Tagging Miles

Onboard Qatar Airways QSuites

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Boarding the Qatar Airways QSuites 777-300ER, you’re immediately met with classy touches that show this aircraft is special.

Making that right turn, to my seat, 1A, it was clear this was QSuites, and the excitement was rather apparent. The general atmosphere of the cabin was not the glitzi-ness of Emriates A380 F. It was more subdued, dark, fairly gentle tones. Lots of maroon aligning with Qatar’s livery. The layout reminded me a lot of Etihad’s 787-9. Some seats facing backwards, some forwards, the aisles meandered, giving some seats just a tad more space than others.

The seat itself is rather impressive.

Qatar Airways QSuites

It was perhaps the most functional airline seat I’ve ever had. There was plenty of storage, plenty of space to work or place things.

I thought the NFC was interesting, allowing, I assume, for easier transactions. There were 2 USBs, an HDMI port, a 110 Volt power port, and plenty of seat controls.

 

I particularly appreciated the area above the controls and plugs – a nice, convenient area to store phones or tablets.

The flight attendants were just as excited about QSuites as we were, despite having trained and flown on them for at least a few weeks.

I had the obligatory pre-departure champagne, and perused the menus, all the while still trying to control my giddiness.

 

The drink menu was fairly exhaustive:

 

While the dining menu on this sub 5 hour flight wasn’t as exhaustive.

I started out with warm nuts and a glass of Royal Tokajis’s 2013 Puttonyos. I enjoy the sweet wines more than any other type, so I figured it’d be nice to try the Hungarian dessert wine. It was worth it. 

 

Classic Arabic Mezze

 

Tomato and Basil Soup

 

Chicken and sweet pepper kebab

Chicken and sweet pepper kebab

 

Slow cooked lamb leg with herb lamb jus

Slow cooked lamb leg with herb lamb jus

 

Mediterranean vegetable cannelloni

Mediterranean vegetable cannelloni

 

Red velvet cake with nougat

Red velvet cake with nougat

While it was only a 5 hour flight, I figured I should test out the bed. I found it to be roomy in all the right places for a side sleeper, something that I’d say the Reverse Herringbone seat fails to deliver.

Wrapping Up – Qatar QSuites

After having flown the Qatar QSuites, I have to say that unequivocally, this is the best business class in the sky right now. It rises above the other best business class seats. But, more than that, some of the softer touches. All the touches on the seat, the blanket, they were all spot on and quality, right down to the plastic safety card highlighting the QSuites–think the kind’ve plastic thats good plastic (not laminated) playing cards are made from. And the pride of the crew. It’s hard to put a value crew that takes pride in their product.

What enhanced security will you go through flying from Qatar?

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Last week I had the chance to fly back to the US via Doha, Qatar on Qatar Airways. I found it interesting to find out what enhanced security there was flying from Qatar. You see, airlines from a number of countries in the Middle East experienced a laptop ban mid-2017. While I originally thought it was a win for the US big three airlines–American, United, and Delta–(US3), that controversy seems to have faded from the national discussion. 

We had connected in Doha following our surprising QSuite flight. with a bit of a layover that I’ll cover in a separate post. Ultimately however we were flying from Doha, Qatar to Philadelphia on a Qatar Airways A350. Our experience traversing security was one that is ingrained in my memory, at least for another few weeks.

Entering Hamad International Airport from our long layover was welcoming as usual:

flying from Qatar

Further immigration and security was simple. We found ourselves in the lounge in no time–so much so that we skipped photos, since its been well covered.

But, when it was time to travel, we made our way to the gate and found a rather complicated process to ultimately board our flight. That process started with standing in a line to have our electronics swabbed and bagged in duty free bags.

flying from Qatar

Once our electronics were in the duty free bags, we went through another 2 individuals who had to inspect our boarding passes and passports.

flying from Qatar

Resulting electronics bag

Then it was security, which was typical–remove your belts, electronics and liquids. Following that we had no fewer than 5 additional Qatar Airways staff members who inspected our boarding passes and passports. That isn’t even including the flight attendant at the door that verified our boarding passes and pointed us to our seats.

Wrapping Up – Flying from Qatar

I have to say, our experience flying through Doha was less than stellar. Hamad International Airport is a phenomenal airport. But the enhanced security for flights to the United States was excessive and, while I try to avoid passing judgement, I fail to see the value added. The security, so far as I could tell, was just as exhaustive as US Preclearance out of Abu Dhabi, but without the benefit of exiting the aircraft Stateside without having to go through immigration. 

Qatar Airways QSuite flying not just to LHR, CDG, and JFK!

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Ever since Qatar Airways QSuite was announced I’ve been trying to roll it into a trip so I could try out what is touted as the most luxurious business class product in the sky. 

