Im back from a wonderful trip to New York City and Washington DC. I was tired from all the long flights to the North America and the non-stop traveling during the trip. Nonetheless, i really love NYC and would love to return someday.
We (me and my friend) flew to NYC with Qatar Airways, the national airline of the Kingdom of Qatar, with its hub in the capital city of Doha. It is regarded and acclaimed as one of the world's five-star airlines by the independent services surveyor, Skytrax. For the record, Malaysia Airlines is listed in the five-star list, though i personally believe there's nothing five-star with their service.....anyway...lets see if Qatar Airways live-up to its reputation.
i)
QR 621-Kuala Lumpur-Doha
We have checked in online earlier, which was opened 48 hours before the flight. We had some minor issues during the bag drop session as we were informed that our bag would be tagged direct to New York. This was an issue for us as we would be staying in Doha for one night as our flight to New York would only leave the following day. After some further checking, the check-in agent confirmed that they can't tag our bags to Doha but we have to inform the ground personnel in Doha to off-load our luggages and to check-in again for our flight to New York once we are in Doha. We were also informed that we need to pay 100 riyal for the visa to stay in Doha. We were okay with the arrangement and proceeded to our flight.
Our flight on that day was operated by an Airbus A330-300 and the flight took around 7 hours. Load was quite light for that flight as there were many vacant seats on the flight.
Before departure, cabin crews handed out sweets to the passengers. Do you know that sucking sweets will actually relieve the stinging feel in your ears which normally occurred during take-off and landing. I believe this was really thoughtful of Qatar Airways to provide this, as compared to Malaysia Airlines-none.
After a powerful take-off and the seatbelt signs had been switched off, the crews came around offering hot-towels and menu for the flight. The menu is simple and looks like a pamphlet but anyway it was printed unlike Malaysia Airlines which dispensed with proper menu and instead adopting a "cost-savings" measure by displaying it on the back-seat screen.
Below was the menu and what's on offer in the flight........
before the main meal was served, they served some snacks and carried out drink runs. A packet of mixed snacks and a cup of ginger ale, as requested was promptly served....im beginning to be impressed with this airline at this stage even......
then came the meal service. a non-slip table mat was placed first......
and the meal tray...looks delicious....i ordered the grilled-fish...taste wise it was okay but i really think that the fish was too rich in flavour....the pasta was nice though......
after the meal service, the cabin crew served coffee and tea before dimming the cabin lights to allow the passengers to rest. Noticed that they have installed mood-lighting in their aircraft which illuminates in different colours depending on the situation. For this flight and time it was blue.
the inflight entertainment system of Qatar Airways is called Oryx...i spent most of my time in flight watching movies, playing games and listening to songs offered therein. However not many new movies where offered wherein the movies listed as "premiere" or "latest" were movies which have been screened 2-3 months back.
around 2 hours prior to landing, the second meal/snack service was carried out. Im quite surprised as for the same duration of flight, you'd only get one meal service with Malaysia Airlines.
the second meal service consisted of selections of cold and hot beverages, a hot pastry and some cream biscuit. As in usual meal service, non-slip table mat was placed on your table.
Qatar Airways logo is an Oryx, a dessert goat........
descending and landing into Doha International Airport.......
Doha airport scenes........it was smoldering hot in Doha of 41 Celsius temperature. Even the water from your shower and piping were hot....
There were not many passengers made Doha as their final destination instead many were on transit, thus the arrival terminal for Doha bound passengers were deserted. The visa to stay in the country can be paid with credit card upon arrival at the immigration desk and they will process it together with your passport.
From this first flight with Qatar Airways im already impressed with their service. The cabin crew were professional and though not overly friendly, they were courteous, would answer to the passenger calls and really concerned about the safety procedures on board as each time the fasten seat-belts were switched on, they would ensure everyone returned to their seats and seat-belt were fastened, including those who were sleeping.
