Flight Review: Qatar Airways Business Class (Qsuites) – Johannesburg (JNB) To Doha (DOH) To Miami (MIA)

After spending a month overseas visiting Mauritius and South Africa, it was time for Shae and I to make our way home. Seeing as we’d planned and booked our trip so far in advance, we’d been able to find business class award availability from Johannesburg to Miami via Doha on Qatar Airways.

What made this particularly exciting is that both of those flights were due to feature Qatar Airways’ Qsuites product which is regarded by many as being the best business class experience in the world. The airline is sometimes known for swapping aircraft though, so there was no guarantee that we’d actually end up on a plane with Qsuites.

Thankfully that didn’t end up being an issue and both flights came equipped with Qsuites. The experience was as excellent as we’d been anticipating, so we’re hoping to fly with them again when celebrating our 20th anniversary next year in the Maldives.

Here’s a full review combining both flights. We sat in the exact same seats (albeit on different planes) for both flights, so there was very little difference from that perspective. There were some differences when it came to the food menus, amenity kits, etc., so I’ll share both sets from the Johannesburg to Doha and Doha to Miami flights.

Qatar Airways Business Class (Qsuites) Johannesburg (JNB) To Doha (DOH) & Doha (DOH) To Miami (MIA)

Flights: QR1366
Route: Johannesburg (JNB) – Doha (DOH)
Scheduled Departure Time: 7:50am February 5, 2023
Scheduled Arrival Time: 5:10pm February 5, 2023
Aircraft Type: Boeing B777-300ER
Seats: 3E (me) and 3F (Shae)
Flight Class: Business class

Flights: QR777
Route: Doha (DOH) – Miami (MIA)
Scheduled Departure Time: 8am February 6, 2023
Scheduled Arrival Time: 4:35pm February 6, 2023
Aircraft Type: Boeing B777-300ER
Seats: 3E (me) and 3F (Shae)
Flight Class: Business class

The seats in the business class cabin on our flights were in a 1-2-1 formation which means that each seat had direct aisle access.

Seats

One of the key features of Qsuites is the potential layout for people traveling together in the center section. We chose rear-facing seats because the seats are very close together. The divider behind the suites can be lowered all the way down, so you can effectively turn the two seats into a double bed.

If you’re traveling as a group of four, the taller divider between the rear-facing E and F seats we were in and the front-facing D and G seats in front of us can be moved to create a Quad configuration where all four people can see each other and socialize during the flight.

If you’re traveling in E or F seats, the seat is further away from the door to the suite which some might prefer. The seat itself was very comfortable which was greatly appreciated seeing as we spent a total of 24 hours in the air across the two flights.

The seat had a plush pillow waiting on it, while in the suite there was a blanket, additional pillow and amenity kit.

The blanket was excellent – the best blanket I’ve ever had on a plane. It was plush on one side, with the opposite side being smoother which helped keep me somewhat cool underneath it when sleeping. It wasn’t too thick either, so you can get nice and cozy without overheating.

Qsuites comes with a 21.5″ in-flight entertainment (IFE) screen which feels even bigger than 21.5″.

Beneath that is the tray table. A helpful feature of the tray table is that when it’s open there’s still enough space to be able to slide out to the side.

When the table’s stowed, it’s a great place to store a laptop as there’s about  2″-3″ of space.

The footwell beneath the tray table was a good size and extends quite far back. The bed length is 79″-80″ which is ~6.5 feet long, so most travelers should be comfortable laying down.

To the side of my seat was a storage compartment that was padded on top. That could potentially be used as a seat if you wanted to chat to a companion during the flight who wasn’t in a center seat next to you.

Inside that storage section was a bottle of water and noise-cancelling headphones. It had several compartments and a small tray where you could store various items. The section at the back wasn’t big enough to store my 15.6″ laptop, but a tablet would likely fit back there. The small tray to the left of the water bottle could be a good place to store a pair of glasses or phone.

The headphones were very good quality and worked well while I watched movies.

Above that storage compartment was a light and hanger for a suit jacket.

On the other side of the seat was an armrest which could be raised and lowered.

To the right of the tray table was a consolidated panel with seat controls, IFE remote, power outlets and headphone outlet. I loved that layout because it meant there was no danger of accidentally knocking any of the buttons which can happen in business class on some other airlines.

I tend to get warm on flights and have a hard time sleeping when the cabin isn’t kept at a cool temperature. I was therefore very glad to see that our seats had air nozzles. These were powerful, so I was able to stay a nicely regulated temperature across both of our flights.

