Summer adventures to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur – Qatar Airways – BUSINESS CLASS – QR944 Doha to Singapore

QR944 Hamad International Airport, Doha to Singapore Changi in Business Class with Qatar Airways – part of Summer adventures to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur

Contents

• Seriously – Take a holiday!
• Morning Manoeuvres in the dark, Terminal 5 and Galleries South
• BA776 London Heathrow to Stockholm Arlanda (Club Europe)
• Exploring Stockholm on the cheap (Travel Plus!) 
• Back to Arlanda, Stockholm Arlanda Lounge
• QR168 Stockholm Arlanda to Doha (Hamad International Airport) – (Business Class)
• Six Hours in at Al Mourjan Doha’s Lounge
• QR944 Doha – Singapore Changi International (Business Class)
• Intercontinental Singapore
• Exploring Singapore by boat
  
• From the Top of the Marina Sands
• Back to Changi T2, SATS Lounge 
• MH624 Singapore to Kuala Lumpur International Airport
• Into KL, Holiday Inn Express KLCC, Kuala Lumpur
• Adventures in KL
• KL Tower (or yes, Kevin is in yet another tall building)
• Back to KLIA
• MH611 Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Singapore Changi
• Exploring Singapore again with a tweep
• Back to Premium, dnata lounge, Singapore T3
• QR947 Singapore Changi to Doha (Business Class)
• A Dash through Doha…
• QR169 Doha – Stockholm Arlanda (Business Class)
• From Premium to Economy featuring the Aurora Lounge
• BA777 Stockholm Arlanda to London Heathrow
• To have flown, To Wait…
• I need another break…

 

After the bus departed, it was a matter of it taking us to the waiting Airbus A350, with it weaving its way through the traffic.

Classy bus is classy. 

Qatar Airways A380 at the gate.

Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300ER

And another one.

Very soon, an Airbus A350 appeared in the distance…

This looks good…

Hello A350!

The doors were opened, and we were let off the bus to board the waiting plane.

The great entranceway.

I was welcomed aboard, and turned left.

So, onto the seat… and once again – it was a B/E Super Diamond – the same seat that is used aboard the Boeing 787-8 aircraft.

The legroom was more than sufficient.

However, the plane was having a small problem with the IFE system – to the point a Thales engineer with a network cable and a laptop was remotely fixing devices on the plane.

 
Maintenance and bubbles. I’ve waited out delays in worse ways.

I love these animated overhead sign systems. Infinitely configurable for mission and need.

Oh yes, and overhead air vents.

Eventually the IFE system booted into life and the Thales engineer look suitably satisfied that things were working.

IFE system Full booted up.

With the IFE system up and running, the plane was ready for dispatch.

Who else is worried the plane is larger than your territory? Just me? Ok…

And thus, the Qatar Airways safety video played. And I made a look of terror as I saw it. Why?

Yes. Those two are back.

Allow me to explain. There’s something I can’t pin on these two flight attendants in this video. Is their distant smile, the perfect hair or that creepy look that seems like “I’m going to steal your soul, no matter what class you’re sitting in…”

I’ll come up with a better back-story for these two on the return flight.

Don’t look so smug when inflating a life vest. My soul isn’t available for stealing.

With the safety video done, it was time for our A350 to depart Doha.

Of course, this being an Airbus A350 – it had TailCam.

Passing Boeing 787-8s and A330s. 

Count the tails 

Heading to the runway…

A330 coming down… 

*brake streak sound*. 

With the A330 town, it was time for our A350 to turn and take off.

Soon it was our A350s turn to line up and wait, before the Rolls Royce XWB’s powered up, to barrel QR944 down the runway and into the air.

One thing to note, that this cabin rattled loudly aboard this plane. I’m not sure if it was that the pilot was using excessive power, or if the fittings of the cabin were loose, or that the cabin was lightly loaded – but the plane rattled loudly. Not encouraging at all…

Oh yes, I found the tailcam footage too…

 

Cabin during climb.

Now I was planning to get a lot of lovely pictures of the desert during climb. Except the cabin crew decided they wanted everyone on board to sleep.

