QR1452 HRE-LUN-DOH

August 3rd, 2024

Check-in:

We had a rather long layover in Harare and spent most of our time at the MackAir Lounge.

As is often the case, the check-in counters opened three hours before departure. Check-in was uneventful, and luckily we were escorted by our MackAir representative all the way until we got to the airside lounge.

I saw some interesting signs at the airport, such as “let’s all leave on time” and an anonymous corruption tip line…

Lounge:

No airline operated its own lounge at Harare Airport. Nevertheless, the airport had no shortage of Priority Pass lounges. Actually, there were 5 lounges listed on Priority Pass website. On a side note, I found HRE, well, the airside, to be a pleasant airport - it was well lit and clean. According to the signages there were even a gym and a beauty salon. I wasn’t able to find those, though.

Qatar Airways used The Lounge at HRE, so that’s where we went. It was also accessible with Priority Pass.

The lounge was essentially one rectangular room. It was modern and never got crowded.

There was a small buffet selection, as well as a full bar.

I found these fruit chutney chips at the lounge, and they were addictive.

Shortly it was time to board our flight home. I captured our last African sunset on this trip and an Airlink Embraer.

Boarding:

Boarding area was compact but orderly, like, not one person was crowding the priority lane. There was also a gate agent who was primarily there to bark at people who didn’t belong in the priority lane and to turn them away - not really necessarily in this instance but appreciate the thought.

I had not flown on Qatar’s B787 before and was baffled to see this pair of business class seats awkwardly sandwiched between two business class lavatories. What an odd configuration.

The seats themselves were identical to the seats on Qatar’s A380s and some A350-900s. For an 8-hour journey, these seats were more than sufficient.

The cabin was pretty empty, given we would pick up more passengers in Lusaka. Based on my observation, most of the passengers were traveling on the Lusaka-Doha leg. Customary on Qatar Airways, the purser greeted every passenger and offered to familiarize them with the seat. She explained that there would be a crew change in Lusaka, where amenities and catering would be loaded. She also told us that we would remain onboard in Lusaka. Therefore, the first part of the flight just consisted of drink service.

The menu and wine list for the Lusaka-Doha flight read as follows:

Even for the short first flight, a pre-departure drink of choice was provided. I asked for rosé champagne, but it was alarmingly sweet. I don’t believe real champagne was served in Harare. I instead asked for Qatar’s signature mint limeade.

Soon the captain made his welcome announcement and informed us our flight time of 55 minutes. He ended his announcement with “thank you for flying with Qatar Airways, the world’s best airline”. A bold yet accurate statement, I must say.

Inflight:

Fast forward to the Lusaka flight, dinner was served. An apéritif was offered within 15mins after takeoff. I gave the 2021 Albert Bichot Moulin-à-Vent Le Roc a go. Qatar had a “discovery” section on its wine list where it featured a rotating selection of more adventurous wines. I’ve always enjoyed trying these when flying with Qatar, as travel is all about new experiences.

I’ve noticed that on the past few flights where I sat on the port side of the cabin, I was always served by the purser. While most FAs were generally good, the pursers were undoubtedly more polished. The exception was on this flight. The FA serving my partner’s aisle was Charlene, and she even gave my partner the notes on each wine so he could make more informed choices. Where does Qatar find all these outstanding FAs?

My partner had a dry martini. When it comes to cocktails, I still think Emirates wins the best presentation by having proper glassware.

Our table was set 30 minutes into the flight. No matter how many times I’ve been on Qatar, I’m still amazed by all the small details - from the salt and pepper shakers to different olive oil flavors and the faux candle. It’s class all the way.

At this point, you’re probably thinking I’m getting paid by Qatar. I wish that were true, because currently I pay them too much😭. In the interest of being objective, though, I do have to mention that catering out of Lusaka was not good. Like, I ended up eating the white truffle potato chips from the snack basket in the galley for the most part. For starter, I picked the wild mushroom soup with herb cream. It was bland.

My partner had what was described as chunky avocado with lemon and olive oil, cucumber, papaya and pomegranate salsa. It was, uh, not chunky…

For main course, my partner had the beef, and I had salmon. Let’s just say they tasted worse than they looked.

For desserts, I went with the mango and passionfruit cheesecake, and my partner went with his usual cheese plate. The cake tasted extremely artificial.

Now, to be fair, I think the challenge largely lied within the catering services out of Zambia, rather than within Qatar. One slight disappointment was that there was no Zambian dishes on the menu, whatever that might be. Idk, I’ve never been to Zambia but surely they have some kind of local food.

Dinner wrapped up with a hot towel, at which point 80 minutes had passed since takeoff. I was eager to get some rest before another 14-hr flight back to the US.

I reclined my seat into the bed mode. I feel like the knee space might be a tad tighter than on the A350, which could potentially make sense, since the A350 fuselage is wider.

I slept until the cabin was prepared for arrival, as I didn’t want any breakfast. I was still offered something to drink on our descent, though.

On Arrival:

We touched down at Hamad International Airport right on schedule. From there, we pulled into a remote stand and were ferried to the terminal via one of the business class buses. The interior was quite different from the usual business class buses that Qatar had, but it got the job done.

Qatar is one of the best and most consistent airlines in the world. I’ve written extensively about its experience here on this blog, so this will likely be the last review of Qatar for a while. I look forward to bringing you more diversity of airline reviews in my future travels.