Qatar Airways has long been promising that it would roll-out a world-changing, amazing, industry-leading new business class. After much delay, that day came yesterday with the announcement of the QSuite. With so much build-up, is there any way it could live up to the hype? Well, it does seem that way. But that won’t stop me from having way too much with the photos the airline put out.
There are a million and a half blog posts out there fawning all over this new product, so I’ll spare you a full, detailed look. But in short, the seats alternate front- and back-facing in a 1-2-1 configuration with doors on each seat creating a suite. On the windows, that means individual pods that look incredible. And in the center section, Qatar has come up with an innovative design that can turn into a family suite where four people can close doors and share a meal with each other.
Apparently, the space is designed so creatively that the expectation is there will be no less density versus the existing configuration on a 777-300ER (the first aircraft to get the seat). Well done.
Naturally, Qatar seems really interested in showing off how this solves the problem with many existing business class options where there are only solo seats. So in the airline’s Flickr photostream, it has shared all kinds of pairings showing family interactions. Yet all I could think was… what happens when that’s not your family member next to you? And this is what my twisted mind saw.
Either I should be drinking less scotch… or more. Either way, I want to fly on this thing some day. I’d just make sure I sat on the side if I were flying alone.
28 comments on “Fun with Photos of Qatar’s Impressive New QSuite Business Class”
Normally, I’d leave a long reply, in depth while looking at both sides of the story. Today, I’ll stick with: hahahahahahahahahahha :)
Thanks for the laughs, LOVE the last one with the macarons the best! :-)
Either I should be drinking less scotch… or more. LOL Do what ever you want Brett, since to your fans you are a wild turkey.
Those photos are wild.
reminds me of a work flight I once took on British Airways in business class – I ended up in one of the “middle” seats, so I was seated right next to someone else – a complete stranger. When we had to go to sleep it was like we were sharing a bed, because the seats were RIGHTNEXT to each other with only a very short barrier in between. One of the most awkward experiences ever.
As a bonus, when the “outer” middle seats were converted into beds, those of us in the middle were literally trapped and couldn’t actually exit our seats without literally climbing over them.
Quite possibly the worst configuration ever. I went back to flying Virgin upper class after that (only for work – I fly peasant class on my own dime!)
Quite creative Brett. Peace B
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Why does Vladimir Putin want that guy’s macaroons, anyway?
grichard – For those who don’t know, that is actually Qatar CEO Akbar al Baker.
You should have photoshopped the head of Ed Bastian (or Richard Anderson) onto the guy sat next to him.
+ 1
With a caption of RA saying “man these subsidized carriers sure do have a nice product I could get used to this!”
EB saying: “now Richard, we have no need for an over the top product. Don’t you know DeltaOne is best is class and the most exclusive cabin in the sky as we market with our branded fare initiative. And it will get even better with our industry leading A350 suite”
Those would have been great ideas. Next time…
Slow news day ?
I see, someone here has a little too much free time on his hands!
Here’s hoping business picks up!
I’m guessing it’s actually quite the opposite. I imagine photoshopping the quotes took less time than writing a “standard” article, so I’m thinking Cranky’s business has been good on the concierge side!
TRC – You’re completely right. We are slammed on the concierge side and I’ve been writing most posts after the kids go to bed since I have no time during the day anymore. But I’ve been sick for a week (cold/cough/bleh) and just couldn’t do anything more substantive last night.
Nothing will beat the days of SWA with the two rows facing each other. Loved that. When they took those out that is when I stopped flying SWA. What did they call that feature anyway?
Wasn’t it the “salon”? Maybe “lounge”? I can’t decide if it was more uncomfortable if you knew or didn’t know the person sitting across from you.
@Darkwater…good point…if you had some creepy person staring at you that could be weird. Fortunately I never ran into that…or sat into that. I think you are on the right track with Salon. Even my friend Google failed me on this one!!!!
You can replicate that feeling anytime you want. Just get on a crowded elevator and don’t face front. It’s amazing how uncomfortable people get.
Now that would be a hoot!
I sat in the lounge seats once for 3 hours facing backwards. For fun I kept looking down the aisle and it was funny how many people sitting in aisle seats would look away when they saw me looking their way…..LOL
I definitely remember “if you’re seated in our lounge areas…” from their safety briefing.
I think on one point they added something about getting to know your neighbor too close if you failed to have your seatbelt on.
As far as I know, Southwest just called that “lounge seating.” It was hilariously uncomfortable if you didn’t know the person across from you. Though I do remember getting it with a group of friends on a return flight from Albuquerque to LA once. We were all about 13 or 14 and thought it was the greatest thing ever.
Made for some fun memories.
The thing that got me was the decided lack of legroom. Back in the day of first-come first-serve boarding passes when a bunch of us were returning from a work trip, we connected in Las Vegas and got boarding passes in the 80-range (candy cane boarding passes, if I remember correctly) and the few aisle & window seats left were in the rear lounge. I, a not particularly short person, spent two hours battling my 6′ 4″ coworker for foot position.
Now if I ever fly in these seats, these comments will be all I will think about
I used to hear those seats called the “party seats” Oh, lord, that was back in the days when the flight attendants were all heavily-makeupped floozies with HUGE hair (which had to be a major fire hazard) and hot pants. EEEK! About thirty seconds of beverage service, and they’d be in the rear-most seats cackling about their boyfriends and their condos. That is, when they weren’t flirting with the Texan businessmen.
The design is great and I’m sure the seats are very comfortable.