To the right of my headrest were a couple of buttons – one to turn a light on and off, while the other returned a seat to its upright position for landing. These buttons aren’t very accessible when the seat is upright, but are there to make it easier to use them when laying down.

Qatar Airways offered Diptyque amenity boxes in business class on our Johannesburg to Doha flight.

The amenity kit featured socks, eau de toilette, lotion, face cream and lip balm.

We got Diptyque amenity kits on our Doha to Miami flight too, although that came in a bag rather than a box.

The contents of that second amenity kit were the same as what was in the Diptyque box on our first flight.

While we were getting settled in, the flight attendants came round to offer a welcome drink. I’m never one to say no to a glass of champagne on a flight; Qatar served Laurent-Perrier on both flights and it came with a refreshing towel.

On both flights they provided us with a set of pajamas that were branded for the 2022 World Cup as that had just taken place in Qatar. I didn’t use the PJs during either of our flights, but Shae did and found them to be very comfortable.

While waiting to take off, an instructional video played explaining all the features of Qsuites including how to use the seat controls, how to open up a Quad suite if desired, how to turn on the different lights, how to release the tray table, etc. This was a great feature that I’m sure is extremely useful for some passengers, especially those who haven’t flown in business class before on any airline.

The in-flight entertainment (IFE) options were excellent. There was a wide range of movies including many new releases, TV shows and games.

The IFE screen is a touchscreen and so you can select entertainment options that way, or you can use the remote to scroll through.

It was soon time for us to take off. This was an unusual experience because we’d selected rear-facing seats and this was our first time taking off backwards. While it was initially a little strange, it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. Shae hates flying and even she didn’t have a problem with it.

Once we were in the air, the flight attendants came through the cabin to release the latches keeping our doors open. The reason why Qsuites are called Qsuites is because they become a fully-enclosed suite thanks to a door that closes you off from the aisle. People walking past could still potentially see over, but it does provide a lot of privacy and an almost cocoon-like experience.

If you’re in a center seat and you’re not traveling with anyone, once in the air you can raise the divider between seats to provide privacy on that side too.

The divider can be put down halfway (that’s the default position)…

…or it can be lowered all the way down. I’d initially had a hard time getting it latched in place for this photo which is why Shae’s holding it in place.

Qatar Airways didn’t provide a mattress pad like some other airlines provide in business class. However, that didn’t matter because the seat is incredibly comfortable to lay on without a mattress pad.

There were restrooms at the front and back of the cabin, with some being slightly larger than others.

The flight attendants seemed to be very diligent throughout the flights with ensuring the toilets had been checked after the previous guest had used it. There was nearly always a fresh toilet seat cover put in place, while the rolls of toilet paper had triangles folded on them nearly every time I used the restroom.

Qatar Airways offers what they market as Super Wi-Fi on their flights. Having tried to use the internet on other international flights in the past I was dubious about how good it would be.

Even if the speed wouldn’t be very good, the pricing certainly is. You can get an hour of free Wi-Fi by being a Privilege Club member. You don’t have to have status with Qatar Airways to be eligible for the free Wi-Fi, you just have to be a member of their free loyalty program. If you’re an existing member, you’ll want to remember to bring your login details with you. Otherwise, new members can register for a new account on the flight to get a free hour.

If you want to stay connected for more than an hour, it costs $10 for the entire flight. That’s ridiculously cheap compared to how much some other airlines price their Wi-Fi offerings, so I paid the $10 for both of our flights.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Super Wi-Fi was indeed super! It was much faster than I’d been expecting and, in fact, faster than some hotel Wi-Fi speeds. I was therefore able to get a fair bit of work done on our flights in between movies, sleeping and eating which was helpful. Something I should note is that a friend flew on Qatar Airways the other day and he said that the Wi-Fi on his flight was poor, so YMMV. Still, for $10 you’re not getting ripped off, especially considering you can switch between devices without needing to pay more.

Dining

During the boarding process on both flights we were given two menus – one with food and soft drinks and one with wine and other alcoholic beverage options. The menus were different on each flight, so I’ll split this next section into two based on the two flights.

Johannesburg to Doha Dining

Here’s the food menu for our first flight. Something I loved about the business class experience on Qatar Airways is that dining is completely flexible. You can pick anything to eat at any time during the flight. Depending on what you pick you might have to wait 5-10 minutes while they heat it up and prepare it, but I don’t thinkit ever took longer than that before food was served.

Here were the beverage options:

In case you’re interested in what’s served in economy class, their menu was viewable on their online portal when connecting to the Super Wi-Fi:

Having started off with a glass of champagne when we boarded, I moved on to Woodford Reserve bourbon.

