Well, it wouldn’t be a proper trip report without a little drama, would it?
A couple of days ago, I published the Trip Planning installment of Roman Holiday, my latest adventure. One big piece was supposed to be the opportunity to review Qatar’s QSuites, the Business Class so good it makes First Class irrelevant (in the words of Qatar’s CEO).
All three Singapore-Doha flights are served by QSuites aircraft, but since no award space was available, I positioned myself to Kuala Lumpur to take QR845 instead, which is operated daily by a QSuites-equipped A350-900.
Or should I say, “was”. I was idly browsing the QR forum on Flyertalk when I saw the QSuite master thread had been updated effective 31 August 2019. Spot what’s missing?
To my horror, Kuala Lumpur is no longer a QSuites route. A quick check of the Manage My Booking page confirmed this: instead of the QSuites seat map, I’m now seeing the regular reverse herringbone-configured A350-900.
I desperately tried to look for alternatives. I thought about SIN-BKK-DOH-KBP (no luck, I wouldn’t be able to arrive in BKK early enough to catch QR831), I thought about SIN-HKG-DOH-KBP (didn’t want to risk disruptions in Hong Kong).
IÂ even considered, for a lark, doing SIN-PEK-FRA-MUC-KBP, with SIN-PEK in SQ F, PEK-FRA in LH F and FRA-MUC-KBP in LH J. This would at least have let me do an updated review of the First Class Terminal in Frankfurt, but I had to remind myself the priority was to get The Milelioness to Kiev as stress-free as possible, not indulge my caviar dreams.
Ultimately, I figured it was just way too late to do any itinerary swaps. If I were flying by myself, perhaps, but I’m starting to discover what many have told me before- the equation does change when you’re traveling with a companion!
There is a ray of hope, however. Based on the operating history of QR845, I can see that on 4 of the last 7 days, the route was still operated by QSuites-equipped aircraft.
| To learn which aircraft registration numbers have QSuites, refer to the master thread on Flyertalk |
So there’s still a fighting chance I’ll get lucky here, and I’ll learn my fate early tomorrow morning when QR844 departs Doha for Kuala Lumpur at 12.30 a.m SGT.
I’m also flying Qatar Airways on the way back from Kiev, from KBP-DOH-BKK. The DOH-BKK flight I’m on will unfortunately not be a QSuites-equipped aircraft, but if I don’t get QSuites on the outbound I might try to play around with the return leg to make it happen. Stay tuned.
Conclusion
Aircraft swaps are part and parcel of the miles game, and it’s one of the risks we take when we position ourselves for the exclusive purpose of trying a new cabin product. Cabin class may be guaranteed, but cabin products are not- as far as the airline is concerned, Business Class is Business Class, as this poor guy found out.Â
Although it’ll be disappointing if QSuites aren’t on the menu, some perspective is necessary here. It’ll still be a very comfortable flight with Qatar’s reverse-herringbone seat, and it’s still a heck of a lot better than sitting at the back of the plane, so no complaints from me!
You’re not alone.
Booked qsuites earlier this year on SIN – DOH – LON. 1 month before the trip, qsuites for Sin-Doh gets swapped with the older reverse herringbone seats. I curse my luck and reconfirm seats under the new config.
2 days before the trip, Sin – Doh gets re-swapped with qsuites! So don’t lose hope yet 🙂
qatar giveth, and qatar takeath away
Hi Aaron, may i ask which airline program are you using to redeem the Qsuites?
asiamiles- see my trip planning post
I normally just avoid Europe on QR since the Q-suites are no guarantee. Instead try doing a USA trip instead with most routes like JFK and ORD being guaranteed Q-suites routes.
If it’s any consolation the flight looks pretty empty!
Don’t miss Qsuites! Positioned my family overnight in BKK just so we could catch qsuites on bkk-doh-cdg
Was awesome especially when we converted the middle four seats to one jumbo suite!
NO QSuites for 844 – you’ll live But I do understand your anxiety & desire to fly on Qsuites seeing as your trips have reduced drastically & hence, every flight counts … It’s an awesome product, & definitely makes a good first impression but after clocking a few flights on the A35k from JFK & 77L from LAX – it’s not as comfortable as you’d think The suite walls make the space feel constricted, and if you are a tall / person of size, you’d probably find it hard to sleep well I guess this’ll be the last trip for… Read more »
Last I attend his course earlier this year when he flashed his Krisflyer acct and trips he is going.. he still has more than a million miles in Krisflyer acct.