In a rather spectacular surprise, I got to fly QSuites (review forthcoming) on a flight I never expected it on. My wife and I were set to fly from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Doha, Qatar, as we continued our journey home. At check-in, I asked nicely if we might be able to get window seats, knowing that the 777-300ER seatmap was 2-2-2.

QR 77W 2-2-2 Seatmap

QR 77W 2-2-2 Seatmap

Except that he was saying things that didn’t make sense – saying we could sit on opposite sides of the aisle from each other – 1A and 1E. I asked a clarifying question and he kindly shared his screen.

Qatar Airways Qsuites

I dug a little deeper on this one once we got into the lounge, and found that we were flying on tail number A7-BEN, by popping the flight number into Flightradar24. 

QR665 over the past few days courtesy of Flightradar24.com

QR665 over the past few days courtesy of Flightradar24.com

I could then see that on 4 January, A7-BEN was operating our flight. Logically, I wanted to know where else this plane has been:

Flights operated by A7-BEN courtesy of Flightradar24

Flights operated by A7-BEN courtesy of Flightradar24

QR7 was–I think–the first flight announced to be operated by Qatar Airways QSuites, so that was a pretty big corroborating factor. Ultimately it was in fact a QSuites configured 777-300ER.

Qatar Airways Qsuites

Other Qatar Airways QSuites Aircraft

I don’t know for a fact how many other Qatar Airways aircraft are configured with QSuites at the moment, but I would make reasonable guesses that the following flights are operated by QSuites. Interestingly enough, some of these aircraft have visited a bunch of other cities recently, including Kuwait City, Mumbai, even Karachi!

(Note, each aircraft tail number has a hyperlink to Flightradar24 so you can see where its operating now).

Conclusion – Qatar Airways QSuite flying not just to LHR, CDG, and JFK!

Ultimately, it was more an academic activity since I couldn’t really change anything, however, I think the above steps are helpful if you’re trying to chase a particular product or aircraft. This same strategy could also be used to chase Emirates’ new First Class on the 777-300ER.

Qatar Airways Qsuites

Are Skytrax Awards Perception over Reality?

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The latest Skytrax Airline awards were announced at the Paris Air Show, and I have to say, I’m left wondering whether Skytrax Awards are perception over reality. Don’t get me wrong, I agreed with most of Skytrax perceptions with regard to airports. 

Skytrax Awards Background

Skytrax Awards are largely revered within the industry. Traveling around Asia this past weekend, I heard it mentioned a couple of times on Bangkok Airways, which received an award for the best Regional Airline, and Thai had advertisements for the best Worlds Best Economy Class.

Skytrax Awards

It is admittedly kind of a big deal when 19.87M votes are cast, but I am still left wondering whether this is a perception thing over reality. 

Qatar Airways Wins Skytrax Award for Best Business Class

For me, this is where the rubber meets the road. I have flown Qatar on the 787 and the 777-300ER. Flying from Washington’s Dulles International Airport, we are serviced by the 777-300ER, so that’s the experience I most commonly associate with Qatar.

Lucky believes Qatar Airways to be deserving of the Skytrax awards and to have the best business class. I’ve shared my opinion of the best business class product in the past.

I totally get that Lucky is basing Qatar’s best Business Class based on the 787, A350 and A380 hard products, however, according to Wikipedia 57 aircraft across those three aircraft types (in fact, most of them, 30 are 787s!). The fact remains though that the seats flown on their 26 A330s, 4 A340’s, 9 777-200LR, and 34 777-300ER’s are a far inferior, 2-2-2 business class configuration. So more than half of Qatar’s fleet has an industry trailing hard product. 

Final Thoughts on Skytrax Awards

Specific to Qatar, I truly question whether this is really a perception over reality. Realize that the ballots were all cast well before the first 777 flew with the new QSuites. I totally get that Qatar provides a very good soft product, but how can an airline that has less than half of their fleet with a solid hard product, be the number one business class product? 

 

Hyatt Takes Suite Upgrades seriously, United Airlines Prepaid Card

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The Weekly Travel News Roundup is a collection of headlines from around the internet that caught the attention of the Tagging Miles team. Content on these blogs do not necessarily reflect the positions of Tagging Miles, and should not be considered endorsements. Have a great story we should read? Contact us now and let us know.

Travel:

  • Hyatt takes Suite Upgrades seriously, generally speaking the representative will put you on hold so they can confirm with the hotel. In the off chance that the hotel does not honor that upgrade upon check-in, good things can still happen, just see FQF’s account.

Miles, Points, and Credit Cards:

Miles and Points:

  • Frequent Miler and a whole slew of others are covering a United Airlines Prepaid Card. It will be a partnership with Netspend, which gives us an idea of how it will play with manufacturing spend. But there is so much more that is still unclear.

