Flights 4-6, going home, the slow way!
This is part a much bigger report, if you’ve not read parts 1, 2 and 3, check them out first!
Flight 4 – Muscat to Dubai
I mentioned earlier that Oman offered a “bid to upgrade” as well, which I had declined initially. But they kept on offering it, and I thought you only live once so why not try it. I did exactly the same thing as the previous airline and bid one above the lowest setting, again I won and got upgraded. Once again, I was going to have a business class flight, and that would mean that not a single part of this trip would be in economy.
Having been to Muscat airport once before, I knew that there was a separate business class check-in area. When the taxi took me to the airport, I asked him to drop me at the first door, which was clearly indicated as business class check-in. When you went into the terminal, you walk into a general area that’s open across to all the check in areas. To the side there’s a door that leads you into a walled off area that is the business class check-in area. I went in here and there were three desks that were manned, but all were with customers. Unlike all the other locations there was nobody here to greet you, give you any kind of direction or to offer for you to sit down and wait. You just simply had to queue up. Not that I’m complaining, but it’s just interesting to see what different companies do. It wasn’t a long wait and soon I was checked in for my next flight. The business class area leads straight to the direct immigration and security area, just for business class, and in no time, I was airside ready for my flight. There are two main major lounges at this airport; the one I visited last time which was when I was flying with Qatar, and the Oman air Lounge. Naturally, I was going to the Oman lounge as I was flying with them, so I headed that way.
Oman Air Lounge
The lounge looked very new and clean, I think it might have been refurbished recently. My first impression was that it wasn’t very big. But this turned out to be a mistake. It was very cleverly designed with lots of secluded areas in separate sections to give the impression of a nice cosy small lounge, whilst actually having plenty of space. The restaurant area was in the middle, with table service, and a bar section round the side. Then there were various different routes with lots of other rooms and areas you could go and sit in if you want to. There’s also a staircase leading to an upstairs area, which was closed, so I guess on a busier day they may open that up to provide plenty of space for everyone. I’d allowed plenty of time for this flight, just in case I was delayed getting to the airport, so I had some time to kill. I went and found a coke and some Hummus to nibble on while I waited for dinner time. Later I headed to the restaurant area, where it was table service, and there was a selection of four different main courses available. By this point I’ve eaten a lot of Arabic food and I decided I needed a change, so I chose the pasta, which was absolutely delicious. When I finished that it was time to go and get my flight, so I headed out to the gate.
The Flight
Again, it wasn’t long in the gate area before boarding and I headed down the ramp. This time I was sitting in 1K, the window seat on the right of the aircraft in the front row. However, these seats were different. Despite being a short haul aircraft, I would say these were almost long-haul quality seats. There was a massive screen fixed in front of me, a nice dividing wall between me and the person next to me, which gave some nice added privacy. There was storage down beside me under the armrest, a remote control for the screen, and a complicated leg rest system, that gave support to your feet in various different ways. The service itself was again identical to all the other short-haul trips, lime and mint drink, towel, date and an Arabic coffee. Again, I was offered the light meal, but I’d again eaten elsewhere so turned it down and just went for a drink and some nuts again. I’m not quite sure how many lime and mint drinks I had during this entire trip, it was quite a few, but they were delicious and very refreshing. The seat was contained in its own solid back, so it reclined by going forwards and down, meaning it didn’t affect the passenger behind you with your recline. This meant I have no qualms whatsoever about reclining fully, relaxing and enjoying my flight, I watched something on the screen and they even had full noise cancelling headphones, which was impressive for this kind of flight. The flight itself was again another hour long flight and quite uneventful. Landing a little bit late to Dubai, which was no problem at all for me. On this occasion, the hotel offered to pick up the airport and the price they were charging was actually less than Uber were charging, so I opted for it. This meant there was a guy with a sign with my hotel name on it waiting for me and he took me straight to the hotel door and I didn’t have to touch my suitcase from the airport to my room.
Flight 5 – Sharjah to Doha
My final short-haul trip was a last positioning flight to get myself to Doha for my final flight home, again with Qatar, paid for with Avios and again in first class. Although I wasn’t expecting the same experience at the airport that I’ve had at Doha previously. Again, the hotel offered me a car to the airport, even though Sharjah was further away. Still, it was significantly cheaper than the price of Uber, so I went with that option. The car met me at the hotel at checkout time and took me straight to the airport. As mentioned previously, Sharjah is a small regional airport which seems to be a hub for Air Arabia. Upon arrival you are directed towards a small security scanning machine and then check-in was split into two zones, Air Arabia to the right and all others to the left. As soon as I walked in Qatar was the first airline I saw and the first desk on the Qatar area was the first-class check-in, which had no queue. Once checked in I was able to head to “the lounge” as it was named, because it is the only lounge in the airport. Still, I was quite pleased to find there was any lounge at all given the size of this airport. The lounge itself was simple and pleasant, quite a good range of food on offer, some of it putting British Airways to shame with the nice range of buffet food available. But this time it was a little too early for dinner, the plan was to eat when I arrived in Doha. So, I grabbed a drink and relaxed in the lounge until it was time to go to my flight. I then headed down, boarded and was greeted with exactly the same service as all my other short-haul flights. I sat down with my lime and mint one last time. A fairly uneventful flight back to Doha and this time when I arrived, I didn’t need to fly out again straight away, I was going to the hotel for the night. However, I was going to check one thing first.
