Flying Qatar Airways to Japan – What is it like?

So, in the past two years I have taken various routes and various airlines to Japan, and, given that we live near an airport that doesn’t have many option of flights overseas, let me add Qatar Airways to the mix. In fact, Qatar Airways is, along with a Chinese Airline, the only airline that offers any intercontinental flights without having to change planes at a larger hub airport. We live near Berlin and for travelling to Japan, we only have a few options. I flew Finnair in May 2024 and quite liked it then but Finnair hasn’t been reliable for me. I flew Etihad Airways in 2024 and KLM in 2025. Both okay, except for problems at Amsterdam Airport on the KLM flights. So, off i go, looking for a new favourite airline.

The brief was to find reasonably priced flights to Tokyo on an airline with excellent safety rating in Economy Class in Autumn 2025 that would travel less than 24 hours with one stopover maximum, and not involve going anywhere near Russia. I found flights on Skyscanner for 875 Euro booked directly through the Qatar Airways web site, and signed up to their bonus programm to collect Avios.

The photos in this post are all from this trip on Qatar Airways. The actual trip was too unremarkable, so only a few photos of the airport in Doha made it into this post.

A few facts about Qatar Airways

Etihad is the national airline of Qatar, an Emirate on the Arabian peninsula. It is a young airline, founded in 19933, and has its hub in Hamad International Airport in Doha, a new airport opened in 2014.

They fly relatively new aircraft from both Airbus and Boeing. While they initially appeared to be centred around Airbus-made Aircraft, they now fly both Airbus and Boeing Aircraft. They also appear to have their hands in various other airlines, with variable success. The Airline Ratings website considers them one of the world’s Top 10 safest airlines, coming in at Position No.4 in 2026 after Etihad, Cathay Pacific and Qantas.

Obviously, the flight path from Europe to Japan does not involve the Arabian peninsula, so any flight from Europe will include a detour via Arabia, at sometimes dead of the night inconvenient times. But then, flying with such a highly rated airline at such a good price seemed a good deal.

Qatar Airways was named Airline of the Year at the Skytrax Awards in 2025 and 2024 and came second in 2023. So… Qatar Airways to Tokyo, a no brainer, right?

Web site and Mobile App

I almost always book direct after having been burned with a third party agent before. So, after my search on Skyscanner, off I went to Qatarairways.com to compare prices and book.

I cannot remember much of the booking process, so it must have been quite. Personally, I don’t really mind whether I fly to Narita or Haneda Airport in Tokyo. I normally stay in Ueno or Nippori, which is where the Keisei Express train to Narita stops, so Narita works well for me, and flights to Narita can be a lot cheaper. The flight cost 875 Euro per person in Economy Class including 25kg of luggage, booked in Spring for travel in late October 2025.

I also downloaded the app, and checking in for our flights flights was easy. Our flight was to leave Berlin in the morning, arrive in Doha in the late afternoon, and we would continue from Doha in the evening after a layover of about four hours.

Pre-booking preferred seats cost extra, to the point where we decided not to bother. A few days before our flight, I received an email where my husband, who’s in no frequent flyer programme at all, was offered an upgrade to Business Class for the Berlin-Doha leg for around 500-ish Euro.

There was no refund or rebooking option like on direct bookings with Etihad or Turkish Airlines.

Departure, Arrival and Transfer in Doha

In the past few years, Berlin BER Airport has really come into its own as a relatively pleasant small European Airport, and it has gotten gradually better but on the whole it is quite prone to industrial action or falling into chaos in slightly adverse weather. This time, we left for the airport the night before and stayed in the Intercity Hotel Berlin Airport the night before our flight because our public transit is so rubbish and unreliable, we would have had to leave the house at 2am for our late morning flight. The hotel was fine, but felt overpriced for the solid three-star service where you pay for every extra. Okay, of you can book it for well under 100 Euro, otherwise I would probably choose the Steigenberger Hotel Steigenberger Airport Hotel next door next time. Both hotels are 1 minute on foot from Terminal 1.

Coming to Check-In nice and early the next morning, we were met with a queue, where, despite having checked in online the night before, we had to check in again using an automated terminal and then take our luggage to an actual desk. Definitely recommend hand luggage only in this case, but I had so much omiyage including bottles of wine, it was impossible to take as hand luggage.

We arrived at Doha on time and passed through one friendly security control before transiting through a relatively nice green terminal building with a jungle-like public space and some quirky statues. Cafes an shops were aplenty, but nothing that struck me as special, and prices were very high. So we thought, no, thanks, and walked about 2km to our next gate through a huge and modern airport that looked like it could be anywhere.

Aside from that little garden, it felt vast and bland. There were only standard seats wherever we looked, so we rested on these relatively uncomfortable seats for two hours before boarding our next flight which was also full. On the way back, the terminal was brighter, and there was a ver limited number of recliner seats

It was… totally unremarkable to the point that I barely remember anything from it. We had requested vegetarian meals, which came, and looked a heck of a lot worse than the standard meals, which included a meat-free option.

The entertainment was okay – a few nice films including a few Japanese and a few art house ones.

The service – fine, totally unremarkable. You might wonder, why am I bother to write all this.

We had some bad weather approaching Narita with some standard turbulence warning, which thankfully, wasn’t too bad. We arrived at Narita slightly delayed, and the queues for immigration at Narita were the worst I had seen in a while. All in all, it took us about an hour between arriving and leaving the airport, which is perhaps not too bad.

