World Traveller 73 
Every now and then, we get a launch of a route that we are really excited about. Air Canada has just announced that they will re-launching their Vancouver to Singapore service for April 4, 2023. This service will link to large Star Alliance hubs belonging to Air Canada and Singapore Airlines in both Vancouver, Canada and Singapore; providing a great deal of connecting traffic between the two cities. Read on to see all the details about this route and what to expect on board.
Air Canada Launches New Vancouver – Singapore Non Stop Fight.
Air Canada is Canada’s flag carrier and offers service to two hundred and twenty two destinations worldwide. Every now and then we get the launch of an interesting new route from Air Canada that is easy to get excited about.
Air Canada currently serves several Pacific Rim of Destinations out of it’s western hub in Vancouver, Canada:
The current Pacific destinations list include (in part):
- Tokyo, Japan
- Haneda, Japan
- Osaka, Japan
- Hong Kong, China
- Incheon, South Korea
- Bangkok, Thailand (seasonal)
- Sydney, Australia
- Brisbane, Australia
We had previously experienced long haul Air Canada Business Class on their Boeing 787 product, and you can see examples of what to expect on our Air Canada Business Class Vancouver – Incheon Seoul flights, as well as several trips on Air Canada Signature Class Vancouver Toronto and Air Canada Signature Class Toronto – Vancouver. On each flight, we enjoyed the comfort of the seats, as well as the comfort of the aircraft.
Air Canada Announcing the Return to Singapore from Vancouver
It looks as though we can re-add Singapore to the above Pacific Rim destination list.
Air Canada has announced that they will be returning to the Republic of Singapore as of April 4, 2023. Air Canada will be returning to Singapore on a 4 times a week frequency basis.
Truthfully, it’s not actually a new flight between the two countries, but more of a return after a thirty year long absence.
The flights are scheduled to depart as follows:
- AC 19 Vancouver – Singapore (Mon / Wed. /Fri / Sat) departing 00:15 AM arriving 7:20 AM + 1 (Flight Time of 14hrs & 55 minutes)
- AC 20 Singapore – Vancouver (Sun / Tues / Thurs / Sat) departing 9:10 AM arriving 8:40 AM (Flight Time of 15 hrs and 35 mins)
The schedule of the flights allow for the day’s connecting flights into Vancouver, allowing Air Canada to scoop up all the Canadian connecting traffic into Vancouver, before heading out at midnight plus fifteen minutes onwards to Singapore. Likewise, the eastbound returning flight to Canada arriving at 8:40 AM, allowing for plenty of daytime connection time into other areas and regions of domestic Canada.
The only passengers that this doesn’t allow for a great connection window are passengers that are connecting from International Flights to / from the United States, as the flight times are a little too late ore a little too early for the flights that typically leave on a transborder basis.
It’s perhaps also worth noting that Singapore Airlines has tried this route several times over the last thirty years. Singapore Airlines previously served Vancouver with direct service via Incheon Seoul. Singapore Airlines cancelled the routing via Soeul in the year 2009.
More recently in 2019, Singapore Airlines restarted the route with a combination of one stop service through Seattle, before settling on non stop service Vancouver – Singapore. Unfortunately, that non stop route didn’t last, and we are seeing that Singapore Airlines route be cut as of October 5, 2022.
United Airlines also serves Singapore on a non stop service from San Francisco in United Airlines Polaris Business Class. United Airlines also served Singapore with a non stop service from Los Angeles, but that route was also cut in favour of San Francisco – Singapore.
What does travel on Air Canada look like?
Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance and offers a three class service consisting of economy, premium economy and business class. It’s relationship to Star Alliance allows for elite benefits across all Star Alliance carriers.
Air Canada offers a Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seats in a 1 – 2 – 1 configuration throughout it’s business class. It’s a really comfortable seat, and nicely set up for working, relaxing and watching television.
The Air Canada Business Class cabin has an upscale look to it, and is generally pleasing to the eye. Thanks to the reverse herringbone seats, east seat is relatively private , and you won’t have any other travellers looking at you, as you travel.
Travellers flying this route in business class will be in for a comfortable ride all the way to Singapore.
The Lounge Access Arrangement in Vancouver and Singapore:
The Air Canada Vancouver – Singapore flight will have access to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver International. Those that are on a qualifying revenue flight will have access to the coveted Air Canada Vancouver International Signature Suite; Air Canada’s ultimate lounge offering. The Air Canada Signature Suite offers table side dining, along with premium spirits and cocktails on the second floor of the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver International
Those holding an American Express Platinum Card may also have access to the other lounges in the Vancouver International Airport terminal; the Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver International and the Skyteam Lounge Vancouver International. While both of these lounges are satisfactory and will meet your needs, they won’t be as nice as the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge which offers much more limited access.
At the Singapore end, while they haven’t officially announced which terminal it is expected that Air Canada will use, I will aim to guess that it will be Singapore Changi Airport Terminal Three. This is the same terminal that United Airlines uses, along with being Singapore Airlines’ flag carrier terminal, and many other Star Alliance carriers.
Singapore Airlines Changi Terminal Three offers both a Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Business Class Lounge for business class travellers, as well as a Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Gold Lounge for it’s Star Alliance Gold travellers, travelling in any class of service. There are also several Priority Pass options at Singapore Changi International Airport, such as the SATS Premier Lounge Singapore, among others.
Frequent Flier Opportunities:
Air Canada allows access to this flight through redemptions from Air Canada’s Aeroplan. Other Star Alliance carriers would also likely have access to this Business Class Reward Space (I fare bucket) space.
Regrettably, as a result of a switch to dynamic pricing, Air Canada redemptions aren’t that terrific a value through the Air Canada Aeroplan program.
On the earning side, travellers are likely to earn 7,967 miles each way on this flight between the two cities. There is the potential to earn higher amounts in Air Canada comfort, latitude and premium economy and business class fare categories.
Flights are Already on Sale:
Air Canada has already loaded flights for sale into their website. The route is currently on sale, right up to the end the schedule.
At times, the launch of a new flight can bring along some promotional fares to get the demand going on the route to increase demand. Unfortunately, at the time of the press release, there were no promotional fares announced to kick off this particular flight.
The paid fares in Business Class are launching at around $6,700 Canadian Dollars. This is slightly higher than Philippine Airlines that generally offers the cheapest paid fares on this route at $4,950 Canadian Dollars.
It seems that Air Canada is deciding to forgo any introductory fares at the time of launch, as the non stop is definitely pricing at a bit of a premium. However, the route is pricing a lot cheaper than Singapore Airlines, which regularly priced this route at over $11,000 Canadian Dollars.
Along with any new route business class availability seems to be pretty good. There are at least two seats for sale on most days. Much like their Vancouver – Sydney routes, it is hopeful we will see Aeroplan award availability open up if revenue seats remain unsold shortly before departure.
Given that the seats on Air Canada are quite expensive when booked through the Air Canada Aeroplan program, the seats are settling for over 200,000 Aeroplan miles one way. This is much more expensive than the cheapest route between Vancouver and Singapore on Air India through New Delhi, which prices out at 85,000 in Business Class.
Hopefully, we will see pricing pressure come down on this route but I wouldn’t remain too hopeful in the short term given that Air Canada promotional sales aren’t typically too generous.
The Bottom Line: Air Canada is relaunching Service between Canada and Sinagpore.
It’s always exciting to see a new route get announced; especially if it is one that will offer some value to travellers. As a Vancouver based traveler, I expect that I may travel on this route at some point in the future.
Air Canada is re-launching service between Canada and Singapore through it’s western Air Canada hub in Vancouver. In doing so, both Air Canada and Singapore Airlines hope to collect much of the connecting traffic through these two Star Alliance Hubs. Travellers can expect to be seated in comfortable Air Canada business class seating; assuming they aim for that coveted business class cabin.
Let’s hope the route lasts a lot longer than the Singapore Airlines efforts at it; which were ultimately cancelled as a result of lack of long term demand.
Are you excited to see that Air Canada is launching service between Canada and Singapore?
Trans Maldivian Airways runs one of the largest commercial sea plane operations in the world. Trans Maldivian Airways runs a fleet of fifty four planes throughout the Maldives. Travelling by sea plane over the colourful atolls of the Maldives is a special experience that allows such close exposure to the colourful and emerald waters of the Maldives. Our transfer from Malé to the North Ari Atoll of the W Maldives would involve a sea plane flight over the Maldives. Read on to see what the whole experience is like…
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Republic of the Maldives. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Breakaway to the Maldives via Qatar Airways Q Suites
- The All New American Express Centurion Lounge: Seattle Tacoma International Airport
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – San Francisco
- San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront USA
- Air France KLM Lounge, San Francisco International Airport, USA
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: San Francisco – Doha
- Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge: Doha Hamad International Airport
- Al Maha Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport
- Qatar Airways Business Class: Doha – Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Coral Lounge, Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Malé – W Maldives
- The W Maldives
- Trans Maldivian Airways: W Maldives – Malé
- The St Regis Maldives Lounge, Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal, Maldives
- Trans Maldavian Airways: Malé – Vommuli
- The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Vommuli – Malé
- The Leeli Lounge, Malé Velana International Airport, Maldives
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Malé – Doha
- Qatar Airways Premium Arrivals Business Class Lounge, Doha, Qatar
- The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, Doha, Qatar
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Doha – San Francisco
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: Trans Maldivian Airways De Havilland Twin Otter, Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal – W Maldives
We landed into Malé Velana International Airport on Qatar Airways Business Class Doha – Malé. We were headed off to The W Maldives resort.
Checking into Trans Maldivian Airways:
I outlined our check in experience, including getting a little soaked for excess baggage fees. We spent the hold time in the Trans Maldivian Airways Coral Lounge, while we waited for our sea plane flight.
We also completed check in procedures with a representative for the W Maldives while in the Travel Maldivian Airways Coral Lounge, including the assignment of rooms and processing of payments and deposits.
The Safety Briefing:
When it came time to depart, Trans Maldivian Airways staff arrived to the lounge and led us down from the Trans Maldivian Coral Lounge to the bottom floor of the Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal Building.
We were led over to the gates area and into one of twenty pre-flight safety briefing rooms. The Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal is really set up to handle hundreds, if not thousands, of sea plane travellers to the various resorts in a manner that allows them to keep all travellers organized and segregated to each assigned flight.
When we were in the briefing room, there was a looped video that provided an in flight safety briefing for emergencies. It included a discussion on weight balancing and the usual location of life jackets and water landing information. There was also instruction not to stand underneath the wings when on the loading pontoons.
There was also a sign board that indicated that our flight was headed to the W Maldives then onwards to Kandolhu Island
Boarding Trans Maldivian Airways:
The Trans Maldivian Airways staff arrived to collect us at 11:20 AM for a 11:30 AM departure. We were led out in a group outside to the walkways leading to the over water pontoons our towards the Twin Otters.
It’s an impressive sight seeing all of these Twin Otter bobbing up and down in the emerald green waters. It’s probably the largest concentration and fleet of float planes with any company.
We eventually located our assigned Twin Otter. We had those that needed assistance (from a wheelchair) boarded first, with general boarding occurring afterwards. Seating was on a first come first serve basis.
Trans Maldivian Airways
MLE – WWW (Male Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal – W Maldives)
TMA Flight 142
Flown: March 8, 2023
Departure: 11:56 AM (scheduled 11:30 AM)
Arrival: 12:27 PM
Booked: DeHavilland Twin Otter
Flown: DeHavilland Twin Otter
On Board Trans Maldivian Airways:
The Twin Otter aircraft are never super spacious and offer a compact seating environment. The Trans Maldivian Airways Twin Otter configuration are like all other Twin Otter’s; they are configured in a 1 – 2 configuration in a single class of service.
In my experience, the single left hand seats are usually the last to be taken. If you are a photographer, and you’re travelling with a partner, you might have better luck splitting up and each taking a single window seat, instead of occupying a double seat where you’ll each be fighting for the same single window.
Dependent on where you sit, you’ll also get a view into the cockpit. If watching the activity in the cockpit is something you’re interested in, then you’ll need to be seated in the first row closest to the cockpit.
The only cabin climate control is through a small fan that blows. It’s a little bit of a warm journey otherwise.
Flying a Sea Plane over the Maldives:
This marks my third trip to the Maldives. However, it’s my first trip transferring to a resort on a Trans Maldivian Airways Sea Plane. All of my previous transfers have been through Maldivian Air on their De Havilland Dash 8 service.
The Republic of the Maldives is a truly wonderful country to see from the air. The coral atolls scattered over all parts of the country are something that are truly memorable and unique. tothe world.
By flying a Trans Maldivian Sea Plane flight, you typically fly at a lower altitude. As such, you get a richer travel experience being that much closer to the water.
We departed from the Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal. We had an immediate left to take us on our track towards the W Maldives located in the North Ari Atoll west of Malé.
As we departed the capital city of Malé, we travelled over inhabited islands. The amount of building on this land starved Republic set against the light blue waters is truly an amazing sight.
We were also able to see some of the reclaimed land efforts that were underway. In this case, it appeared to be many of the industrial areas servicing the Maldives.
The further out we got, the further we were able to spot resorts. Most obviously, we were able to see the over water villa pontoons that made the Maldives such a popular luxury destination.
Our forty five minute flight travelled onwards, we were able to enjoy some of the coral atolls that the Maldives is famous for. There are no words for the colour combinations that you see in the Maldives. The blues, greens and emeralds that you see form the air are just out of this world and like no others.
Landing at the W Maldives:
We started to descend and come in for landing at the W Maldives. We had a short turn prior to the resort and pulled up to the arrival dock.
We were off loaded and led up to the arrival jetty for a wonderful welcome to the W Maldives.
