Flight Review Qatar Airways Economy Class Part 3: B787-8
Flight# QR145
From: Doha (DOH)
To: Barcelona (BCN)
Flight time: 6h 45’
Aircraft: Boeing 787-8
A recent trip to Saudi Arabia to attend the inaugural edition of the Future Aviation Forum gave me the chance to try out several different aircraft on Qatar Airways fleet and write the corresponding flight reports.
So, if you wish to read the whole thread showing how I flew from London Heathrow to Doha on the A380 and then Doha to Riyadh and back on the A350-1000, check out my flight reviews of the Qatar Airways A380 and A350-1000.
Today I complete this series with the third and, so far, last installment. Keep reading for the flight review for the last leg of the journey, from Doha to Barcelona on the Boeing 787-8.
Pre-Flight
The pre-flight experience was rather smooth. No online check-in this time since, apparently it is not available from Saudi Arabia, where my itinerary originated.
I have already commented in previous reviews how Doha Hamad airport is really convenient for transfers and even if you have a long stopover, the scale, cleanliness and activity of the place (pretty much all shops and cafés are open around the clock) makes the wait a bit lighter.
In this particular case we boarded the aircraft via bus instead of directly through the gate and departed on time.
The Cabin Experience
Qatar Airways Boeing 787-8 is fitted with 22 business class and 232 economy class seats
The layout in economy is 3-3-3, with reclinable Recaro CL3710 seats providing a 31” seat pitch. The seats have the German manufacturer’s signature “ears” for additional comfort.
Each seat has a 12.1” seat-back touch screen that can also be controlled via a separate console.
It comes with a USB plug, located right under the lower rim of the screen, that allows you to recharge your mobile devices.
There is also a suit hanger right underneath the screen.
The seats have the traditional “pocket” right below the foldable table, but this is rarely used nowadays other than to keep the safety card in place (neither I nor anyone around used it at any time).
Food & Drink
This was an early morning flight, so this was kind of brunch. Although I guess in airlines such as Qatar Airways, which are moving a huge diversity of people across huge distances and many time zones, it doesn’t make much sense to speak in terms of breakfast/lunch/dinner.
The food was rather good for an economy class, just three items: main, fruit and chocolate dessert (plus bread), but all of them pretty tasty and well balanced overall.
We also got a small waffle snack and, shortly before arrival, a more substantious snack, the falafel-tasting baton, which is pictured here and that I praised for its tastiness and simplicity in my previous A380 review (like many things at Qatar Airways which use the “Q” brand, such as QSuites, this one is under the “Quisine” brand!).
And, yet again, the item that stood out on its own is the dessert. The one they served on the flight from London was truly delicious and the chocolate one on this flight was also outstanding! Looks like someone at Qatar Airways takes confectionery really seriously.
In addition to the complimentary bottle of water each passenger gets, the crew is passing along constantly and have no issues with serving any type of drinks throughout the flight.
Inflight Entertainment & Amenities
Things we got: pillow, blanket, a set of headphones and a sanitary kit (the contents are the same for all Qatar Airways services, as I could see in successive flights: a mask, a pair of gloves and multiple sackets with sanitising gel)
When it comes to IFE, the seat-back screen gives Oryx content platform, which is pretty comprehensive with a very broad selection of movies, series, documentaries and other content.
There is also wifi onboard (not free), but I didn’t use it since I spent a big chunk of the flight simply sleeping, eating and then watching one of the movies on the seat-back screen.
The flight map is also pretty good (although unlike on the A380, there were no outside cameras)
Our Take
Very solid economy class product and, what’s more, very consistent across different aircraft types.