard service. Lights dimmed for an hour (in a very cool blue shade)and then breakfast service began! So no time for restful sleep.

Doha transit was swift and efficient and the final leg to Dubai, on an A 320, was fine and uneventful.

Given the 5 Star status and general hype around this airline, this was something of a disappointment and was more in line with KLM then, for example, Emirates or Singapore Airlines.