When booking a long-haul trip with kids, you want it to be a hassle-free journey. Qatar Airways was an obvious choice for us flying from Melbourne with the flight time being 14 hours from Melbourne To Doha and then 7 hours from Doha to Madrid. 5.5 hours from Belgrade to Doha and 13.5 from Doha to Melbourne. Thankfully, our kids are old enough to have their own seats.
This was a significant drop in the amount of time we would spend on the aircraft and in airports, as the entire flight on our last trip was 38 hours in transit. Flying Qatar Airways with kids, we went on three aeroplanes: a Boeing 777, a Boeing Dreamliner 787, and an Airbus A320.
Airways is a Middle Eastern airline based out of Hamed Airport in Doha, Qatar. Qatar Airways was formed in 1993, and it flies to more than 150 international destinations across Africa, Central Asia, Europe, the Far East, South Asia, the Middle East, North America, South America, and Oceania.
Passenger Services for families at Hamed Internation Airport
Qatar Airways has short stopovers at Hamad International Airport, Doha. This moves you and your kids quickly to your destination, which we love. We experienced a transit time of under 2 hours in both directions.
This is great when flying with kids because it cuts the downtime you spend in the airport. Downtime can be a killer if you transit through airports that don’t have child-friendly facilities and for long periods.
Hamad International Airport Family facilities:
- Parents rooms for little ones
- Family Toilets
- 5 activity areas offering wifi, Apple Mac stations and interactive art
After you have booked your Qatar Airways flight, the company’s website makes it easy for you to log on with your booking reference and select seating and meal options for kids and adults. Just remember: If you don’t order a Qatar Airways kids meal, your children won’t get one of the excellent Qatar kids packs.
The 777’s configuration is a 3-4-3 model: 3 seats by the window, 4 across the middle, and 3 on the other window. The 777 in Economy class is the best I have ever been on. It just seems spacious for an economy class, I can only imagine how spacious the first-class cabin would be.
The seats were amazingly comfortable and spacious for economy class, and they were great for sleeping in. As a family of four, we were seated in the centre section of the plane.
The armrests were adjustable between seats, giving the adults more room and letting the kids sleep easily by resting their shoulders on you. If you fly Qatar Airways with infants and babies, request bassinet seats.
If your baby is flying on an infant ticket, it will not have an allocated seat and will be expected to sit in an adult’s lap. I suggest that the adults flying Qatar sit on the aisle. This allows you to stretch your legs out more.
Flying Qatar Airways with kids is easy with Oryx One.
On board the aircraft, the Oryx One on-demand in-flight entertainment system has options for everyone. You will find things for kids less than two years old, and adult passengers will also not be disappointed.
Like all long-haul airlines, you get a screen in the back seat. Seeing an airline with a dedicated channel for young kids was refreshing. The Qatar Kids channel contained movies, TV, music and games.
Put it this way, it was enough to keep our kids entertained when they were not asleep or playing with the Qatar Airways kids packs, which is a really hard to do with our two.
Does Qatar Airways give toys to kids?
As soon as check in and boarding was complete the plane departed for the other side of the world. In no time at all the kids packs were bought around. The kid’s packs on Qatar will vary and are often changed and renewed. When we travelled our kids received the following packs.
The Monopoly pack contained
- activity book – word puzzle, dot to dot, memory game, odd one out and much more
- ruler
- dry eraser pencils
- sticker money
- grey lead pencil with a rubber
The Game of Life pack contained
- Sticker boards game
- A spinning wheel for the game of life
- Activity book – word games, puzzles, math games, etch-a-sketch pad
- pencils
Qatar Airways child meal was excellent!
The kid’s meals on Qatar Airways were delivered before the adult meals by friendly staff in a snack box. We saved two of these boxes, which came in red and green, to use for storage during our trip. Despite our girls being fussy eaters, Qatar Airways ensured their meals had something they would enjoy and need.
The meals included chicken nuggets, hot dogs with vegetables, a pasta dish with minimal veggies, fresh fruit, a bread roll or croissant, yogurt, a dessert, and a juice box or water. Depending on the meal time, there could also be a small packet of chips.
What else makes Flying Qatar Airways with kids so good?
Flying with kids of any age can be an absolute nightmare at times. The cabin crew were magnificent on the way over and back. They could not have been more welcoming and efficient on the flight, which was more evident when Marley got a bloody nose.
The cabin crew were on it straight away, and as it progressed into the longest nosebleed ever, their professionalism absolutely shone on a worried and stressed mum. Once the bleeding stopped, they constantly checked on us, and Marley even brought her a drink and a small treat to get her calm again.
