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Airline Food

Qatar Airways Serves Up Eco-Trays and Pot Pie

February 18, 2009 at 4:01 PM | 0 Comments

There is at least one airline listening to passenger's calls for better meal service and an attention to eco-responsibility. Qatar Airways has just announced a complete revampment of their in-flight food service for flights to and from England, and surprisingly the focus is on quality in economy class.

Instead of sad, beige plastic trays with the airline logo, Qatar Airways will be rolling out clear, 99% recyclable lightweight trays and serving sets which will be set onto a placemat in a color of your choosing.

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Travel Snapshots

Security Guards in Qatar's First Class Lounge Won't Allow Any Pictures

January 21, 2009 at 11:31 AM | 2 Comments

How's this for your ultimate airport lounge? It's the first class lounge belonging to Qatar Airways at their main hub in Doha and it looks decadent enough for us to think that Qatar Airways might be charging too much for their plane tickets.

Flickr fanatic Stuck in Customs went to a fair bit of trouble to bring us this great travel snapshot:

I was warned many times by grisly-looking security guards not to take any photos of any people in the lounge, especially if they were wearing the national uniform.

And all that on a three-day marathon to fly from snow-bound Atlanta to sticky Kuala Lumpur (and no, Doha is not exactly the most common route for this trip).

The photographer is cool enough to admit he didn't know where Doha was when they sold him a flight there--and we admit we don't know much more about it than a vague spot on the globe and a planned museum that's hidden in a sand dune. In fact, we figure that outside this fancy airport lounge, Doha is just dunes. Right?

Related Stories:
· Architecture Travel: Hidden Museum in the Desert, Doha [Jaunted]
· Doha Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: Stuck in Customs]

Drunk Travel

Drunk Travel: Hit Flight Attendant, Get Tied Up

July 15, 2008 at 9:00 AM | 0 Comments

Another airline passenger makes it into the annals of history this week after his very successful attempt at drunk travel.

This time it's a Kuwaiti man who decided to drink more than his fair share of on-board booze while flying with Qatar Airways from Doha to Bangkok. The man was so drunk that he refused to sit down (let alone wear that necessary seatbelt) and hit a flight attendant.

Obviously, hitting flight staff is a big no-no and so the attendants manage to tie his arms and legs together before the pilot made an emergency landing in Mumbai to offload the drunken troublemaker. And we thought Kuwaitis didn't even drink.

Related Stories:
· Drunk Passenger Forces Emergency Landing [Times of India]
· Qatar Airways is the Gas [Jaunted]
· Mid-Air Brawl Over Girl [Jaunted]

[Photo: idf-fotos]

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways is the Gas

November 16, 2007 at 9:00 AM | 0 Comments

There is a heap of talk these days about the huge costs of fuel and how that's a great excuse for airlines to charge us more (even if they're wasting their own fuel like British Airways, flying empty planes between the UK and the US just to retain landing spots).

We're quite grateful that at least one airline is considering an alternative. Qatar Airways is heavily into research and discussions about creating airplanes powered by natural gas. Since Qatar itself has huge reserves of natural gas, the vested interest is clear, but if other airlines got in on the act the experts say using natural gas would definitely be more cost-effective.

But does that mean the airlines would just make a bigger profit... or would they make it a bit cheaper for us to get around?

Related Stories:
· Qatar Airways' Gas-Powered Planes [The Age]
· British Airways Sends Empty Planes Across Atlantic [CBC]

[Photo: Thomas Lu]