I've never flown Qatar, but I've flown Emirates several times. First time I ever had lamb was a fucking meal on Emirates...in coach. lmao
I once got bumped to business class on Emirates and holy balls...it was amazing.
Now, I've not flown in probably 15 years. I used to do it somewhat regularly, though. As a kid, I'd fly from central OR down to southern California during the summer to see my grandparents. Not every year, but probably 2 out every 3 years or so.
Then I went to college in NC, so I'd fly out there every fall, and back home to Oregon every spring - a couple times for Christmas, too. (I did take the bus from Oregon to NC one August since it was so cheap and holy mother of fuck...what an experience THAT ended up being. hahahaha dang)
Then when I was doing contract work in Iraq during the mid-late '00s, I'd fly once down to Houston from NC for processing, then from the middle east to NC & back every 4-6 months. Straight shots from Atlanta to Dubai in 16 hours were a slog, but not bad...just try to sleep as much as possible.
I enjoyed the flying to a degree...I just found it fun. The process could be a huge chafe, though...depended on the airport. I enjoyed some airports as I enjoy people-watching, and especially when you're in other parts of the country or world, it's cool seeing stuff you would normally not see. Like flying once through St. Louis when McGwire was in the middle of chasing the home run record was cool, as the airport was covered with Cardinals stuff. Going into a newsstand in Frankfurt, Germany was funny with porn magazines on full display right at eye level as if they were Newsweek or something.
The Dubai airport is wild - super modern, crazy duty-free, gold in damn vending machines, etc.
Other places absolutely suck ass, though. I went through Newark Intl once and what an absolute shithole. I used to connect through Gatwick in London a lot and I absolutely loathed that place, too.
Security is bullshit all over the world, though - not just TSA. I've been "randomly selected" for additional security screening (going through my bag, a pat down, etc) at least once on *every* international flight I've been on - sometimes stateside, several times in Gatwick, etc.
Whatever you do, don't get stopped at security in Dubai...those fuckers are nuts. Break one of their rules (like get caught with porn or anything they could even *remotely* construe as anti-Islam) and you get hauled right off to jail.
Then there was the el cheapo Russian charter flights the company I worked for would put us on...how we got from Dubai to Baghdad & back. hahahaha the stories I could tell about those sketch-jobs.