They did not forget her sister and bought her the same, so there were no arguments.
The amenities pack is brilliant. You are given a face wipe when you get on the plane, but the little pack is a winner in my eyes. There is a little face mask that the girls loved, some socks, earplugs, and a little toothbrush with some paste, which made Mum very happy.
The toothbrush also came in handy after the nosebleeds for Marley. We didn’t use the socks from our packs until later in the trip, when we lost a pair!
The blankets and pillows just seemed fluffier and firmer than the ones I had used in the past. The blankets seemed larger and covered more of us and the girls. At one point, we also asked for another pillow as Marley was lying on me, and I was slightly uncomfortable. It was not a problem to get us another one.
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Flying Qatar with kids was a great choice.
All in all flying with kids on Qatar was a very pleasurable experience. As we have said, the in-flight entertainment was first-rate, the food was excellent and plentiful, and the chairs were comfortable, especially on the 777. I was, in all honesty, not so impressed with the comfort of the 787 Dreamliner seats.
They were more of a budget- short-haul standard. We had to fly for 7 hours on the Dreamliner, which I would not call a short haul. The Dreamliner is excellent for reducing noise and making you feel like you are not even on a plane.
It has ambient blue windows that set a peaceful tone for the flight. The Dreamliner is configured 3-3-3 for seating. This meant the girls all sat on the window side, and I sat in the centre of the plane. The Airbus A320 had a seat configuration of 3-3. Once again, the three girls sat on one side, and I sat across the aisle.
The Airbus was the smallest plane we flew on, but its seats were still more comfortable than those of the 787 Dreamliner. Qatar’s service, meals, and entertainment were standardised across the fleet to a very high standard.
Flying Qatar with babies
Family Travel Tip: Don’t forget if you are travelling with babies to reserve your bassinet for the bulkhead seats that are available. If your child is under 18 months they can sit on your lap or fly in the bassinet. For more information, our good friend Keri at Our Globetrotters discusses this on her site. You can read her Qatar Airways Family Flying Review article
Wyld Family Travel will not hesitate to fly Qatar Airways with kids again. Maybe I may choose Qatar over a cheaper rival to the same destination for the first time because we were impressed with Qatar Airways.
We hope you enjoyed this article from Wyld Family Travel.
Great tips. As a new traveling mom, it’s always good to read about airlines doing a good job accommodating children. Parents rooms are a must, I can imagine the ones at Doha must be nice!
So, can I sign up to be a kid next I’m on Qatar? I would love those games and chicken nuggets…I just saying!
I always travel with Qatar Airways when I go to Asia. Their services are great and before I had enough Qpoints to access their lounge. It’s was awesome to take a shower between my two flights and these awesome food…
Looks like you had a great flying experience with them- or can make such a difference to your holiday! Those kids packs and meals look awesome.
Look at those kids! They do look happy! That’s what shows that Qatar gives the best service.
Qatar airways is known for their remarkable service. I am glad you had a great time flying with them.
Sounds good! I don’t have any kids but this seems like a great airlines to fly with kids. Will need to let all my mother friends know.
Great tips. Its difficult to travel in long haul flights with kids. They tend to get cranky to be seated in the same place for a long time. But with all those entertainment, games & kids meals the situation is manageable to a great extent I guess!
Great tips and this is a very helpful blog for those who are going to fly for the first time with Qatar Airways. Thanks 🙂
Great tips for keeping kids entertained on a long flight. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I’ve heard a lot about Qatar Airways. However, I myself have not traveled on QA. I also know they offer a lot for kids too. For me to travel on QA is like Calgary to the USA to Doha to Delhi and back which is like 32-hour journey. From Calgary, I can go to Europe and Delhi in like 19 hours. Therefore, I can’t fly on QA, even if I want to. But I am happy that you guys enjoyed the trip.
Haven’t travelled yet in Qatar airways. But my friends tell me it is amazing. And your post shows that too. Really good amenities. Next surely will prefer Qatar airways.
This airline is really sweet, totally love all the little toys that they have to keep the kids busy. 🙂
Having recently travelled with my niece and nephew we know exactly had hard it can be – I love the entertainment sytems you have mentioned, that alone could keep them interested for an hour or so and the kiddies meals look great.
Hi Tamason. They didn’t have kids meals in the places we stayed but they would be a fantastic idea! The places we stayed just had very basic meals that both the girls could eat. Thanks so much for leaving a comment.
I’ve heard great things about Qatar airways. I love how they give the kids special packs to help get them through the long haul, it’s those little things that make or break a company for parents.