Flight | QR 962 | VCE - DOH Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways, 19th July 2011.
QR962
Venice to Doha

The long flight back home. After spending less than a month in Europe (a dreadful mistake), we made our way to Macro Polo International Airport to board our flight back to Singapore via Doha.

The airport is rather messy and with luggages you are forced to take one of the few lifts provided because the security will stop you from taking the escalators.

The A320-200 plane has only one aisle and two rows of seats, with a small number of business class seats at the front. There are was a fair amount of Asians on this flight. I think there was a Chinese tour group on board. The cabin crew included quite a few Asians too. 

Our plane was equipped with the new Oryx Entertainment System. Unlike the previous flights, there were remote controllers to navigate around the screen. I like the animation they use for their safety videos, it was adorable and lively. Like the other Middle-Eastern airlines, the safety videos tend to be longer as it was being played in at least two languages, sometimes 3 (on an Emirates flight) including Arabic and English.

Moments after boarding, our plane took off and the Venetian countryside came into view.

The plane approaches Jesolo, a famous seaside resort town.just east of Venice.

Nuts (made in Singapore) and drinks were given out moments after departure. Before departure, they also gave out sweets.

The flight back from Venice was one of the more memorable ones because the queue for the lavatory was unbelievable. Right after the meal service, there was a long queue forming along the aisle. The narrow plane makes it difficult for the cabin crew to move around too as the long queue took up the only aisle in the plane.

We flew past several countries on the Balkans including Macedonia.

As our plane approaches Turkey, lunch service started.

I chose the Fish Fillet with Caper Cream Sauce served with vegetable brunoise mash potato and sautéed spinach. It was a little on the bland side, a sprinkle of black pepper seemed to resolved this though. I somewhat like the tender texture of the fish, and how the cream sauce wasn't too heavy as I thought.

They also offered a mini caprese salad as appetizer, complete with basil leaves, tomatoes and olive oil dressing. The cabin crew were quite friendly and they tried their best to get their job done despite the cramped conditions.

Meanwhile, the plane is flying across Turkey towards Iraq, I got to see the Taurus Mountains of Turkey and the Beysehir Golu, a lake near the city of Konya.

The flight from Venice to Doha took approximately 5 hours, crossing the day/night boundary over the Middle East.

Our plane arrived at Doha near midnight.