Qatar Airways and the Dreamliner

Qatar Airways and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

rated 6/10: it's a plane

Our son asked, Are you flying a Dreamliner ? They are so quiet ! And the air is kept moist, rather than horribly drying...

Well, our eleven hours in a "lesser" Boeing is followed by six hours in a 787. So it's a good time to notice differences.

Quieter ? You have to be joking.

I don't often listen to movies -- and certainly not music -- on a plane. The background noise is just too annoying. And let me assure you -- the background noise is just as bad on a 787 as on the earlier flight.

Vibration, though... That's a different story.

When you rest your head on a plane seat it's like... well, like resting your head on something that vibrates a lot. An enormous vibration. But even, so it's bearable. The Dreamliner seems to have overcome the problem of vibration.

Not that it's smooth. But not enough vibration to notice. So that's good for resting and sleeping. No improvement for listening.

And now for a series of observations. Some may be built into the Dreamliner. Others may be due to choices made by Qatar Airways... I can't always tell.

The seats are hard. They were just as hard in the earlier plane. Not hard and uncomfortable. Not as soft as I would expect from a long-haul seat.

The Dreamliner headrest has no side adjustment. (It slides up and down -- nice. But no adjustment to catch your head as it lolls to the side.) That makes it just slightly less comfortable than the earlier flight. Neither is comfortable. The Dreamliner is just slightly less comfortable.

The Dreamliner windows tint electronically. Very clever ! Press a button to go from clear to shady and back again. Or... the pilot can override: one press of the pilot's button and all windows are clear. Nice :-)

The tray tables are the type which fold in half. Unfortunately the hinges are weak... The half nearer the passenger sags, just a little bit. Combine that with a slippery tray -- and there is a high risk of the passenger catching dinner in their lap...

Yes, there is a definite sag on the nearer edge; I tested it with a straight edge. And yes, is not just my tray table.

Push your dinner tray to the further edge of the tray table. Or catch dinner on your lap.

This problem is made worse by the way that the plane flies...

Is it the pilot, or the plane ? There is a distinct tilt to the floor. Yes -- the front of the plane is definitely higher than the back. The plane ? At least, the passenger area is definitely tilted.

Go into the nearest toilet. Lift the toilet seat. Watch it fall back down again !

Yes, there is enough tilt to force you to hold the toilet seat open as you use the toilet... Very, very awkward. On my second toilet trip I chose a toilet where the lid opened sideways... At least the plane does not lean over to one side !

The entertainment system is fun. Pity it was never tested in flight.

Almost 300 movies ! A great collection, great choice. I decided to watch The Monkey King: spoken in Chinese with English subtitles -- so I don't need to listen.

Remember Monkey, the TV series ? Just as much fun but with better production values. And the subtitles capture the same not-quite-English that was part of the fun of the original's dubbing :-)

And then the entertainment system reset itself. Oh well. A good movie while it lasted.

The 787 entertainment system has the same touch screen control. Slightly better, actually; the Sudoku game is far easier to control.

The 787 also has touch screen control on the remote... So if -- like me -- you have trouble with touch screens -- tough.

And as an added "bonus": for much of the flight we were in night time darkness. Not sure why -- it's morning -- but all the lights were dimmed. And guess what ?! When the lights are dimmed -- you can't see the part of the control which operates the reading light !

The passenger reading light is turned on and off by pressing the touch screen remote control. Where to touch ? Impossible to tell -- without an external light -- because the icon is not illuminated !

The designers really need to test their gadgets in real conditions...

And then there's the hand towels in the toilets... This is definitely Qatar. They have chosen extremely thin paper hand towels.

Why ?!?

My hands are wet. Natural enough, that's why I want to dry them. I touch the paper towels... And they just fall apart.

Worse than a paper tissue. These towels are super absorbent. One touch of a damp hand -- and the paper towel turns to mush. No chance of pulling a towel out of the dispenser. One touch of my damp hands and the next few towels are mush... and still stuck in the dispenser.

And the moister atmosphere ? Well, my eyes and hands are dry.

Finally... The seats are close together.

For the first eleven hour flight I had a reasonable amount of leg room. Not enough to be truly comfortable, but adequate. For six hours on the Dreamliner, I have had just a few centimetres less.

Just a little less legroom. Just a little less room to be comfortable.

Oh well. Nobody expects to be comfortable flying cattle class. It's just a matter of learning to sleep no matter what. And I did.

In summary -- from the passenger seat -- in economy: it's a big plane. Less vibration than some. Less comfort than some.

A means to get from point a to point b in a hurry. It's not a miracle of passenger comfort.

It's a plane.

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Problems ? Solved