Flight: Qatar Airways QR 559 from Mumbai to Doha
Duration: 3 hours 30 minutes
Equipment: A320 (Airbus 320)
Class: Business
Seat: 1D(Aisle seat)
Seat Specification: True Flat Bed, Seat pitch: 45″, Seat width: 21 ”
Qatar Airways alternates between an Airbus A320 and Boeing B787 between Mumbai and Doha currently. When I called Qatar Airways to select seats, I had selected middle row of 1 x 2 x 1 configuration on a B787 so I was quite dejected to see A320 at the gate when boarding.
Qatar Airways A320 business class only has 3 rows of 2 x 2 business class but the seats are flat beds. It was a very short flight but I would not mind flying on this particular aircraft on long haul flights. The only gripe would be lack of direct aisle access for all seats which is somewhat mitigated when you are traveling with a partner.
I was a bit under the weather and so opted out of alcohol on my flight and chose plain water instead to go with warm nuts (cashews, almonds and pistaccios). For entree I opted for mint marinated cod with beetroot barley risotto. This was clearly a mistake as the cod was quite dry and could barely taste the mint with it. I did not care for the risotto at all and in hindsight should have opted for the either of the Indian entrees.
The hazelnut cake was delicious!! After dinner I laid out the seat in bed mode to just experience it. The seat was quite long, cushion firm and comfortable and would make for a good night sleep if not for the short duration of this flight.
Bottomline:
Seat: ****
Service: ***
Food: **1/2
The seats were flat-beds and very comfortable for the short flight. In fact, I would not mind flying on this aircraft for longer +8 hours flights if traveling with my wife.
I had great experiences with Qatar’s catering on the couple of times I have flown with them in the past. However, this time it was not so. The cod fillet was prepared way too dry and the mint sauce around it was not flavorful enough and I barely touched the beetroot barley risotto. Next time I should stick with the Indian menu items on Qatar!!
Service was nothing memorable but was not bad either.