Our Johannesburg to Doha flight departed in the morning, so we both decided to order one of their breakfast options. Shae started with an assiette of cold cuts which featured smoked salmon, roast beef, Emmental cheese and selected accompaniments, as well as their seasonal fruits. A bread roll and croissant were also provided.

The croissants were delicious, while Shae enjoyed her cold cuts. She’s not a big fan of smoked salmon and so I gladly assisted her with that and can confirm that it was tasty.

This was followed up with their omelet with mozzarella cheese, roast potatoes and sautéed seasonal vegetables. From what she can remember it was OK, but not memorable (I’m writing this review just over a month after we flew with them which is why her memory with some of the meals is a little hazy).

I ordered what was listed as scrambled eggs with baked beans, beef sausage, baby corn and sautéed peppers, but which also came with potatoes. The dish was decent enough – not amazing, but good.

I also ordered their seasonal fresh fruits and had a bread roll and croissant. One small thing I thought was worth mentioning was that the butter served with the roll was soft enough to spread easily. All too often on flights the butter is almost frozen and is impossible to spread on rolls, so I appreciated that Qatar Airways didn’t have that issue.

In the galley during the flight there was a tray with snacks that passengers could help themselves to.

A couple of hours before landing we both ordered another meal. Shae ordered the roast chicken on ciabatta which came with white cheddar, cranberry cream cheese and tomatoes which she thought was yummy.

I had their chicken korma with steamed basmati rice which was nice, although the chicken to rice ratio was a little off in my opinion (it could do with a little more chicken).

Overall, the food on this flight was good, but not amazing. The portion sizes were very good though and I liked that we could order whatever we wanted whenever we wanted, rather than having a set schedule like on some flights.

Doha To Miami Dining

Our Johannesburg to Doha flight was about 8 hours, while our Doha to Miami flight was about 16 hours. As a result, that second flight had a more comprehensive food menu:

It had been possible for us to pre-order meals on the Doha to Miami flight from up to two weeks before departure. I’d assumed those were custom meals, but it turns out that they were main dishes listed on the right hand page above. It doesn’t do any harm pre-ordering though just in case they end up running out of whichever dish you have your eye on before the end of the flight.

The drinks menus were similar, although the wine lineup was a little different.

Our flight from Doha to Miami also departed in the morning, so Shae ordered the omelet option on this flight too. This included ricotta, avocado and roasted tomato, as well as a side of mushrooms. Similar to the omelet she’d had on the first flight, she thought this California style omelet was fine, but nothing special.

Rather than going for one of the breakfast choices, I ordered one of the light options – Thai chicken khao soi with egg noodles. This was flavorful; at a restaurant I might’ve wished for a little more spice, but on a long flight it’s probably good not to have an abundance of chili in it 😉

Both our dishes came with a bread roll and croissant, plus we both ordered their seasonal fresh fruits.

I also ordered their mango yogurt for good measure…

…while Shae went for their cold cuts which had a slightly different composition to the Johannesburg to Doha flight.

It was our meals later on in the flight where Qatar Airways catering really shone. Shae ordered their afternoon tea which featured three finger sandwiches, warm scones with jam and clotted cream and some kind of chocolate dessert. When I asked Shae just now what she thought of this her eyes lit up remembering how delicious it was and she said it was very yummy. She also wished that she’d ordered it again on the flight as it was that good.

I don’t think she could beat the meal I ordered though. I had their char-grilled kofta and lamb chop which came served with tomato focaccia, white aubergine and harissa oil.

Oh my goodness, this meal was incredible – possibly the best airline meal I’ve ever had. In fact, it was better than most meals I’ve ever eaten. The lamb chop was some of the most tender lamb I’ve eaten, while the lamb kofta was also incredibly flavorful. The focaccia was delicious and the aubergine was much better than I’d been anticipating; it was smoky and very, very good. Similar to Shae, I wish I’d ordered this meal again. If and when we fly with Qatar Airways again, I’ll be hoping this dish is on the menu.

For dessert I ordered their double chocolate tart with fresh strawberries and mango. Chocolate desserts in Asian countries can be hit or miss, but this was a hit. After a filling meal, I appreciated that it was fairly light, but also very tasty.

With this being a 16 hour flight, we both had another dish before landing. Shae had pre-ordered their Qatari chicken jareesh which contains traditional coarsely ground wheat with Arabic ghee, crispy onions and raisins. It was filling and so she couldn’t finish it off, but she did enjoy it.

