Qatar 728 – PHL-DOH (Economy) Review

Sunrise from a Qatar Airways window seat

12 and a half hours. That’s how long this flight would take. “Wow!” I thought too myself. Prior to flying with Qatar Airways from Philadelphia International Airport to Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, I had never been on a flight more than about seven and half hours. This was definitely a first for me (and my wife) and this is the flight report and review of our journey on Qatar PHL DOH in economy seating.

This was our first time flying out of Philadelphia. Generally, as residents of upstate NY, we fly out of Albany or at worst we make the 3hr hike to New York City and John F. Kennedy airport. However, for this flight, we were lucky enough to get a cheaper fare flying from ALB to PHL and then on to Doha as opposed to JFK to Doha direct.

After making a quick hour jaunt from ALB to PHL via a little regional jet that isn’t worth writing about, we got to our Qatar Airways terminal and began the wait.

The Plane

Qatar PHL DOH Airplane
Our plane getting ready for its long nearly 13hr journey

Eventually it came time to board and get on our way. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the very cool mood lighting that Qatar Airways had on this flight. It just makes the whole experience more modern and for a techie such as myself, pleasant. It’s the little things and flying in a bland gray cabin just doesn’t do it for me.

Qatar PHL DOH Cabin Lighting
Really neat mood lighting

In-Seat Entertainment

Speaking of tech, I’ve been on a few international flights where the in seat entertainment was lacking, broken, old but on this particular plane it was top notch (even in coach). I was able to play Angry Birds, there was wide variety of movies and games, etc. They even had camera feeds of camera on the plane (rear tail, under body, etc.) which was very interesting to watch when taking off.

Qatar PHL DOH In Seat Entertainment

Freebies

Do you like surprises? I do. Qatar Airways provides all passengers with a little hygiene kit consisting of ear plugs, toothbrush and paste, eye cover and even socks. SOCKS! Who does that? Qatar Airways, that’s who! I’ve flown on international flights where you might get a blanket or a pillow, but not the above. This was a first and really stood out to me.

Qatar PHL DOH Hygiene
Hygiene Packet

Seating

We always try to get a window seat for me as I like to snaps photos and videos. My wife had the middle seat. Luckily, to our surprise, just before takeoff the 3rd passenger in our row who was sitting in the aisle seat, decided to move up one row which gave us an open seat. My wife ended up moving to the aisle and throughout our 12.5hr journey, we traded on and off taking naps using two seats. It worked out perfectly.

The seats themselves where more than adequate and leg space was more than enough for me (I’m 5’11”) and my wife (who is 5′).

The Food

Food is important on flights as long as this because you WILL get hungry. A little while after taking off from Philadelphia, the very kind Qatar staff started food service. For me personally, the breakfast, snack and dinner were pretty good. The lunch however wasn’t something I’d really eat again. All in all though, as airplane food goes, Qatar Airways food was pretty good.

Qatar PHL DOH Menu
Menu we got for breakfast
Qatar PHL DOH Breakfast
This was the breakfast meal. Pretty much all of it was delicious.
Qatar PHL DOH Snack
The snack food (specifically the sandwich) was also pretty good
Qatar PHL DOH Lunch
This was the lunch. I didn’t touch the stuff on the top of the rice or the grape-like looking things as it didn’t look appealing to me at all but the desert was REALLY good.

The Views

The flight path of this flight goes over some nice areas of Europe. We got to see London, Bucharest and (I think) Budapest from 30,000+ ft.

London
London, UK
Bucharest
Bucharest, Romania

The Customer Service

Customer service is important, so how did Qatar Airways do? After landing in Doha, we had a 9 hour layover until our flight to Male, Maldives. I was told that there was a possibility that Qatar Airways would give us a voucher due to the layover length for a hotel in the area. As it turns out, that was accurate! Qatar Airways hooked us up with a room at the Oryx Rotana hotel in Doha…just for asking. This would definitely bode well in my review needless to say. We woke rested and ready for the next leg of our trip to Amari Havodda Maldives.

Oryx Rotana Hotel
Oryx Rotana Hotel in Doha as seen from our room window (we had an interior room). Very nice hotel!

Overall Thoughts

We had a great trip with Qatar Airways and everything added up to earning a customer for life. Hope you enjoyed this flight report and review of Qatar PHL DOH.

Have you flown with Qatar Airways before? What was your impression? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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