Further, their meal service even for this medium long flight had exceeded that of Malaysia Airlines as they were not cutting back on presentation, selections, quality nor portion of their meals. It can be seen that they really want to capture the passenger's heart in this department.
ii) QR 83-Doha-New York JFK Airport
the day for our flight to our ultimate destination New York finally came. Honestly i was glad to leave Doha. I will blog about my experience in Doha later. Our flight to New York would depart at 8 am and the flight lasted about 12 hours.
Doha Airport in the morning.....
boarding in progress...the flight was full to the brim..and packed with people of Indian origin........
we were finally airborne, almost a timely departure....below were the scenes after take-off where ive captured pictures of the new Doha International Airport project and some luxury home constructed on man-made private island...........
breakfast was served afterwards...i opted for the omelette with chicken sausage and hash brown......
as you can see on the meal tray they have also provided yogurt, cut fruits, croissant with butter and cheese and offering of hot beverages such as coffee and tea. Overall the breakfast was delicious.
during the flight,the crew offered snacks for those passengers who were not sleeping. It consisted of egg or cheese sandwich, ice cream and juices.
and about 2 hours before landing at JFK Airport, lunch was served, consisted 3 choices either vegetarian bryani, lamb with ratatouille and another option which ive forgotten...........i chose the lamb. It was served with pasta in tomato sauce. This meal was just average in taste..in fact it tasted quite bland.
a little bit of luxury in Godiva chocolate...........
entering New York airspace........
and landed at JFK International Airport-New York...
ii
i) QR 84- New York JFK Airport-Doha Qatar
Finally it was time for us to return home from this wonderful holiday. Needless to note our check in process for this flight was handled by a very rude Indian woman whom (i supposed) pretended to be and fully believe that she's a true-blue New Yorker-at least that's what i saw her to be. Not only she was uninterested in doing her job, she expressly displayed her annoyance and made up an attitude as if being bored attending to us. Being so tired from carrying our luggages and bags i was so annoyed with this attitude and i made a point to give her something. When she had finished checking me in, i pretended to ask whether im done....reluctantly and with a face which looks like shit she just move her head up and down reluctantly. Instantaneously i said to her face "you could have said something!"........she was quite shock with this remark and i continued to complained to my friend in my native language loudly-in front of her face just to make her more annoyed. Just wait you bitch...im going to file a complain against you to your management...and for the record...your English sounded like you had just arrived from Chennai the night before so dont pretend to be a causasian-cause you will never be.
anyway, our flight would leave New York almost to midnight and again it was full with Indians. I have many Indians friends who are nice but, pardon me for this remark, most of the Indians that we've met in US were rude...im talking generally though.
JFK airport at night. Qatar Airways uses Terminal 8 in this airport.
boarding in progress..cabin crew is welcoming passengers on board...........
the guy who sat opposite us was cute.....hehe......
i turned on the IFE...i planned to watch Mary Poppins tonight...........
and thereafter dinner was served. Again there were 3 options with one of it being a vegetarian option. I chose the lamb stew served with mashed potatoes and seasonal veggies...yummy.....
comes with peas salad........
and biscuits with cheese and butter...........and chocolate cake as dessert
as usual, snack rounds were conducted during the flight. i noted that the crews acted quickly to any call buttons. this was a plus point for this airline for having a dedicated sets of cabin crews.
2 hours before landing in Doha, breakfast was served. It was a choice of apple pancakes or omelette with sausage. I chose the later.
strawberry yoghurt was also offered.......
we arrived at Doha airport almost to sunset...which provides for these stunning sceneries............
landed in Doha airport...........
It was an overall satisfying experience flying with Qatar Airways. Not only they are flying modern fleet of aircraft, their cabin crews were attentive and responsive to passengers request. Further, they are not stingy in their meal offerings as passengers would be ensured to be served with proper meal in adequate portion.
Though flying in Economy Class, they managed to infuse the sense of exclusiveness in their service by offering many options in foods and beverages, inflight entertainment and the manner the cabin crews responded and replied to passengers need with courtesy. The only gripe for me throughout this experience was that rude bitch who worked as the check in agent for our flight. All the others were satisfactory and the overall offerings were for me truly entitled them to hold on to their status as one of the world's 5 star airline. Kay2011