We stayed at the W Maldives for five nights, prior to heading over to the St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort for six nights.
My Thoughts on Trans Maldivian Airways:
There’s no question that a sea plane transfer to your resort in the maldives is the best way to get to your destination. It easily beats out a water transfer by boat.
Dependent on route, the Trans Maldivian Airways flight will take you over some interesting atolls. It’s a really easy way to spend the time watching colourful marine atolls pass underneath your aircraft as you travel towards your resort.
My only caution on this experience is to closely watch your weight allowances if you want to avoid getting charged excess fees.
If you’ve flown Trans Maldivian Airways, did you enjoy the experience of atoll spotting on your journey ?
The credit card frequent flier points earning environment never seems to stay the same for very long. Today, we’ve learned of a major change upcoming change for the MBNA Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard. MBNA has announced the end of the MBNA Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard and is planning to transition its customers to MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard. Read on to see what is in store for current cardholders and what details of the transition look like.
MBNA Cancels the Alaska Airlines Mastercard; Cardholders To Be Converted to MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard
MBNA (Toronto Dominion Bank) has announced they are cancelling the MBNA Alaska Airlines Mastercard and converting cardholders to the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard.
What is the MBNA Alaska Airlines Mastercard?
The MBNA Alaska Airlines Mastercard was an exceptionally useful credit card for Canadian Credit Card holders. For our Canadian readers, this credit card is issued through MBNA (owned by Toronto Dominion Banking) as the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan World Elite Mastercard Credit Card.
The Current MBNA Alaska Airlines Mastercard Benefits:
The card offered a host of travel benefits that included the following:
- a sign up bonus of 30,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles, upon spending $1,000 CAD in the first three months
- An earn rate of 3 Alaska Mileage Plan points per dollar spent on Alaska Airlines
- An earn rate of 1 Alaska Mileage Plan points per dollar on everything else
- Annual Alaska Airlines Famous Companion Fare (2 for 1)
- A Free Checked Bag for Up to 6 Travellers on the Same Reservation
- An Annual Fee of $99
This card was especially valuable as it was one of the few Canadian Credit Cards that allowed direct spending accumulation onto a United States based frequent flier program airline; something that no other Canadian credit card currently offers.
Since Alaska Airlines- a Member of the One World Alliance, was a competitor to Air Canada’s Star Alliance, having a credit card that allowed for points accumulation in a competing frequent flier program allowed for a really nice balance between the two programs. With a healthy mileage balance in both programs, you could often find reward space in one program, when you could not find space in the other.
The MBNA Alaska Mileage Plan Mastercard was exceptionally valuable and had become the card that I’d typically pull second, assuming my American Express Platinum Card was not accepted by the merchant.
MBNA Closes the Alaska Airlines Mastercard Card to New Applications:
A few months ago, MBNA quietly stopped accepting new applications for the MBNA Alaska Airlines Mastercard on the MBNA website. While this deletion was not publicly announced, it seemed from that point on, that the future of the MBNA Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan card was in jeopardy.
Returning home from work today, I received a very plain looking envelope in the mail outlining the changes. MBNA went very basic on announcing the changes, in an envelope that seemed to have all the excitement of an updated credit card holder agreement.
Fortunately, there may be a silver lining amongst these changes.
MBNA Cancels the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Mastercard:
Plans to Transition all Cardholders to the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard
In a letter to cardholders, MBNA has announced that on August 31, 2023, the relationship between Alaska Airlines and the card issuer MBNA (The Toronto Dominion Bank operating a division as MBNA) is ending.
MBNA has also posted the changes on their website outlining what is changing.
Details of the Conversion & What’s Changing to the Card:
Starting on September 1, 2023, the MBNA Alaska Airlines Mastercard will be replaced by the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard. Under the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard, the card holder account will no longer be able to be able to earn Alaska Airlines Mileages under the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program.
Card holders were assured that their Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program and miles at Alaska Airlines are still functional, but the replacement credit card will no longer be connected to them.
Instead, MBNA Rewards World Elite cardholders will be able to start earning MBNA Rewards Points.
MBNA Rewards World Elite Card holders will be able to redeem MBNA Rewards for cash back, merchandise, gift cards and travel.
MBNA Rewards World Elite Card Holders will also “within the next year, be able to redeem MBNA Rewards Points for Alaska Airlines Miles on a one – to one basis“. Specifically, 1 MBNA Rewards Point = 1 Alaska Airlines mile.
MBNA Rewards World Elite Card Holders will earn 5 points for every dollar for eligible purchases up to $50,000 annually (each) in the following categories
- Restaurant
- Groceries
- Digital Media (for example: e-books, movies and music)
- Memberships (for example: gym and club memberships)
- Household Utility (for example: cable, phone and utility payments)
MBNA Rewards World Elite Card Holders will earn 1 points for every dollar for every other category.
MBNA Rewards World Elite Cardholders will also receive an annual birthday bonus of 10% of all the MBNA Rewards Points earned in the 12 months prior to the Primary Cardholders
Any Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles earned up to and including August 31, 2023 will continue to be available at Alaska Airlines to be redeemed for travel on Alaska Airlines and its partners.
Up until August 31, 2023, you will be able to receive the final Alaska Airlines Companion Certificates based on your Alaska Airlines account anniversary. These can continue to be used to their published expiration dates.
Card Members will no longer receive a complimentary checked bag on Alaska Airlines after August 31, 2023. If you have Alaska Airlines MVP, MVP Gold, or any level of One World Status (Ruby, Emerald or Sapphire), you’ll be exempt from this fee.
MBNA is offering customers who are not in agreement with this change the option to cancel their cards without cost by contacting them prior to September 1, 2023.
MBNA is stating that “within the next year” cardholders will be able to transfer MBNA Rewards Points to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles on a 1 to 1 basis. MBNA did not provide any further details on this proposal, but I would imagine this will be integrated into it’s MBNA Rewards portal at some point in the future.
Summary of the MBNA Rewards Card Changes:
MBNA outlined a table of the changes effective September 1, 2023. The table sets out clearly the differences between today’ card, and what can be expected after September 1, 2023.
| What’s Changing | Current – MBNA Alaska Airlines World Elite MasterCard | New – MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard |
| Rewards Program: | Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles | MBNA Rewards Points |
| Base Earn Rate: | 1 Mile / $1 on Net Purchase | $1 point / $1 on net purchase 1 Point for every dollar in purchases |
| Bonus Earn Rates: | Additional 2 miles per / $1 on purchases of Alaska Arlines Mileage Plan tickets, vacation packages, and cargo purchases | $5 points / $1 on eligible restaurant, grocery, digital media, membership and household utility purchases, until $50,000 is spent annually in the applicable category |
| Birthday Bonus: | Not Applicable | 10% of the total number of point the account earned in the 12 months preceding the primary cardholder’s birthday month |
| Other Rewards: | Companion Certificates Complimentary Checked Bag | REMOVED: No Compantion Certificates Provided No Complimentary Checked Bag Provided |
| Redemptions: | All redemptions must be made through Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan | Redemptions are made through MBNA Rewards and can be made for travel purchases, cash redemption options, other redemption options. These include: 100 points / $1 to pay for a travel purchase cost 120 points / $1 in cash rewards (minimum 6,000 points required to redeem) |
| Insurance Benefits: | Rental Vehicle Benefits Common Carrier Accidental Death and Dismemberment Benefits Unexpected Return Home Purchase Assurance and Extended Warranty Legal Assistance Trip Assistance | NEW: Mobile Device Instuance; coverage up to $1,000 NEW: Travel Medical Insurance; up to $2,000,000 New: Flight & Trip Delay Insurance; up to $500 in coverage NEW: Delayed and Lost Baggage Insurance; up to $1,000 |
Interestingly, MBNA didn’t include the ability to convert MBNA Rewards points into Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles in the included chart. MBNA promises that this will occur “sometime in the next year”.
My Take on These Proposed Changes:
I was really disappointed to see the end of the MBNA Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Mastercard. Although Alaska Airlines served mostly West Coast destinations such as Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary and Edmonton in Canada, I was still able to get a lot of miles out of this credit card.
The MBNA Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan credit card was exceptionally valuable for my travel patterns by allowing high value redemptions on Alaska Airlines, a great companion fare, along with the ability to earn miles on an US Based carrier’s frequent flier program, in my home country of Canada.
There is a silver lining in that, “sometime next year” there is likely the functionality to be added to convert MBNA Rewards Points into Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles. While this isn’t as direct as earning direct into your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account, I would imagine MBNA will need to finalize this agreement with Alaska Airlines and set up an IT portal to allow for these point conversions. MBNA Reward Elite customers will likely have the ability to request the conversion of miles, which will likely arrive in an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account sometime shortly thereafter.
If this conversion proceeds as planned, then the new card will likely earn a little higher rate at 5 points per $1 at Restaurants, Grocery Purchases and Utility purchases. This is a slightly better earn rate than the TD Infinite Visa Aeroplan Credit Card, that only earns 1.5 points for every $1 spend on groceries. While there is the possibility to be in a better earning circumstance leveraging the 5 points per dollar categories, this will likely require a lot of work and attention to your spending patterns.
Assuming the ability to convert the card’s new MBNA Reward points to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan frequent flier points is actually established, then I’d rate these changes as neutral. The loss of the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare is a substantial blow to the value of this card. While the ability to convert points to Alaska Airlines may remain, the ability to convert points to miles likely involves a conversion delay as points are probably batch processed, which makes it less convenient to redeem instant rewards.
Before I keep or cancel this particular card, I’ll have to rate this as a “wait and see” situation. I can’t see continuing with an MBNA Reward card, unless the ability to convert to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is established rather quickly.
In Summary: MBNA Sunsets the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Mastercard
MBNA has announced the end of the Alaska Airlines Mastercard for it’s Canadian customers. MBNA plans to transition it’s card holders to the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard, with a possible future ability to convert the points into Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan frequent flier program.
While there are enhanced earning categories for five times the points in the restaurant, grocery and utilities categories, this comes at the cost of a conversion portal in order to re-claim Alaska Airlines points that is going to be set up “sometime in the future”.
Ultimately, we’ll have to watch how this transition proceeds, in order to determine whether their remains any value left in this card.
If you have the MBNA Alaska Airlines Mastercard, does this news come as a surprise ?
Trans Maldivian Airways is the leading sea plane operator in the Maldives. Trans Maldivian Airways operates in the newly constructed Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal in Malé, Maldives. This newly constructed terminal offers a brand new departure lounge for Trans Maldivian Airways Sea Plane travellers. After checking into the W Maldives, we’d get an opportunity to try out their Coral Lounge. Read on to see what to expect after arriving off your international flight in the Maldives.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Republic of the Maldives. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Breakaway to the Maldives via Qatar Airways Q Suites
- The All New American Express Centurion Lounge: Seattle Tacoma International Airport
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – San Francisco
- San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront USA
- Air France KLM Lounge, San Francisco International Airport, USA
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: San Francisco – Doha
- Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge: Doha Hamad International Airport
- Al Maha Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport
- Qatar Airways Business Class: Doha – Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Coral Lounge, Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Malé – W Maldives
- The W Maldives
- Trans Maldivian Airways: W Maldives – Malé
- The St Regis Maldives Lounge, Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal, Maldives
- Trans Maldavian Airways: Malé – Vommuli
- The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Vommuli – Malé
- The Leeli Lounge, Malé Velana International Airport, Maldives
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Malé – Doha
- Qatar Airways Premium Arrivals Business Class Lounge, Doha, Qatar
- The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, Doha, Qatar
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Doha – San Francisco
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: Trans Maldivian Airways Coral Lounge, Malé Noovuli Seaplane Terminal, Maldives
Our third visit to the Maldives had us visiting both the W Maldives and the St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort. On this visit, we were coming off Qatar Airways Business Class Doha – Malé and checking into our Trans Maldivian Airways Malé – W Maldives sea plane flight.
Checking into Trans Maldivian Airways:
After clearing customs and immigration, and collecting our luggage, we headed to the public side at Malé Velana International Airport.
Almost all visitors to the Maldives connect to a resort. As a result, there are dozens of transfer kiosks located outside the airport nearing almost the hundreds. We located our host from the W Maldives who was waiting for us with a sign outside of the international arrivals.
We were led over to the Trans Maldavian Airways check in area where our checked and carry on bags were weighed. Given that the maldives is an expensive destination, we had packaged a number of food and drink items with us that made the bags heavier than we would have liked.
Each resort pays for a certain amount of cargo weight and it would so happen that the W Maldives offered a less than generous 44 lbs weight allowance with their air transfer charges.
We were hit with a $60.32 USD overweight fee at 13 kg (28lbs) for the return trip. We made an effort to explain that some of the items were food and wouldn’t be accompanying us on the way back. However, this argument fell on completely deaf ears. It’s a bit of a sour way to start any trip, since you’re almost guaranteed to be over with a 50lb checked bag, but in fairness it was advertised in advance on our W Maldives reservation confirmation email.
While the bill was being processed to our hotel folio, Trans Maldivian Airways offered a map of their route network across a variety of Maldivian Atolls throughout the northern Maldives.
After our bags were processed, we were led out to a W Maldives van that would take us over to the brand new Malé Maldives Seaplane Terminal.
On our drive over to the sea plane terminal, we passed by the newly constructed (since our last visit) Friendship Bridge that links the Malé Velana International Airport to the island of Malé.
After a short six minute drive, we arrived at the new Malé Noovilu Seaplane Terminal. The Malé Noovilu Seaplane Terminal is a brand new building designed to accomodate the dozens of luxury resorts that the Maldives have to offer.
Since we had completed all check in procedures at the Trans Maldivian Airways Check In at Malé Velana international Airport, we were able to bypass the check in stands at the Malé Noovilu Seaplane Terminal.
