The Five Yen of Happiness! Qatar Airways QR807 Tokyo Narita to Doha

The Five Yen of Happiness! Qatar Airways QR807 Tokyo Narita to Doha

QR807 Tokyo Narita International Airport to Hamad International Airport Doha
Qatar Airways Boeing 777-200LR, Economy Class, Seat 25A
5165 Miles Flow, 1,287 Avios Earned, 20 Tier Points Earned

I was welcomed aboard the Boeing 777-200LR and was directed to my home at the back of the plane.

First impressions… there’s a lot of mood lighting. In addition, this was an older product installed in both business and economy class compared to the new B787s and A350s I had been flying.

Business Class seats. Notice the older product – 2-2-2 business class seats as opposed to the 1-2-1 seats

Into the Economy Cabin…

Rows of economy seats. What’s rarer maybe is the 3-3-3 seating installed aboard a Boeing 777…

Sitting down, this 777-200LR felt like most 777’s I’ve sat in. Except with a LOT more mood lighting. And blue is the colour aboard this plane.

I’ll get on to the IFE in a bit.

Pillows and blankets at seat.

Cabin during load.

Yep. Must be on a Boeing 777-200LR.

Loading took its time, and for the 3rd time this trip – I had a spare seat next to me for the leg to Doha – making this 777-200LR flight a very comfortable one.

The seat itself – whilst it was a previous generation seat was comfortable to be in… and felt reasonably well padded. Rare in this world of slimline seats everywhere.

Legroom was passable at 32″ pitch.

Soon enough, our plane was ready for pushback and a taxi into the night of Narita Airport.

With the cabin secure, the safety video played…
I’ll cover this deeper on the Doha to Frankfurt leg. What is up with the male flight attendants hair???

The plane begun its taxi, taking its way past maintenance hangers and hard stands.

A taxi we will go…

Passing a Jetstar Airbus A320… with Sharklets.

After an extensive taxi, the two GE-90 engines spooled up, as we turned for a rolling take off for the 10-hour flight onto Doha.

After a seemingly long take off roll, the 777-200LR took to the air and into the night sky.

When the lights begun to come up again, the mood lighting when to purple

Meanwhile, Japan was giving me a farewell with the lights of towns below the plane.

With the cabin going orange, the cabin crew got to work quickly in getting the meal service ready to rock and roll.

Meanwhile, I took the chance to explore the IFE system. The system is an older Thales system (it had the same map system as the 787 and A350 – common Thales equipment), but as a result of it being an older IFE system, it wasn’t exactly responsive. More like treading through mud – a bit slow going to do anything.

Welcome screen.

The Oryx One Interface is consistent at least between the A350/Boeing 777-200LR/Boeing 787 – if a little slow to respond on the 777-200LR.

A good range of content – similar to what was loaded on the other Qatar Airways planes I had been aboard earlier.

On the plus side, I can be still be welcomed to the world of tomorrow!

Controls were either the touch screen, or a remote which could be pulled out of the seat in front.

A rather well used remote…

A keyboard. How quaint

After a while, the lights came up as the first service begun. With menus distributed, a cabin crew member came to me and asked what I would want for the meal service so they could prioritise my meal selection.

I selected the Japanese selection – a chicken dish. And I wish I took more photos of it (or I might have deleted it by accident in the rush to have enough space)

The tray

Udon noodles

Green tea mouse desert

Dinner was good, and soon after the trays were collected, the cabin descended into darkness. I closed my eyes too and slept for a while – only to be roused when the lights started to come up again.

If the mood light is orange, it must be time to wake up.

Again, the cabin crew checked which breakfast I wanted. This time – I went for a Western style breakfast.

The tray

Fruit and Croissant

Yoghurt. By now, you should know my opinions on this stuff.

Western breakfast – Omelette, potatoes, chicken round, tomato and beans

The unveiled tray.

Again – not a bad tray here. The croissant was as expected (not great). However, the fruit remained fresh, and the main meal was full of flavour – something that can be difficult to do, depending on the caterer. It seemed the caterers that Qatar Airways used at Tokyo Narita did a good job.

Coffee and Tea came through the cabin – and with the middle seat free, the tray made a great place for drinks to sit.

With 40 minutes on the clock the crew begun to collect blankets and headsets – as well as securing the cabin for arrival.

It seems that as soon as the 20 minute mark hits – when the seatbelt signs are switched on – the crew want to be in their positions for landing a soon as possible.

Soon the bright lights of Doha begun to fill the cabin as the plane came into land.

Beginning the final approach into Doha.

The Boeing 777-200LR made rather bumpy landing into Doha – but on time, our plane landed in the Middle East, completing the first of 3 flights for me this day.

As the plane arrived at night, it was a rather busy time at Hamad International Doha Airport, with arrivals and departures doing their thing

A Boeing 777 taxing

A parked Boeing 787 waiting its next turn

Finally at the gate.

Thank you!

With the cabin still in darkness, the bongs went off, indicating it was safe to move around the cabin. However, the crew didn’t turn up the lights until business class had disembarked. Which meant there was a fair bit of fumbling around in the cabin.

Eventually, with the lights up, economy class was allowed to disembark. I made my way to the exit.

Overall: Again, not a bad flight at all. The Boeing 777-200LR is a much better experience for the passenger in terms of seating (that extra inch makes so much of a difference compared to the Boeing 787). The IFE is a bit of a let down compared to the modern systems – but still passable. The crew, whilst friendly and approachable could had switched on the lights earlier upon arrival to ease the process.

Next: Four and Half Hours in Doha Airport. It is sure is pretty… but… there are issues…

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