Aircraft

Qatar Airways operates a fleet of about 270 aircraft from both Boeing and Airbus, with an average age of between 0 to 17 years according to Airfleets, and an average age of 10 years. The age is bumped up by a significant number of ageing A330, and the majority of their aircraft , over 90 Boeing 777 which are well over 10 years old.

We flew to Doha in a Boeing 787 and to Narita on an Airbus A350. Seat layout on both the 787 and the A350 was 3-3-3 in Economy. Seats are pretty standard, 31-32 inch leg room, 17 inch width, recline 6 degrees… 787 seats only may have 30 inch leg room. For comparison, the Finnair A350 I am fairly familiar with, has an extra inch of width (18in), 31 in legroom but only 5 degrees recline. A Japan Airlines A350 has 33-34 inches leg room and 18 inch wide seats.

On our return flight, we were scheduled to fly in a Boeing 777, which was changed to a Boeing 787 at short notice, so our seats changed, but not that it mattered – we were in a middle row, anyway.

We left Doha in the evening and arrived in Narita at lunchtime, and left NArita late in the evening and arrived back in Berlin in the afternoon, so both  flights were night flight. So, seats are on the narrow, especially of the flight is full, it’s uncomfortable.

On the Flight

We left Berlin in the morning, transited in Doha later afternoon, flew again in the evening and arrived in Narita at lunchtime, so ours was a night flight.

In the return flight, we left Narita late at night, transited in Doha in the early morning with nearly five hours layover.

On each plain, the cabin was clean and decked out in the usual Burgundy Qatar Airways colours, nothing memorable.

No amenity kit. Pillows and blankets as should be standard, pillow encased in some single use (I hope!) papery cover, the kind of stuff we use at work to wrap medical instruments in, and the standard cheapo poly-fleece blanket. All this was perfectly adequate but completely unmemorable.

The flight attendants were okay – pretty much the same like what I had experienced on my Etihad Airways flight a year before. Very young, Eastern European and Middle Eastern mostly, efficient but not overly nice of helpful. Given it was full flights most of the time, they did their job and it was mostly okay.

Food and Drink

I have almost no memory of the meals we had on the airplane, which means they must have been completely unremarkable. Not even a single photo on my mobile.

All in all, it was tolerable. I had stocked up on water before the flight, and with free water dispensers at both Berlin and Hamad airports, it’s easy and free. Therefore, the infrequent drinks service did not bother me.

Qatar Airways to Japan: Yay or Nay?

Overall, I would have flown Qatar Airways again if the ticket were cheap enough, armed with enough food and my own blanket and pillow. The Economy Experience was just like with any other Western Airline, absolutely unremarkable, but flights felt safe and arrived on time, so no major issues.

But… and now, there comes a big “but”… If all works, they may not be a bad choice of airline. And unfortunately, there is not much choice here in Berlin for long haul, especially to Asia. Just bear in mind that when you fly Economy, there is little of the “The World’s Best Airline” Glamour that Qatar Airways loves to us in all forms of PR rubbing off. It’s abog standard Economy flight with a long routing and good safety ratings.

But when things go wrong, their customer service is the worst. The very worst. I got a first taste of it when I could not find my miles anywhere on my newly opened account. I asked for the miles to be credited, sent my boarding pass – at least five times. Write to Customer Services. I mean, it was just miles. About three months later, they finally replied and said these points went to my Finnair account. Since I hadn’t been checking that one regularly, I couldn’t have known – some form of notification would have been nice.

But well, that was just miles. What if you have a bigger problem?

Post Scriptum: Qatar Airways Customer Service

This is where I really have a problem with Qatar Airways. After the Tokyo Flight experience I would have said, yeah, mediocre but safe, would fly again if the price is right. Bt with the recent world events putting a stop to flights via the Gulf States for weeks, it was Qatar Airways that shone by being mostly uncontactable.

My mum is currently stuck in Southern Asia after her Qatar Airways Flight to Berlin got cancelled. Fair enough. It is war, there is little that can be done. But other than receiving automated emails and notifications in her app, there was… nothing. She sat it out, paying for all extra costs herself, and still, sno assistance from Qatar Airways whatsoever. Eventually she caved in and bought flights on Emirates who started operating on a limited schedule again.

She emailed Qatar Airways several times, tried to call, to no avail. She ended up cancelling her return ticket (unwise move), since there had been absolutely no news as to when she might be able to return home. Of course, she hasn’t seen any refunds yet, either.

For “The World’s Best Airline” this, for sure, is a big fail, and I really expect their ratings to plummet after this, especially when other airlines in the region at least appear to make an effort to operate some flights and help their customers. I have heard that Emirates will start operating from Berlin as well, and for me, it is pretty certain whom I would chose to travel with.

The Small Print

I flew Qatar Airways from Berlin to Tokyo Narita in October 2025, and returned in November 2025. I paid 875 Euro per person for a return Economy flight, as always, all paid by myself. I signed up with Qatar Airways Privilege Club and collected a few miles, which were automatically transferred to my Finnair Plus account. I wasn’t asked to write this review, all opinions are my own etc., and to be honest, I would have left it as unremarkable but fine, until the recent event made me rethink whether I should write a review about an airline that left my family out cold.

I hope this helps in your decision whether to choose Qatar Airways for your next flight.