We were led into a mall like building with a large central atrium. Our W Maldives handler led us directly to the Trans Maldivian Airways Coral Lounge.
While most luxury properties have a dedicated hotel branded lounge in the Noovilu Seaplane Terminal Buildling. The W Maldives either hasn’t committed to this effort, or are a bit behind on this initiative, perhaps as a result of pandemic delays. As a result, we were led up to the general Trans Maldivian Airways coral Lounge to await our flight departure.
Inside the Trans Maldivian Airways Coral Lounge:
We were led inside the Trans Maldivian Airways Coral Lounge. The lounge was a packed and busy place, with travellers arriving off of international flights waiting their transfer to their resort.
With one large corner lounge room, there were a variety of lounge chair seating options.
There was a small enclosed massage chair room off to the right hand side, that didn’t seem to get much traffic.
We ended up getting a spot outside on the covered outdoor decks. It was exceptionally breezy outside, but with the tropical heat, it was just the thing we needed after being in transit for almost forty hours.
The Trans Maldivian Airways Coral Lounge has among the best views out there when it comes to airplane spotting. From the outdoor deck, you’ll probably see no less than forty De Havilland Twin Otter aircraft moored up to the terminal, floating on top of green emerald waters.
The flight board inside the lounge also featured a number of seaplane airport destinations that contained airport codes limited to the Maldives.
Another plane spotting treat included spotting large commercial jets departing from the nearby Malé Velana International Airport. We were able to spot a Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300 departing from the airport on a northward track back towards Doha International Airport.
Overall, the lounge seating was quite compact and limited. Despite this, we were able to enjoy our time outdoors in the tropical heat, which made the stay a lot more pleasant.
Food and Beverage:
The Trans Maldivian Airways coral Lounge offered a number of food and beverages. Considering that food is likely to cost ten times the price when on a resort, I took the opportunity to stock up on what I could while I was here
The food buffet offered both hot and cold items with buffet items that appeared remarkably fresh.
There were a surprising number of baked goods. In addition, I was able to enjoy some tuna fish sandwiches; a great comfort food given that there is ample tuna located in the Maldives.
Tinned soft drinks were available, in addition to a coffee machine for those jet lagged people having difficulty in staying awake on the Maldivian Time Zone.
Much like the other lounges in Malé such as the Leili Lounge Malé Velana International Airport, this lounge is also a dry lounge that does not serve any alcoholic beverages. If you’re looking to celebrate with some bubbles or another cocktail, you’ll have to wait just a little bit longer until you get to your resort.
We spent about one hour in the lounge prior to heading off on our Trans Maldivian Airways Malé – W Maldives flight before a wonderful five day stay at the W Maldives.
My Thoughts on the Trans Maldivian Airways Coral Lounge:
The Trans Maldivian Airways Coral Lounge at Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal meets all the needs for a space to relax, prior to a sea plane transfer to your luxury resort.
The lounge itself offers a solid range of snacks and sandwiches. Aside from being a dry lounge, everything on offer was fresh and appealing, which isn’t something that always happens in a transfer lounge. The lounge offered bright outdoor seating, which is where we comfortably relaxed prior to our transfer.
The only potential negative about flying Trans Maldivian Airways is that your hotel may have a light baggage allowance, which will find you getting stung with an excess overage charge.
If you’ve visited the Trans Maldivian Airways Coral Lounge, did you find the facility met your needs ?
Qatar Airways leased a number of aircraft from Cathay Pacific and has been using them on their Doha – Malé routes to service the elevated demand for luxury travel to the Republic of the Maldives. These unique aircraft are configured in a four class cabin with business class and a first class cabin. Our overnight flight would allow us to test out this configuration on our way to an extended stay at the Maldives. Read on to see how our flight into the Maldives compared to our Qatar Airways Q Suites flight into Doha.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Republic of the Maldives. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Breakaway to the Maldives via Qatar Airways Q Suites
- The All New American Express Centurion Lounge: Seattle Tacoma International Airport
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – San Francisco
- San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront USA
- Air France KLM Lounge, San Francisco International Airport, USA
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: San Francisco – Doha
- Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge: Doha Hamad International Airport
- Al Maha Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport
- Qatar Airways Business Class: Doha – Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Coral Lounge, Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Malé – W Maldives
- The W Maldives
- Trans Maldivian Airways: W Maldives – Malé
- The St Regis Maldives Lounge, Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal, Maldives
- Trans Maldavian Airways: Malé – Vommuli
- The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Vommuli – Malé
- The Leeli Lounge, Malé Velana International Airport, Maldives
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Malé – Doha
- Qatar Airways Premium Arrivals Business Class Lounge, Doha, Qatar
- The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, Doha, Qatar
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Doha – San Francisco
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: Qatar Airways Business Class B777-300, Doha Hamad International Airport – Malé Velana International Airport
Qatar Airways offers a world class Qatar Airways Q Suite Business Class configuration. Along with recent expansion plans, Qatar Airways made the decision to recently lease a number of Boeing 777-300 aircraft from One World Alliance partner Cathay Pacific, in order to add capacity to their fleet.
These leased Cathay Pacific Airways Boeing 777-300 aircraft operate in a four class configuration. We’d flown these aircraft previously on Cathay Pacific First Class Vancouver – New York and Cathay Pacific First Class New York – Vancouver. Today’ we’d get the opportunity to fly the Qatar Airways version of this aircraft on our flight into the Republic of the Maldives.
Connecting at Doha Hamad International Airport:
We arrived into Doha Hamad International Airport on Qatar Airways Q Suites San Francisco – Doha, which was an excellent international long haul experience.
We had a long layover of about nine hours at Hamad International Airport, during which I was able to re-visit the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge, along with a brief visit to The Al Maha Lounge Doha, courtesy of Priority Pass.
Our departure gate from Doha Hamad was gate C42, which was quite a ways out on the “C D E” concourse. We passed by the Gold store; one of the first few gold retail stores that I’d seen in an airport.
It’s quite a walk out towards the outer concourse. We were happy that we allowed ourselves some time. Although there is an elevated and internal tram, we were happy to stretch the legs a little after being seated for fourteen hours and another seven hour lounge visit.
When we got out towards the new Doha Hamad International Airport “Garden” area, we realized we were headed towards a bus gate. We descended down escalators from the main concourse area to the lower level which contained a second series of gates.
Boarding Qatar Airways:
The boarding process for Qatar Airways at the bus gate was a little confusing. Qatar Airways’ boarding process was that they planned to board Qatar Airways Business Class last.
However, they didn’t actually announce that. Rather, the gate agent announced economy classes with business class “take a seat”, which led to a bit of confusion amongst all the business class and Qatar Airways Elites.
Eventually we got on board a bus and headed out to the east apron to a remote loading stand. When we arrived, we climbed up the air stairs got onto a leased Cathay Pacific plane that was fully painted as Qatar airways.
Qatar Airways
Business Class
DOH-MLE (Doha Hamad International Airport – Velana International Airport)
QR 670
Flown: March 8, 2023
Departure: 2:00 AM
Arrival: 6:40 AM
Booked: Boeing 777-300
Flown: Boeing 777-300 (Cathay Pacific Lease)
On Board Qatar Airways Business Class:
We boarded our flight by stairs at door 2L and turned left into the mini cabin of business class. The Qatar Airways Business Class is set up in a 1 – 2 – 1 configuration across the aircraft.
The Qatar Airways Business Class cabin is split across two different cabins. This aircraft configuration has 2 rows of business class in the forward mini cabin, followed by a further 12 rows of business class in a rear cabin leading towards the economy class cabin.
The seat itself is Cirrus Seat made by Zodiac Aerospace, now operating under Safran Seats. The seat itself is very compact and upright. I would almost describe it as “coffin” like since the walls surrounding the seat are quite high. Despite the design, the configuration of the cabin means that all travellers have direct aisle access with no need to step over anyone to get out of your seat and move around.
The centre of the cabin offers seating that angles inward towards each other. With two people travelling together, you have some privacy from the seat console, along with a privacy screen that can be raised.
Settling into the business class seat, we were offered enough real estate for two airplane windows. There was a small shelf area available for wallets, drinks and passports, although the space wasn’t as large enough for laptop’s or some others that we have seen, particularly in the newer reverse herringbone configurations.
The seat console featured an upright cupboard that could be used for storage. On today’s flight, the cupboard featured a bottle of water and some noise cancelling headphones. I always have mixed feelings about cupboard storage on business class seats since items tend to fall out when the cupboard is opened mid flight. As a result, I didn’t use this for any storage space on my flight.
My seat 11K (a bulkhead), featured a fold aware television monitor. It required a little bit of a stretch to unfold the monitor from it’s housing. The monitor could also not be used during take off and landing.
The business cabin featured a small foot rest seat that allowed for sleeping or resting your feet. It was pretty standard sized, and not all too spacious for side sleepers.
Ultimately, Qatar Airways leased Cathay Pacific planes offer a fully flat seat. The seat has limited real estate, but at least you will have direct aisle access, and a pretty private seating environment.
On Board Qatar Airways First Class:
Since these planes were leased from Cathay Pacific in a four class configuration, Qatar Airways has the ability to offer a First Class cabin on this particular route. If this aircraft is scheduled for your journey, you’ll have the ability to purchase a ticket in the First Class cabin.
It’s worth noting that Qatar Airways First Class is usually limited to its Qatar Airways Airbus 380-8 configuration, along with First Class branding on short haul flights throughout the Middle East departing from Doha.
The Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300 First Class cabin is set up in a very spacious 1 – 1 -1 configuration. Aside from some Qatar Airways purple colour accents, it is identical to Cathay Pacific First Class seating.
The Qatar Airways First Class cabin is so similar, it even has the same Cathay Pacific art work on the walls, but otherwise the cabin is entirely rebranded with Qatar materials.
Pre-Departure Services:
Qatar Airways offered a purser introduction while we settled in and were waiting for departure. Despite asking for it, Qatar Airways didn’t offer their more expensive Champagne Alexandra Laurent Perrier Rosé 2016 while on the ground in Doha, Qatar. Instead, we enjoyed the more mainstream Piper Heinsciek NV champagne.
A towel service was also provided. The towel service was provided in a wrapped container, which was a slightly low rent but pandemic safe touch.
The Amenity Kit:
While we were waiting on the ground, we also had a light amenity kit dropped off. We are generally seeing airlines provide less amenity kits on short haul international flights, and this was no exception.
Today’s amenity kits consisted of a simple eye mark, ear plugs and socks in a recycled plastic bag. Generally speaking, it wasn’t worthy enough to take with you.
While it was a nice touch to offer an amenity kit, this one in particular wasn’t one that was very memorable. I can’t blame Qatar Airways for trying to cut some costs, but it was nicer to have something instead of nothing at all.
The Dinner Menu:
As final flight preparations were finishing, we were offered a dinner and wine menu for this flight.
We were departing at 2 AM and arriving into Malé at 6 AM. As expected, we had a light food menu offering consisting of the choice of light sandwiches, omelette and a tasting menu presented all at once. There was also a second breakfast service offered.
Qatar Airways always offers a terrific and exceptional wine list. Today’s shorter international flight was no different. With premium wines available from every corner of the old and new world, we didn’t have any issues with finding something delicious to drink.
For those that were not into wine, there were a small number of cocktails available, in addition to regular whiskies and upscale Grey Goose Vodka.
The wine lists were much more impressive than the food menu and there was something for everyone on the list.
In Flight Entertainment:
Normally, Qatar Airways offers an excellent world class entertainment system called Oryx One. However, on today’s flight, we ended up with the inherited Cathay Pacific system. Despite being branded as Qatar Airways, it seemed to have less functionality and features than it’s comparable gold standard in Oryx One.
The moving map seemed to have no actual mapping landscape loaded into the system. As a result, we were left with cities painted overtop of a black night landscape.
The system featured a few international movies, but featured a lot less quantity that you might expect with it’s gold standard Oryx One Entertainment system.
Given the overnight nature of this flight, I didn’t get into a movie but stuck with the minimalistic moving map.
The Meal: A Light Snack
Our flight departed Doha Hamad International Airport at 2AM, with an arrival time of 6:40 AM at Velana International Airport. That overnight time period is a challenging time to offer two meal services for connecting world travellers, since everyone is on a different schedule and clock.
I ended up enjoying a glass of the Alexandra Laurent Perrier Rosé 2016 Champagne, along with some warmed mixed nuts.
For the main course, I ended up ordering the corn soup. It was a fairly simple meal to present, but regrettably it took until 3:40 AM (or one hour and forty minutes after takeoff) to be prepared and plated. On a four and a half hour flight, the first service seriously cut into your sleeping time and I would probably just skip the snack if I was taking this route again.
After the soup course, I bedded down into the fully flat seat. Although there were no fluffy blankets or mattress pads, I slept pretty soundly for about two hours.
The Second Service: Breakfast
As I went off to sleep, there was no official confirmation or instructions taken (or given) for the second service. I ended up waking up to the sounds of clattering crockery and found many around me eating.
I ended up hastily ordering a breakfast omelette, which was served up only one hour and fifteen minutes before landing. The breakfast omelette was presented as a tomato Onion and Grilled Cheese Omelette with Cream Cheese Roasted Potatoes and Creamy Spinach. This was served with a mixed fruit breakfast smoothie. Given time constraints, I didn’t get the opportunity to enjoy any bread basket with any jams or butters.
Towards the end of the second service, we were provided another towel service. This time, we received a proper towel that wasn’t wrapped, but rather served on a tray.
If I were taking this flight next time, I would probably aim to eat in the lounge before travels, and leave instructions with my flight attendant to be woken up in order to enjoy a larger breakfast. This way, I’d probably be fuller getting off the plane before getting to expensive resort pricing.
