Emirates or Qatar airways

Unicrons Dad

How does the service in economy flights compare for these 2 airlines

WishUWereHere

Unicrons Dad wrote: »

How does the service in economy flights compare for these 2 airlines

Having used both to BKK, personally we preferred QATAR.

Jude13

I'd go with Emirates as the two times I flew Qatar there was an entertainment box thing under the seat in front of me so I could only stretch out one leg. This was two years ago so maybe the new planes are different.

geecee

Emirates all the way for me.
The Dreamliner (Certainly Qatar's fit out) is the worst plane I have been on since I started flying long distance...

Thin and cramped seats, narrow aisles, 1 inch plastic armrests, gigantic in flight entertainment system taking up 40% of the available legroom. When the person in front reclines their seat it is practically touching your nose! Seat back pockets can't even accommodate a 500ml bottle of water

The worst part is those stupid dimmable window shades, when flying on a day flight they may stop the suns glare, but they do not stop the Middle Eastern heat so the whole side of the plane gets very hot. Similarly on a cold night flight they provide no thermal insulation.
Overall a bad, bad plane!

Thankfully emirates have none of these so I will be sticking to their relatively roomy 777s and very roomy A380s from now on!

In terms of service - emirates have a fairly free flowing wine service and pretty decent double meal service, Qatar give you a miserable chicken pasty and a queen cake along with 100ml wine and then a light meal before landing (or vice versa)

The Airport in Dubai (Emirates) is much bigger and requires more walking than that at Doha (Qatar) - but there are a lot more meal options in Dubai than Qatar (and you will need to eat as they barely feed you on Qatar!)
The Dubai duty free is also far superior - whilst the Doha one is about as cheap as your local off license

Jude13

Ah so they haven't sorted out their issues with the entertainment system under the seat in front, good to know. If you're on anything over 5-6 hours that becomes a pain in the hip. Did Doha to Hong Kong with that and was in bits.

Noxegon

geecee wrote: »

Thankfully emirates have none of these so I will be sticking to their relatively roomy 777s and very roomy A380s from now on!

I take Emirates every few weeks and I find the 777 cramped in cattle class.

If that is "relatively roomy"... yikes.

Jude13

yeah, A380 economy I'd class as 'roomy', in a relative sense. The 777 isn't so bad.

Im flying Emirates tomorrow evening or the next morning, looking for the A 380 but due to times may have to have a 777.

medoc

Do you not have to pay extra for your seats to sit together on Emirates? Like Ryanair only more expensive?

Jude13

Nope, though I think for the front few rows they are paid however if your're a certain level of skywards they are free to select.

Noxegon

Jude13 wrote: »

yeah, A380 economy I'd class as 'roomy', in a relative sense. The 777 isn't so bad.

It really depends on your build. I can only comfortably work on my laptop in flight if the seat next to mine is empty or occupied by someone very small as my elbows protrude into that space.

rightyabe

medoc wrote: »

Do you not have to pay extra for your seats to sit together on Emirates? Like Ryanair only more expensive?

I think Emirates now charge to pick any seat yes. Think it was $AUS 35 each.

geecee

Emirates charge to pick seats when you are on one of their super saver economy tickets, but not on the other economy tickets. On Super save, you can choose your seats 24 hours before the flights... but of course you are takinga chance on your chosen seats still being available

On Qatar you can choose your seats for free, however on 2 of my 4 flights I was reassigned tickets at the desk. On top of that I was asked to change seat twice whilst in the cabin!

I should add in Qatars favour, that the toilets in Doha/Qatar are much better maintained than those in Dubai/Emirates

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

I've never flown Emirates (will be flying with them to SIN at the end of this month), but I'd echo what has been said about the Dreamliner - the most uncomfortable plane I've ever been on trying to get a bit of sleep. Of course, on both legs the guy in front of me fully reclined his seat 10 minutes into the flight, almost broke my nose off of the screen it was so close to me - and the IFE box seriously restricts legroom. I'm 6'1" and my backside was numb getting off the plane after a 7 hour flight. That was with Qatar.

I don't find the 777 overly spacious either, but I'd take it over the Dreamliner any day.

FWIW, I found the service on Qatar to be spot on and they weren't stingy with drinks etc. Also thought Doha airport was probably the nicest and cleanest airport I've ever been in (every bathroom seemed to have it's own dedicated cleaning attendant), although 90% of the shops are too expensive for a normal Joe Soap - Gucci, Bulgari, Armani, Bally etc. Plenty of places to sit and chill out though, as well as a fairly decent Food Court.

California Dreamer

I thought I saw on a.net that QR are upgrading DUB to an A350

Doltanian

I haven't flown Qatar but I have flown Emirates twice, most recently last year and they have really improved since I flew them the first time in 2012. Having an IFE Box under the seat would drive me bonkers, I flew with that on BA once and I was glad to get off the plane in the finish.

irishrover99

Just recently flew with Qatar out of Dublin to Thailand.
Very unimpressed with the 787 seat size. Everything else was fine.
Super smooth flight and i did notice that i wasn't as tired getting off the plane.
3 seats for me and my son on both legs using the 787 so it helped but still not much leg room and to store your cabin bag under the seats in front which if you are flying with kids is usually needed.
A380 on the other two legs which is just amazing to fly on, other than waiting on your bags to arrive along with nearly 500 other passengers.

