Doha First Class Lounge Review

Qatar has a rather complex lounge policy. There are separate lounges for those travelling in First and Business, and then for those who are eligible for lounge access due to their frequent flyer status.

This means that the Doha First Class lounge isn’t actually the real First Class lounge at Doha. That title falls to the Al Safwa Lounge.

We were using this lounge as we were travelling in economy on Qatar’s A380 to Bangkok. You can read the review here.

Access

If you’re a oneworld Emerald, and are flying economy, you’ll be directed to the ‘First Class’ lounge. Again, this is not the lounge used by those ticketed in First, who are instead directed to the far superior Al Safwa Lounge.

Having searched for reviews before visiting the lounge, I was expecting to be distinctly underwhelmed. In the end, however, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, this isn’t a ‘First Class’ lounge in the true sense but there are far worse places to wait for a flight.

The lounge is easy to find and is well sign posted once you’ve cleared security and is accessed via an escalator.

The Space

The lounge isn’t particularly expansive, although it has a few different seating areas. These include a TV/Relaxation area, with sofas and chairs suitable for sleeping. Unfortunately, these appear to be in constant demand, so you shouldn’t rely on being able to sleep comfortably in the lounge if you have a long connection.

It’s also true that the lounge became busy during peak periods, and at times it felt as if the space could do with being bigger.  At the same time though, there were periods during out stay when the lounge was distinctly empty (the majority of the afternoon).

Dedicated wifi is available, and offered decent speeds for working and catching up with email. There are, however, a distinct lack of charging points. This was disappointing, especially as Doha acts as a transit hub and passengers are likely to want to charge devices between flights.

Food and Drinks

The lounge has a dining area, and hot food is available from a self-service buffet. In the evening, this consisted of chicken in a cream sauce, as well as potatoes and rice. In the morning a hot breakfast was available consisting of hash browns, chicken sausages, omelettes and a continental selection of cereals and pastries.  The selection was more than adequate and the food available was of a good quality.

There was also a good drinks selection. This included soft drinks, spirits, wine and champagne. All  were self-service apart from champagne. I thought the selection was fairly fine.

Conclusions

So yes, it’s true, this isn’t exactly a ‘First Class’ lounge, but it’s really not a bad place to wait between flights. The food selection was substantial and of a good quality. The drinks selection was also more than adequate. There were enough different seating areas and overall it was a comfortable space to wait between flights.