Landing at Velana Malé International Airport:
We descended into the Republic of the Maldives. While I might have hoped for great Maldivian Atoll views, I’d have to save those for the Trans Maldivian Airways Sea Plane ride from Malé to W Hotels and Malé to St Regis Vommuli Atolls. We had a few peek a boo views of the atolls on our descent into Malé Velana International Airport.
Returning to Malé for the third time, there were quite a few changes in the airport since my last visit in the year 2015. The new international airport was well under construction, and there were a larger number of planes on the apron than before. These included an Austrian Airways and another Qatar Airways flight.
Since Malé Velana International Airport does not currently have jet bridges, we deplaned from our Boeing 777-300 and descended air stairs into a bus.
We arrived off our Qatar Airways Business Class flight. We had a shared checked bag which took some time to be put out on the conveyor belts since Maldavian Customs was X-Ray’ing all the bags.
We ended up transferring onwards, staying at both the W Maldives and the St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort for a wonderful eleven day stay in the Republic of the Maldives.
My Thoughts on Qatar Airways Business Class:
The Qatar Airways Business Class flight on the leased Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300 was a comfortable fully flat way to get to the Maldives on the short four and a half hour hop from Doha Hamad International Airport. Although it wasn’t to the level of Qatar Airways Q Suites, it was still an exceptionally comfortable experience.
The red eye flight through the night made for a bit of a complicated service delivery issue for the food presentation with the presentation being quite rushed. I would probably end up just eating in the lounge next time. Despite this, the early arrival into the Maldives is well timed for sea plane departures and allows you to connect to your resort with the most available daylight time.
If you’ve flown Qatar Airways Business Class to the Maldives, did you find the timing of the flight to be challenging?
Doha Hamad International Airport in Qatar is one of the largest connection airports in the Middle East region. With Qatar Airways de-bundling business class fares to no longer automatically include business class lounge access, and a large number of travellers passing through the region, you may find yourself in Doha without automatic access to the lounge. The Al Maha Lounge is the answer to your lounge dilemma, as it offers access to a business class lounge on a pay per use basis or through a Priority Pass membership card. Read on to see how our visit was to this particular lounge.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Republic of the Maldives. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Breakaway to the Maldives via Qatar Airways Q Suites
- The All New American Express Centurion Lounge: Seattle Tacoma International Airport
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – San Francisco
- San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront USA
- Air France KLM Lounge, San Francisco International Airport, USA
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: San Francisco – Doha
- Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge: Doha Hamad International Airport
- Al Maha Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport
- Qatar Airways Business Class: Doha – Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Coral Lounge, Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Malé – W Maldives
- The W Maldives
- Trans Maldivian Airways: W Maldives – Malé
- The St Regis Maldives Lounge, Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal, Maldives
- Trans Maldavian Airways: Malé – Vommuli
- The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Vommuli – Malé
- The Leeli Lounge, Malé Velana International Airport, Maldives
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Malé – Doha
- Qatar Airways Premium Arrivals Business Class Lounge, Doha, Qatar
- The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, Doha, Qatar
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Doha – San Francisco
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: Al Maha Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport, Qatar
This review is of the Al Maha Lounge at Doha Hamad International Airport, Qatar.
For a review of another lounge of which you might have access to at Doha Hamad International Airport, please visit our review of the excellent Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge.
We arrived into Doha Hamad International Airport on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class San Francisco – Doha before departing on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class Doha – Malé.
After some time at the neighbouring Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge, I took a look at one of the other lounges available to some travellers, the Al Maha Lounge located in Doha Hamad International Airport.
Locating the Al Maha Lounge
The Al Maha Lounge is centrally located in Doha Hamad International Airport, Qatar. It’s conveniently located next to the giant Lamp Bear designed by Urs Fischer that’s located in the immediate departure hall of the international terminal.
The lounge access is located immediately to the left of the Lamp Bear. It’s conveniently located on the left hand side up a series of double escalators just under the “C D E” gates sign. In terms of location, the Al Maha Lounge is very centrally located in the main departures hall.
Locating the Al Maha Lounge – Doha Hamad International Airport, Qatar
Despite being easy to locate, in terms of marking and branding, the Al Maha Lounge isn’t all that easy to find. Aside from a small podium sign at the bottom of the escalator, the overhead signs don’t have any obvious markings to the Al Maha Lounge.
Aside from the lack of obvious signs, the lounge is well located for departing passengers. If you happen to be connecting through, you’ll likely find yourself coming through the airport departure concourse at one of the connection security check points located around the Lamp Bear.
Accessing the Al Maha Lounge:
The Al Maha Lounge Doha Hamad International Airport is available through a number of ways:
The pricing for paid visit to the Al Maha Lounge is:
- Adult / Child / Infant – 230 QAR ($63 USD) per person, for a 6 hour visit
The lounge is also a member of Priority Pass. I visited the Al Maha Lounge today courtesy of Priority Pass Select, granted through a membership with my American Express Platinum Card.
Priority Pass offers it’s members a complimentary four hour visit. At the time of my visit, there was a note indicating that the access may be restricted due to capacity constraints. As a result, this may be something you may want to consider when planning your visit.
After my Priority Pass membership was validated at the reception, I was invited in. There was no wait at all when I attended to reception, and I was processed immediately.
Inside the Al Maha Lounge:
The Al Maha Lounge forms a part of the Al Maha Priority Services, which include the possibility of arranging a VIP meet and greet function. The Al Maha Lounge forms part of the lounge services for that collection of VIP products.
The Al Maha Lounge is one of those lounges that happens to have lounge space on either side of the reception desk. After being granted admission, I was invited into the left hand side of the lounge entry.
The left hand side offered a large and leafy green space wall that faced the outer walls. The green space was a nice feature for a window less lounge that happened to have no outdoor daylight.
The lounge seating space continued along the green wall in a long rectangular hall way that contained lounge chair seating for most of the way down. During my visit, the lounge was quite busy, and it was a little bit of a challenge to find an empty lounge chair for seating.
Moving my way to the back of the lounge, there was a small water feature that separated the lounge seating area from the food service area. You won’t be confusing the water feature in this particular space with the more opulent Qatar Airways Al Mourjan fountain, but it’s worthwhile noting that Al Maha at least made an effort in design for something interesting in this space.
On the opposite side of the fountain, the Al Maha Lounge offers it’s food and beverage area.
During my visit, there were quite a few people in this portion of the lounge. While you didn’t have your first choice of seats, it wasn’t hard to find something available.
Food and Beverage:
The Al Maha Lounge offered a number of self service options in it’s food and beverage department.
In terms of drinks, the Al Maha Lounge offered self service wines, along with a wide variety of soda and soft drinks.
The lounge offered a number of light food items that I’d best consider as snacks, rather than a full meal replacement.
There were also some wrapped sandwiches, which could probably make do in a pinch, but I probably wouldn’t be using this as a meal replacement by any stretch of my imagination.
There were a limited number of hot items available. I didn’t see many people indulging in the buffet. However, it was appreciated to have a small snack in the event you found yourself between meals while travelling.
While the lounge did offer some food, it was a far cry from what you might expect at a proper international airlines’ alliance business class lounge. I would have to say that the food offering is probably the Al Maha Lounge’s weakest spot. It was certainly a lot less appealing when compared to the opulent table waiter served restaurant upstairs at the nearby Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge.
Heading back towards the reception entrance, there were a few blue lounge chairs similar the chairs found in the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge.
On the right hand side of the reception area, I wandered over into the other side of the lounge. There was another completely different lounge seating area on the right hand side that was a lot less used than the primary left hand side lounge seating area.
The right hand side of the lounge offered several smaller seating areas, in contrast to the larger rectangular room. The right hand side seating area offered smaller leather lounge chairs in a series of rooms that led towards a darker space.
Heading further into the lounge, I located another leafy green wall. As noted, there were substantially less people seated on this part of the lounge. It made for a much more peaceful lounge environment.
Rounding the corner at the back of the right hand side of the lounge, there was a quieter sleeping area. I located a number of people asleep in this zone, and it was pretty tranquil and isolated by comparison to all other areas in the lounge.
While you won’t ever mix this place up with the more opulent and much larger Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge, the Al Maha Lounge Doha does offer a reasonable space in order to relax in, including a few hidden corners where you can possibly catch up for a nap.
Additional Features:
The Al Maha Lounge offered a few additional features that are worth mentioning.
The Al Maha Lounge did offer some showers that were available for travellers. There didn’t appear to be a wait available during my visit, and the showers were located in the back of the left hand side of the lounge.
The Al Maha Lounge also offered a self service baggage room. This meant that travellers could potentially store their bags in the lounge (for fee) and perhaps take off into the city for sightseeing.
We’ve found this feature to be really useful during our trips to the Turkish Airlines Business Lounge in Istanbul, Turkey. Admittedly, I didn’t see many people using this feature here, and the space seemed mostly empty.
We spent about twenty minutes in the lounge prior to heading off on a Qatar Airways Business Class Doha – Malé flight.
My Thoughts on the Al Maha Lounge at Doha Hamad International Airport:
The Al Maha Lounge at Doha Hamad International Airport is part of the Al Maha VIP Services that include a meet and greet service, along with lounge access for travels who need assistance on a pay per use basis.
The Al Maha Lounge offered a variety of lounge seating areas that varied in between large rooms and more intimate smaller spaces. Although there was a small food buffet, the lounge’s dining options were not the most luxurious in nature.
For those without access to Qatar’s Airways Al Mourjan’s lounge, the Al Maha Lounge is likely the best option, as opposed to being in the terminal.
If you’ve visited the Al Maha Lounge, did you prefer it over the Doha Hamad International Airport terminal ?
The low cost carrier market within domestic Canada has always been a hyper competitive and cutthroat environment. Over the years, we have seen a number of low cost carrier’s come and go, including Canada 3000, Jetsgo, Greyhound Air, Air Canada Tango and Harmony Airways. Low Cost Carriers almost always typically enter bankruptcy protection, or are eventually absorbed by another carrier. Now, after five years of operation, we can see the route ahead for Swoop Airlines; the carrier is being absorbed into Westjet Airlines.
Another Low Cost Carrier Disappears: Westjet Airlines Cancels Swoop’s Future
Westjet Airlines has announced they are cancelling Swoop Airlines by integrating it into the future of Westjet Airlines regular operations.
What is Swoop Airlines:
Swoop Airlines was Westjet Airlines version of an ultra low cost carrier. The airlines was headquartered in Calgary and was named after Westjet’s desire to “swoop” into the Canadian market with a low cost carrier business model.
Swoop operated completely on a low cost model. On this principle, all of it’s fares were de-bundled. There were separate charges for base airfare, seat selection, carry on baggage, checked baggage, oversized baggage, cancellations, contact centre fees and on board wifi and snacks.
Swoop operated the following types of aircraft:
- Boeing 737-800 (10)
- Beoing 737 Max 8 (6)
The similarity through the fleet make it a very consistent fleet for it’s employees to operate.
There was no Swoop Frequent Flier Program, therefore all those miles earned travelling on Swoop, did not yield any additional incentive.
While it was always a consideration for me to fly Swoop, the fact that an unbundled fare with every add on pretty much equalled what I would get flying with Air Canada – along with earning Air Canada Aeroplan miles, pretty much put Swoop out of my interest. As a result, I personally tended to stick with the Canadian Business traveller’s favourite: Air Canada for my travels around Canada.
Where Swoop Flied:
When it started operations, the airline announced it’s intention to operate from nearby airports of Edmonton, Abbotsford, Hamilton and Winnipeg. In doing so, it operated a number of odd ball domestic routes just as Abbotsford – London (Ontario) and Hamilton – St John. It also offered transborder service from select markets from Canada to the United States.
At the very least, Swoop operated an interesting route network and appeared to have a fairly loyal client base with a younger demographic of leisure travellers.
Westjet Pulls the Plug on Swoop:
In a Westjet press release announced yesterday, Westjet announced that Swoop would be discontinuing operations.
Within the press release two items were announced:
Westjet Pilots Finalize A Wage Increase:
Westjet announced that their pilots have ratified their collective agreement, which will see pilot’s pay increase by 24%. Under the ratified deal, Westjet pilots will receive a 15.5% hourly pay raise this year retroactive to Jan. 1, and a cumulative 8.5 per cent hike to their hourly wage over the remainder of the contract.
The collective agreement is based on a four year deal from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2006. This comes during a time of increase pilot labour pressure, with many pilots leaving Canada for higher paid compensation opportunities in the United States.
Westjet Announces Swoop Airlines will be intergrated into Westjet:
In conjunction with this announcement, Westjet announced that after Westjet pilots ratified their collective agreement, Swoop Airlines operations would be folded into Westjet operations.
Within the press release, Westjet Airlines stated:
As negotiated in the collective agreement, the WestJet Group will now begin integration efforts of its ultra-low-cost airline, Swoop.
Through an expedited process, the airline anticipates a full integration into its mainline operations by the end of October.
To avoid traveller impact, Swoop will operate its existing network through to the end of its published schedule on October 28. Swoop employees will move to WestJet.
The results of this are that the sixteen Boeing 737 and Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft operated by Swoop will move towards a Westjet model by end of year. This means that we can expect these aircraft will be converted to Westjet livery at some point in the near future.
My Thoughts on Canada Losing another Low Cost Carrier:
The history of low cost carriers in Canada hasn’t ever been too sustainable in the long term. Over the years, we’ve seen carriers like Canada 3000, Jetsgo, Air Canada Tango, Greyhound Air disappear into thin air, or otherwise merged into larger organizations.