The ever-changing overhead instruction screen 

A view…

About 15 minutes after take-off, the crew arbitrarily pulled down the blinds automatically on a daytime flight. And good luck in raising them. Didn’t happen.

I’m sorry. On a night-time flight, no issues. But on a daytime flight? Give the heck over. Some of us book windows seats to look out of the window. EVEN IN PREMIUM CLASSES

This annoyed me. A daytime flight with the blinds down and unable to look out. 

I booted up the IFE system out of map mode, and stuck on stuff that didn’t annoy me – including The Big Bang Theory (I’ve notice I tend to head to comedies when travelling – it takes my mind off the world).

Meh.

It’s fine having all the mood lighting in the world for your breakfast service, but there’s real light out there!!! 

To be honest, I didn’t let it bother me much as there were others in the cabin who fell asleep straight away – but I’d expected some real light in the cabin for part of the flight.

For entertainment purposes, I powered up my iPhone and connected it up to the Wi-Fi aboard this A350. Would it be better on QR944 – or worse than the previous flight?

Tum tee tum.

Yup. Ten whole megabytes. But is it as fast as I think it is?

Oh yes. Stupendously s…l….o…w…

Again – a few tweets, and my data was gone faster that you could say “I can’t open the window blinds”.

I settled back for the joy of the breakfast service.

The table.

Little breads.

Little breads in detail.

I decided on the salmon starter – a good sized portion was offered.

This was followed by a main – which was an omelette with steak. Again, well cooked and nice on the palette in the air.

Pretty much after breakfast was cleared down, I settled down to some more Big Bang Theory, and not waking up until an hour before arrival.

The perfect time to freshen up in the bathroom.

Meh. Who needs instructions?

Why yes, I do laviate. Or am I a Laviator? Meh.

There were multiple amenities in the small room.

Using the Ritual smellies.

There were also shavers…

Things I wouldn’t do on a plane – shave. I’m sorry…but with the wrong air pocket or turbulence…

 
But the flush symbol glows… and glows… 

Returning to the seat, the cabin was glowing orange – indicating people should wake up.

Note – tail cam active.

I honestly didn’t notice the overhead bin stripes light up as well. 

I was offered a drink – I went for cola as I wanted to be awake for the next part of the trip.

Always helpful having a cola. 

The view outside.

Paperwork was also distributed for landing at Singapore. Thankfully, pens were offered when asked (unlike a lot of airlines I can mention).

The joy of paperwork.

One thing I prefer about the A350s in Business Class is the placement of the connectivity options. I wasn’t touching the remote control by accident a lot of the time compared to the 787.

Soon enough, 40 minutes came into view, and the cabin was prepared for landing.

The blinds we lifted as the night sky was peppered with the lights of Malaysia below.

Hello winglet. I missed you.

Soon the overhead panels went to landing mode, indicating we were 20 minutes out.

Meanwhile the world below was bathed in little lights.

Soon enough, the A350 was lining up to bring QR944 down on the tarmac at Singapore.

Ready for landing

Almost down.

With a kiss of the tarmac, QR944 landed at Singapore Changi International safely and successfully.

On the ground safely – even though the cabin aboard QR944 was as rattly as hell. 

Hello Changi!

Turning from the terminal – our gate would be next to the Guardua Indonesia A330… 

Ok readers. I’ve made a fatal error. I’ve mentioned Garuda Indonesia. Please stand for that song. 

The A350 made the gate at Singapore Changi, bringing an end to the first part of this adventure. With the cabin in light, and the seatbelt signs released, I gathered stuff, and headed to the exit

And yes, the business class cabin was dead

I headed to the grand entrance where the rest of the travellers gathered, awaiting the door to be opened.

With the doors opened, I said my thank-you’s to the crew of QR944, and headed into the wonder that is Singapore Changi.

Overall: The hard product is great on Qatar Airways – I find it so easy to fall asleep to. The catering is smashing. But the overeagerness to darken the cabin down so people can sleep was more than a little annoying, especially on a daytime flight where natural light should be welcomed for at least part of the flight.

And part of the flight is not just 15 minutes of it at the beginning and 40 at the end.

Next: Time to get my luggage and head to the Intercontinental Singapore.

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