Qatar air?

[clivebaxter]

Only been on them once years ago, thought i'd try Bkk UK return coming back business class to see what their Q class is like. Few weeks ago they sent a message on the app saying your flight is cancelled do you want a refund, quite a shock. Looking at the details it was one leg coming back and a minor change, no Q class! Since then they have changed the times of two of the flights and today sending a reminder all the seats and meals have been cancelled which I booked in Jan and that appear on the e ticket and flight summary. Wondered if this is typical or just bad luck, traveling is bad enough these days without being messed about. Unless they are outstanding dont think I will be booking with them again.

[Mac Mickmanus]

Seems like quite a few airlines are now having difficulty in meeting their flying arrangements and many flights have been cancelled 

[Mike Teavee]

I flew (Business Class) with them in March and had a couple of minor changes (10 minutes) to flights + 1 change of plane from one with QSuites to one without.

 

Have flown with them a few times in the past but this will be my last trip with them as even worse than the 8 days delay to my luggage, it seems that they're "Penny Pinching" & do not pay Manchester Airport for the Priority Sticker you need to go through the Fast Track lane so we had to argue (twice) with the guys at Manchester airport to let us through (even at 5:30am Manchester airport was absolutely heaving, must have been a 2hr queue to go through security). 

 

 

 

 

Still not had a response from them about the out of pocket expenses (which was a measly £24.99 for a charger for my Macbook as I have all the clothes/toiletries I needed already at my Parents house in the UK).

 

Yep... They're not looking in too good a shape at the moment, perhaps the World Cup will save them but I doubt it at the prices they're asking.

 

 

 

 

[The Hammer2021]

Who gives better service at a better price?

[MajorTom]

There has been complaints about QR in other threads here recently. Looks like they are struggling a bit. I used them enough to get a silver card for a while. Good service.. horrible airport in Doha. The new and the old. Business class lounge simplest i have ever seen. I always found Emirates a much better option. Qatar wins rewards all the time for some strange reason. Maybe the same way they got the FIFA world cup ????

[Mac Mickmanus]

35 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

I flew (Business Class) with them in March and had a couple of minor changes (10 minutes) to flights + 1 change of plane from one with QSuites to one without.

 

Have flown with them a few times in the past but this will be my last trip with them as even worse than the 8 days delay to my luggage, it seems that they're "Penny Pinching" & do not pay Manchester Airport for the Priority Sticker you need to go through the Fast Track lane so we had to argue (twice) with the guys at Manchester airport to let us through (even at 5:30am Manchester airport was absolutely heaving, must have been a 2hr queue to go through security). 

 

 

 

 

Still not had a response from them about the out of pocket expenses (which was a measly £24.99 for a charger for my Macbook as I have all the clothes/toiletries I needed already at my Parents house in the UK).

 

Yep... They're not looking in too good a shape at the moment, perhaps the World Cup will save them but I doubt it at the prices they're asking.

 

 

 

 

It seems like the problem was Manchester airport , as Manchester airport was in disarray and its not really Qatars fault that the Manchester bag handlers were off work taking  sickies

[TropicalGuy]

Personally never fly any such state airlines for last eight years.

pilot suicide/murder risk. Human rights abuses. terrorist funding.. 

I Fly only first rate European / East Asian Airlines like Lufthansa Sing Eva.

Also don’t touch any North American / Latin American / African / Other Asian / Russian flights. Various Reasons. Though even Lufthansa ( two cancelled flights in six weeks ) Eva ( staff strike flight cancellation) & Norwegian( mech. failure) can be unreliable …..No Guarantees. 
 

BUT all pre- Covid as haven’t flown now for 24 months …..

[Mac Mickmanus]

3 minutes ago, TropicalGuy said:

Personally never fly any such state airlines for last eight years.

pilot suicide/murder risk. Human rights abuses. terrorist funding.. 

I Fly only first rate European / East Asian Airlines like Lufthansa Sing Eva.

 

Do they have German pilots flying Lufthansa airplanes ?