While Swoop Airlines will follow the absorption trajectory into Westjet Airlines, the largest winners of this will be Westjet Airlines and Swoop Employees.
Westjet Airlines will have an easier job of integrating the fleet. This is as a result of the Boeing 737-800 equipment type being the equipment that Westjet uses in its regular day – to – day operations. Westjet presently runs an all Boeing fleet of 112 aircraft featuring Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-8 Max and Boeing 787-8 aircraft. This will likely make training and conversion efforts as simple as they possibly could be, from a human resource, financial and acquisition aspect. Swoop employees, including their pilots will also likely be the winners here, as they will gain access to better routes, likely higher compensation and better benefits.
The largest losers in this business decision will be Swoop’s dedicated younger customer base and travellers dedicated to the lowest cost model. This customer demographic will likely see higher fares on Westjet, and may decide to move their travel business to Canada’s remaining low cost carriers such as Lynx Air or Flair Airlines.
The other large losers in this scenario will be the smaller suburban airports which we can anticipate to see a reduction in service. Airports such as Abbotsford, British Columbia, London / Hamilton, Ontario and Deer Lake , Newfoundland will likely see a reduction in service as they align operations with Westjet and business efficiencies are found and optimized. While these are often branded as greater access to the mainline network, often these route eventually disappear from service, leaving the travellers around these airports the losers in this equation.
In Summary: Westjet Pulls the Plug on Swoop Low Cost Carrier
Westjet has announced that it’s low cost carrier Swoop Airlines will be integrated into Westjet Airlines. Swoop Airlines will cease operations as of October 28, 2023.
The largest winners in this story are the Swoop employees and Westjet Airlines that doesn’t have to operate two brands, along with the resource challenges and administration costs that a two brand model entails.
The largest losers in this story are the cost conscious travellers that are looking for the lowest cost model at all costs. In addition, the Swoop Airlines suburban airport that are served by Swoop are likely to lose some service as a result of integration of operations, as Westjet harmonizes it’s overall operational efficiencies.
If you have flown Swoop Airlines, does this news come as a surprise ?
The premier business class lounge in the Qatar Airways network is the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge at Doha Hamad International Airport. Through its airport in Doha, Qatar Airways has based its whole airline network on connecting travel. It must continue to operate in a competitive market in order to pamper its business travellers. The Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge is thankfully one of the top business lounges in the world. See how it excels at what it does, by reading on.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Republic of the Maldives. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Breakaway to the Maldives via Qatar Airways Q Suites
- The All New American Express Centurion Lounge: Seattle Tacoma International Airport
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – San Francisco
- San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront USA
- Air France KLM Lounge, San Francisco International Airport, USA
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: San Francisco – Doha
- Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge: Doha Hamad International Airport
- Al Maha Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport
- Qatar Airways Business Class: Doha – Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Coral Lounge, Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Malé – W Maldives
- The W Maldives
- Trans Maldivian Airways: W Maldives – Malé
- The St Regis Maldives Lounge, Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal, Maldives
- Trans Maldavian Airways: Malé – Vommuli
- The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Vommuli – Malé
- The Leeli Lounge, Malé Velana International Airport, Maldives
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Malé – Doha
- Qatar Airways Premium Arrivals Business Class Lounge, Doha, Qatar
- The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, Doha, Qatar
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Doha – San Francisco
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport, Qatar
It had been about six years since I had visited the excellent Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge. Since it had been such a long period of time, I figured that it was worth taking a look to see what had changed.
If you’d like to read about our past visit, please see our previous review of the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge.
Locating the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge:
We arrived into Doha Hamad International Airport on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class San Francisco – Doha. The Qatar Alrways Al Mourjan Lounge access escalators are is located adjacent to the giant Lamp Bear designed by Urs Fischer.
Our visit was shortly after the Qatar World Cup. There were concourse displays that were selling official Qatar Fifa World Cup Soccer balls, which made for a great regional souvenir.
We transferred through the airport and landmarked ourselves near the remarkable Lamp Bear art designed by Urs Fischer.
The Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge access was a short three minute walk from the Lamp Bear.
Accessing the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge:
The Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge is the primary Qatar Airways Business Lounge in Doha Hamad International Airport.
Qatar Airways First Class and Business Class (Elite, Comfort) and One World First Class and Business Class passengers can access this lounge on a complimentary basis.
Qatar Airways has unbunded some of their business class fares. Accordingly, some Qatar Business Class Fares do not automatically offer lounge access.
Fortunately, basic business class passenger and Economy Class passengers throughout the network can purchase lounge access on line, at the check-in counters, preferred travel agents, or Qatar Airways’ sales offices.
Access is also granted per the One World First and Business Class Lounge Access policy:
- Customers flying First or Business Class have access to the equivalent class of lounge regardless of their frequent flyer status. First Class passengers may use a Business Class or frequent flyer lounge if a First Class lounge is not available.
- First Class passengers may invite one guest to join them in the lounge. The guest must also be travelling on a flight operated and marketed by a oneworld airline.
- Access is available on the day of travel (or before 06:00am the following day), at the airport from which the oneworld flight on which the eligible customer is travelling departs.
- Connecting between oneworld marketed and operated flights:
- First and Business Class customers connecting on the same day of travel, or before 6am the following day, can access the lounge when travelling between an international long haul (a oneworld international long haul flight is defined as an international flight marketed and operated by any oneworld carrier with a scheduled flight time longer than 5 hours) and an international short haul or domestic flight (and vice-versa).
- Lounge access will be determined on the international long haul ticketed flight (either First of Business Class) regardless of the ticketed class of travel on the international short haul or domestic flight.
- You must be prepared to show your boarding pass or itinerary showing travel in First or Business class on the international long haul flight, in order to access the lounge before your international short haul or domestic flight.
Today’s access was courtesy of our Qatar Airways Business Class Ticket, which was redeemed through Alaska Mileage Plan.
Our boarding cards were scanned by a host at the bottom of the escalator. We were let up the escalator
At the top of the escalator, we were permitted to proceed directly into the lounge. We didn’t have to attend the front reception counter.
Inside Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge:
Returning to the lounge after all those years, the lounge retains many of the features that make this place so popular.
Turning left from the entrance, the lounge offers it’s primary seating space which consists of blue lounge chairs spread out in a high ceiling atrium.
The lounge seating is broad, spacious and offers plenty of elbow room that’s available . We were able to locate a seat without any issues, with a wide variety of seating locations throughout the lounge available for seating.
The main seating area offered small drink and refreshment stations at select ends of the lounge. The refrigerated chests weren’t all that cold, but the nearness of these drink stations sure outweighed the need for coldness.
At the other end of the lounge, Qatar’s Al Mourjan Lounge has the largest water feature I’ve ever seen in a lounge. The Qatar Al Mourjan Lounge offers a giant reflection fountain across the right centre of the lounge. With a few select seats immediately located next to the reflection fountain, this marks one of the most interesting views available in a business lounge in the world today.
Near the water fountain marks the grand staircase that leads up to the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Restaurant which is located on the second level. At times, this area is manned for crowd control, although it was completely empty during our after supper hour visit.
In the middle of the lounge, Qatar Airways offered an elevated lounge space surrounded by railings. This lounge space wasn’t frequently used, although it contained a number of loungers that looked remarkably comfortable.
On the far side of the lounge, Qatar Airways offered a study area which was hidden behind glass doors. While it was a quieter space, it didn’t seem to be any less busy in terms of seating occupancy.
There were a number of quiet chairs, which were quite empty on our visit. There were also a number of horizontal relax chairs, which could make do for sleeping if absolutely necessary.
Getting back outside of the enclosed study, there was some additional seating around the main lounge area. I typically find this side to be a little quieter than the main entry area, mostly as a result of the fact that you’ll have to cross the elevated terrace area to access this space, or wander your rolling suitcase all the way around to the opposite side of the entrance.
At the very end of the lounge on the ground floor, there was a small dining area.
Shower Suites:
After travelling fourteen hours on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class San Francisco – Doha, I was ready for a little refreshing. I put my name on the list for a shower. I was initially told it would be a fifteen minute wait. However, I was provided a shower suite after only five minutes.
The shower suite was reasonable, but it wasn’t super spacious. There was enough space for a change of clothes, the ability to hang up your clothes and enough space to spread out for a shave. As can be expected, the space was remarkably clean consider the amount of use that it likely got.
After a hot shower, the shower room itself was quite humid as a result of a weaker air conditioning system. It could also be that, as a Canadian, I’m having a hot shower in an environment where many are having room temperature water showers. Either way, it was a warm experience and I ended up a little sweaty after the session.
Sleeping in the Lounge:
Qatar Airways offers a few sleep areas in the Al Mourjan lounge. These aren’t private rooms that you night find at the Qatar Al Safwa First Class Lounge, but rather, sleep and nap chairs located within a quieter area of the lounge.
For those with a longer connection that don’t want to go into Doha for a stay at a hotel, Qatar Airways Al Mourjan offers about twenty sleep loungers located immediately ot the right of the entrance.
Al Mourjan Restaurant:
On the second floor of the lounge, Qatar Airways offers a table service restaurant. There is no cost for dining in the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Restaurant, and seating is available on a first come, first serve basis.
I’ve never had an issue getting seated immediately on my visits, but I have occasionally seen lines during the busier late evening periods between 9 PM – 12 AM when there are a larger number of flights connecting through Doha Hamad International Airport.
We visited the reception host and were led and assigned a comfortable booth near the glass, overlooking the rest of the lounge itself.
We were provided a menu that outlined all of the breakfast, lunch and dinner choices available at the Al Mourjan Business Lounge. There was exceptional variety for the a – la – carte choices. In addition to the table ordering service, there was a self service buffet available for those that were un willing (or unable) to wait for table service.
After placing an a – la – carte order, I took a walk around the lounge. The full service buffet was on display, where dishes were plated by staff.
The liquor bar offered all alcohlic beverages and wine available in the lounge. These were available for ordering through wait staff, or through walking up to the bar.
In a surprising combination, the bar also offered the lounge’s salad bar. A fresh salad can be a little hard to find in the Middle East. At the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan lounge, you have the ability of ordering a fresh salad to acompany a meal.
Bar Service – Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge
There were also a handful of small self service dishes available from pick up from the island. These consisted of middle eastern snacks such as tabbouleh, hummus and other tasty salads.
The lounge even offered sushi as an item to order. While I didn’t think that’ I’d actually get reasonable tasting sushi in an airport lounge, I’m happy to report that the sushi was more than edible, it was actually very good.
We enjoyed our time here before heading off to our Qatar Airways Business Class Doha – Malé flight. The lounge offered a great place to relax, re-charge and even take in a wonderful meal in between your connecting flights.
My Thoughts the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge at Doha Hamad International Airport:
The Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge is easily one of my favourite business lounges in the world. It’s probably among the nicest international business lounge in the One World Alliance, and is likely the best business lounge in the middle east when compared to business lounges within the Emirates, Etihad and Qatar airways networks.
The Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge offers a great selection of places to relax, a wonderful tabled served restaurant, and a functional shower suite if you happen to need it. The Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge offers everything that you’d possibly need in an international business lounge positioned in a wonderful environment.
If you’ve regularly flown on one of the Middle Eastern Three carriers, is the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge your preferred business lounge, between Qatar, Emirates or Etihad ?
Qatar Airways developed the world class Q – Suites Business Class Cabin that set new standards throughout the world for business class travel. The Qatar Airways Q Suites are so swish, it’s been argued that a first class cabin isn’t even needed. Our return to Qatar Airways would have us testing out their new Q Suites cabin on a fourteen hour flight from the West Coast of the United States all the way to Doha, Qatar. During our flight, we’d get to try out all of the Qatar amenities and service. How would our flight live up to these lofty expectations?
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Republic of the Maldives. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Breakaway to the Maldives via Qatar Airways Q Suites
- The All New American Express Centurion Lounge: Seattle Tacoma International Airport
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – San Francisco
- San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront USA
- Air France KLM Lounge, San Francisco International Airport, USA
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: San Francisco – Doha
- Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge: Doha Hamad International Airport
- Al Maha Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport
- Qatar Airways Business Class: Doha – Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Coral Lounge, Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Malé – W Maldives
- The W Maldives
- Trans Maldivian Airways: W Maldives – Malé
- The St Regis Maldives Lounge, Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal, Maldives
- Trans Maldavian Airways: Malé – Vommuli
- The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Vommuli – Malé
- The Leeli Lounge, Malé Velana International Airport, Maldives
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Malé – Doha
- Qatar Airways Premium Arrivals Business Class Lounge, Doha, Qatar
- The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, Doha, Qatar
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Doha – San Francisco
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class A350-1000, San Francisco International Airport – Doha Hamad International Airport
“Qatar Airways Double Q Suites has elevated international business class into a supremely private travel setting, accompanied with a stellar wine list and comfortable sleeping amenities in a cuddle class double bed”
This flight is of travels on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class San Francisco – Doha. For the return journey, please see our separate review of Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class Doha – San Francisco.
Checking into Qatar Airways:
After spending a night at the San Francisco Airport Waterfront Marriott hotel, we checked in to Qatar Airways Business Class at the San Francisco International Airport – International Terminal. Our travels today were taking us from San Francisco over to the Maldives, through Qatar’s hub in Doha.
We arrived about three hours before our flight. We had absolutely no line at check in and were served almost immediately at the Qatar Premium Check In Counters.
Unfortunately, the Qatar Business Class check in was not the smoothest experience. We started off with our bags being weighed, including our hand luggage. After having previous theft from checked luggage along with delayed baggage while flying Qatar, we had packed as much as possible to carry on board with us in our rolling carry on suitcases.
