Qatar Airways is bringing its revolutionary business class to flights from Chicago — with more US cities to follow this year

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• Qatar Airways will feature its award-winning new "Qsuites" business class on flights from Chicago starting on April 1.
• The airline also announced plans to roll out Qsuites on flights from Houston, Dallas, and Los Angeles.
• The airline currently flies from 10 US cities — plus Las Vegas, later this year — and operates an extensive network throughout Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, with connections through Doha, Qatar.

Qatar Airways just announced that its new "Qsuite" business class product, which was first announced last year, will soon be available on the airline's daily flight from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The airline also announced that it would be replacing the equipment on its flights from Houston, Dallas, and Los Angeles later this year.

Qsuites will be available on Chicago flights starting on April 1. Qatar hasn't announced timing or other details for Houston, Dallas, or Los Angeles. While rumors have been circulating that Qatar planned to launch Qsuites from Chicago for several weeks, since travel blog One Mile At A Time noticed that the available seat maps on Chicago flights had changed, this is the first time the airline has confirmed the service's Midwest expansion.

Qatar Airways won awards in 2017 for best airline and best overall business class from Skytrax, the authoritative airline review and ranking consultancy group. While its older business class product is still comfortable and features fantastic service, Qsuites is a redefinition of business class as "first class lite."

The new product, which features fully enclosed "suites" in the air with seats that can fold into flat beds, and even combine into double-beds in the middle aisle, should be rolled out through Qatar's entire fleet of long-haul aircraft within two years, according to Qatar Airways vice president for the Americas Gunter Saurwein. Until then, it will be launched on one route at a time.

Currently, Qatar's New York City and Washington, DC routes feature aircraft equipped with Qsuites.

There are 10 US cities that are currently serviced by Qatar Airways: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. It's also announced plans to launch a route to Las Vegas later this year. Because Qatar is a member of the Oneworld airline alliance, you can book connecting flights on Oneworld partner American Airlines, or non-alliance codeshare partner JetBlue, as part of the same itinerary. 

Qatar offers routes to around 150 destinations, with connections through its airport hub in Doha, Qatar. Routes throughout the Middle East, Asia, and Africa are all compelling for US-based travelers. 

I recently had a chance to tour a Qatar Airways 777-300ER plane while it was parked at New York's JFK airport in between trips. I was able to test the seats and the in-flight entertainment, explore the business class and economy cabins, and sample the business class catering and amenities, as well as interact with the cabin crew that would be working on the flight later that evening.

While this was a staged media event, which is obviously different than actually flying the airline, it became clear why Qatar won Skytrax's 2017 top honors.

Take a look below at some of the best features of Qsuites business class and economy class on Qatar Airways.

Click here to search for flights on Qatar Airways.

Most of Qatar's flights to the US are operated by Boeing 777 and Airbus A350 aircraft.

The new Qsuites business class, which features a door that you can close for privacy, is installed on planes flying to New York and Washington DC, with more routes on the way.

Other cities in the US are served by aircraft with Qatar's older award-winning business class seats, although a Qatar Airways executive told Business Insider that the entire fleet will have Qsuites in two years.

Click here to search for flights on Qatar Airways.

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