A change of plans
If you recall from my booking process, my return flight was a British Airways flight leaving early on the final morning to get back to London. Halfway through my trip was when Iran decided to attack the American Air Force Base in Qatar. This resulted in all European airlines, including British Airways, cancelling all flights to the Middle East. This meant my flight home was cancelled. I quickly got onto the chat system with British Airways, their preferred method of communication these days, and asked about alternative flights. The app had only been offering me the option for a refund, which was of no use to me of course. Whilst I was chatting to someone, it was a very slow process, the app changed its mind and offered me alternative flight, coming home on Qatar later on the same day as the booking. Naturally, with a small war kicking off, I decided to take the best option I could get. After that I kept a careful eye of the situation as it developed and was fully prepared to jump on any flight to get from Dubai direct to home a day early if I needed to. As it turned out, this was unnecessary, the attack was a one off and things seemed to de-escalate after that. When it all calmed down, I started looking at whether I was on the best possible flight. I was now eight hours later than originally booked.
When I arrived back at Doha Airport, I went over to the business class check-in area to ask someone if there was any chance of moving my flight to an earlier one. After a short investigation they found out there were seats on a flight leaving at almost exactly the same time as my original British Airways flight. However, due to the nature of my ticket being with British Airways, they were not permitted to move me, I would have to talk to British Airways. So, I sat in the comfortable lounging area adjacent to the check-in zone and once again got onto chat with British Airways. They were very unhelpful, stating that because I had now opted for my alternative flight and agreed to it, that was now locked in and not changeable. The only way they could have changed my flight would be on the same terms of any other flight change requests, which of course would be chargeable. I asked them what that would cost and then they said they couldn’t move it either because it was a voucher booking and I needed to have an Avios seat available, of which there wasn’t. I pointed out that this is an exceptional circumstance due to what was going on in the region and they seem to show little interest. It took me a long time to get the guy to finally admit there were no other options available to me, so I gave up left the area and got an Uber to the hotel where I was staying that night in Doha.
As a tip, I can highly recommend the Hyatt Regency Oryx Doha Airport hotel. It was on the other side of the rather extensive airport complex. There is a free airport shuttle running every half an hour, but I decided to Uber it as it was cheap and quick. The hotel itself is lovely, and has a selection of restaurants, great for a stopover.
Flight 6 – Doha to London
Another chance to explore Doha Airport
Next morning, I headed back to the airport and to the dedicated business and first-class check-in drop-off point, that I was now very well acquainted with. As soon as I walked through the door my bag was taken off me and I headed to a business class check in desk, where they don’t have seats like first-class does. That seemed to be the only difference between the two sides. I was soon checked in and heading straight through to the dedicated security and immigration at the end of the business class check-in aisle. Unlike first-class, business class does not lead you directly to a lounge but spits you out in duty-free so that you can go shopping before you head to the main concourse. As my flight was now significantly later than my previous scheduled flight, I had a lot of time to kill that day. I had spent the morning working in my hotel and pushing the check-out limits to its maximum possible time before heading back to the airport. But I still had over 3 hours to kill. I decided I was going to have lunch at the airport and then dinner later on the flight home made sense, as I would be landing evening time in the UK. This time I headed it straight up to the transit and went straight to C-gates, where the Orchard is, and went up to the south Lounge that overlooks the Orchard. This is a wonderful lounge space to go and sit in for some time to kill. I found some snacks, a drink and they even offered me table service in here. Given the situation in the Middle East, particularly the attack on Qatar, and the fact that there are no European airlines flying to the airport, the airport itself was extremely quiet. I think I were about 10 people in this particular lounge at the time. I suspect the lounge could easily have handled several hundred people without a problem. So, they were very happy to get me table service and bring me anything I wanted. I found a nice spot overlooking the garden where I could relax for a bit.