Tagging Miles:

AMEX Centurion Lounge Changes, Qatar QSuite, 50th Podcast, Emirates-Etihad Merger?

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The Weekly Travel News Roundup is a collection of headlines from around the internet that caught the attention of the Tagging Miles team. Content on these blogs do not necessarily reflect the positions of Tagging Miles, and should not be considered endorsements. Have a great story we should read? Contact us now and let us know.

Travel:

  • This is from last year, but after reading a review of Lucky’s on KLM, I saw him link to Tiffany’s write-up of KLM Airlines Dutch Houses, which I thought was a really cool, and definitely lore worth knowing!
  • Could Emirates and Etihad really merge? There are rumors.
  • Basic Fares are all the rage now-a-days for airlines. But you should avoid them! Between no carry-on bag, no seat assignment, and no elite upgrades, they are just plain bad–in my opinion. So what do you do, if you’ve used your FlexPerks or Citi or Chase points to buy a ticket? Well, Ed Pizzarello, writer of Pizza in Motion has the answer!
  • Rapid Travel Chai reports that Malta’s Azure Window has collapsed. This was an iconic site, which now sits in the Mediterranean. I never got the chance to see it, although I hope to still get the chance to head over to Gozo, the location of the Azure Window. 

Credit Cards:

AMEX Centurion Lounge Changes:

Observation Deck Podcast:

Tagging Miles Posts of the Week:

Qatar Airways Qsuite Unveiled

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Qatar Airways unveiled the new Qatar “Q” Suite – the supposed best Business Class Suite in the sky, yesterday at ITB Berlin 

Qatar Airways Qsuite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yhZDsctiZg
 
A few observations:
  • Its interesting that there appear to be both forward- and rear-facing seats. Personally, I like this to fly backwards, but I haven’t liked how it was executed on the American 777-200 retrofit. I suspect Qatar’s execution will be better.
  • The two seats in the middle of the cabin, when closer, definitely seem to be more geared toward folks who know each other (the video shows families and couples). It almost looks like they have a double bed. This will be great for couples, but could be really awkward for strangers.
  • Also on the middle seats the two sets of facing seats, it looks like the screens can slide over blocking that view or opening it. They really make it look like it’d be great for 4 people that know each other to be able to interact, which could be fun. Of course, that could also get loud for the others in the cabin.
  • Oh yeah, the suites have doors. Its the new big thing in Business Class, after Delta did it.

Conclusion

Qatar Airways Qsuite was billed to be revolutionary. I’m not quite so sure. Is it evolutionary? I think more so. It evolves business class cabin concepts that exist or have been announced by Delta and Etihad, and improves on them. The idea of a double bed in business class is fun, but, it doesn’t seem all that much different from some of the similar center “together” seats, other than maybe additional privacy. The door is logical, as business continues to be improved with some of the benefits of first class. One thing is clear – this is a huge improvement over the current business class seats on Qatar’s 777 fleet.

What do you think? Is the Qatar Airways Qsuite revolutionary?

Bring your falcon on your flight to Doha

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There has been a lot of discussion about emotional support animals. What with the emotional support duck a few weeks ago, I thought it would be appropriate to share how you can bring your falcon on your flight to Doha on Qatar Airways. 

Falcon Photo from FlyterTalk

Photo from FlyerTalk

As it turns out, while a Falcon may not necessarily be an emotional support animal, you can bring your falcon on your flight to Doha, as long as it is on Qatar Airways. 

Here is Qatar’s cost per Falcon in the Economy cabin:

Take your Falcon with you

Now, lets say you want to fly via Abu Dhabi, on Etihad Airways – well apparently, they will allow you to fly with your Falcon as well. Mind you, however, that if you want to bring more than one falcon onboard, you’ll need to be in Business or First Class… but please don’t (as I selfishly proclaim):

Etihad First Apartments

Etihad First Apartments

Now I’m sure what you’re wondering. I’ve talked about Qatar and Etihad, what about my favorite airline, Emirates? Well, they have their own rules. Apparently they do not permit animals in the cabin:

with the exception of falcons between Dubai and certain destinations in Pakistan, and Guide Dogs for the Blind – please see our information on passengers with special needs.

So, there you have it, you might get exception for guide dogs. Falcons, also get exception. Yet, it is not entirely clear whether Falcons can fly in the passenger cabin. Personally, I don’t see why not, but, each airline to their own.

Conclusion: Bring your falcon on your flight to Doha

I don’t have a falcon, personally. I’ve wanted to give Falconry a try, but, you know, we must live within our means. I would feel horrible if I had a falcon, and couldn’t properly exercise said falcon, or give said falcon the kind of environment that they need. But, if you do have a falcon, my opinion is, that you need to fly Qatar or Etihad, because they have pretty flexible policies, that would allow you to travel with your falcon in your same cabin. I know, if I had my way, I’d prefer to take my #indydog in the passenger cabin, so why not a falcon? 

