Hello from Doha, where I am feeling quite refreshed after a 16.5-hour journey on Qatar Airways A350-1000 Qsuite business class. Ahead of a full review, I want to offer my initial impressions of this ultra-longhaul journey over the North Pole.

Qatar Airways A350-1000 Qsuite Business Class: My First Impressions (LAX-DOH)

We took a polar routing from LAX-DOH, which took use directly over the realm of Father Christmas. I was chatting with the flight attendant who served my section and he said that flight attendants are only permitted to work these sorts of routes once per month because of the radiation exposure.

In any case, the A350-1000 is Qatar Airways’ flagship aircraft and very comfortable onboard, at least in business class, with fully-enclosed suites Qatar calls Qsuites. I chose seat 3A, a rear-facing seat that included plenty of personal space and privacy.

The Qsuite is beginning to show a bit of wear and tear. There were some scratches and dents on the seat and my American-style 120-volt plug would not stay in the socket…it was too worn down (I solved the problem by a using a EU-style 220-volt adapter, which did lock into place). There also appeared to be no USB-C, though I later found a port had been aded under the window (kudos to Qatar Airways for doing that).

A great solo travel tip spotted this week on Live and Let's Fly.