Yes, This Is Real Life Part 8- A Place Most Exceedingly Rare

Prior adventures:

Yes, This Is Real Life- Preview

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 1- Location, Location, Location

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 2- Brits In Beantown

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 3 - Shades On, Wheels Up

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 4 - Welcome to Ghost Port

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 5 - When You Layover During Ramadan

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 6 - Birds In Doha

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 7 - Dealing With Dragons

I have a pet peeve about the current state of IFE on many airlines.  Actually I have plenty, but this pithy one is relevant to my life currently.  That is that each time you want to watch a program-  no matter if it's a 3 hour movie, or a 22 minute TV show, you have to watch an intro with several segments.  There's usually one about the airline, and then some adds from whatever company they currently have a contract with. 

Qatar takes this intro business seriously.  They currently have an add for a condo building/mall, and an add for the airline, as well as a full length add about Qatar itself.  The tag line is 'Qatar- A Place Most Exceedingly Rare,' which, when you watch it 20, 30, 40 times over a weekend makes you question their use of the English language.  I guess it sounds fancy, but what exactly does it mean?  Sure, this place by definition is rare-it's small, and until the currently diplomatic crisis, not many people knew where it was, but aside from that....?

They do a good job of giving it gravitas I suppose, but I personally think the prior incarnation of their propaganda video was better, and was possibly the best airline self promotion add I've ever seen.  I could watch it all day.

First course... on just a 4+ hr flight

 

Second course.

I landed back from Colombo safely around midnight.  It was a good flight, just over 5 hours.  I had the curry dish which, I kid you not, I have been thinking about since the last time I flew CMB-DOH.  It didn't disappoint.  After the meal, I fell asleep and woke up to the descent announcement.  I probably got around 3 hours of sleep, which was plenty to hold me over through the night.

Just finishing the flight off right.

What was notable about this trip was learning the changing visa situation for traveling to Qatar.  When I came through a year or so ago, there was just a simple paid visa on arrival that cost about $25.  This time, I had a few options, and used a different one by necessity each time.

The current visa rules and countries.

First off, Qatar now has a free multiple entry visa for US (and many other) citizens.  This visa just requires proof of onward travel, and 6 months at a minimum left on your passport.  However, at the time I went on this trip, this wasn't yet the case, and so I was encouraged to check out some of the workarounds.  These workarounds, even though the visa is no longer the issue, are worth knowing about still as they're a great way to get free night's accommodation and sometimes more.

What program you qualify for depends on the length of your stopover, with a few other rules thrown in.  You qualify for their first program, the "Stopover package" or "STPC" if you are flying on Qatar in higher economy classes (N and above), business or first, have a layover of between 8 and 24 hours, and ....this is the kicker... there is NO SHORTER connection you could have taken, even if that connection would have had a different fare.  Certain close destinations (MCT and KWI) are also excluded.

Why these rules are so strict, is that this package gets you not only a night at a good hotel (5-star in the case of business and above, 3-star for econ), but also a sizable food and beverage voucher that pretty well covers your meals, and free airport transfers.  Not a bad deal at all.  I did this package on my third and final night of this trip...so I'll be giving the details soon.

The other program to know about, which is likely more useful to most people since it has far fewer restrictions, is the "+Qatar" program.  This basically is Qatar's way of trying to get people to spend some time in the city on their way through. 

What Qatar is, at least to the limited outsider, is an oil and money drenched peninsula surrounded by desert and neighbors who currently don't like them very much.  What they have going for them, besides all that money that lets them turn this desert into architectural wonders (or eyesores, depending on your taste), is a truly world class airline and airport and they're painfully, painfully, proud of it.

Strong tea & Beautiful tails as far as the eye can see...

 In honesty, they should be.  I get that there's unfair advantage with their government throwing cash behind the investment, but everything, from the food, to the service, to the planes themselves is just a cut above most any other airline out there.  This is to say nothing of the airport, which is just beautiful start to finish.  They're so proud of it, that THIS VIDEO exists of the 'official song of Hamad International Airport.'  And yes, that fully is the big teddy bear in the background at 00:48.  Can you imagine what the symphony of... Newark airport.... would be???  I mean...

This is all to say that especially with the long running blockade in effect, Doha's tourism industry is playing to its strengths and using the constant influx of passengers to its advantage.  The +Qatar stopover program provides free one night's accommodations for passengers on layovers of more than 12 hours.  It lacks the food and transport, but is far less restrictive, and lets you pick your own hotel.  It also provides a free visa for travelers from countries not included in the new multi-entry program.

As a side note, the website appears to be asking you to build a multi-city itinerary, but each time I've done it a simple round trip that defaulted to the long layover time was fine. 

This can be an amazing deal, especially since the hotels are quite nice.  They include some high end and recognizable brand properties that I'd happily stay in even without this deal.  A second night can also be added for just $100, meaning you are getting a great hotel for $50 a night.

 



This deal is technically time limited, and ends December 31, 2018.  However, when I used it last year, it was time limited then, but keeps getting extended.  If the blockade continues, I expect it will keep on rolling along.  I'm crossing my fingers that they push into next year as I have a nice long layover in Doha in January.

