- Introduction
- The booking process
- Hong Kong – Clark with Cebu Pacific economy class
- Clark – Doha with Qatar Airways Boeing 787-8 business class
- Stopover in Doha with Oryx Rotana review
- Doha – Stockholm with Qatar Airways Airbus A359 business class
- Stockholm – Oslo with SAS business class
- Holiday in Norway with the kids.
- Torp – Copenhagen with Wideroe economy class
- Copenhagen – Doha with Qatar Airways Boeing 777 ‘old’ business class
- Stopover in Doha
- Doha – Angeles Qatar Airways Boeing 787-8 business class
- Angels – Hong Kong with Cebu Pacific economy class.
At Clark Airport it is a bit of a mission to get all the way through the terminal, but still quickly done. Arriving at the airport, we had to show our passports and tickets to be let into the terminal, where we also had to scan all out baggage. We then proceeded to Qatar Airways check-in counters, and were shown to the business class queue, where we were the only ones. Our bags were processed and boarding passes printed within a couple of minutes. Then next step is to proceed to pay the terminal fee, which is 600 peso per passenger. Then we needed to fill in immigration forms for Filippino passport holders, before we could proceed to immigration. This all went very quick, and then we had to pass through another security screening, before our passports and boarding passes were checked again, and we were let into the departure area.
We then went to the Qatar Airways lounge, but I will not review it this time.
Then at about 1830 boarding started, and being business class passengers we were allowed to board first.
- Flight details:
- Departure: Clark, Philippines.
- Destination: Doha, Qatar
- Airline: Qatar Airways
- Aircraft: Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, A7-BCO
- Date of departure: 21st July 2019
- Time of departure: 19:05
- Time of arrival: 23:35
- Flight duration: 10:05
As we boarded we were greeted by the cabin crew and taken to our seats. We were assigned seats 2, 3 and 4K. The Boeing 787 business class cabin consists of 5 rows of 4 seats, plus a separate 6th row with only 2 seats. The middle seats are together, but angled away from each other, so I had decided to take window seats for all of us instead, as that would give me a better overview of the kids, as well as having easier access to both of them.
There was a plush blanket and a large, soft pillow waiting in each seat, and the amenity kits were also waiting when we arrived to our seats.
As soon as we sat down, the cabin crew offered us a choice of drinks, I asked for a glass of champagne for myself, and the kids each had a glass of coke. Being frequent travelers they both quickly found their seats, and had the movies up and running in no time.
After the drinks were served the cabin crew came around with both food and drinks menus. I really like the menus on Qatar Airways, they seen fairly high quality, and gives a good description of each drink they offer.
Qatar Airways offer a selection between Brut and Rose Champagne.
Qatar Airways offer 3 different red and white wines in Business Class.
Then there is a dessert wine
And then the port wine.
And finally a selection of Spirits, beers and cocktails.
After having read through the wine and drinks list, it was time to take a look at the food menu:
The cabin crew then came around to take food orders from all passengers. Qatar Airways offer a ‘dine on demand’ concept, so you can choose yourself when you want to eat, what you want to eat and in what order you want the dishes – if you want all the starters you can have that, or if you have a sweet tooth you can have 5 desserts, or any variation that you like.
Since I was travelling with my kids, I knew that sleep was going to be a precious thing, so I asked for the food to be served as soon as possible after departure, so I could get some sleep after.
Boarding was quickly completed, and we pushed back from the gate on time, and after a short taxi to the runway we were airborne on schedule.
After departure I had another quick glass of champagne, while waiting for the dinner to be served.
There was also a bottle of Evian water next to each seat.
The seat controls were easy to use and self-explanatory (maybe except the button for raising and lowering the arm rest, took me a while to locate it.)
There is plenty of legroom, and when you make the seat fully flat your feet fits in the well at the end, making it a little cramped, but still perfectly fine.
The headset it in the armrest closest to the aisle, can be a bit tricky to locate if you don’t know where it is (it is the same armrest that is level with the seat when you board the aircraft, but can be raised after departure.)
On the other side of the seat there is another storage area, perfect for a small carry-on bag or laptop
I then browsed the entertainment section of the IFS, Qatar Airways use what they call Oryx, it is has a huge selection of TV series, movies, music and other entertainment.
About 30 minutes after departure dinner was served. The dining table is located below the TV screen and slides away when you want, and folds out double so it is quite large when fully extended.
First I got served a shrimp hors d’oeuvre.
Then I had the arabic mezze for starters – I find that Qatar Airways has the best mezze of all the airlines I have tried, but generally the one from Doha is better than the one served at out-stations.
Then the main course, I had the beef short ribs. The meat was excellent, but the garnish was a bit dry and not too tasty
The kids had their own children’s meals served, but I forgot to take pictures of that. They also kept the cabin crew busy asking for chips and soft drinks to have while they watched TV, and the crew was more than happy to serve them, and always stopped by to make sure they were ok or just having a chat with them 🙂
After I finished my main course I was stuffed, so I did not have any desert, but decided to try to take a nap instead as we still had about 30 hours of traveling ahead of us. I quickly made my chair into a bed and fell asleep almost directly, and woke up just before landing in Doha.
We landed on schedule, and had a quick taxi to gate, before we disembarked.
Overall I was very happy with this first flight of our trip, and so far I can by far justify paying the extra money to be able to fly in business class, I was worried about traveling alone with 2 small kids for so long, but so far it had been easy.