Qatar Airways is world-renowned for their product across all cabins—economy, premium, business, and first. Does this still ring true for the first half of 2025? This is the first of two flights I took recently with Qatar on the A350-900, both in business class. Unfortunately, no Q-suite for me, despite the second leg from Doha to Zürich being one of the more frequently operated routes with the signature suite.
Flight Details
- Flight Number: QR995
- Route: CGK-DOH
- Departure Time: 00:08am
- Arrival Time: 04:31am
- Scheduled Duration: 8hr 01m
- Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
- Registration: A7-ALD
- Seat: 5K
- Cabin Class: Business
- Load Factor: Unknown
- Booked Via: Direct, Qatar Airways
- Frequent Flyer Programme: Privilege Club
- Airline Alliance: Oneworld
Lounge
The Sapphire Plaza Premium Lounge at Jakarta International Airport was absolutely packed that evening, with only high-top tables available. So no proper seating for rest- fortunately, that wasn’t an issue for me today. I desperately needed a shower though due to Indonesia’s humidity, and I was able to access the showers immediately upon entering the lounge, with no wait or fee. While the lounge offered a great selection of cuisines from around the world, my choice of chicken biryani was disappointingly tasteless and overly oily. I didn’t have time to try anything else, but I wasn’t too concerned knowing that world-class dining awaited me aboard the Qatar A350.
Gate and Boarding – A civilised affair!
My gate today was directly outside the lounge and certainly one of the most organised processes I’ve seen in recent years. The passengers listened to the gate agent and everybody lined up in the appropriate cues. No delays no long wait and I was the second on board and greeted with a warm welcome from The cabin crew. I made my way to the seat where a member of the cabin crew greeted me again, took my drinks order and introduced themselves. The friendly, polite and professional crew today really made this flight something special. Something that other long-haul business class crew should take note of.
Not A Q-Suite Seat (that’s a tounge twister!)
Like most Qatar business class passengers these days, I was hoping for a Q-suite and felt initially disappointed to see the standard business class seating product instead. As it turned out, this wasn’t an issue at all. The seat was comfortable, spacious, well thought out, with ample storage—more than enough for this eight-hour flight.
As I’ve come to expect on any A350, the cabin experience is fantastic. The quiet atmosphere and great mood lighting set the tone for the flight ahead. Best of all, the A350s are equipped with onboard cameras for passengers to watch. The belly cam was my favourite on the ground, letting me watch the ground crew prepare for our flight.
During takeoff, nothing beats the tail cam view—watching the world drop away as we rotate and climb out toward Doha.
My only issue with the seat was the IFE, which went blank during the safety demonstration but quickly returned to normal after. On some airlines, this might’ve been problematic, but with Qatar choosing to employ Kevin Hart to deliver their safety video in his typical maximum-energy-shouty-yell style, the brief interruption wasn’t exactly unwelcome… if only the audio cut out for the cabin, too. This was by far my least favourite part of the entire flight.
Speaking of the Kevin Hart safety demo, this is one area that Qatar really needs to reevaluate. While it might work for some routes, it sharply contrasts with Qatar’s otherwise polished, professional service—feeling more appropriate for a charter flight to a southern European holiday destination.
Service as polished as the silverware…
As I previously mentioned, the in-flight cabin crew on today’s journey were exceptional. I had a crew-member dedicated to my section who couldn’t have done more to make me feel welcome, looked after, and most importantly, valued. Toward the end of the flight, I mentioned the issue with my IFE during the safety demo, and she insisted that I should’ve told her earlier so she could perform the safety demo for me personally. Probably overkill, but the gesture was much appreciated. This left me with the impression that on future Qatar flights in business class, truly nothing would be too much to ask.
Since this was a late flight, the first meal service was a late evening snack (more on that later), but throughout I was constantly attended to, being offered regular drinks, coffees, and wines. The exceptional cabin crew even provided some excellent recommendations on wine and dessert pairings for a philistine like me. It was a truly wonderful service.
Onboard Dining
I tried Qatar’s signature welcome drink, a mint and lime juice, which was wonderfully refreshing—though I probably wouldn’t order it again. The dine-on-demand service operated perfectly on this flight.
I started with an evening snack: three mini sliders which were delicious and flavorful, accompanied by waffle fries. Having spent much of the last decade living in the US, I particularly enjoyed having waffle fries, though they were a bit on the dry side. The highlight perhaps ironically, was the adorable miniature 3mL Tabasco sauce served with the sliders—small but perfect for the portion. At this point, I was more excited to lay the bed flat and get some comfortable rest though.
Within minutes of waking, I was offered coffee or juice. The coffee was fresh, high-quality, and hot, served as you’d expect in business class in a proper mug. With my body clock still in some odd time zone, I opted for a light breakfast of pastries, fresh fruit, and another coffee. The rolls were delicious and served with a sense of pride in the airline.
IFE Experience
Although I slept for a large portion of the flight, I did sample the IFE. The screen was responsive and packed with movies and TV shows—enough content to keep me occupied far longer than our flight time. It was great to see full “box-sets” of popular tv shows rather than the 3-4 episode selection offered by most carriers on these flights. Being the AVgeek that I am though, I mostly switched between the onboard camera and flight map for the duration.
A350 Bathrooms on Board
The bathrooms were clean and spacious, though otherwise unremarkable. I was impressed to see they had a sharps bin, which must be a welcome consideration for passengers with medical needs.
Descent and Arrival
During our descent, the captain came over the PA and thanked us for flying Qatar, describing it as “the world’s best airline”—a claim I pondered for the rest of our approach. It’s certainly up there among the best, especially for their business class product. What made this flight particularly special was the cabin crew, and I could think of several carriers that should book their crew on Qatar as a benchmark for exceptional in-flight service.
The landing was smooth, and we quickly taxied to our gate in Doha. As I was only transiting, there’s not much to report on immigration. I made my way to the lounge ahead of my next Qatar flight, still secretly hoping for a Qsuite but not worried if it was the same product I’d just experienced—what really mattered was whether my excellent crew experience was a one-off or the norm across their network.
Final Thoughts
This was always going to be an interesting flight for me. I had high expectations for Qatar and wondered if that would make disappointment inevitable- and was delighted that it was almost the opposite of my recent flight with British Airways, where my expectations were already at an all-time low and yet I found myself somehow barely satisfied. Qatar truly delivered on this flight, and found myself genuinely excited to fly with them again just a few hours later.
Has this been your Qatar Airways Business Class experience? How does this compare to their Premium and Economy class- also tipped as some of the best in the sky at the moment?
35Left Score:
Seat Comfort: 5/5
Cabin Cleanliness: 5/5
Boarding Process: 4/5
Crew & Service: 5/5
Food & Drink: 4/5
IFE/WiFi: 4/5
Value for Money: 4/5
Full Experience + Review
Since you made it this far, here’s the full experience and review from the 35Left YouTube Channel. I hope you enjoy it and please consider subscribing and leaving a comment if you do.
Until the next one… Keep Your Head In The Clouds!
