[Airline Review] Qatar Airways A350-1000 Qsuites Business Class

'First in Business' was what Qatar Airways used to describe Qsuites in marketing materials when the airline first launched the seat. I flew the Qsuites not once, but twice on my journey to Manchester, both times on the A350-1000. The Qsuites offers impressive levels of comfort and privacy, and when paired with an excellent soft product, does make it stand out against other business class products out there. I'm not too sure whether the Qsuites is indeed better than 'First Class', but it does make for a comfortable flying experience.

Qsuites A350-1000 Cabin and Seat

The A350-1000 cabin feels very spacious, due to the lack of overhead bins over the middle seats. Despite the lack of overhead bins, there's more than enough storage for all the business class passengers.

Seats on a Qsuites-equipped plane are staggered in a 1-2-1 configuration. Take note that seats of even-numbered rows are forward-facing, and closer to the aisle. Odd-numbered rows will be rear-facing, and away from the aisle.

This means that if you want a true window seat that's further away from the aisle, or if you are a couple and you want the double-bed (seats E and F), you will have to fly rear-facing.

If you are flying alone, and for some reason or another, you end up in a couple seat, there's a privacy divider that can be raised.

I selected seat 8B for my flight from Singapore to Doha, and 1A for my flight from Doha to Manchester. I will be using photos from both flights for this review.

There's a wide range of seat controls, and these can be found on the console.

The foootwell is reasonably large, and it should not restrict your feet while you are sleeping.

Beneath the armrest, you can find storage space, as well as a bottle of water, and noise-cancelling headphones.

The tray table is really big, and sturdy. You can place your laptop on the tray table, and there will be plenty of space to spare to place your drinks, and snacks.

The Qsuites offers excellent privacy, due to the high walls that blocks unwanted attention from fellow passengers.

Amenities

I found two pillows, a large blanket, and an amenity kit waiting at my seat when I boarded the aircraft.

Qatar partners Diptyque to offer amenity kits for business class passengers. You may receive a slightly different kit when flying into Doha, as compared to flying out of Doha. However, the contents of the kit are the same, and consists of a lip balm, lotion, face cream and fragrance.

I was also offered pyjamas, and these are branded with the Formula 1 Grand Prix in celebration of the Qatar Grand Prix. These comes together with some slippers.

Dining

Pre-departure drinks were served before take off, and I opted for a glass of Champagne on my flight to Doha, but just water when I flew from Doha to Manchester. On my flight to Manchester, I was also served Arabic Coffee.

As a business class passenger, you are entitled to dine on demand. The crew came by before take-off to ask for my meal preferences, and when I wanted it to be served. As I had a great meal at the Qatar Premium Lounge earlier, and also due to the fact that it was a red-eye flight, I skipped breakfast on my flight to Doha, and asked the crew to serve me the dinner course after I woke up from my sleep.

This was the menu on my flight from Singapore to Doha. Qatar has a partnership with various chefs around the world, and on my flight, there were several dishes created in partnership with Chef Thitid 'Ton' Tassanakajohn. Chef Ton runs Michelin-starred Le Du in Bangkok; and Le Du was also ranked #1 in Asia's Best Restaurant list of 2023. I ordered both dishes by Chef Ton.

The lobster dish was competently executed. Despite reheating, the lobster wasn't too tough, and the accompanying sauce gave the dish a set of robust flavours. To pair with this meal, I ordered So Jennie, a non-alcoholic bubbly that was actually good.

The dessert was even better. I really love the smoked ice cream; the smoky flavour just cuts through the richness of the ice cream.

On my flight to Manchester, I had a light breakfast by opting for just the omelette, then the braised beef short ribs. If there was a downside to my experience on Qatar, there's just so much food that I want to try, but I don't have the stomach space for it.

I wish I've got better things to say about the omelette, and the beef short ribs though. The omelette was okay, but the beef short ribs wasn't very good. It was dry, and just not very tasty. You can probably get a sense of how dry the short ribs was from the photo below.

In-Flight Entertainment

The screens on Qsuites measure 21.5", so they aren't the widest by today's standards (for context, the new Cathay Aria Suite has 24" screens), but the Oryx One has so much content that you probably need to take 100 flights with Qatar just to consume all the content.

While the Oryx One system was great, the same cannot be said for the headsets provided. They felt flimsy, and I didn't feel comfortable when wearing them.

Sleep Experience

As mentioned earlier, I went to sleep soon after take-off during my flight to Doha as I was tired and wanted to maximise my time sleeping. The flight attendants were attentive to this need of mine, and they prepared the bed while i checked out the restroom. Kudos to them!

I won't explain the bedding in detail, there are other blogs out there that can do a better job at describing the bedding. The bedding was good, and I had a good four-five hours of sleep, so I was very pleased with that.

Conclusion

Qsuites sets the standard for business class as the combination of hard product and soft product is unmatched. The well-designed suite with doors, dine on demand, best-in-class amenities (not many airlines offer pyjamas on business class), and the warm, attentive service makes it easy for me to recommend Qsuites.

Yes, there are some misses (especially with the catering on my second flight), but Qsuites continues to set a very high bar for a quality business class experience.

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