Emirates VS Qatar Airways

Two airlines for long-haul flights that have competed to attract my attention in the last few years are Emirates and Qatar Airways. In the beginning, the reason why I chose Middle East airlines was simply to avoid too many hours in the sky, so I didn’t mind the long transit. Perhaps I wrote it somewhere in a blogpost here that once I took Malaysian Airlines from Kuala Lumpur to London, it took about 12 hours or more, I couldn’t sleep. That was my first time to feel sooo jealous seeing others sleeping. Well, after that I took Turkish Airlines and it took about 11 hours from Istanbul to Singapore, it went just fine. I later took Thai Airways from Bangkok to Copenhagen, that was fine too.

So, between these two, I let them fight for me 😀

The type of Airplane Qatar Airways has some Dreamliner airplanes and luckily Oslo-Doha is one of those routes which gets this amazing plane. And I took it once and I had to say oh wow! That TV screen and the window. For the same route Emirates uses Boeing 777-300ER.

The Flight Attendants I like both of airlines in terms of choice of flight attendants. Both welcome different nationalities. Well, I guess it has something to do with the limited local human resources, but anyways, always exciting to see different people from different nations and culture working together. Not all the female ones look like models, but the male ones, I am wondering, is it part of the requirements? 😀

The Logo I have to say I like the logo of Qatar Airways on the tail of the plane much better than Emirates. That purple colour emphasizes it while Emirates goes with the colours of the flag which I don’t really fancy. But I like the red logo of Emirates, gives such a good feeling that you travel. 🙂

 

Qatar Airways Wing

The Uniform I don’t really like the head thing for Emirates female flight attendants, however, it makes them pretty easy to recognize. Anyway, both airlines make the flight attendants look smart and professional. Well, I guess it is the main objective of every airlines. 🙂

Last time I took Emirates, I sat next to a lady who was tired and just wanted to sleep. She had to ask for the eye mask. In Qatar airways you will get amenities kit contains of socks, toothbrush, ear plugs, and eye mask wrapped in a small bag. I got a few of these. I made the use of socks and toothbrushes very much, well, after landing, but I got no use of ear plugs and eye mask, so far.

Bear in mind, in certain cases, when your itinerary involves a long stopover in Dubai, Emirates will provide free accommodation, meals, ground accommodation and visa costs. Search for Dubai connect and find out when you book if you are eligible or not. Luckily, for my 8-hour stopover last time on the way to Jakarta, I was lucky to get this. Well, it might have taken an hour or so to get through everything, including the immigration, until I could sit and wait for the accommodation that brought me to the hotel. It was Arabian Park Hotel, quite decent hotel. I wasn’t expecting to get some meals, but I did, and the meals were very nice. I could sleep for 2 hours, which was great.

Arabian Park Hotel, Dubai

When I checked Qatar Airways website, they have pretty much the same thing, here is the link Transit Accommodation.

I wish I could review the lounges, but I’ve never been to any of them. There should be next time 😉

Upgrading I was lucky on my Emirates flight from Oslo to Dubai last time I was upgraded to Business Class. Does it make me love Emirates even more? 😀 But I’m still curious about the new airport in Qatar.

Marketing Strategy I feel that Qatar Airways is a way more ahead on this, look at their ads (those football players, for example), their active tweets and always give opportunity to us to check their sale (if you receive the newsletter then you notice that they do it quite frequently, so you don’t need to wait for the sale to purchase your next ticket, actually ;). But hey, who isn’t familiar with Emirates stadium in London? I know it was Emirates who reserved A380 first. But now Qatar even has A350 (I hope they fly this from Oslo to Dubai soon 🙂

As I don’t fly that long-haul flight that often, I still hope that I can earn more miles and achieve the next level of mileage and enjoy more benefits. That’ll be cool! 🙂

This review is just based on my own experience. So far I enjoyed both companies 😉