Have you ever seen a Falcon in the passenger cabin?

Qatar Airways to operate A380 to Atlanta for Inaugural flight

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Qatar Airways A380, courtesy of Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways A380, courtesy of Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways has been having an awful lot of fun with this Atlanta route. I won’t go into the crazy things Qatar CEO Akbar Al Baker has said, but lets just say he doesn’t seem to like Delta Airlines. In fact, I gave up writing about the whole US3 vs. ME3 last year.

Today Qatar’s latest salvo was a press release, highlighting their new Doha – Atlanta nonstop flight.

To put a fine point on it, where Emirates and Etihad have flown their A380’s first to New York, Qatar is going to fly their first A380 flight to the US to none other than Atlanta! It will just be for the inaugural flight, but still, the message is awfully clear, they aim to eat Delta’s lunch, in their primary hub.

The sad part of course, is that other than this flight, which will occur on 1 June 2016, Qatar really doesn’t utilize their A380’s for flights that seem worthwhile to fly on an A380. They fly from their hub in Doha to Bangkok, London, and Paris, all flights that are in the 5-8 hour range, which seems hardly enough time to enjoy the bar, have a nice meal, and get some good rest.

But alas, perhaps His Excellency will decide to fly the A380 someplace further afield sometime soon. New York seems awfully popular with A380’s, and, you know, there’s always Atlanta.

H/T to AirlineGuys

My Year in Travel

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It’s that time of the year again, where you look back at the year behind, and look forward to the year ahead.

A whole lot of flying–even for me

This year I flew 159,029 miles. All of it either funded by myself or through miles. Here’s that travel charted out:

Map courtesy of gcmap.

Map courtesy of gcmap.

My travel brought me to 12 countries, of which 2 were new to me: Egypt and Chile. I flew a lot of American Airlines and Qatar Airways revenue, Emirates and Etihad on miles, but got a couple of flights on Lufthansa First Class (including visits to the Lufthansa First Class Terminal). I also finally flew my White Whale.

New Airlines for me this year included: Virgin Atlantic (post coming), Cathay Pacific Long-haul First Class, Qantas domestic, and Singapore Regional.

New Cities

This year I felt like I was in a bit of a travel rut. I started the year visiting Cairo–which was awesome, then found myself returning to a lot of places I’d been: Dubai, Doha, Bali, and Singapore. Even though I revisited Mainz, Germany, I don’t see that as part of the rut. I did see my wife and I get out of that rut in visiting Melbourne, Australia, and would recommend anyone and everyone to visit, it was truly the most surprisingly enjoyable city of the year. I’ll have a post on that in early 2016 to share more.

Elite Status

I started the year with the goal of re-qualifying Executive Platinum (EXP) status on American Airlines through Elite Qualifying Points (EQPs). I am happy to say that I made it. Not only that, but I made it before August 1st.

2015 EXP Status

For hotel status, I had previously been downgraded from Marriott Platinum to Marriott Gold, did a Platinum challenge to get back up there, and am ending the year well short of 75 nights. I will likely try for the same challenge next year, if they will allow it. I did however re-qualify for Hyatt Diamond status. I tend to value Hyatt Diamond status quite a bit, so had no problem doing some mattress runs at the end of the year.

Looking Ahead

As far as travel, I’m starting the year with the fewest completely planned trips in many years. The only two completely planned trips I have are to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in January, and to Reykjavik, Iceland in February. I’ve got a bunch of partials, but those are the only two. Furthermore, I’ll be flying Economy to Iceland! I’m sure long-time readers will know how I feel about that, but there just isn’t an economical options that doesn’t require a trans-Atlantic, so far as I could figure out.

As far as my loyalty in 2016, I’m a bit on the fence, as I shared last week. Despite American AAdvantage’s devaluation, I’m still leaning more toward re-qualifying for EXP status, but only if I can do it in the first half of the year! I think re-qualifying for Hyatt Diamond status is a no-brainer, and I’ve already got some stays booked.

I’m hopeful to make it back to Bali, perhaps finally try out a Hyatt All Inclusive closer to home, and maybe even make it to South Africa. I’ve got more countries and cities on my “dream” list, but I’m trying to keep things reasonable, if you consider those I’ve identified as reasonable. I’m hopeful also to get a couple of trips on Emirates’ A380, hopefully fly Japan Airlines’ First Class, and if all works out, get another Cathay Pacific flight before the AAdvantage Devaluation.

How was your year in travel? What are your plans for the future?

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