Some photos from this lounge and my view of the Orchard…
When it came to dinner time I headed back to the other lounge as I’ve never had a sit-down meal at the restaurant before. I went over, past the giant water feature and up the stairs to the restaurant. The restaurant offered both table service and a buffet service. That said, the buffet service is still manned by a Chef who fills your plate with whatever you want. The buffet didn’t particularly appeal, but I quite liked the menu, so I ordered from the menu and had some very nice Arabic chicken. After dessert, I headed it down to the main lounge area, which was also completely deserted, to relax for another 20 minutes before I had to head to my flight.
Below are some images of my meal and the other lounge, note how empty it is!
Back in a Q-Suite
With the change of plans, I was now booked on a Qatar flight, in a 777 and in a Q-suite. I managed to move my seat to be at the front, so I was now in 1K, a rear facing window seat. And if you’ve read my other reports, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of the Q-suite and the service on Qatar. I was invited to board nice and early, I had plenty of time to sit down and enjoy the pre-flight service. I took one more lime and mint, just to refresh myself fully before I started on the champagne. And of course it came with a towel, a date and an Arabic coffee. A full menu was issued with a choice of mains and light snack meals. Just before take-off the crew came around and asked me what and when I wanted to eat. I opted for pink champagne and snacks after take-off and my main meal to be served about three hours into the flight. This was about halfway which would’ve been roughly dinner time in the UK, so I would feel about right when I landed. I do very much enjoy the pink champagne they serve on Qatar, and I had several glasses on this flight. They also have a tray of snacks available, which they brought over, and I selected some chocolate and some popcorn to enjoy. When it came to dinner time I’d opted for the steak. They gave me very nice bread and olive oil to enjoy and an amuse-bouche to get started. I turned down the starter, I don’t like caviar, controversial I know! And for dessert, I had a delightful chocolate caramel tart. All washed down with a nice cocktail. They had issued me with their Formula One branded pyjamas on boarding, which I changed into straight after take-off. So, after my late meal I settled down to try and get a bit of a power nap so that I could survive the rest of the night. It was a very bumpy flight, but I actually quite enjoy turbulence when I’m trying to sleep, I don’t know why, but it seems to send me off. We actually landed significantly earlier than scheduled, I think they were planning for tighter air restrictions due to the conflict, which didn’t actually happen, so we were able to take a quicker route. As always Qatar service is amazing, the seat is amazing, and I always enjoy flying with them.
Here’s some photos of the flight and shots out the window..
Arrival in London
After a delightful flight in the Q-suite with Qatar I finally arrived in London Heathrow terminal 4. As I was departing the aircraft they were issuing fast track vouchers, which were date stamped, to all business class customers, presumably so that we could use the fast-track immigration lines when we got there. The air bridge was connected pretty quickly, and we walked off towards the passport gates. Terminal 4 has a bizarre traffic flow system of people walking around a huge square block, you have to go one way round if you are EU/UK and the other way round for all other passports, meaning you’ve got a corridor with two sets of traffic going against each other. So, after my little trek through the corridors, I arrived at the passport control area and the fast track was all manned with a small queue, but the e-gates were empty, so I ditched my fast-track voucher and headed straight to the e-gates.
I then headed down to baggage collection, given this was Heathrow I was preparing myself for a long wait. As I arrived at the belt it started moving, somewhat shocking to me, I even double checked the screens to make sure it was my flight. I was equally shocked to see a Qatar member of staff there who was organising the bags on the belt, to make them easy to pick up and helping people take them off, not something I’ve seen at Heathrow before. My bag was out within a minute, and I was heading outside to meet my partner for my lift home. From stepping off the aircraft to getting into my car was 15 minutes, a definite world record for Heathrow. I don’t know if terminal 5 and terminal 4 work with different companies, but T5 could definitely learn something from T4 performance here.
Bottom line
I honestly never thought I’d get a chance to fly in the Qatar Q-suite again, so I was grateful for the disruptions, and I managed to experience that one more time. This trip was the AV geeks delight, plenty of airlines, plenty of lounges and thanks to a few lucky upgrades, none of it in economy. The Middle East airlines clearly compare notes and make sure that they all offer very similar services to compete with each other, so there isn’t a lot between the different flights available here. All of my flights were very nice, I’ve no complaints about any of them, I did particularly enjoy experiencing Etihad for the first time and I get the impression a long haul flight with them could be very pleasant, something I’d really like to try one day. BA did well with the outbound flight but severely let me down on getting me home on time, losing me a whole day of work. I did submit a complaint, but they missed the point and said that it was all due to factors beyond their control.
On the whole, I would highly recommend Qatar, Etihad, or even Oman airlines to fly with. As of writing Oman have just joined one world as well, which they weren’t when I flew. This was not a trip to earn points with, I was using a lot of vouchers and avios to pay for things, but I still enjoyed it just the same.
I’ve covered most of the details about the 3 Middle East airlines I flew with in this report, but I did do a much shorter, direct comparison on them, read it here.
