Qatar Airways only offers a First Class cabin on its A380 ‘Superjumbos’, between Qatar’s capital Doha (DOH) and London, Paris, Guangzhou (CAN), Perth and Sydney.  But it doesn’t allow its frequent flyers to upgrade to First to or from London, so in order to try it out using our accrued miles we ended up getting tickets to CAN in southern China in August 2018.  Guangzhou is not much known to the British public, but as the centre of Chinese manufacturing and tech, and a population of 18,000,000 it certainly warrants Qatar putting an A380 on the route.

We were able to use Qatar’s Al Safwa First Class lounge at Hamad International Airport before the flight. It’s a huge modern space with high white walls, divided into smaller (but still big) areas – just like a modern art gallery. There’s a private duty free shop, a spa, bedrooms, areas to sit and relax or work, a feature bar and a dining room.  I checked out the restaurant area and found its tables all dressed and ready for more passengers than can fit in the airline’s entire fleet of A380s, but at 1am we were the only passengers I could see!  We enjoyed Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame Champagne and then made our way (on foot) to our waiting aircraft.

Airbus A380 A7-APG was operating flight QR874 to CAN that night.  We entered it through the upper deck door U2L and turned left towards the pointy end and my seat 1K on the starboard window side.  The First cabin has 8 ‘open suites’ laid out 1-2-1 over two rows. Mr A sat behind me in 2K and there were just 2 other passengers in the cabin and 4 FAs to look after us!  The wonderfully warm yet highly professional service began with personalised welcomes by the senior crew on board (always given to frequent flyers on Qatar, not just in First) and the offer of drinks before take-off. I went for the 2004 vintage Krug, which came with warmed nuts.  In hindsight I regretted also accepting Arabic coffee and dates, as the caffeine would keep me awake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The seats are upholstered in fabric (wool I think), they have a good width of 23 inches and an amazing 33 inches width in bed mode.  An Ottoman in front of the seat is hard to reach in ‘seat mode’, it’s so far away, but in bed mode it lengthens your bed length to 6 feet 9 inches!  And the ottoman is of sufficient size to enable a partner or colleague to sit on it comfortably for a while, like when Mr. A joined me to eat together on an appropriately large dining table. There is loads of space to rest or stow your nicknacks, including inside the ottoman, and a personal wardrobe which can hold about 4 coat hangars worth of clothes.  Magazines are kept inside a cute little stowage space within the seat architecture.  The suite extends to over three window lengths, and remember the windows on an A380are bigger than on most aircraft.  But surprisingly, there are no overhead bins, so the FA takes your carry-on into a locker in the space in front of the cabin. I was able to keep my carry-on within the suite next to me, as it was unoccupied.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That space in front of the cabin has a drinks, snacks and magazine credenza on each side and also a large toilet/changing area on each side too. The latter was amazing; so spacious, so clean and so welcoming and well-presented, I had to look hard to find the toilet which was covered by the soft leather which extended to a circa three metre bench, on which one can sit to change into PJs.  BTW the PJs are the same White Company product offered in Business Class; smart, comfortable, but difficult to “size” correctly for me.  Fresh red roses plus the more commonly seen orchids enhanced the clean fresh feeling of the ‘little room’.

The amenities bag contained items by Armani, plus socks, eye mask and ear plugs. There’s little need for earplugs though, as the A380 is so quiet, and as the galley is quite a distance from the front row.

Qatar Airways offers “Dine on Demand” in both First and Business classes, so it was always my priority to get some sleep at the start of the seven hour flight, and then wake to eat a couple of hours before landing in CAN, around 4pm local time.  Most of our crew seemed to be of Malaysian origin and a lovely FA called Yin looked after us most of the time.  As soon as we took off she made our beds, while we changed into our PJs.  The bed was superb! Beautifully soft white ‘mattress cover’, duvet and soft plump pillows cocooned me and I had enough space to lie whichever way I liked. This is the 3rd A380 airline’s First I’ve had the pleasure to sample this year and I can tell you that Qatar’s was the most spacious and comfortable. (2nd place Thai Airways, 3rd Air France).

My excitement about my journey and about my destination, plus the Arabic coffee, meant I didn’t actually get that much deep sleep on the flight. But I felt rested when we woke, as planned.  Yin set the table for us and we dined together, face to face.

Across each the five flights I’ve had this year in First class a highlight for me is the caviar service!  (Don’t expect it on BA because their cost cutting will leave you disappointed). And although it wasn’t listed on the menu ex DOH, Yin assured us they had it on board.  Beautiful golden black pearls of Oscietra caviar go very well with Krug 2004!

As far as the stats are concerned, doors closed 5 minutes early at 02:20, but push back wasn’t until 02:35 and we took off at 02:55 from runway 34R. Once in the CAN area we had a 30 minute approach, bypassing the airfield and flying back again, and we landed at 15:56 on runway 20L, some thirty minutes late.  But when I’m at the front of the plane I feel I’m getting more value for money the longer I’m in the cabin, so I don’t mind a little delay!!  Just like many of China’s brand new airports, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, is very big and it took us ten minutes to taxi to our stand, followed by a long walk to immigration.

We had visas for China, but it is now possible to visit some large Chinese cities without a visa, if you’re only staying up to 72 hours; just follow the signs to the right place. All foreign visitors to China must have their fingerprints taken at one of many self-serve kiosks you pass on the way to Immigration.  The quick process gives you a simple paper receipt which should be kept in your passport.  The immigration process was quite swift and smooth and when we got to the baggage hall our bags were already on the belt.