(Proper ethnic Germans can can trace their ancestry back at least three generations ? )

[richard_smith237]

8 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

It seems like the problem was Manchester airport , as Manchester airport was in disarray and its not really Qatars fault that the Manchester bag handlers were off work taking  sickies

Agree with this... Manchester airport has suffered hideous staffing issues... either covid or poor management, or a combination of both. 

 

But, that does not excuse Qatar for delaying compensation for delayed baggage (Mike Teavee).

 

Also their plane shifting.... Q-Suites are so much better than regular business class (I know, first world problems and all that), but for some that may be the reason for choosing the QR flight over another airline.

QR have shifted around their planes / schedule so a flight which was running a Q-Suite cabin may have switched to a standard Business Cabin, in which case Emirates is a better option. 

[TropicalGuy]

10 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Do they have German pilots flying Lufthansa airplanes ?

(Proper ethnic Germans can can trace their ancestry back at least three generations ? )

facetious off topic drivel 

[Mike Teavee]

29 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

It seems like the problem was Manchester airport , as Manchester airport was in disarray and its not really Qatars fault that the Manchester bag handlers were off work taking  sickies

Not this time, the bag was delayed in either Thailand Or Doha as I got a notification 4 days later that it would be arriving on the same flight the following day. 

 

Must have been a security thing as the padlock was removed & they took a hacksaw through one of the struts holding the handle (Needless to say I threw the case away & bought a new one, have put in a separate claim for a new case £89.99)

 

Again, not neccesarily Qatar's fault, but what is their fault is the way they've handled the claim - In fairness their premium support team have been very responsive to emails BUT even they cannot get the people they use at Manchester to even acknowledge my claim... It's < £120 so it's more the principle of the thing than the money.     

 

 

 

[Mac Mickmanus]

6 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Agree with this... Manchester airport has suffered hideous staffing issues... either covid or poor management, or a combination of both. 

 

But, that does not excuse Qatar for delaying compensation for delayed baggage (Mike Teavee).

 

Also their plane shifting.... Q-Suites are so much better than regular business class (I know, first world problems and all that), but for some that may be the reason for choosing the QR flight over another airline.

QR have shifted around their planes / schedule so a flight which was running a Q-Suite cabin may have switched to a standard Business Cabin, in which case Emirates is a better option. 

Qatar have quite a reasonable cancellation policy , they make allowances if you test positive just before your flight and allow to to rebook at a later date , I think that Emirates cancel your ticket if you cannot make the flight , or make a large charges 

[spidermike007]

This is not about PC, but anything to avoid supporting a despot regime, that is morally bankrupt, is worth it by me. 

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

This is not about PC, but anything to avoid supporting a despot regime, that is morally bankrupt, is worth it by me. 

We have to be careful where this discussion goes... Weapons of Mass Destruction, anyone ?

 

 

[Mike Teavee]

1 hour ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Who gives better service at a better price?

Not sure when you last flew Qatar but I would put the service at about the same level as KLM, Turkish Airlines etc... on both outbound flights & the 1st inbound one - It was only the final leg where they were anywhere near the service you've come to expect from them. 

 

In the past I would book Qatar (& in particular QSuites) if it came in less than £2-300 more than than the likes of Turkish Air / Finnair but after this experience I rank the onboard service the same as Turksih Air & below FinnAir.

 

Oh & the In Flight Entertainment was rubbish also, not a patch on Emirates but then again nobody is. 

 

[Mac Mickmanus]

58 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

Not sure when you last flew Qatar but I would put the service at about the same level as KLM, Turkish Airlines etc... on both outbound flights & the 1st inbound one - It was only the final leg where they were anywhere near the service you've come to expect from them. 

 

In the past I would book Qatar (& in particular QSuites) if it came in less than £2-300 more than than the likes of Turkish Air / Finnair but after this experience I rank the onboard service the same as Turksih Air & below FinnAir.

 

Oh & the In Flight Entertainment was rubbish also, not a patch on Emirates but then again nobody is. 

 

In regards to costs .

Qatar was one of the cheapest airlines to fly with, back to the U.K , about 275 GBP one way to London booked the day before

[Mike Teavee]

4 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

In regards to costs .

