- August 2022
- Qatar Airways 859
- Seoul/Incheon(ICN) – Doha (DOH)
- Departure: 0146(ICN)
- Arrival: 0520(DOH)
- Duration: 9:55
- Aircraft: Boeing B777-3DZ(ER)
- Registration: A7-BAW
- Seat: 20H (Economy Class)
It has been almost 10 months since I last flew with Qatar Airways. On the first leg, it will take me from Seoul/Incheon to Doha before connecting to Frankfurt.
With some delay in aircraft preparation, the boarding started nearly two hours after the Asiana Airlines Business Class Lounge was closed. Around 00:40, the boarding started and there were long lines formed as the flight was almost full.
As a Qatar Airways Privilege Club Platinum member, I was the first one to get on board and I had some time to explore the cabin if there were changes since last year. The flight was blocked for 10 hours and here is my experience onboard the economy class cabin.
Qatar Airways B77W Economy Class Cabin
This particular aircraft A7-BAW is a high-density aircraft with a total of 412 seats. There are only 6 rows/24 Qsuites business class and 388 economy class seats are installed in a 3-4-3 layout. The first two rows after each bulkhead and the last four rows have seats in a 3-3-3 layout.
I recommend getting a seat here as it feels less compact and much more comfortable for passengers seated on the middle seat to access the aisle.
Qatar Airways B77W Economy Class Seat
The seats onboard the aircraft are still the “older” version and still need to be refurbished. Each seat offers 31~32 inches (78~81cm) of pitch and 16.9~17.4 inches (43~44cm) of width. The seat also reclines up to 118˚ or 5 inches which is still comfortable enough to lean during flight.
Regardless of day or night departure except for short-haul flights, there are blankets and pillows readied on each seat as well as personal headsets and amenity kits.
Qatar Airways ICN-DOH Economy Class Dining
Qatar Airways offers “Quisine”, the company’s new economy class onboard experience brand, designed to further elevate customers’ dining experience when they travel with the award-winning airline.
With the Quisine, menu cards will include a service timeline on all long-haul and ultra-long-haul flights. Meals will also feature individually wrapped artisanal warm infused bread and an individual bottle of water.
Just to mention, due to COVID-19 measures, physical menu cards are not given out in economy class instead passengers can connect to onboard wifi to check the menu on their flight.
On my flight, there were three main options for late dinner and three more for breakfast. Late dinner meals were served one hour after takeoff which was 02:42 AM in the morning. I was considering skipping the meal but for “blogging” purposes, I decided to try the “Chicken kalbi jim.”
All Qatar Airways meals are made from Sharp DO & CO, a catering company based in Incheon. Sharp DO & CO is famous for providing high-quality food and the presentation of meals.
Breakfast was served about 2 hours and 30 minutes prior to landing and for the breakfast, I asked the cabin crew for recommendations. Her recommendation was the waffle which turned out to be really good with chocolate and bananas.
Qatar Airways Economy Class In-Flight Entertainments
Qatar Airways is well known for its Oryx One inflight entertainment. With up to 4,000 entertainment options, 560 movies around the world, TV shows and music. If you missed watching your favorite movies in cinemas, then you can watch them on board during the flight.
Especially on long-haul flights, watching a couple of movies or shows has a tendency to greatly reduce the feeling of a long flight.
Each seat is equipped with Panasonic eX2 10.6 inch touch screen monitors which is an older version. A separate remote control is attached under the monitor. The IFE on refreshed B777s is upgraded to the eX1 series which I will review on my flight to Frankfurt.
Individual USB ports and universal power sockets are provided on each seat. The USB port is just beside the monitor along with the headset port while the power socket is located under the seat.
Qatar Airways Oryx Super Wi-Fi
Aside from the entertainment systems, Qatar Airways offers Super Wi-Fi to all passengers with one hour of complimentary access for Qatar Airways Privilege Club members. Passengers can also purchase a Full Flight Plan for just US$10 during the flight or pre-purchase with a discount (US$8) when checking in online for the flight.
While not available on complimentary Wi-Fi, if you purchase the Full Plan, you are able to stream YouTube and video streaming.
Qatar Airways B77W Economy Class Lavatories
There are 8 lavatories economy class passengers are able to use. The first two are located just behind the business class cabin on the forward galley. The remaining 6 are located all along the cabin. Since the forward lavatories are used by business class passengers, it is bigger than the rest.
Summary
I am once again back with Qatar Airways after a long break. I started my journey with the economy class since the business class was sold out both in revenue and Avios redemption. But this 10 hours flight was not uncomfortable as I managed to get a seat with an empty middle seat by the window.
Dining was great on this flight and the cabin crews did their duties and services well without any issues even though it was a full flight.