For our return trip on 20th August we arrived very early at CAN on a flight from Vietnam at 19:30 on 19th. That meant we had six hours before the scheduled

departure time of 01:35 of flight QR875 to DOH.  Plenty of time to ‘enter’ China again, collect our bags, transfer to Terminal 1, check in for the flight, ‘leave’ China and then relax in the Lounge.  The first three bits went to plan, but then we found Qatar check-in didn’t open until 21:30, four hours before departure.  No other OneWorld airlines were operating from Terminal 1 (sometimes you can check in earlier with them) so we joined, or rather made a queue opposite the First check in counter and watched all the staff prepare for their shift.  In the Economy queue there were scores of people bound for Africa with loads of bound bales and large bags of goods they’d bought in China, to sell in their home markets.  Very tired, we checked in as soon as the desk opened and made our way through border control.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found the ‘Premium Lounge’ we’d been ‘invited’ to use and entered to an horrific sight: my very worst lounge experience ever!  The lounge was large, but it was completely full. It’s really a business class lounge, not a first class one, and it’s shared between several airlines and ‘paid for’ lounge memberships like Priority Pass. At 10pm on a Sunday night it was filled with pax of Emirates, Ethiopian, Egyptair and others, all departing close to the Qatari flight.  Apart from the fact we couldn’t sit down, the lounge had a miserable offering of food and drinks, it was dark and windowless, but it did have a shower (with a 1 hour wait).

We were both very tired, having got up 15 hours earlier in Vietnam, plus my Asperger’s started getting the better of me, so I asked the staff at reception if there really wasn’t another lounge for first class passengers.  They told me there wasn’t but we could use a smaller business class lounge nearer to our departure gate, which usually has more available seating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so we set off to the Baiyun Airport Lounge, which was indeed almost empty, and had views of the apron. But once again the seats were not conducive to napping and the food and drink offering was as bad as in the Premium Lounge. There were feeble finger sandwiches which appeared to be void of filling, pastries or pot noodles to eat (no nuts or crisps) and to drink you could help yourself to tea, coffee, chilled soft drinks, beer, red or white wine (but no wine glasses).  Mr A tried to settle himself in, but I went to the front desk to ask them to call a member of Qatar staff so that I could complain that these facilities were not appropriate for First class pax. It turns out Qatar doesn’t have any of its own staff at CAN, so the young man called in his manager (of the lounges).  He seemed very nice and said he could take us to a better lounge, on a buggy, but we ended up back at the Premium Lounge!  By now the Emirates flight had been called, so this man was able to find us seats together in a quieter annexe near the lounge entrance.

We rested as best we could, and I spent ages on the internet and the phone, trying to talk to Qatar Airways about this horrible experience, without success. Realising the aircraft would be more comfortable then the lounge, we made a point of getting to the gate in time to be among the first to board, at 00:50. Once again it was a left turn after entering door U2L, to suite 1K, with Mr A in 2K.  Flight QR875 was being operated by Airbus A380 registration A7-APB and it transpired were were the only passengers in First, so we had the whole cabin and 4 FAs to ourselves – it was better than being in a private jet!

One trait I have as an Asperger’s person is that when anyone asks me “how are you”, I give them the honest answer. And so I relayed to the FAs that I was very disappointed with the ground facilities offered to First passengers in CAN, and asked if they could call ahead to DOH to see if they could give us heightened levels of service during our transit.

As ever with Qatar Airways, all the FAs were very lovely and gave us great service and attention, none more so than Mambo, a charming lady hailing from Kenya.  And I should note that Qatar’s staff are just as friendly towards same sex couples as they are to heterosexuals – making up our beds beside each other, offering to set the tables for us to dine together etc – notwithstanding the laws or cultures of Qatar or the FA’s country of origin.  Thank you Qatar (and Mambo in this instance); it means a lot to us!

We slept very soundly for five hours after take-off, in the beds Mambo made up in the two centre suites of row 1. She had woken us two hours before DOH, as I requested, so we could enjoy the food, where we actually constructed our own menus from the wide range of dishes available.  Of course we chose the Oscietra caviar again, and I also had a mushroom soup, a garden salad, vegetable lasagne, cheese and an apple tarte tatin, all washed down with a selection of fine wines.  It was a great meal, served by four different crew, in the beautiful surroundings of the First cabin, at 40,000 feet over Iran.

The flight stats were: Doors closed 01:28 (5 mins early), pushed back 01:28, took off from CAN runway 02L at 01:50.  Landed DOH on runway 34L at 04:40 (15 minutes early).

When we disembarked Mambo walked us along the airbridge to a lady who was waiting for us, who then escorted us on foot to the Al Mourjan Business Class lounge.  This is a world-class business class lounge, but in the early morning it’s very busy and we had difficulty accessing a space in their “quiet area” for a nap, so I made another little complaint about our treatment at CAN while Mr A took a shower.  A short time later a Qatar lady came to us and apologised that we’d been taken to Al Mourjan instead of to the Al Safwa First class lounge, and promptly took us there. We were taken to a twin bedded room with ensuite shower suite, to grab a short sleep and freshen up.  And they provided a buggy to take us to our connecting flight to London.  We were once again feeling good, thanks to terrific service recovery by Qatar Airways.

BTW Wi-fi is available on Qatar’s A380s, and First pax are given a voucher code to use it for free, but the satellite connection is blocked when flying over China and India.  I didn’t use it, so I can’t comment on its speed.

Qatar Airways’ first class product is excellent. Service is very good, the food and beverage offering is “restaurant standard” and the seat/bed is the most spacious and comfortable I’ve experienced.  In many of the airports they serve they have to use the facilities provided by that airport, and sometimes that means using lounges which do not meet the airline’s normally very high standards. (Politically, China doesn’t seem to wish to lavish great luxury on a select minority of passengers).  But with its excellent service recovery, Qatar Airways remains my favourite airline to fly with. 10/10