Qatar Airways

Sitting in the airport I was almost peeing in my pants with excitement to fly a gulf carrier- pen out, ready to take notes on the luxury.

The Africa Leg

While there were some definite perks this leg didn’t quite live up to my admittedly absurd expectations. Like all airlines, they use their crappier, older airplanes for Africa. They also clearly didn’t send the most motivated crew who seemed to oddly enough be Chinese-Americans. Sorta disappointing on that front. But just knocked my expectations down low enough to be wowed on the next leg.

The Asia Leg

I think heaven is probably a Qatar airways international flight in business (not coming from or going to Africa). I spent the eight hour flight either being in a coma-like sleep or being delighted by every detail that I noticed.

Most notably:

Hot towels: unlike some airlines where they clearly throw these in a microwave two seconds before take off so there are weird hot and cold patches, these towels were literally steaming. They were like a sauna in a washcloth. I couldn’t identify whatever scent they had on them but it was luxurious.

Leather bound menus and fresh flowers in a vase on the wall: Sure, this is totally unnecessary but it does make you feel like you’re in a restaurant instead of on a plane.

Gendered amenity kits: no idea what is in the man’s kit but mine was Salvator Ferragamo and came with hand cream, perfume, and lip balm. A note on hand cream, I don’t really get it. Doesn’t it just make your hands slippery? My friend lectured me that your hands age quickly and that is a spot that indicates your true age. Thing is, I don’t think I have ever noticed a person’s hands (unless they were slippery when shaken). That saying “I know it like the back of my hand” perplexes me because I’m reasonably sure I could never recognize my own hand-backs in a line up. I can’t picture my husband’s hands. Hands just aren’t on my radar (anyone want some fancy hand cream?).

Timing of things: you ordered your meal from the menu before take-off which made the food service portion go much faster. Also they gave you the noise-cancelling head sets immediately so you could pop them on before take-off.

Functional sinks: sinks on airplanes are a pet peeve of mine. The meager stream of water is always too close to the bowl so you end up touching the sides. You have to hold it down with one hand to wash the other. The sink bowls are made for carnies (small hands, smell of cabbage). And there is that mysterious sign that says “as a courtesy to your fellow passengers consider using your towel to wipe the sink”. What are people using these tiny sinks for that the drain can’t handle? Also, what towel? Do you mean the single ply toilet paper or the single ply tissue? Well Qatar airways has fixed the sink. It’s a regular sink-sized sink, this a regular faucet-sized faucet. You can press the red button for hot and the blue button for cold, and then the water flows without you having to hold it down. Also there are ACTUAL TOWELS.

Updates: The plane (to Asia) were newer and hence had little lights that indicated when you could use your cell phone, next to the fasten seat belt sign. There was also a new-addition to the regular lecture which was “no electronic cigarettes are permitted on board”. Wow, maybe that’s a thing here.

Pajamas: They gave me pajamas. And none of this one-size-fits-all bullshit, but the flight attendant came up to me and said “I’ve selected a size medium for you, however let me know if you’d like to change”. They are comfy and made of grey fleece. There were matching socks and an eyeshade all in a little bag. I’m such a sucker for little bags.

Seats: The seats (on the Asia leg, not the Africa one) lay out to 180 degrees and could be adjusted with only three sets if arrow buttons. None of this 15-button monstrosity on some airlines where you can never quite figure it out. Also there was a “save” button so when you’ve found the perfect position and then get up to go to the bathroom, you can get right back to your sweet spot.

Entertainment: So many movies. There were a few new releases, but then also a great selection of foreign films. And they were just the foreign films I wanted to see- not the high-brow, super famous ones I’ll hear about in the US anyway, but the dumb popular ones that I love. The equivalent of “The Vow” (which I’ve seen twice on planes) from each country. I watched a fabulous Egyptian romantic comedy (more later) and a pretty scandalous Bollywood film. Best of all, because we had the headsets on our seats when we arrived, I got through half a movie before we even took off.