While not as spacious as its flagship Qsuite product, I found the Qatar Airways 787-9 business class suite quite user-friendly and very comfortable for my overnight journey from Doha to Copenhagen.
Qatar Airways 787-9 Business Class Review
When there was no nonstop or one-stop award space available from Doha to Los Angeles, I decided to get creative and stitch together a custom route.
Booking
I had one objective in mind: get home while sampling as many new business class products as possible. In the end, I booked:
- Qatar Airways 787-9 > Doha – Copenhagen
- Finnair A321 > Copenhagen – Helsinki
- Finnair A330 > Helsinki – London
- British Airways 787-10 > London – Chicago
All four flights were in business class and cost only 70,000 AA miles total. I would have added Chicago to Los Angeles on American Airlines (there was space), but there is a four-segment limit on one-way awards (unlike back in the day…). For 70K miles and about $306 in taxes/fees, I don’t think I could have found a better deal.
Check-In
After checking out of the Park Hyatt, I took an Uber to Doha’s Hamad International Airport, a short 15-minute journey. Thankfully I showed up early because American Airlines had not properly issued my ticket and it took a 30-minute call to sort it out. But what a comfortable check-in area. There was a seating area with chairs and coffee tables and I was even offered a bottle of water while on the phone.
Boarding pass in hand, I proceeded to immigration (where the immigration officer thought my passport was fake).
> Read More: I Was Detained In Qatar – Officials Thought My Passport Was Forged…
Lounge
I’ve reviewed the Al Mourjan lounge here and spent the next few hours enjoying a delicious dinner, which was important considering only a light supper would be served onboard.
> Read More: Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge Doha (DOH) Review
Boarding
An hour before scheduled departure, I proceeded to my boarding gate and found we were departing from a remote stand. The bus took us by a number of widebody aircraft before we finally wound up at the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that would take me to Copenhagen. Business class passengers were offered a private bus, but I jumped on the economy class one because the business class bus would not depart until late in the boarding process.
Qatar Airways 161
Doha (DOH) – Copenhagen (CPH)
Wednesday, March 9
Depart: 1:35 AM
Arrive: 6:20 AM
Duration: 6 hr, 45 min
Distance: 2,886 miles
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Seat: 1K (Business Class)
I bounded up the jet bridge to get grab some pictures of the cabin before others boarded.
Seat
Qatar Airways has debuted the new Adient Ascent seat on its 787-9 in business class. These are reverse herringbone seats for windows and herringbone seats in the middle section (centre seats), arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration. All suites have doors that close. Qatar Airways has also added extra touches like lamps and (faux) marble counters which bring so much character to the seats.
I chose seat 1K, a window seat.
Beyond the look of the seat, I found the seat quite practical, with a wireless phone charger within easy reach on the side of the seat (wireless charging, unlike JetBlue, that actually worked), the position of the plug perfect for easy access, and a wide two-tiered table ideal for multiple beverages and elbow space.
I also liked that the window shade could be controlled on the screen, though it did not matter much for our flight, which was totally in darkness until the very final moments before landing. Another plus: individual air vents.
After supper, I slept for about five hours. The bedding (pillow, mattress pad, soft purple blanket) was the same as other Qatar Airways longhaul flights.
Closing the door did provide a decent amount of privacy, though anyone could easily look into the suite when walking by.
The suite itself is great, but so is the entire cabin. The mood lighting and attention to detail is so indicative of the high-quality product Qatar Airways provides to its guests.
Food + Drink
I was offered a beverage upon boarding and chose the always-delicious mint-lemon juice.
The menu was not quite what I was expecting. Rather than a heavy meal service after takeoff or a heavy meal before landing, there was a light snack after takeoff and another light breakfast prior to landing.
I began with a glass of Bollinger 2006 rosé Champagne and a ramekin of warmed mixed nuts.
The “stress-free” dinner included a bite-size tasting menu of six dishes, beautifully presented in a bento-box like display, with contents including:
- Hummus with Arabic bread
- Lamb rogan josh pie
- Seafood bisque
- Beef nori with sesame
- Cheese selection with dried fruit and walnuts
- Fruit tart
The seafood bisque and lamb pie were particularly pleasing.
About an hour outside of Copenhagen, I was gently awakened (by request) for breakfast. Breakfast included some fresh fruit, a croissant, yogurt, smoothie, coffee, and juice. Again, relatively small compared to the elaborate breakfasts often available on Qatar Airways, but more than sufficient for this short overnight journey. In fact, I ordinarily would have skipped it, ordering it just for purposes of this review.
Amenity Kit + Pajamas
Despite a flight time of under seven hours, this was treated like a longhaul flight in terms of amenities onboard. Pajamas were presented during boarding as well as an amenity kit.
The amenity kit was Brics branded and included:
- Monte Vibiano Vecchio
- Anti-aging moisturizer
- Hydrating facial mist
- Lip balm
- Eye mask
- Ear plugs
- Socks
Dental and shaving kits were also available in the lavatories.
A sanitary kit was also offed with gloves, a face mask, and hand sanitizing gel.
Lavatory
The 787 lavatory, located behind door 2, included a window and in addition to hte dental and shaving kits featured hand lotion and facial spray from diptyque.
It also had a round magnifying mirror with a light around it a nice feature I wish more lavatories would include.
