We arrived at the airport fairly early. Everything was smooth except the immigration process, which took a while. Not sure why the worthless police of BD takes so much time just to stamp the passport.
Then went to Balaka lounge to finish our breakfast. As usual, they served kichuri and beef curry. They also had boiled eggs, vegetable curry, paratha, and beans. Wish they included fried egg.
We then came to our gate, which was gate 5. Here was our plane at the tarmac.
After boarding, they served juice and qahwa as usual.
For whatever reason, the crew appeared clumsy and uninteresting about serving. They were late in serving the qahwa - the served when the plane started taxing and many didn't even get it.
And the head of crew made TOO MANY announcements about passengers carrying their own food - and his spanish sounding English was ANNOYING to say the least.
Wet hot towel.
HSIA from my seat window
The safety video was SUPER ANNOYING. I don't understand - what's the purpose of a safaty instructional video? To teach about safety, or to show how creatively more ANNOYING you can get? It seems the latter. And evey time the video gets more WOKE and more annoying. Disgusting and defeats the real purpose.
My seat. For some reason, the seat felt narrower than usual, and I couldn’t lie down with both of my arms resting at my sides.
Also, the seat control appeared sluggish, and made noises during movement. The plane (A7-AEE) was 19.3 years old.
Food menu
After take off they served nuts.
I chose lentil soup, mint chicken, and rasmalai. This is how my meal looked like.
My mom chose prawn and salmon, lehsuni palak paaneer, and chocolate mousse. This is how her meal looked like.
She also chose bread.
The meal was too salty for my taste. I still strongly believe that QA economy meal is tastier than its business class meal.
After meal, I asked for black tea but the host forgot to serve me. I didn't remind him either. I was too tired and fell asleep.
Woke up after few hours and enjoyed the BBC Asia documentary.
Cruising over clouds.
Lavatory - had enough tooth brush kits.
Usually before landing QA serves a round of tea-buscuits and chocolate. This time their LAZY crew didnt serve anything. So much for being award winning.
The plane landed 15 mins ahead of its scheduled time.
Another angry Republican trip report. Are you horrible Trump lovers ever happy????
I am paying more than twice the price of economy class. Do I have no right to be slightly unhappy/grumpy if the service did not meet expectation?
If you see my other reports, I have rated QA very highly.
And since I am not an American citizen, my support or hatred for Trump is irrelevant. However, I have supported Trump since 2016 just to see the democrats pay a heavy political price for their insufferable empty grand standing and Barack Obama and DNC’s outright cheating in depriving Bernie Sanders the presidential nomination.
As a former Cabin Services Director within the organization, I can confidently agree that the services offered on the A330s leave room for improvement, particularly when it comes to consistency and certain elements like the safety video, which I find particularly also very annoying.
However, I must respectfully disagree with the characterization of the crew as “lazy.” In my experience, the vast majority of crew members demonstrate professionalism, dedication, and a sincere commitment to passenger comfort, even in challenging circumstances. Criticizing their accent, especially in such a dismissive manner, crosses a line into disrespect that does not reflect the inclusive values we should all uphold.
Regarding the public announcement and the tea service before landing, I can assure you that such offerings are not part of the standard service flow on that route. If a particular preference wasn’t met, I always encourage passengers to communicate their needs—most crew members are more than happy to accommodate where possible.
Constructive feedback is always valuable, but it’s equally important to express it with fairness and respect for those working on the front lines of aviation. Let’s not forget the human element behind the uniform.
Happy flights !
See, I have burned 44,000 avios plus 780 riyals in tax for this one way ticket. And you are triggered because I am slightly critical of QA, even though I have always rated them VERY HIGHLY otherwise in all my previous reviews.
Since passengers are paying very highly for the business class tickets, the margin of error is very low. I am reluctant to accept the excuse of human element here. Cabin crews are doing a very cushy job. They get to stay in nice hotels. Once they are done with serving food, they gossip the rest of the journey. Being someone who has climbed up from blue collar work to office work, I only regard blue collar work as real work, and more often than not, I accept the excuse of human element for blue collar workers, who create real value and the basis for all other secondary and tertiary work. Office work, sending emails, belaboring over excel files, cabin crew jobs – you should be happy for being blessed with a job of this nature – instead of reminding customers about human element for service shortcoming.
Regarding accent – English should be spoken like English people – either UK or American accent (preferably). I do not even like my own accent. If you are in a job where you have to make frequent public announcement in English, you better spend some resources to speak like the natives. And no, Indian accent or other foreign sounding English is not likeable. I can lie and feign “respect”, but it won’t change the fact.
While I understand you may be disappointed with this flight perhaps a little less hostility to the crew would be a good idea, and complaints about "woke" and accents somewhat detract from the flight report
Kudos ! 💪🏻🙌🏻👏🏻
Yikes, good thing you weren't able to lie down on that seat. Can only assume your tone if you had woken up on the wrong side of the bed.
All the way from 'stupid immigration police' to crew member with an accent- you seem to focus a lot on the negatives. You know there's a saying- "If you can't say anything nice, don't say it at all". Constructive criticism is one thing but whining is something else. Of all the entries on this website, your one really stands out due to your Debbie Downer approach.
I have flown the A330 on this particular route multiple times both in business and economy and it's true that there's a lot to be desired. QR's inconsistent product is one of it's primary issue but this message can still be conveyed in a more professional and 'adult' way which does not give the vibe that you are a spoiled kid crying about a first world problem.
If you are so perturbed about me being a spoiled kid (I am old guy BTW) who came across as whiny in a random trip report, and if you cannot see the human element in a tired traveller but instead remind him to find it in a billion dollar autocratic corporation and its well paid employees, well, you can go to chatgpt ask it to write a review of QA for you. I assure you: it will be 100% professional, not whiny, and constructive!
QR loves to promote their great J class, but fails to recognize that a lot of their planes are still equiped with this very outdated cabin who show tons of signs of wear. Been a good read, so thanks for sharing your experience!