Our reception agent took issue with our twenty five pounds weight in our total combinations of carry on luggage items and directed us to re-pack our bags up to seventy pounds in our checked luggage. Since we were only travelling with one checked bag, and two carry on suitcases, this became a real challenge. We were directed over to an unused aisle where we ended up laying with the the scales from what appeared to be the Turkish Airlines check in.
This cost us twenty five minutes, until a manager took pity on us, and allowed us to proceed when our hand luggage was just a few pounds over. Closing our the check in process, we were provided a lounge voucher in addition to our boarding cards. The manager also ensured we had our TSA Pre-Check printed on our boarding cards, to avoid any delays with security.
Visiting the Air France / KLM Lounge:
After our bags were accepted, we headed over to security screening and over to the “A” Gates in the San Francisco International Terminal. We visited the contracted Air France / KLM Lounge San Francisco, which I reviewed separately. The lounge was fairly plain, but met all the basic needs of a business class lounge in a small confined space.
During my pre flight time, I made an attempt to visit the One World affiliated Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge under the One World Business Class Lounge access policy, but the lounge reception attendant wouldn’t have any part of it and denied access. If you’re planning on visiting the Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge while flying One World Partner Qatar Airways, be prepared for a bit of a discussion and a difference of opinions on whether you’re allowed to visit.
Boarding Qatar Airways:
After some time spent in the uninspiring but simple Air France / KLM Lounge, we headed down concourse to the gate. The San Francisco International Terminal “A” Gates are pretty large for an American airport, but leans more towards functional than over the top inspiring.
We had a great view of the Qatar Airways A350-1000 parked at the gate. It looked ever so sleek with it’s sunglasses painted over the cockpit windows.
We descended the escalators into the holding gate A9. The boarding area was pretty congested, and there was a queue of about twenty five people lined up in between chairs and bench seating when we arrived.
Qatar Airways started boarding immediately at 14:10 hrs, which was the time indicated on the boarding card. Qatar Airways didn’t have the most efficient boarding, as they elected to board Business Class at the same time as Group #1.
Despite having two jet bridges connected, the business class jet bridge wasn’t ready to go until about ten minutes after boarding had started. Add in a secondary security screening table at the start of the jet bridge, and you had a real congested mess on your hands.
Once they finally connected the second jet bridge, and the aircraft was ready to receive us, we made it through this crowded boarding process and settled into one of the world’s best business class cabins.
Qatar Airways
Business Class
SFO-DOH (San Francisco International Airport “A” Gates – Doha Hamad International Airport)
QR 738
Flown: March 7, 2023
Departure: 4:05 PM
Arrival: 6:10 PM + 1
Booked: Airbus 350-1000
Flown: Airbus 350-1000
On Board Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class:
We hopped on board at door L1 and entered in to the Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class Cabin. Qatar Airways had it’s boarding music playing, which sets a traditional, understated, but elegant middle eastern mood.
On board, I located my centre facing rear seat at 5F. The Qatar Airways Q Suite purple cabin is elegant looking and offers a contemporary look with modern colors.
Qatar Airways offers a combination of seating throughout it’s Q Suites Cabin. The Qatar Airways Business Class Cabin offers seating in either a 1 – 2 – 1 configuration with separated middle seats (branded as a Twin Q Suite), or a 1 – 2 – 1 configuration with joined middle seats (branded a Double Q Suite). The outer single seats facing the windows are branded as a Single Q Suite.
The Double Q Suite:
Booking the combination of joined Twin or Double Q Suites in the middle requires a call to the Qatar Airways Reservation Centre. With calls placed well in advance to hold our seats, we settled into Double Q Suites – Seats 5E and 5F.
It is worth noting that all of the Double Q Suites face rearwards towards the back of the plane. While this may bother some, I didn’t find it all that bad once you were underway.
The Qatar Airways Q Suites offer a double walled suite with sliding doors. The space offered with the Qatar Airways Q Suites rivals some International First Class cabins with the amount of privacy that is offered.
Each suite offers a walled space that is highly functional. The seat offers a small adjacent space for articles, in addition to a small table for storage.
The Qatar Q Suites Business Class Cabin only offers overhead bins storage found on the outer seats. With no storage bins over the centre seats, the outer bins can tend to get a little fuller than some other business class cabins. Despite there being less space, we had no issues storing our luggage.
Sitting into the Q Suite, the suite itself offers wide twenty six inch entertainment monitors, and a remarkably interconnected space when the middle privacy screen is lowered.
An adjustable partition wall offers either privacy or connectedness, dependent on whether it is raised or lowered. In a raised position, the Double Q Suite is remarkably private, with a privacy screen that rises to well above your head, while in a seated position.
The Double Q Suite was more than comfortable for a couple travelling together.
Single Q Suite:
The Qatar Airways Single Q Suites on the outer edges of the business class cabin offer bright windows that allow for a brighter environment. With seating that is aligned against the window, or closer to the aisle, each of these single Q Suites are terrific.
Features of the Q Suite:
The Qatar Airways Q Suite is a world class leading business class cabin. No matter whether you find yourself in a Qatar Airways Single Q Suite, a Twin Q Suite or a Double Q Suite, you’ll find an array of features designed to make your business class experience much more comfortable.
Each Q Suite is fitted with a personal and individual reading light. Unlike the larger British Airways suite lamps in First Class, the Qatar Airways suite lights are more specific and targeted with an adjustable beam lamp.
A small storage compartment was located in the space underneath the space in the arm rest. The space was ideal for wallets and other valuables that you’d want next to you, but not sitting out in the open during an overnight flight. The storage compartment contained a bottle of water for use during the flight.
The foot rest well offered a somewhat compact space. While you won’t store anything here, it was a comfortable rest for your feet.
The Q Suite offered in seat power, in addition to a variety of seat functions for recline, relax and dining. There was also a credit card payment set up, but it wasn’t ever used during our flight.
On our seat, a pillow with a Qatar Airways slip cover was waiting for us. The slogan “Beautiful Destinations often lead to everlasting memories” was travel oriented, but it appealed to MrsWT73.
Waiting for us on the seat when we arrived was a puffy Qatar Airways purple blanket, that was super comfortable. In addition, there was also a Diptyque Branded Amenity kit.
The Q Suite Table was located underneath the entertainment monitor. The table provided a solid space that was comfortable for working and equally for dining.
The Amenity Kit:
Qatar Airways has currently partnered with Diptyque Parfumeur Paris for it’s amenity kits. Qatar Airways describes these as “Offering signature fragrances inside each amenity kit, premium passengers will receive signature body and face care products designed to elevate the senses, packaged beautifully in elegant Diptyque branded amenity bags and luxurious bespoke gift boxes”.
I’m not too sure whether this qualifies as a luxurious bespoke gift box. It was more of a cardboard box that was rather inconvenient to pack and carry off the flight.It was memorable in patterning and design.
Inside the box, there were several Diptyque products including Fresh Hand Cream, Essential Face Cream and Nourishing Lip Palm.
Qatar Airways Pyjamas by The White Company:
Qatar Airways provides pjyamas for all of it’s business class customers on overseas flights that have a night time component. The current provider for Qatar Airways Business Class is The White Company. We’ve also seen these pjyama’s on British Airways First Class.
The pjyamas were loose fitting and appropriately sized. As a 187 cm person (6ft 2 inches) with an athletic build, I easily fit a large size. Given the long fourteen hour flight, I used the pjyamas and found them very comfortable for a long haul flight.
Pre-Departure Services:
Qatar Airways offered a purser introduction while we settled in waiting for departure. Qatar Airways opens their great champagne while on the ground in San Francisco. Today’s champagne was the outrageously expensive Champagne Alexandra Laurent Perrier Rosé 2016, currently retailing for $500 USD a bottle. I am happy to report that the champagne was also properly chilled; something that doesn’t always happen during pre-departure beverages if the champagne was recently catered on board.
A towel service was also provided. The towel service was provided in a wrapped container, which was a slightly low rent but pandemic safe touch.
The Dinner Menu:
While we were waiting to depart San Francisco, the menus were dropped off. Qatar Airways offers an impressive and showy dinner menu and wine list printed on elegant paper stock.
For this flight departing in the afternoon and leading towards an overnight flight that arrived in the late evening, there was a dinner option and a second service of a mid day breakfast / lunch option.
The dinner menu offered an evening dinner option with a soup option, two appetizer options, four main options, a cheese plate and three dessert options.
The second service of breakfast or lunch offered a mostly breakfast menu with light starters along with four choices of main courses. Snack options were also available in between meal periods.
The dinner meal service orders were taken on the ground in San Francisco.
Qatar Airways has a great wine program that rivals almost any airline worldwide. On this flight, Qatar Airways offered a choice of two champagnes, several whites, and several reads, including a Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux.
I was really impressed with the wine list. Given the amount of selection, I wouldn’t have any problem finding something to enjoy on this particular long haul flight.
Oryx One In Flight Entertainment:
Qatar Airways offers an excellent world class entertainment system called Oryx One. The enterainment is delivered through a twenty six inch monitor, which is class leading for business class cabins.
As we got underway, departing San Francisco International Airport we had a small Islamic prayer. I took the time to review the options on Oryx One, while I enjoyed a champagne.
The Qatar Airways Oryx One entertainment system has a large number of movies. With an international audience, Oryx One separates the movies in to Hollywood, Arabic, Bollywood and African categories.
Like many modern entertainment systems, I watched the flight time tick away from the top status bar of the Oryx One entertainment system.
With an international audience, there are always a few movies that have really unusual plot lines.
The flight map was comprehensive and allowed travellers to track the progress of the flight. Since I was seated in the middle of the plane without windows, I pretty much followed along with our journey through the flight map as we departed San Francisco.
Qatar Airways also offered wifi on board our flight from San Francisco to Doha. The pricing was at $10 USD for a full flight, or a free hour for Qatar Airways Privlege Club Members.
I didn’t test out the speed, but it remained an option in the event you absolutely needed to stay connected.
The Meal: A Full A La Carte Dinner Service
Shortly after we took off, the meal service started. I enjoyed a second glass of the Alexandra Laurent Perrier Rosé 2016 Champagne, which was served with warmed mixed nuts in a small but elegant bowl.
Shortly after the pre supper beverage, the flight attendant came to present the table service. A large white table cloth was presented, and the table was set. This included a tea light (similar to long haul Turkish Airlines), a small bread basket, an elegant purple water glass and lastly, individual salt and pepper shakers.
The first amuse bouche was presented. It was not listed on the menu, but it was a lobster with caviar pearls, along with celeriac slivers.
Given that we had a long flight, I went with the full meal. The first course was presented as roasted sweet potato soup with coconut cream and feta crumble. It was delivered with a food domed cover which was an elegant touch.
The second course was the appetizer. It was presented as herb crusted balik salmon with beetroot hummus, stuffed with tomato radish and lemon wedge. This dish was exceptionally tasty with edible flowers, which was an upscale touch for dining on board.
For the main course, instead of going for the traditional chettinad with basmati rice, I went with the meat option which was an innovative American Style Barbecue Brisket with braising jus, creamy mac and cheese with sautéed kale. The dish was paired with Château Batailley Grand Cru Classé Pauillac 2015.
The wine was really enjoyable on the nose with smooth flavour on the palette, as you’d might expect for a Grand Cru Classé wine. The American Brisket was great with the sauce with sauce but dry really quickly and not enough demi glace sauce.
For dessert, it was time for an absolutely heavenly triple chocolate brownie sundae with chocolate ice cream, raspberry and hot chocolate sauce. While United Airlines Business Class has been known for it’s sundaes for years, this was quite possibly the best dessert I’ve ever had on an airplane. It was a little small on the serving size for my tastes but what a treat and the flavours went together really well..
After dinner, the cabin was turned down for sleeping. It was a mostly dark experience in the centre Double Q Suites, with the occasional group of people working. By this point, we had only undergone about three hours and fifteen minutes of flight with eleven hours still to go.
Sleeping in Qatar Airways Q Suites:
Qatar Airways Q Suites offers an excellent sleep experience that rivals the worlds best business class. Qatar Airways offers full mattress pads, a sleep sheet along with fluffly purple blankets.
I called the flight attendant to have the bed made up. The space was converted into a Double Q Suite sleeping area. The combination is one of the few double beds in the sky; perfect for cuddling with your travel partner.
After a short night’s sleep the night before, I went down for about nine hours worth of sleep.
In terms of sleep quality, the seat itself was quite firm. I would say that it was about eight out of ten on the firmness scale. This was great for a performance car, but a little firm for a comfortable sleep.
In terms of the space, the Q Suite bed was a little compact for the tall sleepers like me. Much like United Polaris Business Class, the space cavity is a little compact for side sleepers, although I managed and was able to get accustomed to it.
There were no air jets nozzles in the centre of the cabin, which made for a little bit of a hot cabin when you’re ensconced in the sheets, fluffy blankets and pillows.
I ended up waking up just over the Caspian sea, with about three hours and forty five minutes left in the flight. With time zones out of touch, this was the equivalent of about 3:20 AM Pacific Standard Time.
Given that there were three hours left, I decided that it was a great time to have breakfast.
The Second Service: Breakfast
I pressed the call button to order breakfast. I was promptly attended to. After placing my order, I was told that it would be about fifteen minutes to warm up the food.
I started off with a café latte, which was nicely prepared.
After the table was set, I enjoyed a greek yoghurt with mixed berry compote and nut granola.
For the main breakfast course, I had the Four Cheese Omelette with roasted fingering potato with chives, cherry tomato and turkey bacon. While omelettes can usually taste the same on a plane, this one was nicely prepared. It was served with fresh orange juice in nice glassware.
Breakfast was followed up with Läderach Swiss Chocolates presented in a small box. Each box was different, so it was a bit of a surprise to see what was inside.