I’d been tempted to order their lamb main course again, but thought that would be a little too filling, so I ordered an item from the light options section instead – the chicken katsu burger with pickled cucumber salad. The burger and katsu sauce was good, but the bun was a little dry.

Overall, we enjoyed our dining experience on both flights in business class on Qatar Airways. While not every dish was stellar, they were all good and both Shae and I had meals that were some of the best we’ve ever had in the air.

Sleeping

Something I haven’t touched on much during this review was how we slept on the flights. Our flight from Johannesburg to Doha was a daytime flight with very little time difference between the two cities (only one hour), so I didn’t want to sleep too much on that flight so that I could get a decent night’s sleep in Doha. I did nap a little while reclined, but didn’t take advantage of the lie-flat bed on that flight. I think Shae might’ve gotten a couple of hours sleep though.

The second flight was a different matter. In theory this was a daytime flight as we left Doha in the morning and arrived in Miami in the afternoon. However, the fact that the flight was 16 hours long and that there’s a much bigger time difference between the two cities meant we both wanted – and needed – to get some good sleep.

We both decided to try to frontload our sleep by sleeping earlier in the flight; that way we’d hopefully arrive back on the US east coast with our bodies thinking we were in the correct time zone. This worked pretty well; I think we both got several hours of good sleep and didn’t really suffer from jetlag on our return. That good sleep was assisted by the incredibly comfortable and spacious-feeling seats, the cozy but not-too-hot blanket and the air nozzles above us. I often find it hard to sleep on flights when laying down, so the fact that I was out for several hours was awesome.

The benefit of choosing the E and F seats together is that you can lower the divider and have an almost double bed.

Final Thoughts

Both Shae and I loved our experience flying Qatar Airways in business class. Getting to spend a total of 24 hours in Qsuites was a fantastic experience that we hope to recreate next year when heading to the Maldives (award availability willing).

The service on both flights was very good. The flight attendants were friendly, always came promptly when we wanted something to eat or drink and seemed very hardworking.

Our seats were extremely comfortable, so being in the air for so long over the course of two days wasn’t a hardship – not even for Shae who doesn’t enjoy flying. The food and drink options were very good overall, with us both adoring one of the meals we ate. The comprehensive in-flight entertainment options did indeed keep us entertained, plus it was nice having private-feeling suites.

We’ve now flown internationally in business class on United, Thai Airways, EVA Air, Lufthansa and Eurowings Discover and this was definitely the best experience we’ve had, although EVA Air does still deserve an honorable mention for being the best experience up until now.

How We Booked Our Flights

We booked our flights on Qatar Airways using American Airlines AAdvantage miles. We redeemed 70,000 AAdvantage miles + $95.87 per person which was incredibly good value for 24 hours of the best business class experience.

In addition to the two flights on Qatar Airways, our tickets included a flight from Miami to Norfolk, VA on American Airlines in domestic first class. That was just a puddle jumper though and so isn’t anything like international first class.

See All Posts From This International Trip

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• We Were Denied Boarding To Australia – Here’s Why
• Flight Review: Lufthansa Business Class – Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) To Frankfurt (FRA)
• Flight Review: Eurowings Discover Business Class – Frankfurt (FRA) To Mauritius (MRU)
• Some Thoughts On Mauritius
• Hotel Review: Hilton Mauritius Resort & Spa
• Hotel Review: Le Méridien Ile Maurice (Mauritius)
• Restaurant Review: Sunset Filaos In Pointe Aux Piments, Mauritius
• 20 Fun & Interesting Things To Do In Mauritius (+ Many Bonus Ideas)
• Hotel Review: Holiday Inn Mauritius Mon Tresor
• Flight Review: Air Mauritius Economy Class – Mauritius (MRU) To Johannesburg (JNB)
• The Awesome Drive Between Johannesburg & Kruger National Park
• 50 Animal Photos From Kruger National Park In South Africa Taken With Our Phones
• Kruger National Park: 13 Tips For A Successful Self-Drive Safari
• Elephant Kisses – Meeting Tswale In South Africa
• Kruger National Park: 30 Photos Taken With Shae’s Nikon Camera
• Doing A Kruger Park Bush Braai With Royal Safaris
• Marloth Park: Like Living In The Best Zoo Ever
• Hotel Review: InterContinental Johannesburg O.R. Tambo Airport, South Africa
• Flight Review: Qatar Airways Business Class (Qsuites) – Johannesburg (JNB) To Doha (DOH) To Miami (MIA)
• Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Oryx Doha, Qatar