Trip Reports

Introduction: Qatar Airways Business Class Trip Between Rome & Kuala Lumpur

May 15, 2017

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Benjamin Franklin once famously said that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” but, if he lived today, he could probably add a third thing to that list: If there isn’t an excellent Qatar Airways Business Class fare between Europe and Asia available right now, one will be along very soon!

In one of the many good Business Class promotions that Qatar Airways has offered there were some great fares to Kuala Lumpur and, as I had never visited the city, this seemed like a good time to see what it was like. This would also give me a chance to review a number of Business Class products that have yet to feature on Traveling For Miles and, if I’m being completely honest, it was a good excuse to catch some much-needed sunshine.

The Bookings

This trip would give me the opportunity for three new Qatar Airways reviews:

Qatar Airways 787 Dreamliner Business Class
Qatar Airways A340 Business Class
Qatar Airways 777-300ER Business Class (Daytime Flight)

This is what my schedule looked like:

As I’m not based in Italy (unfortunately!) I needed to book flights between London and Rome to get me to my first Qatar Airways flight and then to get me home at the end of the trip.

I booked the outbound positioning flight on British Airways……

….but, as the last British Airways flight out of Rome departed before my flight back from Doha landed, I booked the return leg on Alitalia….which gave me another airline and cabin to review.

I also needed somewhere to stay for my 3 nights in Kuala Lumpur – this is how I chose where to book:

The property would have to be one that offered me complimentary breakfast (a good money saver) – that narrowed the field down to Marriott, Starwood & Hilton (the status I hold with those chains entitles me to complimentary breakfast).
I’m in the process of trying to tie up Lifetime Platinum status with Marriott (before Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest are combined) so, price permitting, I wanted to book a Marriott property to help boost my points balance.
A review of Starwood, Marriott and Hilton properties showed Marriott to be very competitive so that’s where I focused my search.
The property needed to be central as I like to walk around cities that I visit – Uber is very cheap in KL but I prefer walking to being stuck in traffic!
I really didn’t need a luxury property so that ruled out the Ritz-Carlton.
Research told me that the JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur has a nice executive lounge and that the breakfast is pretty good – both big positives.
Renovation work at the JW Marriott had suppressed prices to where it was around the same cost as the other central Marriott properties….so that sealed the deal.

JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur

The Cost

As this screenshot from my booking shows I booked the round trip Qatar Airways flights for €1,414.43 which, a the time of booking, came to $1,583.86 or around £1,190.

I booked my British Airways flight to Rome using 6,500 Avios + $27.50 in fees & taxes:

And my Alitalia flight from Rome back to London cost £57 ($70.62/£22.50).

The JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur cost 1,693.53 MYR which, at the rate of exchange at the time, came to $380.77 (approximately £310) for the three night stay.

$127/night including taxes seemed like a pretty decent price for a JW Marriott that, if the internet was to be believed, should be quite good…I was looking forward to finding out!

Total cost of travel and accommodation: $2,062.75/£1,579.50 + 6,500 Avios

Points & Miles Earning

American Airlines AAdvantage Earning (Based On Executive Platinum Status)

Rome – Doha – Kuala Lumpur – Doha – Rome

EQM: 18,490
RDM: 27,120
EQD: 2,468

In this one trip I earned:

18% of the total EQM required to retain American Airlines Executive Platinum status.
20% of the total EQD required to retain American Airlines Executive Platinum status.
Almost enough redeemable miles (380 miles short) for a oneway First Class SAAver ticket between anywhere in the 48 contiguous US states and the Caribbean.

Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

I booked my Qatar Airways flights with a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (I’ve since upgrade to the Sapphire Reserve) and, at 2 points per dollar spent on airfare, they earned me 3,168 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points.

American Express Membership Rewards

American Express added a great category bonus to its Platinum Card in November last year (5 Membership rewards points per dollar spent on airfare) and, while this offer wasn’t around when I booked my Qatar flight, it was in place for my British Airways and Alitalia bookings.

The British Airways booking earned me 137 points while the Alitalia booking earned me 350 points for a total of 487 Membership Rewards points – hardly impressive life-changing…but points are points! 🙂

Marriott Rewards Points

JW Marriott’s are full-service Marriott properties so guests earn points on the cost of the room (excluding taxes) and on most other charges made to the room (like meals, drinks etc…). As an added bonus Marriott was also running a “double base points” promotion at the time of my stay.

My total spend at the JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur was $580.55 (room cost, meals and drinks) and that earned me the following:

5,585 base Points
2,792 platinum bonus points
500 points as a “welcome gift”
5,585 bonus points from the double base points promotion
5 points per dollar spent on my Chase Marriott Rewards Credit Card – 2,903 points

Total: 17,361 Marriott Rewards Points

Bottom Line

The main purpose of the trip was to review three different Qatar Airways cabins – the airline features pretty heavily on Traveling For Miles so I wanted to make sure I have reviewed as many of the different Business Class cabins as possible by the end of this year.

On top of this I got to explore a city that I’ve wanted to check out for some time and, during my stay, I got to visit the Petronas Towers which have been on my “must see” list for years.

The Petronas Towers In Kuala Lumpur – It wasn’t the best weather that day!