It’s Fabulous Fridays again and today we will visit the new Qatar Airways Al Safwa First Class Lounge in Doha to have a glimpse at what took them so long and if it was worth the wait.
It has taken Qatar Airways forever to open this lounge and put the final touches on it so I was really setting the bar high before visiting it the first time last week.
Qatar Airways lounges for their Premium Passengers are famous for a special edge. First Qatar had the Premium Terminal where Business and First Class Guests were able to relax. Then, with the opening of Doha’s new Hamad International Airport that Terminal was replaced by the luxurious Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge which was serving all of Qatar’s Premium Customers and in the beginning up until early last year also oneWorld Emerald and Sapphire members.
The first cut came when Qatar banned their status customers flying Economy Class from the Business Class lounge to some ugly shack down the hall. This new ‘lounge’ is a disgusting disgrace and I can just warn everybody to refrain from flyin Qatar Economy Class even as a oneWorld Status Member.
For a while then the Al Mourjan was where Qatar First Class passengers were accommodated. I might add that this lounge already exceeds the standard of many if not most First Class Lounges in the world. Think about it, for a long time they served Krug Grande Cuvee at the bar – in a Business Class Lounge!
Then after year long construction and long anticipation it was finally done. The Al Safwa First Class Lounge opened their gates.
On my way to Cairo last week Qatar sells Premium Class flights within the Middle East and North Africa as First Class so I had access to this new lounge even though in reality it was only Business Class on the Boeing 777.
Here are a few impressions.
The lounge is kept in a sandstone and marble color scheme and the wall to the left has water running over it. It looks fantastic!
This is the bar where Premium Beverages are provided to the First Class Passengers, including fine Champagnes.
The Champagne tends to change from time to time and it varies between Krug Grande Cuvee, Billecarte-Salmon Brut and for those who like it Billecarte-Salmon Rose. I heard there are other options as well from time to time.
This was the Evening Menu (I arrived at the lounge approximately 1am). I decided to order the Lamb as main dish.
The lamb was excellent. Fantastic with a mind blowing flavor. Probably the best I have eaten so far in my life, I can just recommend to try it when you have a chance (assuming/hoping it will be identical quality).
After late dinner I took a walk throughout the Lounge and next to a private Duty Free Shop, a Home Theatre and Play Rooms for children (separated for different age groups) I found the above Game Room where you can spend some time with Playstation, X-Box, Wii and even a Formula 1 Simulator.
Then it was time for a nap until my morning departure at 9am.
The new Al Safwa Lounge has 15 of these Sleeping Rooms which are basically a fully equipped hotel room complete with TV and your own bathroom.
You can use them for your entire time at the lounge so if you have access to the First Class facility it’s not even necessary to attempt to use the complimentary Qatar Stopover Package which in my opinion is one of the biggest scams out there (more about that another time). This fully equipped room doesn’t make it necessary to go to a hotel, especially with the Restaurant etc at your disposal.
In the morning I received a wake up knock as offered before and I was quickly on my way to the gate (FAR away).
The architecture and hardware was all pretty amazing and the fact that I was there during the night gave me ample opportunity to walk around to inspect every corner.
What were the cons of this lounge?
The same problem as in all of Doha Airport, the internet is a disaster. They spent hundreds of millions and can’t get internet to work? That is pretty bad!
Access to the Al Safwa is restricted to Qatar Airways first class passengers either holding a First Class boarding pass for their next flight or a First Class boarding pass from their previous flight, provided the flight time was over 5 hours (such as flights from Bangkok, Paris or London).
This means (as mentioned above) Emerald Status customers (Including Qatars own Platinum Members) in Business or Economy are not permitted to use the facility. In light of this I think other oneWorld members should also stop giving QR Emeralds access to their First Class lounges.
There is a jacuzzi adjacent to the sleeping rooms which however is part of the Spa and there is a nominal charge for that. I wouldn’t mind paying for a Spa treatment but to use a jacuzzi… no certainly not.
Conclusion
Qatar Airways certainly held this lounge to the highest standard and henceforth the delays in opening the facility. I would say it pretty much sets the benchmark in First Class lounges but sometimes I felt the whole construct a little too monumental to the point where you feel not as comfortable due to the high ceilings.
If you love it very quiet this lounge is great. If you prefer a bit more action you can always go over to the Al Mourjan Business Lounge.
Does this access rule (First Class boarding pass from their previous flight, provided the flight time was over 5 hours) also work with Al Mourjan and a business class ticket from the previous flight?
