THE FLIGHT
I flew on Qatar QR024 Dreamliner 787-9, on April 27, 2025
THE CHECK-IN
My Qatar flight to Doha was the last flight out of terminal 2 at Manchester that evening, which meant the airport was starting to wind down and was a lot more relaxed, and provided a less stressful start to my trip, than some of my previous travels.
Once I showed my passport to one of the staff members, I was ushered to the Business Cclass desk for a speedy check in, where my bag was sent directly to Dubai, which was my final destination.
BOARDING
Security was very quick with only two others in front of me. For the first time in my travels, I didn’t have to take out any electronics or toiletries as they all went through the scanner in my bag – which is a great technology advancement for travellers.
As I was in Business Class, I was the second person to board the plane, and was offered nuts and a glass of fizz to settle me in while other passengers boarded.
THE SEAT
Business Class was full, but with the mood lighting and the Q suites the cabin felt very relaxed and private once my little ‘door’ on the suite was closed. The suite configuration was 1-2-1 with my seat on its own next to the window facing out at an angle.
As I was on a night flight, I was given my White Company sleep suit to change into, with slippers and a Diptyque amenity kit, which had all the essentials you need to make the flight as comfortable as possible.
I am 180 cms tall and when the seat was fully reclined or in relax mode there was plenty of space for me to “shuffle around”. The suite concept with its closing door gave me a sense of privacy, but at the same time had plenty of space for me to get all my things out and truly settle down for the duration of the flight.
There were two decent size storage areas for ipads, books and laptops, plus numerous power points to keep all my gadgets fully charged.
THE SERVICE
The evening menu offered a great mix of international cuisine with a choice of three starters, four main courses, a cheese course and three deserts. True to form, I went for the grilled Angus tenderloin, which was done to perfection and came with herb mash, a selection of vegetables and a parsley sauce.
After dinner I logged on to the free Wi-Fi in order to clear my emails, which worked very smoothly with no buffering.
I then settled down to flick though the hundreds of entertainment options on the offer, with many recently released movies and TV series to choose from. I was pleased to see it was not all U.S. content, which you often tend to find on aircraft
I finally decided on the Christmas finale of Gavin and Stacey, followed by Better Man, the Robbie Williams biopic, until I dozed off for a few hours and only waking up on the final approach to Doha.
THE VERDICT
The flight duration was around seven hours, but this was one of the few times when I genuinely wanted the flight to be longer so I could enjoy the onboard experience more. But my sleep suite is now a constant reminder of the very enjoyable flight I had – it now comes with me on my overnights away!
