I’ve been fortunate to have flown 8 legs in the last few months in Qatar Airways Business Class. Service is uniformly good, sometimes even great, but consistent and somewhat predictable. Until most recent flight, I’ve always been in QSuites, which is truly a remarkable product. Private, comfortable, the best business class product I’ve experienced, by a long shot. My last flight on my return from Australia from Doha to Frankfurt was in the older business class seat offered on 777-300ERs, in a 2-2-2 configuration. Still fully flat, but very much lacking in privacy, and the modern design feel of the QSuite. It was fine for the relatively short daytime flight, and he soft product is the same.
Flights between Frankfurt and Doha tend to have a mix of QSuites and older products. I’ve flown this route 3 times in recent months (and in economy long ago), and this last flight westbound was my first time without QSuites. The first flight of my latest trip was showing 2-2-2 seating until just before the trip, so that I only had this product one way is a win to me.
Qatar Airways Old 777 Business Class cabin configuration
Looking back at a post from Rohan 5+years ago, he had this same cabin. 5 years isn’t that long for an airline cabin, but Qatar is converting many of these planes to QSuites. There is a lot of space in these seats, as this configuration is not nearly as efficient as more modern business class layouts. No closed space for feet, decent storage, but also very little privacy, especially compared to the QSuites.
I sat in seat 3K, which is among my preferred QSuites, but still a decent seat in this layout. Definitely a window seat person. There are several storage areas in the seat in front, presumably shoes, and reading materials.
The seat itself is comfortable, and there are many possible seating positions. The pillows/blankets are the same as in QSuites, and we also received a Bric’s amenity kit, and a protective kit containing gloves, a mask, and hand sanitizer.
There is storage for a water bottle below the “wood” paneled tray on the center armrest. The tray table comes from the armrest too. There is a power port below the shorter armrest closer to the back of the seat. Also a reading light on a flexible post.
Qatar Airways Old 777 Business Class in flight
Soon after departure, a choice of drinks is offered, along with a ramekin of mixed nuts. On this flight I opted for an Aperol spritz, directly from the cocktail menu.
The meal service and catering is identical to any other Qatar flight I’ve had. This includes the bread trio. The Mezze platter is a nice starter that I often get on these flights. Otherwise meals and service flow are the same no matter what the seating configuration is.
Final thoughts
While a definite step down to have this older seat, the service onboard is still good. Lack of privacy is significant, especially when traveling alone. The magic of QSuites is that there is excellent privacy for single flyers, but there are good options for couples or families to sit together. But what if a couple prefers window seats? Not really a good option there, as the honeymoon and quad seats are in the middle of the cabin.
I wouldn’t actively book away from a flight with these seats, but from what I can tell, most long haul flights have QSuites, other than rare exceptions. All flights to USA and Australia seem to be scheduled with QSuites configurations. Shorter flights such as to Europe can vary, as I found out for this flight.
