qsuite

Aircraft: 77W / 777-300ER
Route: Chicago (ORD) – Doha (DOH)
Seat: 9E and 9F
Cost per person: 75K AAdvantage miles

Africa is not an easy place to get to from North America. Though we’re starting to see more direct flights to Africa from the US, most still seem to connect in Europe, which is exacerbated by airline alliance loyalty/miles. For instance, most oneworld routings take you through London on British Airways, and many Star Alliance flights will take you through Frankfurt, and most SkyTeam routings will take you through Paris or Amsterdam. None of which are exactly “on the way”, depending on how far south you’re going.

Well, one of the best ways to get from North America to Africa on points is on Qatar, connecting in the Middle East. American charges 70k miles for business class from the US to the Middle East, and another 5k to get to Africa (American has some pretty poor routing rules, but they do permit connecting to Africa and the Indian subcontinent via Qatar, breaking the third region rule).

This flight was for our honeymoon, and our routing was Savannah – Seychelles. Initially, we were routing through Philadelphia, but that was on the A350-900, which didn’t have the Q-Suites. Since American allows unlimited changes to awards, I kept looking using British Airways website for one of the Q Suite routes, which at the time included:

• Chicago
• Houston
• New York JFK
• Washington Dulles
• Los Angeles

Low and behold, space opened up on the Chicago route. I called the Executive Platinum Desk, who was able to rebook my flight in about 15 minutes.

Tip: For couples, you’ll want to select odd numbered (rear-facing) seats in order to take advantage of the double bed feature. For those traveling solo, stick with odd numbered window seats or even numbered rows in the middle.

Day of travel experience

Our entire itinerary was going from Savannah, where our wedding took place, to Charlotte, the onto Chicago – Doha – Seychelles. Sadly, American doesn’t offer a direct flight to Savannah/Hilton Head Airport (SAV), so we were forced to do the Charlotte connection.

Savannah’s airport is quaint and easy to navigate, and is only about 20 minutes from downtown. After some initial drama getting the house car at our hotel to take us, we ended up in the worst Uber we’ve ever had (it did NOT include seatbelts). Anyway, we arrived with plenty of time, but exhausted from celebrating our marriage with my parents the night before. My parents honestly party harder than we do (and we’re not exactly slouches)!

Savannah’s airport is quaint and easy to navigate, and is only about 20 minutes from downtown. After some initial drama getting the house car at our hotel to take us, we ended up in the worst Uber we’ve ever had (it did NOT include seatbelts). Anyway, we arrived with plenty of time, but exhausted from celebrating our marriage with my parents the night before. My parents honestly party harder than we do (and we’re not exactly slouches)!

Lucky for us, Charlotte had a Minute Suites, and we were able to use Priority Pass to enter for free (for an hour). I can’t tell you how much of a lifesaver this was. We wanted to be fresh for our Qatar flight, so the nap really hit the spot. It also happens to be next to a Chick-Fil-A. 😉

After another uneventful flight, we arrived in Chicago. We came into concourse H/K, where American has a Flagship Lounge. Having flown through Chicago dozens of times over the last several years and taken the elevator past the Flagship Lounge (the regular Admiral’s Club is on 3, and the FS Lounge is on 2), I was excited to finally see the space.

The views are essentially the same as the regular lounge, but they do have much better food and drink options. I didn’t take many pictures, but there are plenty of reviews out there. Like here.

The way the Chicago O’Hare is divided is really not the easiest to navigate if you’re connecting onward via the international terminal. For American connections, that means taking a bus from the end of concourse H. The bus schedule is kind of, sort of fixed, so you really do need to allow yourself some extra time in the event you miss it and need to take the next one. You’ll need to show the agent at the podium your boarding pass, after which they’ll give you lamented “ticket”, which they’ll collect from you after you get off the bus at the terminal. We just barely missed the one we wanted to take, so we waited around for another 15 minutes. The bus ride itself took about 10 minutes. All-in-all, the process of getting from the American terminal to the international one took about 30-45 minutes.

Once in the international terminal, we actually still had some time to kill, so we headed to the British Airways First Class lounge, where we were turned away due to capacity. As a oneworld Emerald, I’m entitled access to oneworld first class lounges with one guest (who also must be flying on a oneworld flight). Disappointed, we walked over to the Air France lounge where Priority Pass would again come in handy (thanks to my Chase Sapphire Reserve and/or American Express Platinum cards). The lounge was forgettable, but did have some pretty good wine options, along with a cooler full of ice cream! My only complaint about the lounge isn’t about the food or drink, but rather the fact that it faces west, and in the afternoon, essentially becomes a sun room. The temperature must’ve been 80+ degrees! The ice cream treats managed to cool us down!

Onboard experience

The boarding process was chaotic. We checked in with the gate prior to walking to the lounge, and they said boarding would start in 45 minutes. Well, it started much earlier than that, and there was a long queue to search and approve carry-on bags. Each passenger was required to get a Qatar bag pass in order to board. We were frustrated since we’d just been at the gate 45 minutes prior and they made no mention of it.

We finally boarded, and we were still one of the first business class customers on board. Upon entering the plane, I was speechless. I’ve never been so blown away by an airline product than I was entering the business class cabin. The finishes were modern and sleek, but tasteful. The Q Suites were just gorgeous. I remember telling Leigh “I can’t believe this is BUSINESS class!”

