Will we ever see Qatar Airways serve Dublin?

smurfjed

You work in the business but don't know what a 77L is? 😵

Ok, tell me what it means to you and I will tell you what it means to me.

smurfjed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Boeing_777_orders_and_deliveries
777-200 88 88

777-200ER 422 422

777-200LR 59 59

777-300 60 60

777-300ER 823 753

777F 161 130

777X 326 –

This is what Mr Boeing likes to call them.

irishrover99

A friend of mine just flew with them along with his Wife and kids and he said he really didn't notice much of a difference between them and Etihad,which he usually flew with in the past.He is not really a flying enthusiast and i'm guessing he must have never had a bad experience with Etihad.
His Wife was much more complementary about them and the airport in Doha.

Ill be doing the same route in February and i have flown a similar route except departing out of London a long time ago and i'd vouch for Qatar on my experience

smurfjed

When Boeing first presented the 787 it was intended as an 8 abreast standard aircraft with 9 abreast called high density. Unfortunately it appears that most airlines opted to get the high density version. There is no problem with legroom, but if you have wide shoulders they can be uncomfortable but probably no worse than the 10 abreast 777's.

mx5ire

smurfjed wrote: »

When Boeing first presented the 787 it was intended as an 8 abreast standard aircraft with 9 abreast called high density. Unfortunately it appears that most airlines opted to get the high density version. There is no problem with legroom, but if you have wide shoulders they can be uncomfortable but probably no worse than the 10 abreast 777's.

I am also travelling on their 787 service out of Dub in March next year to Thailand, so am very curious about the reports of cramped conditions. The 9 abreast does seem to be the norm except for one of two airlines, JAL i think being one of them. Since booking i have spent some time looking at various boards and youtube reviews, and most are fairly critical of the space, particularly side to side rather than for legs, as you say above.

I would certainly be very curious to hear of Irishrover99's experience with them next year - not that i can do much about it now! As an airline their general reputation is very good, the IFE is very good and though we are normally Etihad users, the prices for Qatar for our travel dates were very persuasive, as in about 600 euro cheaper for 3 of us.

irishrover99

mx5ire wrote: »

I am also travelling on their 787 service out of Dub in March next year to Thailand, so am very curious about the reports of cramped conditions. The 9 abreast does seem to be the norm except for one of two airlines, JAL i think being one of them. Since booking i have spent some time looking at various boards and youtube reviews, and most are fairly critical of the space, particularly side to side rather than for legs, as you say above.

I would certainly be very curious to hear of Irishrover99's experience with them next year - not that i can do much about it now! As an airline their general reputation is very good, the IFE is very good and though we are normally Etihad users, the prices for Qatar for our travel dates were very persuasive, as in about 600 euro cheaper for 3 of us.

I'm also going to Thailand and it is where my friend has just been with his family.Less than 1900 Euro for a family of 4 return to Thailand is an absolute bargain for me. That also included cancellation policy with lastminute.com that i had to buy due to my Father been ill,just in case.
Its actually cheaper than what i paid when it was only 3 of us flying with Etihad,before my son was born.
If you are lucky you will also connect in Doha to the A380 which i am. Certain days it will be the 777.

Ill also add that my mate said that he had 3 seats for him and his son and his wife also had 3 seats for her and daughter out of Dublin as the flight was not sold out.

mx5ire

irishrover99 wrote: »

mx5ire wrote: »

I am also travelling on their 787 service out of Dub in March next year to Thailand, so am very curious about the reports of cramped conditions. The 9 abreast does seem to be the norm except for one of two airlines, JAL i think being one of them. Since booking i have spent some time looking at various boards and youtube reviews, and most are fairly critical of the space, particularly side to side rather than for legs, as you say above.

I would certainly be very curious to hear of Irishrover99's experience with them next year - not that i can do much about it now! As an airline their general reputation is very good, the IFE is very good and though we are normally Etihad users, the prices for Qatar for our travel dates were very persuasive, as in about 600 euro cheaper for 3 of us.

I'm also going to Thailand and it is where my friend has just been with his family.Less than 1900 Euro for a family of 4 return to Thailand is an absolute bargain for me. That also included cancellation policy with lastminute.com that i had to buy due to my Father been ill,just in case.  
Its actually cheaper than what i paid when it was only 3 of us flying with Etihad,before my son was born.
If you are lucky you will also connect in Doha to the A380 which i am. Certain days it will be the 777.

Ill also add that my mate said that he had 3 seats for him and his son and his wife also had 3 seats for her and daughter out of Dublin as the flight was not sold out.

Hopefully we get the same spare seats too !  We have a scheduled A380 onto Bangkok from Doha, but a 777 back. I'm big fan of 777's anyway, never had a bad experience on one, but looking forward to the A380 as i haven't actually been on one yet. 

We paid a little more (for 3 of us) as we are unfortunately dipping into the easter break/school holiday window.You did really well on those prices for 4 people, Qatar are definitely pushing their fares. Now i just need to figure out how i get some value from the trip in terms of points, be it hotel or frequent flyer etc. Didnt want to join Qatars Privilege Club as well as the other that i have.

irishrover99

mx5ire wrote: »

Now i just need to figure out how i get some value from the trip in terms of points, be it hotel or frequent flyer etc. Didnt want to join Qatars Privilege Club as well as the other that i have.