Landing at Doha Hamad International Airport:
Our flight time ticked down to zero. Our flight path took us over Greenland, Eastern Europe, around Ukraine and through the Middle East to Qatar.
The cabin was turned down and prepared for landing. It was lights back on for our early evening arrival.
I enjoyed a final glass of the Alexandra Champagne. I was surprised that they actually had some left to serve at fifteen hours into the flight.
I played around with the tail camera, which gave us a great view of arriving into Doha Hamad International Airport.
It was a reasonably quick taxi up to the gate at Doha Hamad International Airport.
We disembarked the Airbus 350 and had a long walk across moving travellators in Doha Hamad International Airport to the security screening check point.
Before we knew it, we were at the giant Lamp Teddy Bear display by artist Urs Fischer in the centre terminal of Doha Hamad International Airport. This display always brings a smile to my face. It’s an interesting piece of modern art that seems to align with travel; invoking memories of travels to home.
We killed off our layover in Doha at the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge, before getting onto Qatar Airways Business Class Doha – Malé.
My Thoughts on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class:
Qatar Airways Q Suites is arguably the world’s best business class. From a seating configuration that offers a private suite with doors that rivals some first class configurations, to a stellar world class wine menu, to a food program that is modern, contemporary and tasty,
The “Worlds’ Five Star Airline” kept us comfortable during our travels. It’s clear that Qatar Airways Q Suites is among the leading business class cabin’s in the world.
If you’ve flown Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class, did it live up to being one of your favourite business class air travel experiences ?
San Francisco is a major market for European travel. As a result, the city remains well served by Skyteam airlines Air France and KLM. With non stop flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam, it’s essential that Skyteam offer a business lounge for it’s travellers. Our visit to the Air France / KLM Lounge allowed us to experience the fundamentals of their current lounge offering.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Republic of the Maldives. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Breakaway to the Maldives via Qatar Airways Q Suites
- The All New American Express Centurion Lounge: Seattle Tacoma International Airport
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – San Francisco
- San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront USA
- Air France KLM Lounge, San Francisco International Airport, USA
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: San Francisco – Doha
- Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge: Doha Hamad International Airport
- Al Maha Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport
- Qatar Airways Business Class: Doha – Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Coral Lounge, Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Malé – W Maldives
- The W Maldives
- Trans Maldivian Airways: W Maldives – Malé
- The St Regis Maldives Lounge, Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal, Maldives
- Trans Maldavian Airways: Malé – Vommuli
- The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Vommuli – Malé
- The Leeli Lounge, Malé Velana International Airport, Maldives
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Malé – Doha
- Qatar Airways Premium Arrivals Business Class Lounge, Doha, Qatar
- The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, Doha, Qatar
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Doha – San Francisco
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: Air France / KLM Lounge, San Francisco International Airport California, USA
Our travels today had us departing from the San Francisco International Terminal on a wonderful flight on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class San Francisco – Doha and onwards on Qatar Airways Business Class Doha – Malé. We had visited the San Francisco Waterfront Airport Marriott for a brief overnight stay, before setting out to the airport.
Locating the Lounge:
The Air France KLM Lounge is located in the San Francisco International Terminal near the start of the “A” Gates.
Map Courtesy of Flysfo.com
After checking in with Qatar Airways, and passing through TSA Pre-Check International Terminal, we found ourselves on the secure side of the San Francisco International Airport “A” Gates. While this is a nice terminal by American standards, I find it a little sterile and without much personality.
It’s a hard left for the lounge entrances. With the exception of British Airways Galleries Lounge San Francisco, the lounges are located immediately at the start of the “A” Gates concourse.
It’s worth mentioning that it is technically possible to get to the San Francisco International Airport “A” Gates through a secure passage way from the Terminal One – “B” Gates and the Terminal Two – “C” and “D” Gates. This is quite a walk but perhaps it’s an option if you plan to access these lounges through Priority Pass or other credit card memberships.
Getting back to the San Francisco International Terminal “A” Gates, a pathway takes you to a lounge lobby, where all the lounges in this precinct are displayed. The Air France / KLM Lounge is located near the Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge, the China Airlines Lounge, the Cathay Pacific Lounge and the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse Lounge.
Rounding the corner, we ascended a long escalator up to the second floor, and passed down a long narrow office like hallway to the right hand side.
The entrance for the Air France / KLM Lounge is pretty minimal and functional in nature. There were no grand lobbies or other entrance features, just a reception desk and a lobby area to validate your access.
Accessing the Air France / KLM Lounge:
After arriving to the small reception, we presented our boarding cards for access.
Air France / KLM advertises access to the Air France / KLM Lounges as follows:
Enjoy complimentary access to our lounges:
- For yourself and a guest, if you are traveling in the La Première cabin
- For yourself, if you are traveling in the Business cabin
You may also enjoy complimentary access:
- For yourself and a guest, if you have Flying Blue Platinum status**
- For yourself and a guest, if you have Flying Blue Gold status
- For yourself and a guest if you have SkyTeam Elite Plus status
All guests are welcome, pending availability, and must also be traveling on either an Air France, KLM or SkyTeam flight departing from the same hall.
The lounge is also a member of Priority Pass, which is accessible with a membership to several premium credit cards, including the American Express Platinum Card. During our visit, due to high capacity, Priority Pass visitors were only permitted a take way box containing a sandwich, chips and tinned soft drink.
Our access today was provided courtesy of Qatar Airways, which surprisingly didn’t have an agreement with the neighbouring One World based Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge or the One World based Cathay Pacific Lounge.
Inside The Air France / KLM Lounge:
The Air France / KLM Lounge advertises itself as a temporary space while the San Francisco Lounge is getting a makeover. The new lounge is set to open in the fall of 2023. In the meantime, Air France / KLM is offering this space, which is on the compact size.
Immediately after entering the lounge, you’ll find yourself in a small corridor space. The lounge is set up in a small “U” shape with compact rooms. The first room only had about fifteen seats set up in a table and chairs configuration.
Taking a left around the corner, visitors would find themselves in the main lounge space. The primary lounge room is also the food service area. Combining these two areas as a result of space constraints makes the area a little congested and busy.
Walking further into the lounge, there is a very small area beyond the main room. The space also featured high density table and chair seating areas, along with bar rail seating against the windows.
The lounge was initially really busy when we first arrived as a result of an Air France and a KLM flight departing at around the same time. The lounge had a much different feel when it was at capacity. When it was packed with limited spaces to sit, it was decidedly a lot less enjoyable.
The lounge offered some daylight apron views with a peek – a – boo basis, with some reasonable plane spotting from the lounge itself. All the views are from a profile basis, so you’ll get a great view of the first plane, then an obstructed view of the next gate and so on.
Food and Beverage:
The Air France / KLM Lounge was one of the highlights of this lounge. In a compact space, the lounge was able to offer a surprisingly good food and beverage offering.
From the bar, there was a fresh looking charcuterie platter with cut salami, fresh ham, brie cheese and sliced baguette.
Fresh turkey and vegetable sandwiches were also available. For some thing so simple, it’s amazing that over a meal period that sandwiches aren’t always on offer.
Salads were also available, along with select grapes and sliced fruit.
On the food service bar, there were self service wines and sprits. The wines were of surprisingly good quality for a lounge, with french sparkling wine from Albert Bichot making an appearance, along with Etude Pinot Gris from Carneros California.
Despite the reasonable wines, service of the wines was in plastic throw away highball cups, as pictured in the bottom right of this photograph.
The Food and Beverage offering at the Air France / KLM Lounge was probably the highlight of this compact space, with the plastic cup offerings a little bit of a low rent touch.
We enjoyed a little time in the lounge and more so once it emptied out and was a little less chaotic from the Air France and KLM Departing Flights. We later went on to depart on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class San Francisco – Doha and onwards to Qatar Airways Business Class Doha – Malé.
In Summary:
The Air France KLM Lounge provided a small format business class lounge for departing travellers from the San Francisco International Airport. While the lounge can best be described as “intimate”, there is enough in the lounge in order to snack on and enjoy a drink prior to your departing flight.
If you’ve visited the Air France / KLM Lounge in San Francisco. did you spend a lot of time in this small space before your flight ?
A great airport hotel should be convenient, hospitable and add ease to a travellers journey. Our return to the San Francisco International Airport had us visiting for fifteen hours. Instead of returning to the Westin San Francisco Airport, we decided to stay at the San Francisco Airport Waterfront Marriott. Was this a wise decision over the tried and tested Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel?
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Republic of the Maldives. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Breakaway to the Maldives via Qatar Airways Q Suites
- The All New American Express Centurion Lounge: Seattle Tacoma International Airport
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – San Francisco
- San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront USA
- Air France KLM Lounge, San Francisco International Airport, USA
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: San Francisco – Doha
- Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge: Doha Hamad International Airport
- Al Maha Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport
- Qatar Airways Business Class: Doha – Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Coral Lounge, Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Malé – W Maldives
- The W Maldives
- Trans Maldivian Airways: W Maldives – Malé
- The St Regis Maldives Lounge, Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal, Maldives
- Trans Maldavian Airways: Malé – Vommuli
- The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Vommuli – Malé
- The Leeli Lounge, Malé Velana International Airport, Maldives
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Malé – Doha
- Qatar Airways Premium Arrivals Business Class Lounge, Doha, Qatar
- The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, Doha, Qatar
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Doha – San Francisco
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: San Francisco Airport Waterfront Marriott, USA
“A Newly Renovated Airport Marriott that’s isn’t as Customer Centric as it Could be, especially given it’s Isolated Airport Location”
Booking The San Francisco Airport Waterfront Marriott, USA:
We had a long fifteen hour connection in San Francisco between our flights from Vancouver, Canada, before we departed on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class San Francisco – Doha.
While we had previously stayed at the neighbouring The Westin San Francisco Airport, we decided to see if heading a little further up the road to the San Francisco Airport Waterfront Marriott would be worth the additional effort.
When booking at the San Francisco Airport Waterfront Marriott, I was able to get a AAA rate of $224 USD which booked into the basic 1 King Bed, Guest Room. I booked direct on the Marriott Bonvoy website. As a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Level member, I would also be entitled to Upgrade to best available room, including select suites.
I did find that the prices at the airport hotels in Millbrae adjacent to the San Francisco Airport were generally cheaper than hotels in downtown San Francisco by about $100 USD per night. Since we were only here for a fourteen hour layover, I didn’t see the value in going in to the city for a better, but shorter stay.
Marriott Bonvoy Reward Opportunities:
The San Francisco Waterfront Airport Marriott Hotel prices awfully expensive in the Marriott Bonvoy rewards program. The property generally prices between 45,000, to a staggeringly high 63,000 Marriott Bonvoy reward points, for a standard level room. For context, this is a higher price point than our last Marriott Bonvoy redemption in Hawaii.
I found this to be a little rich for an older airport hotel property, especially when you can easily find rooms at the cheaper aLoft San Francisco or the nearby Residence Inn San Francisco Millbrae Station for under 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points each. Both are much newer properties, but don’t offer an M Club Lounge.
If you value Marriott Bonvoy Points at 0.005 cents, you’ll come out ahead by redeeming points against a room at the property if you rate is above $315 USD. You’ll possibly find some outsized value in the event the cash rate is exceptionally high on a weeknight, but you’re probably better off paying a cash rate assuming you can find a good deal or package.
Getting to the San Francisco Waterfront Airport Marriott Hotel:
We arrived into San Francisco International Airport on Alaska Airlines First Class Seattle – San Francisco. Prior to arriving to the hotel, the hotel did things right in getting us oriented. The Rooms Controller forwarded us a link by email setting out matters to expect, food and beverage information, local restaurant information, shuttle information & tracking. All of this was easily available for viewing on a mobile device.
Based on this, we were able to obtain the shuttle information. This included a great photograph of the shuttle, and clear directions on where to collect the shuttle at the airport.
The arrival process couldn’t be much easier and I have to congratulate the San Francisco Waterfront Airport Marriott for making the arrival process so easy.
The San Francisco Waterfront Airport Marriott was located about fifteen minutes shuttle ride away from the San Francisco International Airport.
One of the hotels’ best features is that it is located overlooking the San Francisco International Airport landing runways and the Bay Area. However, there’s not a lot of anything else in this light industrial neighbourhood.
We boarded the shuttle and made it over to the hotel without any issues. Our stay pattern had us arriving at 11:30 PM, and departing the hotel the next day at 2 PM, encompassing a fourteen hour stay.
Checking into the San Francisco Airport Waterfront Marriott Hotel:
After a quick shuttle ride, we arrived at the hotel. On arrival to the hotel at 11:30 PM, the hotel’s front doors were completely locked, without key card access. We rang the door bell, but it appeared there was no one monitoring the reception. We were eventually let into the hotel by another hotel guest.
Aside from the first impression of being locked out with no one to receive us, the lobby contained a great large restaurant and lounge; “The Flights View Lounge”.
The Flights View Lounge’s atrium had great views out to the water. Unfortunately, the lounge had closed by the time we had arrived and was pretty much pitch black.
We checked in at the front desk. As a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium member, I was entitled to a choice of either a welcome gift, bonus Marriott Bonvoy Points or 1,000 Points per Stay or U.S. $10 food and beverage (“F&B”) credit per Stay.
During check in, when I asked the front desk about the breakfast option (food and beverage credit), I was told “we don’t do that here“. I didn’t get presented with the food and beverage credit option. We were solely directed towards the M Club Lounge for elite food and beverage offerings. Unfortunately, the M Club Lounge was only open for set limited hours, which made it harder to access.
A day in advance, we were assigned a soft upgrade courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status to a 1 King Bed Waterfront from the Guest Room – 1 King we had booked. While it wasn’t a substantial upgrade, it did offer a nicer view.
