It is a two-part post in which I am writing about my experience flying from London to Beijing via Doha in business class with BA and Qatar. It was a project that I had been working on for five years.
In the first part, I will write about why and how I did it and describe the first part of the journey, from getting to the airport, staying in the lounge, and flying with British Airways until I landed in Doha.
In the second part, I will discuss exploring Doha International Airport, flights from Doha to Beijing with Qatar Airways and my overall conclusion.
Introduction ( Purpose & Itinerary)
I don’t travel in business class because I don’t have an income to justify this kind of travel.
Travel in the economy class is good enough for me.
If I have extra disposable income to splash money on luxury, I will upgrade to a premium economy if the price difference and length of the trip make it worth it. For example, I can justify spending up to an extra 150 quids for an upgrade to Premium Economy on British Airways for 11 hours or more. I am a bit too big and too fat for the economy seat, and for example, a premium economy seat on BA gives me enough space for my legs and allows me for decent semi-sleep.
However, I am happy as an economy flyer as long as I get a window seat, even if I feel the urge to chop my leg to fly comfortably for many hours.
However, as I like to see travel in business/first-class experience, I enjoy watching people on YouTube doing this on my behalf :D. I am a big fan of Dennis Bunnik, Jeb Brooks and Paul Lukas. For Paul, Lukas is an even full-time job!
So far, I have flown twice in business class. On a short haul with LOT, I flew once to business class on BA’s famous yingyang coffin configuration, which is universally considered one of the worst in the industry. For me, It was a mind-blowing experience, but I can see why people weren’t fond of it from a value-for-money perspective compared to what other airlines offer.
I dreamed of travelling on Qatar’s business class but couldn’t afford it. I knew that If I collected enough points, we as a family could fly together in business class with BA. Sadly, due to the depreciation of Avios points, I realised that it would be impossible to achieve it in a timely manner.
On the bright side, I could fly a business class with Qatar Airways using Avios points if I collected enough. It was possible because British Airways and Qatar Airways were part of the OneWorld alliance.
The problem was finding a flight where I could use Avios points, as the time of flying was almost always during peak time, which meant I needed twice as many points.
I finally managed to book a flight with Avios points. The best thing was that as part of the trip, I would fly with BA in the new and Qatar Airways business classes! I was very excited.
TERMINAL AND LOUNGE
Almost all BA flights depart from Heathrow Terminal 5, and I like this terminal.
Check-in is done using a machine, which I am not a fan of, but I am a big fan of track security. In the past, I paid a few times during busy periods.
There are a few lounges at Terminal 5 for business class. North Lounge was full, so I went to South Lounge, which was just overcrowded.
I managed to find a seat, and when I sat, I found a free spot with a view of the runaway, so I moved there.
The food selection was limited, but I fancied some salad and veggies; luckily, there were few options. The meat dish was digestible.
Flies surrounded the coffee machine. I guess coffee was really “organic” coffee, but on the bright side, it was Union Coffee, so that’s a good thing as I like good, strong coffee.
I didn’t mean to drink alcohol, but when I saw Brewdog’s Speedbird. I had to try, and it was great! I like this kind of collaboration between the airline and the local brewery.
I had some challenges with opening beer, but luckily fork turns out to be useful to open a can.
Btw. BA’s business lounge may require some improve celling to look more .. majestic :D.
After 1 hour, it was time to board an aeroplane and then … Our departure was delayed by 90 minutes. We did not get any update on the reason for the delay for the first 45 minutes.
The captain said it was due to the late arrival of an inbound flight, but this airplane’s previous flight was delayed by 15 minutes and landed at 11.10. It was bizarre, but then I did notice someone walking through the cabin around 14.50. Was the connecting flight delayed? Based on flight patterns, my suspicion had more to do with the Middle East and events happening near Izrael then.
It didn’t matter to me because my seat was comfy.
Speaking of the seat.
SEAT
First, I am not a target customer for this seat. My focus for the seat is to be comfortable (it means I don’t feel any acke after sitting for an extended amount of time); it is wide, it has a great reclining feature, and it allows me to sleep/rest in bed mode without straight leg and allows me to side sleep. It should have a big study table to do things on my tablet and have storage for my staff that I usually keep in a sling.
How is a new big seat in British Airways?
Instead of putting people in ying-yang coffin they use a standard 1-2-1 configuration. It feels like BA is a good legacy carrier rather than a premium Ryanair/Wizzair airline.
The seat is very comfortable. Seating and lying down were great and allowed you to relax and enjoy the flight. My only problem was that space for feet. While if you seat on economy class, you need to chop your leg from knee down; in this seat, I feel I need to feet to lie down, but I am big and fat, so maybe that’s the reason but while space in general is good.