Doha over Dubai for me as its a much quieter airport and easier to get around.
Not much in the food options as previously stated but i wasn't really hungry and didn't have too much time to eat anyway.
A 1 liter bottle of Bombay Sapphire cost me 19$ which seems pretty good to me.
Cabin crew were fantastic and the main meal on both flights was very nice.
Second meal on all legs of the journey are the same, veg or chicken sandwich.
Lots of wine and water/juice during the flight.

Would use again as i liked the 2.40 pm departure time out of Dublin and at under 500 Euro per ticket for most of the year,other than July and August its a real bargain.

ozzy jr

geecee wrote: »

On Qatar you can choose your seats for free

Is this still the case?

They're coming in very good on price for a DUB - PVG, BKK - DUB multi city route. Obviously the Dublin legs are on the 787, but the other two are on a 777 and A340.

Anyone any experience of Qatar on the 777 and A340?

irishrover99

ozzy jr wrote: »

geecee wrote: »

On Qatar you can choose your seats for free

Is this still the case?

They're coming in very good on price for a DUB - PVG, BKK - DUB multi city route. Obviously the Dublin legs are on the 787, but the other two are on a 777 and A340.

Anyone any experience of Qatar on the 777 and A340?

Yes. It is still free seat selection.

I flew the A340-600 with Qatar about 10 years ago from London and the seats were great with good legroom.
https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Qatar_Airways/Qatar_Airways_Airbus_A340-600.php

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Went to Singapore last week with Emirates. Went to New Zealand at Christmas with Qatar, as I posted earlier in this thread. A few observations of mine below.

We were in economy on the 777 for all four legs of the return trip.

Seat - Legroom was decent, but the seat felt way narrower, 7 hours at a time in that seat just wasn't a pleasant experience. Qatar wins for me.

Grub - 2 decent meals. You're well fed on Emirates and the food is good quality. I didn't drink much on any of the flights but the wine seemed to flow if you wanted it. Emirates are marginally ahead on this one for me, although there was nothing at all wrong with Qatar's offering.

Service - The service was quick and efficient. Qatar staff were definitely a lot smilier than the Emirates staff though. Qatar also give you a little amenity kit (toothbrush, toothpaste, eye mask, flight socks, moisturiser) which Emirates don't, not in Economy at least. Qatar for me here.

In flight entertainment - Emirates have a great IFE offering. The screens are huge and there are hundres of movies and full season of TV shows. They've also got live TV on the plane showing live Premier League matches, NHL etc, and live news channels. Pretty cool. Their interactive flight map is also well ahead of Qatar's system. Emirates wins this round hands down.

Hub - Dubai is a very busy airport. We spent 30 minutes in a holding pattern off the coast waiting to land, which made our connection too tight for comfort. Then we had to leg it through a large, manic airport and just about made our second flight. I can't offer much more insight into the facilities at Dubai as on both trips, we just ran to our next gate. We were also 40 minutes late taking off on the way back to Dublin, which was a pain when all you want to do is get home. Doha was a much nicer experience. Qatar wins on this one.


Overall, I don't think there's a huge amount to choose between the two and next time, I'll be basing my choice on which carrier provides the most convenient flight times and prices, although I'd tend to try to avoid Qatar if they service the route with a 787 Dreamliner, which are designed for midgets as far as I can see. Their 777 is much more comfortable than Emirates' though.

ozzy jr

Those flight were from Dublin? Did they have the 777 on the Dublin - Doha legs?

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

ozzy jr wrote: »

Those flight were from Dublin? Did they have the 777 on the Dublin - Doha legs?

With Qatar we went Dublin - Doha on 787, Doha - Auckland on 777

With Emirates, Dublin - Dubai and Dubai - Singapore were both 777

killbillvol2

I'd agree that Emirates IFE is hard to beat. Their A380s are also far superior to the 777s if you have the option.

HTCOne

I’ve only flown Emirates a few times, and I found the seats in economy on the 777 to be the least comfortable of any long haul aircraft i’ve ever been on. I know 10 abreast is sadly becoming the norm on the 777, but the seats are unbelievably narrow and uncomfortable. Can’t fault the service though. I honestly think the A330 is a far more comfortable aircraft. How do Etihad compare?

On the A380 however, economy was the best I ever experienced, like economy plus on other carriers. They also have the best IFE i’ve Ever used. I paid the extra for the last minute upgrade to business on the A380 once, although I spent more time in the bar than in my seat.....

California Dreamer

If we are comparing Emirates and Qatar out of Dublin, we probably should include Etihad in the mix as well.