Qatar Airways First Class Lounge
I was fortunate enough to experience the Qatar Airways First Class Lounge at Hamad International Airport. In normal cases, I would not be able to afford the first class ticket. But, I got one for a “short trip” (Doha <-> Dubai), as a Christmas gift from my husband ;-)
You know, the planes for those short trips tend to be “small” (where there are 2–2 seats and a few premium seats (max 6–10) in the front). I’d expect those premium seats are to be business class seats at their best, but somehow Qatar Airways sells them as first class seats. Thus, I had no expectation for the flight itself, but was sort of interested in using the first class lounge! :-D
The counters at Gate 1 of Hamad International Airport is dedicated to business and first class passengers. Once entered, on the right side, there’s first class counter.
Each of counters is private (it reminded me of a bank setup). I got welcomed with an Arabian coffee and dates (good quality!). Then I got my ticket to Dubai, went through immigration and security. Everything was smooth, especially because there were no others than myself.
After the security check, the path was directly connecting to the Qatar Airways Al Safwa First class lounge. On the way to the lounge, there was a painting by “Keith Haring,” one of the best street artists!!!!!! Till then, I’ve only seen the small ones in the museums or at the souvenir shops, but never seen one in this size, in this sort of “proper” frame! Surely interesting! Also, they had some historic exhibitions
The Al Safwa lounge was enormous.
The first impression was definitely “wow, this is a huge place.” As somewhat expected, the first class lounge was extremely spacious, well-decorated, and quite. I’ve been using all other lounges at Hamad International airport, and I thought I knew what middle-eastern style lounges are. Well, the first class lounge was whole different story.
It was 7 AM, and I was hungry. I saw a dining place, and I ran into there. If it were a dinner time, then they’d have a course meal, but they served only breakfast menu. I ordered an egg benedict with chicken sausage and turkey bacon and waited.
Right, chicken sausage and turkey bacon? Well, I’m not a big fan of them neither, and, no, they would not be the option for me. But what can I do? I’m living in Qatar, and they are quite tasty!
Keeping everything aside, this was one of the best egg benedict I’ve ever had in my life!!!
It was so good enough to forget any disappointments I had at the lounge (I guess I expected more about first class lounge). It was that good. Given its origin, I was under impression that the best one should be from the US. I recall two good ones in the US: one at Sarabeth’s in NYC and the other at The Cottage in San Diego. Both were nice, but they were not comparable to the one I had at this lounge. Not much differences for the egg, ham, and muffins. But the hollandaise sauce was my cup of tea. Now I’m seriously curious about their lunch or dinner. I’d even buy the first class ticket to get back to this lounge, but now for dinner time!
I ordered a cappuccino, and it was superb as well!
Apart from this a la carte based dining place, they also have a snack bar — and here you have a sushi bar! Again, since it was in the early morning, the selection was quite limited. But still, they were quite good.
The lounge offers much more facilities and services which I haven’t explored yet. I found, a very detailed, nice review, so check the following review before you visit.