They have a privacy divider, so you can feel in your cocoon. My privacy divider had some issues, and the staff had to fight with the mechanism to set it in the correct position for take-off.
It turns out it is not the only thing that was broken. I broke the seat too, so when I pressed the button to put the seat in the take-off/landing position, then I had what I could describe as a ‘fuse’ that blew up at home, and I lost power to everything, so I lost light; tv ability to move seat :D. See video here:
My seat was dirty in a few spots. I catch most minor thing on photo and it didn’t bother me as I don’t treat seats on areoplane as clean space. If you 5* hygine standard freak with laboratory level sensiitivity to dirt, it will feak you out.
Overall, it is a great seat, apart from being a bit dirty and suffering from some malfunctions. I know it is very controversial, but Old business class seats should be re-used as premium economy seats.
FOOD EXPERIENCE
It started with champagne. One hour into the flight, I was beginning to feel starving, but there was no food to be seen :D. Ages later, the food started to arrive.
It started with a drink (red wine) and snack mix (Belazu – salted rosemary snack mix). It was an excellent start.
I had chicken Caesar salad with a tasteful 3-type bun for the starter.
The main course was a Cornish chicken breast. It was chunky and tasty, but portion feel… small. I guess my stomach was greedy and I was still starving.
As for dessert, I went for a cheese board as I was still hungry. It was a great choice. I enjoyed but there was one tiny problem. I was still hungry :D.
Overall, it was great food, even if I feel still hungry after but I didn’t mind it as I had
I had a better experience in a premium economy, where they give more wine, offer tea/coffee, and ask if I want more drinks.
The process was slow and I don’t think it is a person problem, but not enough staff.
Before landing, we had a sandwich, muffin and micro-salad
During this trip, I could not follow my typical routine to adapt to the new time zone as the flight stopped over in the middle, and my strategy worked only on direct flights that had a connection 1/2 hours before/after arrival/departure. However, I felt tired, which was caused by all the excitement I had, and I managed to snore for 75 minutes.
The bed was comfortable. It is an excellent space for people up to 1.75 and with micro feet. I feel like i need chop off from feet up to ankle to sleep comfortable, but luckly If I salept sideway then it turns out to be most comfortable position. I wish have this kind of problems in economy class :D.
It was hot in the Airplane, i guess they want passangers to get used to 41 degrees temperature in Doha.
IFE
As for IFE, there is enough of a selection of movies, songs, and games to keep you going. I don’t watch movies, as my favourite entertainment on a flight is following a map or watching onboard a camera.
Sadly, BA’s Boing doesn’t have that feature, and the map is annoying to use.
The problem is I like to set the map in a specific way and enjoy watching, but it is impossible to do because, after a few minutes, it starts playing play mode. There is one feature I like, and it shows local time in the main cities on the map.
I didn’t check the internet because instead of watching people on YT flying in business class. I was experiencing that :D.
AMENITY KIT
- In 2020, I wrote about my perfect amenity kit, It can be found here: https://dominiksymonowicz.com/2020/03/19/perfect-amenity-kit-v-1-2020-edition/ where I said it should have Pen and Paper, Mouthwash, Cleaning cloth for devices, Eye mask, Hand cream, Pillow mist, Tissue pack, Mints, Lip balm and bag.
BA had socks, a dental kit, ear plugs, a pulse point, and an eye mask in the bag.
In terms of what I need, it scores 4/10, but the extra points for the dental kit and pulse point, so I will give it 6/10. The eye mask is quite good, and I used an old one for many years and even gave it to my son on a few occasions. I like pulse point, but I don’t know why.
During the landing, it was funny to see on the map that we were flying toward Dubai and at the last minute, we suddenly turned towards Doha.
We landed one hour late.
While I was sad that I was late, as it meant I would not be able to explore Doha International Airport, I was happy because I knew that the next leg of the journey would be epic, and it turned out to be an understatement.
SUMMARY
It was awesome.
As someone who experienced long-haul flight in business class only once, it was a BA in their famous yin-yang coffin. The new business class experience is a significant improvement. The seat is now what you usually expect. I don’t know if it is the best in the sky (spoiler alert, it is not, as you can read in my next blog about the next leg proves it is). I am happy that BA has started to get back in shape. As for old seats, they should be re-used as premium economy class seats.
I feel sorry that I broke the seat; I hope it is not because I am too heavy.
The main meal was excellent.
The service was fantastic, as always, even if it felt lagging on this occasion.
I feel very grateful and happy that I could experience this kind of flying.
In the next part, I will talk about the second leg of the journey, which includes exploring lighting Doha International Airport, popping into the business class lounge near my gate, taking an epic flight to Beijing and a summary.
Dominik Symonowicz 