I'm a member already and i will add my 2 kids and wife to my account and i collect their points. It does look like points can only be spent in Duty free in Doha and on upgrades and hotels.
I liked Etihad's as you could always buy something from the online shop,perfume or aftershave when you got back.

mx5ire

irishrover99 wrote: »

I'm a member already and i will add my 2 kids and wife to my account and i collect their points. It does look like points can only be spent in Duty free in Doha and on upgrades and hotels. 
I liked Etihad's as you could always buy something from the online shop,perfume or aftershave when you got back.

Etihads is a good setup ok - i know that after a couple of far east trips i was  able to upgrade all three of us to Business for the next trip. Set a dangerously high level of expectation for future trips from the daughter!

marno21

A6-EPT is flying EK164 tonight Dublin-Dubai. 42 business, 386 economy seats. Doesn't seem to be any shortage of traffic from Ireland to the Gulf states, you'd imagine if they could EK would be running an A388 on the Dublin route now or into the future. Given the volume EK are able to carry surely means that the QR flight is more than viable

cagefactor

Flew with them recently to Doha, plane was relatively empty. Had 3 seats to myself so had a nice 5 hour sleep. I had booked the window seat (on the Dreamliner) what I noticed is the entertainment system box is sorta annoying as it takes a good 8inches of space - for me at 5'11 it meant I could not straighten my right leg out without doing it at an angle.
food was standard economy service, same as eithad or emirates. Entertainment system did not use much of - wasn't much recent releases on it so I watched a movie on my laptop. Wifi works ok for browsing/chatting.
Transfer is straight forward, doha airport is compact. can make a transfer in 30 mins I would estimate.

mx5ire

Ok - so just wanted to provide a quick ish update after flying Qatar to Bangkok via Doha. As explained above, 787 to Doha, then A380 to BKK, then 777 back to Doha and 787 to Dub. 

So the controversial piece first - the 787. Our flight out was relatively quiet, we had plenty to free seats to spread out on, and the movies etc were good, their system is at least as good as Emirates/Etihad etc. Food was edible for economy, and the plane was clean and shiny inside. Did have to get screens reset a couple of times as they froze up intermittently. Crew were very good to deal with. The IFE box on the ground was a bit of a nuisance, did make straightening the legs a little difficult but no worse than having  a small bag there. The Doha - Dub trip home was not as pleasant, plane was pretty full, and this time i found the seat a bit narrower than the A380 or 777. I didn't measure it, it just felt it. With 8 across that plane would be really nice i'd say. It was quiet and smooth and the bigger windows were nice too.

The very nice chap checking us in in Dublin asked if we would like the upper deck on the A380 - which we definitely took. It was maybe only a quarter full so we had loads of room, and it just felt really nice up there, almost luxurious! Seats were good and service was great on a quiet flight. The 777 from BKK to Doha was very busy, but was ok, and i just felt it was a little roomier than the 787 when you have the seats beside you full. 

On a last positive note I joined BA Exec Club and assigned the trip to my new BA account, and the points and BA Tier credits all appeared quickly and seamlessly.  A very pleasant change from the nonsense that is Aerclub. 

Overall i would happily use Qatar again, Doha was easy to transfer in, though buses from non air bridge gates are a pain. Makes it hard to guess on transfer times. I always find Abu Dhabi a panicky transfer, slow security etc, so Doha might not be a big improvement on that front.

irishrover99

On my recent trip with Qatar one thing stood out for me on my transit through Doha airport.
On the my outbound journey from Dublin we went through the usual security checks in Doha but on the return leg from Bangkok we never went through any security checks. We went straight from the plane to the main terminal.
I was delighted as the kids were tired but i could only put it down to the fact that the A380 was fully loaded with passengers and perhaps the queues were big already.
Did anyone else experience this?

Tenger

irishrover99 wrote: »

.........
On the my outbound journey from Dublin we went through the usual security checks in Doha but on the return leg from Bangkok we never went through any security checks. We went straight from the plane to the main terminal.
...............but i could only put it down to the fact that the A380 was fully loaded with passengers and perhaps the queues were big already.
Did anyone else experience this?

They dont/shouldn’t change security procedure due to long queues.
My guess is this this process is why the Mid East countries have a lower aviation security rating than EU.

mx5ire

irishrover99 wrote: »

On my recent trip with Qatar one thing stood out for me on my transit through Doha airport.
On the my outbound journey from Dublin we went through the usual security checks in Doha but on the return leg from Bangkok we never went through any security checks. We went straight from the plane to the main terminal.
I was delighted as the kids were tired but i could only put it down to the fact that the A380 was fully loaded with passengers and perhaps the queues were big already.
Did anyone else experience this?

I could be losing my marbles, but i am almost certain that we did it the other way around. We came off the Dublin flight via an airbridge and went straight into the main terminal  area with shops restaurants etc. Then we had a very short stroll to the next gates for the BKK leg. 

On the way back from BKK though, we got off the plane onto a bus, drove what felt like Paris to Nice, then had to do a security check in the before going down escalators to the main terminal foyer area again. And then another bus out to the aircraft. I hate the bus nonsense.

irishrover99

mx5ire wrote: »

I could be losing my marbles, but i am almost certain that we did it the other way around. We came off the Dublin flight via an airbridge and went straight into the main terminal  area with shops restaurants etc. Then we had a very short stroll to the next gates for the BKK leg. 

On the way back from BKK though, we got off the plane onto a bus, drove what felt like Paris to Nice, then had to do a security check in the before going down escalators to the main terminal foyer area again. And then another bus out to the aircraft. I hate the bus nonsense.

I think both times we exited the plane at an airbridge but when boarding the 787 back to Dublin we also went on about a 10 minute drive to the plane on a bus.