Somewhere over the Atlantic, it occurred to me — because Qatar brands their\u00a0shorter flights in a two cabin way (i.e. economy and first class, rather than economy and business class, as they technically are), we were going to get to use the \u00a0Al Safwa First Class Lounge (I looked for a link or website dedicated to the lounge, but could not find one)<\/del>. \u00a0Although Hubs didn’t believe me, after our arrival from Atlanta, when we went to the Al Marjan Business Class lounge, the hostess asked if we wouldn’t like to enjoy the first class lounge, so we walked back across the concourse and rode the escalator up to the (slightly) fancier area.<\/p>\n

Now, a quick side bar. \u00a0I lived in Doha for two years and was frustrated by the experience, for a number of reasons I won’t go into<\/del>. \u00a0I flew out of the old Doha International airport with the buses (always<\/i>, with the buses — personally dubbed the ‘suck wagon’ because after a 14-hour flight it was always a huge slap to have to get on those buses and queue in the old immigration lines). \u00a0I only had access to the craptastic Oryx lounge (with a few visits to the Qatar business lounge), so anything at Hamad was going to be an improvement.<\/p>\n

I digress. \u00a0But seriously, Qatar Airways, not one upgrade in 5 years? \u00a0Even for my Platinum level husband? \u00a0I’m not bitter, you’re bitter.<\/del><\/p>\n

Back to arrival in Doha… \u00a0Given our experience on the outbound flight<\/a> with the bustling and well serviced Al Marjan, I was optimistic about what the Al Safwa experience would be. \u00a0With our boarding passes scanned, we walked in the over large hallway (although there are additional entry points) and into the massive<\/em> cavern that is the main area (?) of the lounge.<\/p>\n

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