With each seat being a fully enclosed suite, it clearly offers a lot of privacy. The seat also offers more than ample storage, power outlets, and USB chargers.

At each seat was a pillow and the softest blanket I’ve ever used. Seriously – this is the kind of blanket you want on your couch at home! I was also impressed by the amenity kit, which included Castello Monte Vibiano Vecchio products (lip balm, face mist, lotion), an eye mask, socks, and ear plugs. Toothbrushes and mouthwash were not included since those are well-stocked in the lavortories, which I came to appreciate mid-flight. Normally I’m searching for the amenity kit or I forget it and need to go back to my seat, so having a toothbrush there without needing to think about it was great.

Within a few minutes, we were both warmly greeted by the Qatar staff, offered a menu and a drink. We both chose the sparkling rose (Dappier Brut Rosé de Saignée), which hit the spot (for our tastes, that means not too sweet).

I’d always heard how good Qatar’s soft product is, and boy, this flight didn’t disappoint. Every interaction was genuine, hospitable, and friendly. I never felt like I was bothering them, which I do many time on US-based airlines, even in premium cabin. Case in point, there was an incident where all of the power stopped working at my seat (yes, everything except the TV), and the FA working (Jamie), couldn’t have been more helpful or apologetic. The power failure meant my seat needed to be reclined and lifted manually, which he did without hesitation. He offered to move us, but we would then lose our connecting seats. Since I was just lounging at this point anyway, I had the seat adjusted for it and just opted to stay put. Plus Leigh was very comfortable and I couldn’t justify having to move ourselves and our belongings.

The food was the best I’ve had on a plane to that point. I had the steak and it was cooked perfectly, while Leigh had the salmon. She really enjoyed her dish as well. I didn’t get pictures of the mains because I was too busy enjoying everything.

Of course we couldn’t resist ordering snacks throughout the flight. We had the lobster mac and cheese, octopus, and the panini. All were really good, but the mac and cheese was the star. Shocker, I know!

Somewhere over eastern Europe, Jamie came out with a beautiful dessert, and the plate had “Enjoy Your Honeymoon” written in chocolate. Wow!  

Of the 15-hour flight, Leigh and I both slept about 7 hours, which was prefect, because we wanted to do the Doha city tour when we arrived.

Doha Airport and city tour

We arrived into Doha, and within about 15 minutes, were off the plane and into the main terminal. With Doha being the only airport in the country, there are no domestic flights, so you basically just walk off the plane. The airport is model airport of efficiency, and of course there’s the giant teddy bear!

One of the unique things about Qatar is that they offer city tours since a lot of people end up with long layovers. We knew we wanted to do the tour since we’d never been to the Middle East. After deplaning, we went straight to the city tour desk, which is located in the main atrium. The tours cost about $10 USD and leave every few hours.

After killing some time walking the airport, we met at the tour desk about 15 minutes before scheduled departure. They then led us through immigration, which took a surprisingly long amount of time, thanks to yours truly. For some reason, my passport would not scan, and I ended up holding up the tour group of 40 people. Finally, I was through and we stepped outside into the Middle East sauna, which hit me like a hot blanket. Thankfully, the bus was ice cold and we were off shortly thereafter. Our first stop was a market where we could buy pretty much whatever you might want. While much of it was very interesting – fruits, spices, coffee, tea – there was a dark side. There was a fairly large contingency of men selling animals, many of which I’m sure came from poachers.

We made a couple of additional stops, then headed back to the airport.

As soon as we got back to the airport, we went straight to the Al Mourjan Business Class lounge to take showers to wash off the sweat from the heat. Although I’m oneworld Emerald, I was not given access to the first class lounge due to Qatar Airways’ policy. While I think Qatar adds more to oneworld than it takes (and the airline industry in general), it’s frustrating that they’ve created a “faux first class lounge” in order to skirt oneworld’s rules. Qatar CEO Al Baker has a history of railing against US carriers, and this is probably just another shot at them. With that said, since our trip, Qatar has started selling access to the first-class Al Safwa Lounge for $165/pp, regardless of cabin, which can be a good deal if your layover is long enough. For two people, $330 is hard to justify.

Having had some Arabaic coffee on our tour, followed by a shower in the lounge, we were wide awake. We decided to have some wine and food. The lounge is a little confusing, as there’s a “deli” on the main level, which is where we were immediately drawn. The food turned out to be lackluster, and it wasn’t until asking someone, that we learned that there was an entire restaurant upstairs!

The buffet was certainly not the most impressive that I’ve ever had, but overall it was tasty, albeit a bit heavy. I wish they had lighter options beyond just curries and stews, but I suppose when in Rome…

We finished eating and set out for our gate a little more before our flight (which left at 3am!). We ended up buying some rum at duty free with the leftover change we had from our tour, which ended up being a nice to have in Seychelles.

Overall Thoughts

In summary, our Qatar experience was next level. Although my seat broke, I appreciated the effort that Jamie put towards mitigating the issue. The individual touches, including the custom desert for our honeymoon, took the Qatar business class soft product to a level I’ve not even experienced in international first class. For 75k Aadvantage miles, Qatar is undoubtably the best way to get to Africa, especially for the price. My primary advice is to ensure that you’re on a Q Suites flight, which you can double check via the list above or by looking at the seat map.

Have you flown the Q-Suites yet? If so, what was your experience like?