Qatar was one of the cheapest airlines to fly with, back to the U.K , about 275 GBP one way to London booked the day before

The last tickets I used were bought in October 2019 when I was still working & was  "Time Poor" so always flew Business Class as that way I could "Work from Home" in the UK the next day & Qatar tended to come in higher than Finn/Turkish Air, roughly same as Emirates & below Singapore Airlines. 

 

Also, it's harder to compare nowadays as Qatar has 4 different Business Class Products (Lite, Comfort, Classic & Elite) https://onemileatatime.com/news/qatar-airways-business-class-fares/#:~:text=Bottom line-,Qatar Airways' four types of business class fares,Classic%2C Comfort%2C and Elite.... Another sign of them "Penny Pinching".

 

E.g. A random search for a trip to the UK shows them as approx 17,000 THB more expensive than FinnAir, in previous years I would have paid this as I think their product was better but nowadays I might not even get lounge access (Not worth it in Bangkok at the moment & never worth it in Manchester) or be able to book my seat until I'm checking in (IIRC this added approx 4,500 THB each way if you took the Comfort product & then added on seat booking). 

 

Turkish Air came it at 109K so if I was booking this today I would definately book FinnAir  

 

 

Finnair also seem to be approx 8K cheaper in economy, might be different if you fly into London  but unfortunately I fly into Manchester ????  

 

 

Time will tell whether I keep flying Business Class now I'm retired but it is hard to go back to economy once you're used to it so I'm about 85% sure I will ???? 

 

Almost have enough points with Finnair to be able to do a Business Class return (Think it will cost me about 400Euro to buy the points I need) so will use them next time.  

 

 

Edit: Just did a quick check & Finnair is approx 7K cheaper in Business & 9K cheaper in Economy 

 

 

For anybody who's interested I use Matrix.itasoftware.com when searching for flights, e.g. https://matrix.itasoftware.com/calendar?search=eyJ0eXBlIjoicm91bmQtdHJpcCIsInNsaWNlcyI6W3sib3JpZ2luIjpbIkJLSyJdLCJkZXN0IjpbIkxPTiJdLCJyb3V0aW5nIjoiIiwiZXh0IjoiIiwicm91dGluZ1JldCI6IiIsImV4dFJldCI6IiIsImRhdGVzIjp7InNlYXJjaERhdGVUeXBlIjoiY2FsZW5kYXIiLCJkZXBhcnR1cmVEYXRlIjoiMjAyMi0wOS0wMSIsImRlcGFydHVyZURhdGVUeXBlIjoiZGVwYXJ0IiwiZGVwYXJ0dXJlRGF0ZU1vZGlmaWVyIjoiMCIsImR1cmF0aW9uIjoiMTctMjQiLCJyZXR1cm5EYXRlVHlwZSI6ImRlcGFydCIsInJldHVybkRhdGVNb2RpZmllciI6IjAifX1dLCJvcHRpb25zIjp7ImNhYmluIjoiQ09BQ0giLCJzdG9wcyI6IjEiLCJleHRyYVN0b3BzIjoiMSIsImFsbG93QWlycG9ydENoYW5nZXMiOiJ0cnVlIiwic2hvd09ubHlBdmFpbGFibGUiOiJ0cnVlIiwiY3VycmVuY3kiOnsiZGlzcGxheU5hbWUiOiJUaGFpIEJhaHQgKFRIQikiLCJjb2RlIjoiVEhCIn19LCJwYXgiOnsiYWR1bHRzIjoiMSJ9fQ%3D%3D

 

 

 

[Mac Mickmanus]

1 hour ago, Mike Teavee said:

The last tickets I used were bought in October 2019 when I was still working & was  "Time Poor" so always flew Business Class as that way I could "Work from Home" in the UK the next day & Qatar tended to come in higher than Finn/Turkish Air, roughly same as Emirates & below Singapore Airlines. 

 

Also, it's harder to compare nowadays as Qatar has 4 different Business Class Products (Lite, Comfort, Classic & Elite) https://onemileatatime.com/news/qatar-airways-business-class-fares/#:~:text=Bottom line-,Qatar Airways' four types of business class fares,Classic%2C Comfort%2C and Elite.... Another sign of them "Penny Pinching".

