Qatar to Launch Qsuites on Washington - Dulles to Doha Route in 2018
Qatar Airways' new business-class product, Qsuite, may be the best product of its kind flying today. In December, the carrier will bring its Qsuite business class to its first North American destination in New York (JFK), and next year, flyers can expect another North American destination to be added. From January 16 through March 23, 2018, the Qatar site shows that the airline will operate Qsuites between Doha (DOH) and Washington - Dulles (IAD).
Qatar has yet to make a formal announcement that it will be operating its Qsuites-equipped 777-300ER on the route. However, its seatmap is showing that the product will be offered. If you're looking to try out the Qsuite product, the 77W will operate on the QR707/708 frequencies. This is what the operating schedule looks like:
- QR707 Doha (DOH) 8:20am Departure ⇒ Washington - Dulles (IAD) 2:50pm Arrival
- QR708 Washington - Dulles (IAD) 8:00pm Departure ⇒ Doha (DOH) 4:35pm (+1) Arrival
As of now, the Qsuite product is appearing on Qatar's schedule between DOH and IAD only between January 16 and March 23, 2018. After that date, the route switches back to one of Qatar's 777-300ER aircraft that's not equipped with Qsuites, with seats arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration.
Although it appears to be temporary at this point, IAD is a surprising route addition from Qatar. In September, the carrier announced it would begin flying Qsuites to New York (JFK) in December 2017. In addition, Qsuites is offered between DOH and Paris (CDG) and DOH and London (LHR), its launch route.
At each seat, Qsuites passengers get their own sliding door for privacy, fine dining options, access to a premier lounge in Doha, top-notch amenities and the option to turn the center two seats into a "honeymoon seat" bed. When TPG Editor-at-Large Zach Honig tried out the product, he was blown away.
Check out this post for complete details on how to search and book Qsuites with miles. Your best bet is to use AAdvantage miles for a one-way business-class ticket on the route, which will cost you 70,000 miles. There appears to be some award availability in both directions, and if you're looking to book with AAdvantage miles, you'll need to call AA to do so.
This is good news for travelers based in the Washington metro area who are looking to test out Qsuites. Rather than having to get to New York to try it out, there will soon be an option right at IAD — at least temporarily. Of course, there is the chance that this is an error on Qatar's part and the Qsuite-equipped 777-300ER wasn't supposed to appear on this route. However, the roll-out for the product has been smooth up until this date, so it's entirely possible that Qatar does intend to have its Qsuites on the route.
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