On descent into Doha at night.

What has changed though, and what made being in Doha in that perfect storm of Ramadan, summer, and blockade, was that the list of hotels participating was more expansive and had some options that were simply insane to get for free.  Which... is how on my second stop in Doha I was up all night at the Ritz Carlton, by myself.... for abso-frikkin-lutely free.

And that, my friends, is a topic for the next entry...

Read Up Next- "I still can't believe this is real life" : A free night at the Ritz, and the most insane lounge to date.

~CruisingAltitude

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 3: Shades On, Wheels Up

 

The trip so far:

Preview: Yes, This Is Real Life

Part 1: Location Location Location

Part 2: Brits in Beantown

Now, on to the real flying- our first Qatar Airways flight of the run.  I have to grudgingly admit that Airbus did a good job with the a350, there's no denying it.  Now, as I've said, I'm a Seattle native.  Not just a Seattle native, but a North of SEA, Boeing hometown, kinda native.  As such, I'm pre-conditioned to be skeptical of anything that doesn't get designed and built in Everett.  

And I'm right.  I'm absolutely right with respect to the a319...and the a320 series.  Give me an MD80 or a 737 over those any day.  The a330 also doesn't knock my socks off, I'd prefer the 777 line.  However, I'll cave and give them props for being daring enough to put the a380 into production, and the a350 is a fair answer to the Dreamliner model.  
 

Flying the DOH-BOS route, I've gotten to check it out a couple of times so far.  The a350 has some features that set it apart as a pretty boy of a plane (yes, I'm jetlagged, deal with it.  People are dealing with stuff now).  The first thing you notice is that it has its 'shades on' from the get-go- the cockpit windows are tinted and appear black from the outside.  It was probably a functional design spec, but there's no denying it's sexy as hell.  Well, if you're a confirmed avgeek, that is.  
 

In flight, the size is formidable, giving a smooth ride, and if you grab a window seat, the elegantly curved winglet will make your in-flight pictures even more snazzy.  Allegedly, they've implemented the lower pressurization and higher humidity that Boeing put in place with the 787.  Being pressurized at less than the standard 8,000 ft density altitude should make you feel better and less dried out when you get to your destination.  I will say I've felt good getting off both 787 and 350 flights, but that could be the air, or the good sleep I got in their comfy business class seats.  I'll try to pay better attention next time. 

 

So now that that larger love fest is in place, let me give you the small, nitpicking complaints.  I flew this route in reverse in February, so just a couple of feelings about it.  

First off, try as they will, Airbus has IFE issues.  On the 321 it skips, and cuts in and out in turbulence.  Seriously.  One the 350, the sound occasionally did the same. There's really no excuse for this, and I won't make any.  While we're on the topic of IFE, they could cycle through their TV offerings a little more frequently.  I'm pretty sure a lot of it was overlap from 5 months earlier. 

 

The other issues I had, and they're admittedly small...though I would argue important to an airline trying to keep up this mythical 'world's only 5 Star airline' cache, is that in just the span of a few months since I last flew this route, they've already downgraded the service. 

 

 

The two things that stand out immediately are the amenity kit, which has gone from an Armani branded one with a full size hand lotion, generous perfume or cologne, and other goodies, to their current kit, which has much smaller samples, no perfume, etc.  The container itself might be a slight improvement, but I miss the Armani. 
 

 

The other notable change is a downgrade in their Champagne from Tattinger Blanc de Blancs, to Billecart-Salmon Brut.  I fully realize that this sounds like the most petty complaint, but like I said, this airline's entire marketing scheme focuses on being superior and offering a particularly luxurious business class experience. 

 

If their motto was 'sit here and eventually we'll get you someplace else, and then you'll be in that place and so deal with it until then,' like most American carriers' business model has become, that would be different, but premium is pretty much what QR has going for them, and the first thing on every drinks menu is the bubbly.  Details matter.

 

 

That said, the service is still head and shoulders above any US based carrier, bar none.  As is the case with most all of their mid and long haul flights, business class is 'dine on demand' so you can relax and order as you like.  There are generally several options for each course, and the drinks menu has not only wine, beer, spirits and the like, but also has a 'cocktail menu' included. 

 

It's true that since the plane is carrying all the mixers and whatnot, you could technically order a cocktail on most international flights (if not by name) it's fun to have some featured drinks listed.  I started out by trying the 'pink gin' which, as I quickly learned, was pretty much just a cup of gin.  I managed.
 

 

From there, I worked my way though the dinner menu.  Everything was excellent, as airplane food goes.  Many times I don't make it all the way to dessert, but this time I did.  I had the ice cream, and it was also good, but so frozen that it took awhile to be able to eat it.  Pro tip- order it with your entrée so it will defrost enough before you actually get to it. 

 

 

By this point, I'd worked my way though a fair amount of the IFE I hadn't already seen, including some bizarre documentary-but-fiction thing about the future of space...something?  I settled in, and got some sleep for a couple hours.  Honestly, even long haul flights that are this comfortable never seem quite long enough.  Yes, I'm serious.

 

~CruisingAltitude

 

Up next- Welcome to Ghost Port