I’m curious to know why you call the stopover hotel a scam… I have 19 hours in Doha in a couple of weeks and they’re putting me up in a hotel.
Because of the rules. They frequently find ways to get around giving you the stopover package. Even though I didn’t plan to really go into the city this time I tried again just to see and was shot down because there is another flight operating out of Bangkok at 2am which would have made the connection shorter, That’s BS for many reasons. One: I dont fly at 2am from Bangkok because that departure time sucks and it makes no sense. Two, the flight wasn’t even bookable for my itinerary and I was able to prove that with a screenshot. There will be an article in the coming weeks.
Ah, I see. I guess with a 19 hour layover there was no way they could wriggle out of it for me! The hotel reviews look pretty good too so I’m looking forward to it!
Hmm, i was more hoping you would show the new Etihad F, Al Safwa has been around for some time now.
As a person who is based on CAI and a frequent traveller to the Gulf states, I do have an impression that QR really made this lounge mainly to accommodate Gulf-based biz expats or Gulf Arabs biz/family travelers (also see a huge amount of space in this lounge dedicated to (Gulf-style) family living rooms including nanny room/children room etc.) Anyway personally I support QR’s rule to exclude oneworld elite members from Al Safwa. Otherwise it’s quite unlikely that one can easily find an available room in Quiet area, or QR would need to put a limitation of hours for use like CX Canabna (for the moment, one can occupy as long as he/she wants, even if room is not in use).
As for Champagne, when it opened, it was KRUG, then at some point, replaced with Billecarte-Salmon Brut. On a recent few occasions, however, when I asked for KURG “specifically” despite only Billecarte-Salmon Brut on display at bar, they brought KRUG.
Sadly, lunch & dinner menu are not available in the morning time (and breakfast menu is good enough, but unimpressive), so it’d be best to use this lounge in the evening & overnight. Sometime I miss a bit liveliness at bar and atmosphere in QR biz lounge. Sure, Al Safwa is nice and quiet, but at times, it feels oddly quiet.
As Sebastian pointed out, QR flight to CAI flight gate is always very very very FAR from Al Safwa. I often request to arrange an airport cart driver in the lounge reception.
I was there yesterday. They served Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2006.
I think your last sentence summons up my thoughts exactly. It’s a bit TOO exclusive, and I sort of prefer Al Mourjan because of that.
Qatar’s Al Safwa First Class Lounge, to me, is a bit mixed. It is stylishly designed and often library quiet (if there aren’t too many kids around), but has missed opportunities in my opinion. Food is acceptable to decent, but not really fine restaurant grade, and the menu is a bit limited (compared to Qantas First Lounges, for example). Wine list has a few good drops, but otherwise is a bit ordinary. Wish they had a cocktail menu (so I didn’t have to play “Can you make that?”). Sleeping rooms are quite decent. There is a lot of wasted space in the lounge, that could have been put to better use.
But I guess the thing I find most backwards with Al Safwa is that the most common users are those flying short haul in regional First (which is really Business Class). These fares are reasonably inexpensive, and I wouldn’t think generate much revenue for Qatar, yet they are providing them with fairly expensive services such as Al Safwa. While I am sure the reasoning behind this is mostly political, they are better ways to go about this. That may open up new opportunities and improve offerings (not much point putting out the good stuff when it’s low revenue ticket pax mostly in the lounge – which is one reason I don’t really mind Qatar denying access to those travelling in Y, but perhaps it should think about OneWorld Emeralds traveling ultra-long haul in Business). I guess their OneWorld access stance is all about getting you to use their Qatar Privilege Club Frequent Flyer scheme.
I’d still rate Air France’s La Premiere First Lounge at CDG as the best lounge in the world. It does not make bloggers lists normally because it’s very hard to access (although recently has become easier given you can now purchase access if travelling on a long haul J fare) on points travel, but Air France have the whole thing down pat at that lounge.
Qantas First lounge in Sydney or Melbourne is the best OneWorld First Lounge (although I quite like BA’s LHR Concorde Room, for its dining room, but you have to be travelling in First or have special above OneWorld Emerald status with BA, for that one), especially if you are a OneWorld Emerald travelling in Y (no bar to access for these passengers) – it’s not overly luxurious but then no First lounge ever is, apart from a very few exceptions.
“Disgusting disgrace”. “Doesn’t make it necessary”. Keep working on those writing skills.
65 segments in 2015 in Qatar, 0 in2016. Stopped using Qatar because of the dreadful OW status lounge and the frequent use of busses even when most terminal gate are empty. Thumbs down to Qatar Airways (oh nor to mention utter chaos in transit area is normal each morning).