The Room: Guest Room – 1 King – Waterfront
We were assigned room #3107, which we self interpreted to be on the 3rd floor. We self navigated up to the rooms. Although we were travelling with bags, there was no luggage or porter assistance offered or available at midnight.
It was a bit of a walk through diagonal hallways over to room # 3107. The hallways had some recent refurbishment with new wall coverings and new carpets.
The Bedroom:
Once inside, we arrived to a compact Marriott Airport Hotel Room that was 350sq feet / 32 sq m. While the room was freshly renovated, it was pretty much standard Marriott fare.
The room featured a standard Marriott King Sized bed, and featured a 48 inch flat screen television that was comfortably viewed from the Marriott bed.
In Room Amenities:
The room featured a comfortable chaise style couch, which was a nice refreshing change from the usual couches and occasional chairs that you see in hotel rooms. The chaise allowed you to easily stretch out and get comfortable.
We did happen to find the previous guests’ miniature liquor bottles on the floor behind the chaise. It was something that grossed out MrsWT73, but didn’t really happen to bother me all too much.
The room also featured a small desk area. While it was good for occasional use, I wouldn’t expect to get too much work done here thanks to it’s small size. Surprisingly, the only water available in the room was the $7 USD bottle of Arrowhead water available for purchase. We did ask at the front desk for some bottled water and were eventually offered 2 regular bottles of water from the pantry courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status.
Along with almost all Marriott hotels, a standard filtered coffee maker was available.
Based on the floor plan, the floor didn’t offer too many suites for upgrades. Our waterfront room was one of the larger ones located in the middle of the floor.
The Bathroom:
The bathroom of the Guest Room 1 King Waterfront was a standard variety compact bathroom. It offered space for only one person with a single vanity sink and toilet.
The bathroom was recently renovated and featured in a slick grey colour scheme. Instead of offering individual plastic bottles for shampoo, the toiletries were dispensed from dispensers in the shower.
The waterfront room view actually had a nice view that we appreciated the next morning. It had a view of the San Francisco Airport landing runways.
Overall, the room was nicely upgraded. The only down side to the room was its slightly compact foot print that was consistent for a hotel of this particular older generation.
Food and Beverage:
Due to the hotel’s location, there are not a lot of opportunities to dine off property located around the hotel. You’ll be walking between 15 – 20 minutes through a light industrial area in order to get to any alternate off property restaurants. This makes access to food and beverage facilities on the property essential. Unfortunately, we had mixed results trying to access food during our stay.
M Club Lounge:
On the date of our arrival, I ventured down to the M Club Lounge. Disappointingly, the lounge was not accessible outside of breakfast or evening snack hours and was completely locked up. As such, we weren’t able to pop into the lounge in order to collect a bottle of water.
On our visit, the lounge was open as follows:
- Weekday Breakfast between 6:30 AM – 9:00 AM (rather short for breakfast hours!)
- H’ors D’oeuvres between 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
- Dessert between 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Unfortunately, the lounge was not open outside these times for relaxing, or for picking up a soft drink.
Once inside, the M Club was nicely decorated consistent with a recent renovation.
The food in the M Club Lounge was pretty average Marriott fare. On our breakfast visit, there were cut fruit, scrambled eggs with salsa accompaniments, and some tator tots potatoes available for consumption.
While it met the mark for an overnight stay, I wouldn’t relish revisiting the lounge for breakfast on a multi day stay.
While the M Club was a nice to have feature, it was limited by the fact that it had decidedly short hours of operation. The food was also a little plain, compared to some of the other Marriott Lounges that I’ve had the opportunity to visit.
Flights View Lounge:
The Flights View Lounge is the hotels’ primary restaurant. During our visit, it offered:
- Breakfast between 6:30 AM – 10:30 AM
- Lunch between 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM
- Dinner between 4:00 PM – 11:00 PM
While it had a nice looking environment, our travel schedule (which wasn’t all to extreme) didn’t allow us to get in any snacks, as it was closed on arrival. I was a little surprised that the lounge was completely closed at 10:30 PM. For breakfast, the hotel didn’t seem to keen on offering the Food and Beverage Credit, so we didn’t take a full price breakfast in the restaurant.
Around the Hotel Property:
Waterfront Walkway:
Arguably the best feature of the hotel isn’t something that’s actually run by the hotel itself. It’s the waterfront walkway that’s situated right outside of the property on the Bay side on the water.
I took a walk down the south eastern direction of the walkway, but it ran out of real estate about about ten minutes of walking. The walkway does continue towards the San Francisco International Airport, which would be the better direction if you were planning on using the walkway as a running track.
The walkway is the hotels’ nicest feature. Although, despite some nice plane spotting opportunities, I don’t think that it’s nice enough to draw me back for a second stay.
Gym:
The hotel offered a small 24 hour gym. While the gym is nice to have, it’s not a particular place that I would imagine spending a lot of time in thanks to it’s odd and some what fluorescent lit layout.
Hotel Pantry:
The Hotel does offer a small pantry for picking up some snacks. Unfortunately, for arriving after the supper hour being closed, the pantry didn’t offer a whole lot of meal replacement items. My diet these days, doesn’t consider a giant bag of popcorn as a legitimate meal replacement item.
While I can appreciate that the hotel may not want to cannibalize any food and beverage sales by offering larger food products in the pantry, the items that were on offer in the pantry were expensive. We picked up a $15 USD Can of Underwood Pinot Noir (that retails for $6 USD at Fred Meyer) as it was the only drinks available after midnight. I didn’t see much value here.
Checking Out of the San Francisco Airport Waterfront Marriott Hotel:
Our check out the next day, our check out was without incident. We didn’t have any surprises on the bill and our points posted within thirty six hours.
It was a pretty anonymous and transactional stay. While we didn’t have any issues with our stay, I didn’t elect to raise any concerns with the front desk.
We departed the hotel on the complimentary shuttle and headed onwards on Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class San Francisco – Doha and onwards Qatar Airways Business Class Doha – Malé.
Bottom Line: The San Francisco Airport Waterfront Marriott Hotel
The San Francisco Airport Waterfront Marriott met the basic needs for an airport hotel stay. With a great initial impression thanks to clear shuttle and welcome instructions, our stay over fourteen hours was, frankly, pretty boring.
Many of the food and beverage outlets weren’t open during our visits. While our stay pattern wasn’t that unusual, the hotel wasn’t all that accommodating in delivering elite benefits for an airport hotel that likely has travellers arriving at all sorts of hours.
With a lounge that stopped serving breakfast at 9:30 AM, there wasn’t any sleeping in after a late arrival. The pantry wasn’t really set up for meal replacements and was unusually expensive. There are a lack of restaurants near the property, which makes any traveller that much more reliant on the hotel offerings, which aren’t always available due to limited hours of operation. The hotel housekeeping wasn’t all that stellar, and the hotel didn’t seem to keen on offering food and beverage credits in the main restaurant.
Perhaps my expectations are too high, but overall, I’d probably give this place a miss next time, in favour of another San Francisco Airport property.
If you have stayed at the San Francisco Waterfront Airport Marriott, how did you find your stay ?
Alaska Airlines operates a large hub of activity from it’s home in the lower states from Seattle Tacoma International Airport. As Canadian travellers who fly Alaska Airlines, we frequently find ourselves connecting through busy Seattle Tacoma International Airport. Today’s connection experience had us departing from the North Satellite Terminal, on a positioning flight to San Francisco. We would get the opportunity to test out their First Class service with an important VIP on board.
This post is one chapter on my trip to the Republic of the Maldives. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Breakaway to the Maldives via Qatar Airways Q Suites
- The All New American Express Centurion Lounge: Seattle Tacoma International Airport
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – San Francisco
- San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront USA
- Air France KLM Lounge, San Francisco International Airport, USA
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: San Francisco – Doha
- Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge: Doha Hamad International Airport
- Al Maha Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport
- Qatar Airways Business Class: Doha – Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Coral Lounge, Malé
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Malé – W Maldives
- The W Maldives
- Trans Maldivian Airways: W Maldives – Malé
- The St Regis Maldives Lounge, Malé Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal, Maldives
- Trans Maldavian Airways: Malé – Vommuli
- The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
- Trans Maldivian Airways: Vommuli – Malé
- The Leeli Lounge, Malé Velana International Airport, Maldives
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Malé – Doha
- Qatar Airways Premium Arrivals Business Class Lounge, Doha, Qatar
- The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, Doha, Qatar
- Qatar Airways Q Suites Business Class: Doha – San Francisco
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: Alaska Airlines B737-8, Seattle Tacoma International Airport – San Francisco International Airport
I had a really difficult time locating Qatar Q Suites Business Class award availability from the United States to the Maldives. Despite my best efforts, I wasn’t able to locate any saver award space out of any city other than San Francisco, with the more “convenient to us” Seattle drawing an empty blank.
As a result, we had to position from Seattle to San Francisco to get our comfortable ride onwards from North America to the Middle East and onwards to the Maldives.
Boarding Alaska Airlines First Class:
We departed the all new American Express Centurion Lounge Seattle and took the train over to the North Terminal by taking the SEA Underground Train.
Once we were over at centrally located Seattle Tacoma International Airport Gate N12, it was a pretty light boarding experience today without much crowding.
Alaska Airlines likes to board it’s planes really early, so we boarded right at the boarding time printed on the boarding card. We were on the plane before we knew it.
Alaska Airlines
First Class (E)
SEA – SFO (Seattle Tacoma International Airport – San Francisco International Airport)
AS 1112
March 6, 2023
Booked: Boeing 737-800
Flown: Boeing 737-800
Departure: 8:50 PM
Arrival: 10:57 PM
On Board Alaska Airlines First Class:
After an invitation for Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan MVP Gold and active military members, First Class passengers were given an invitation to board.
We boarded the empty aircraft through door 1L and were the second passengers on board the familiar Alaska Airlines First Class seating.
The Alaska Airlines First class puffy blue leather seats are comfortable, pleasant and soft. It’s perhaps the oldest school domestic First Class seat today. For a short two hour hop from Seattle to San Francisco, these leather seats of goodness were perfectly plush for a smooth soft ride.
Pre Departure Services:
Alaska Airlines has recently economized the pre-departure beverage offering. Today’s pre-departure beverage service was completely absent. Instead, we were offered the typical boxed water which was served at room temperature (without refrigeration).
I don’t happen to mind the boxed water but MrsWT73 doesn’t enjoy the taste of it, finding it metallic and less refreshing than bottled water.
Riding with a VIP:
Flying with the Prime Minister of Finland
While we were settling into Alaska Airlines First Class, we had a few minutes prior to the rest of the cabin boarding. Looking out of the window, I happened to notice a number of limosines on the Seattle Tacoma apron.
The convoy seemed to have a number of tactical officers next to the plane. Based on this, I assumed they were likely waiting for, or perhaps boarding a VIP of some sort.
While we were seated, we had a number of ground agents discussing logistics with the “in charge” flight attendant. We were then joined by an entourage of travellers, which included an “aide de camp” dressed in a military uniform with a Finnish Flag.
The entourage took over the entire first class cabin, surrounding us on all sides with aides, an armed aircraft protective officer and what I’d later discover to be the President of Finland – Mr. Sauli Niinistö. He ended up joining us in row 2 by seating across from us in 2F, after he didn’t seem to keen on his assigned 1F in the bulkhead.
It turns out that the President of Finland was on an official visit to the State of Washington to bolster green and technology supports. While his entourage and security kept an eye on us, it would mark my first occasion where we had been surrounded by “an entourage” flying Alaska Airlines. The group pretty much bought out the whole First Class Cabin with the exception of our two seats. With Finnair also being a member of One World, it seemed to make sense that they were also flying One World Alaska Airlines.
We got underway reasonably quickly out of Seattle Tacoma International Airport. While it felt like we had expedited clearance, we departed on a southerly tract without delay.
Food and Beverage:
Once airborne, a light meal service was offered. Alaska Airlines offered the ability to pre-select a meal within fourteen days up to twenty four hours before a flight. However, there weren’t a whole lot of choices for an under two hour flight.
Menus were offered by the in flight menu card located in the seat pocket. The featured wines in Alaska First Class were McBride Sisters Wine Company.
While I pre-ordered a cheese plate, I ended up being offered a protein version with chicken and hard boiled egg whites on them. I paired this with a glass of cold McBride Sisters Chardonnay, which was offered with several friendly refills throughout the flight.
Although it was a little dry, it was pretty tasty as a snack. The food was more than I might have expected for under a two hour flight. It was much more than my last United Airlines flight under two hours, that typically offers a snack basket or pre-wrapped snack.
In Flight Entertainment:
Alaska Airlines offers a comparable offering of in flight entertainment delivered through your smart phone device and the Go Go Entertainment application.
Along with free texting, the flight was wifi enabled. The price point of a flat $8 USD for wifi streaming was also pretty reasonable for a longer haul trans continental flight.
The in-flight entertainment system worked without any drop offs. The content wasn’t too extensive for a short haul carrier, but there were enough movies to keep us entertained.
We had a quick arrival into San Francisco International Airport. We allowed our VIP Entourage to deplane around us. The fourteen of them scampered off into the terminal as a group. We gathered our luggage and headed onto the San Francisco Waterfront Airport Marriott hotel for the evening.
My Thoughts on Alaska Airlines First Class:
Alaska Airlines First Class provides a competitive and, at times, better service than it’s competitors American or United Airlines. The service is often friendlier, and in most cases, you get enough of a meal as a snack while flying Alaska. The plush Alaska Airlines First Class seat is a nice retro bonus, since it allows for comfortable flying.
World Traveller 73 
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