IFE + Wi-Fi
Qatar’s Oryx library of movies, TV shows, games, and music offers hundred of choices onboard. I enjoyed some Christmas music and also watched a German movie called Nebenan.
Noise-canceling headphones are average at best…
The 787-9 also had an exterior camera emended into the IFE, which you do not see on U.S. airlines.
Wi-Fi did not work on my flight – I could not connect to the internet.
Service
Sinthuja took care of me in the cabin and was simply wonderful: attentive, kind, and proud to wear the Qatar Airways uniform. All flight attendants taht I interacted with were excellent.
After the snack, Sinthuja prepared my bed and was the one who gently woke me for breakfast.
I am grateful for her kind and attentive service.
CONCLUSION
We landed on a beautiful morning in Copenhagen and I walked off very impressed. The 787-9 offers a better business class seat than the 787-8 and certainly feels more private when the door is closed (even though I found it a bit flimsy). While the “award winning” Qsuite (available on select 777 and A350 aircraft) is superior, this is not a bad product at all. On the contrary, it is above average and quite comfortable.
Hmmm, good review but something is off, how did you get an award that included BA Biz to the US for only $106 in taxes?
Sorry, $306. My bad.
Great review, however I’m just amazed as to how you ended up getting 4 business class flights for 70k miles. Can you please share that secret? Thanks and Happy New Year!
No secret really. As long as there is no substantial backtracking you can construct custom routes using AA miles over the phone.
What exactly is reverse herringbone vs. herringbone?
Thanks
The direction in which the seats are facing – like a herringbone pattern.
I am curious, what is your favorite type of widebody overall, and for the 787 what is your favorite variant?
I love the 747-8 and A380….my two favorite current planes.
But I also love the A350 and 787. A350-1000 would have to be my favorite, but 787-9 is always great (787-10 is cool on UA, but I prefer business class split into two cabins instead of one large cabin).
Is that actual marble next to the seat? If so that would add an awful lot of weight unless the piece was thin enough to break fairly easily. OTOH Qatar is known for pretty high quality in business class so a sheet of plastic that looks like marble might come across as cheap or cheesy.
Definitely plastic.
Why do you think they have such a limited menu. Transatlantic flights from US have larger meal services in biz.
I guess it is just the flight time. I would have preferred more options (like skipping the first meal and a large breakfast prior to arrival with eggs), but the food itself was good.
Amazed you got 4 BC trips for 70,000 miles total. You probably should be selling that information when AA is getting that much for a simple domestic Coach RT anymore.
Seeing it makes me almost want to visit their 2nd and 3rd world places…..almost.
“more than sufficient for this short overnight journey”
If that were true, you wouldn’t have needed to stuff yourself in the lounge prior 😉
Eh, who are we kidding. You’d have done that anyway regardless of what was being served on board.
Ha! Correct as usual.
What a douche with your selfies, ooo look at me flying business class.
Lol. Thanks “Bob.”
Very nice! But how did you manage this for 70K vs. DOH-ORD directly? I’d like to do something like this. I’ve tried multicity and have never been able if there was non-stop availability. Thks.
Booked over the phone.
Thanks. I’ll try that in 2023.
Food Looks almost as Good as AA Food!
Did you have to argue to be allowed on the economy bus from the gate the the plane? When I last travelled from doha with a bus, they refused to allow business class passengers on the economy bus. Instead we had to wait 20 minutes standing in a queue at the gate for the business class bus to arrive. When it did there weren’t enough seats so half the people had to stand anyway. I would have much preferred to get on the economy bus and then relax on the plane for 20 minutes instead of stand in a queue at the gate.
No airline like qatar in world best i know from 2009 until today top one
Can you give more details about why you needed to call AA to get ticket reissued, what the reason was, and did the Qatar agent contact AA or did you have to (what if it was a 1 hour phone hold, or you didn’t have roaming calling etc what was the recourse here). My biggest fear with partner awards is these kinds of ticket correctly issued stuff that’s hard to fix unless phone wait time is minimal
I had originally booked DOH-HEL-LHR-ORD-LAX but when the 787-9 opened from DOH-CPH, I changed to DOH-CPH-HEL-LHR-ORD (had to dump ORD-LAX due to segment limit). Somehow, AA did not reissue the ticket properly and so I could not check in. I called the EXP line on T-Mobile (free international calls/data) and the issue was resolved in 30 minutes.
Thanks for this review, Matthew. Well done, very detailed, and super helpful for my first half-way-round-the-world flight on Qatar. Google served this to me on a search and still relevant in late 2024. And, ignore those trolls’ remarks about your selfies… they’re helpful for general context, and you look just fine. 🙂
Thank you Jason!
Hey Matt, great in-depth review! I just booked a flight from Doha to Warsaw hoping to get the 787-9. Was the seat in 1K more spacious than the other rows or are all the herringbone seats pretty equal? Also what is your advice for Qatar aircraft changes, at the moment for my date (28/03/2025) it says I should get the 787-9 but noticed the Doha to Warsaw route mainly has the 787-8 and sometimes even A320’s. In addition what are your tips on photographing the seats in the cabin, did you ask the airline in advance?
Hi Conan,
I did not notice an advantage for the bulkhead seat with this particular brand of seating.
Feel free to snap away – FAs are used to it (though I asked the one pictured for permission to put her on my blog). I never let an airline know in advance that I am coming.
Aircraft swaps are a problem on Qatar – really almost nothing you can do about it. Enjoy! -M