World’s Best Business Class Airline Plus Great Coach, Lounges And Food

27.09.2023 - 13:25 / forbes.com

It finally happened. After three-plus decades, millions of miles flown, and having the pleasure to fly on many of the world’s highly acclaimed (and the agony to fly many not so acclaimed) airlines, I had my first restaurant-quality meal in the sky.

For all the lip service about consulting celebrity chefs and premium class menus, the reality is that no one takes a flight for the food, as the altitude and logistical limitations make it nearly impossible for airlines to provide exceptional catering, no matter how much they may want to. Even in business class on better airlines, if a flight is late at night I usually eat first and skip the inflight dinner altogether, no matter how fancy, because it is never worth staying up for.

But on a recent Qatar Airways flight from the U.S. to Doha, I had the best meal I’ve ever eaten on a plane. Equally impressive was my experience when I flew to Southeast Asia on Qatar in coach, where the food was still superior to just about every other economy flight I have done - as was the service, entertainment and more.

None of this was a shock, given that I have flown Qatar before and it has always been pretty amazing. I have enough experience in travel to trust my own judgement, but it’s certainly not just me. The airline wins many of the industry’s biggest awards year after year, including aviation’s highest honor, the equivalent of the Best Picture Oscar. That would be World’s Best Airline from the Skytrax World Airline Awards, by far the most important such industry accolade. In fact, when they won World’s Best last year it was for the seventh time (in 2023 they came in second).

Less than a year ago (November 2022) Qatar’s excellent state-of-the-art Doha hub, Hamad International Airport, unveiled a major $15-billion-plus expansion. This roughly doubled the passenger capacity, added new gates, shops, restaurants, a new 100-room hotel and The Orchard, a park-like indoor tropical garden spanning more than 100,000 square feet. It also added four more Qatar lounges to an already very impressive slate. In that vein, Qatar just won Best Business Class Airline Lounge and Best Business Class Lounge Dining from the 2023 Skytrax World Airline Awards, while the airport itself came in at Number Two in the World, and Number Three in Travel + Leisure’s Reader Poll.

After Skytrax, one of the most important aviation awards are the Apex Awards, and Qatar just won the Apex Award for Best Food & Beverage. In the 2023 Business Traveller Magazine (U.K.-based) awards they won Best Long-Haul Airline, Best Business Class, Best Middle Eastern Airline and Best Inflight Food & Beverage. All of this meshes with my personal experiences onboard and in the airport and lounges.

Interestingly, for my