This Qatar Airways A320 Economy Review from Doha to Male is part of a site inspection trip including Qatar Business Class, Cathay Pacific First Class, Hawaiian First Class, and luxury resort stays in the Maldives, LA, Lanai and Maui. For the prior posts, see:
Review: The Club at ATL, Atlanta
Review: Mandarin Oriental Doha
Qatar Airways Business Class Review, 777-300ER
Why economy class? We were flying on AAdvantage business class award tickets, but there was no business class award availability between Doha and Male on our date, which is quite common. We weren't going to pay ~$1500 per person for the flight, when an economy award seat was already included as part of our U.S-Maldives award flight.
Qatar A320 Economy Class Cabin and Best Seats
Qatar's A320 aircraft have economy seats in a 3-3 configuration, so if your sole goal is more leg room, you'll want seats in one of the bulkheads. Depending on the version of the A320, this will either be row 9 and 15, or row 8 and 14.
What we cared about, on our very early morning flight from Doha to Male, was being able to lie down, since our flight departed Doha at 5:20pm and we wanted to get a bit more rest. I could see many empty seats in Economy, so I selected seats across the aisle from each other in row 22, hoping to have the entire row to ourselves, which we did.
Qatar A320 Economy Class Seat
Each Qatar A320 Economy Class seat had a think blanket and pillow on it. Seats are 18 inches wide, with 31 inches of pitch between the seats. Here's what the leg room looks like:
Qatar Economy seats on the A320 are a bit more tightly spaced than Etihad A320 Economy, with 31 inches of pitch vs. 32 inches in Etihad Economy. Emirates Economy on the A380 is similar to Etihad, with 32 inches of pitch for the most part. Qatar and Etihad economy seats are 18 inches wide, and Emirates economy seats are 18.5 inches wide, so not much difference there either.
My husband, who is 6'5″, found the headrest absurdly low and unable to adjust sufficiently to make it comfortable.
Thankfully, we were able to each claim a row of 3 seats and lie down for much of the flight, using our Therm-a-rest portable mattress pad to make it more comfortable.
Qatar A320 Menu and Food
We were on an early morning flight, so breakfast was served, with the choices eggs or pancakes.
I chose the pancakes with strawberry compote, which were quite decent, although I wished there'd been a bit more strawberry compote. I liked that yogurt and fresh apple slices were part of the breakfast.
Our flight arrived on time in Male, and we disembarked on the tarmac into a bus that took us to the terminal.
The Verdict
What we really appreciated, flying on this early morning flight from Doha to Male, was how few passengers there were on this flight, with most rows completely empty. This meant it was no problem for each of us to have our own row of three seats (indeed, all economy passengers on this flight could have done the same, with additional rows to spare), and we were able to use our portable mattresses to make it more comfortable.
The breakfast was perfectly adequate for economy, if nothing to write home about, and service was pleasant. Altogether a peaceful and uneventful economy flight, which is what we wanted.
Recommended Posts
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Review: Qatar Airways Business Class A320 Nairobi to Doha
Qatar Business Class Tip: Pre-Reserve Meals in AdvanceAwful Qatar Business Class Award Availability on U.S. Routes
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