 

E.g. A random search for a trip to the UK shows them as approx 17,000 THB more expensive than FinnAir, in previous years I would have paid this as I think their product was better but nowadays I might not even get lounge access (Not worth it in Bangkok at the moment & never worth it in Manchester) or be able to book my seat until I'm checking in (IIRC this added approx 4,500 THB each way if you took the Comfort product & then added on seat booking). 

 

Turkish Air came it at 109K so if I was booking this today I would definately book FinnAir  

 

 

Finnair also seem to be approx 8K cheaper in economy, might be different if you fly into London  but unfortunately I fly into Manchester ????  

 

 

Time will tell whether I keep flying Business Class now I'm retired but it is hard to go back to economy once you're used to it so I'm about 85% sure I will ???? 

 

Almost have enough points with Finnair to be able to do a Business Class return (Think it will cost me about 400Euro to buy the points I need) so will use them next time.  

 

 

Edit: Just did a quick check & Finnair is approx 7K cheaper in Business & 9K cheaper in Economy 

 

 

For anybody who's interested I use Matrix.itasoftware.com when searching for flights, e.g. https://matrix.itasoftware.com/calendar?search=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%3D%3D

 

 

 

Just looking at one way flights to the U.K and generally its about 300 GBP with all the airlines, give or take a few quid and the cheapest airline are Thai air with flights at 250 Quid

[Searat7]

I wanted to try Qatar for Q suites to return to Bangkok from Miami. Their price is double what I pay for Swiss so I bought Swiss tickets a month ago. Have used Finnair in the past too but stopped because of poor schedules

[Tropposurfer]

8 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Do they have German pilots flying Lufthansa airplanes ?

(Proper ethnic Germans can can trace their ancestry back at least three generations ? )

OMG ???? !

[Tropposurfer]

We use the ME3 all the time, regularly. Flew to Europe (Paris) on Qatar in QSuite over a month back. Not all Qatar planes fly QSuites, so you need to check the flight offerings carefully.

Qatar service is beautiful, one of the standout features of their airline product is the care and attentiveness of their flight crews. Arguably one of the best cabin environments in the air (La Premiere, Emirates, Lufthansa, First and a few other First & Business products are in this same class).

Covid has messed up a lot of things, travel, and usual travel service standards as well.

They are only servicing this particular route at about 1/4 the normal schedule so this tells us things are difficult even for oil rich carriers like the ME3.

We had white linen table service with plates not plastic covered meals, dine on demand etc as was normal pre-covid and superb wines. Perfect pre-flight service as expected. The experience was an incremental return to 'normal' by Qatar compared to a flight a month earlier to same destination.

 

 

 

[DFPhuket]

Next week I'll have my fourth Qatar round-trip business class since Covid started. QSuites are the best in the industry. They do seem have plenty of flight timing changes, often related to aircraft swaps making the flight a bit longer or shorter. I'm in the habit of occasionally checking my itinerary on their website, and if there is an issue that's not acceptable, I've called and had it resolved. Always do that before clicking "accept change" on the website. 

 

I've cancelled two flights and received a full refund to my credit card in a week. Qatar's no-fee fully refundable ticket policy and on board service is what keeps me with them. Generally I've found the fares to be on par with the other carriers and their flexible cancellation policy to be more generous. 

[soi3eddie]

9 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Also their plane shifting.... Q-Suites are so much better than regular business class (I know, first world problems and all that), but for some that may be the reason for choosing the QR flight over another airline.

QR have shifted around their planes / schedule so a flight which was running a Q-Suite cabin may have switched to a standard Business Cabin, in which case Emirates is a better option. 

I know people who booked QR for the Q Suites and ended up in an old seat. Still better than Economy but if paying out a lot extra for Q Suite then expectations are reasonable. I've only flown QR once in 2016 LHR/BKK/LHR and selected flight time combinations as per the plane types on the route i.e. A350 and B787. In the end it all got changed and it was <deleted>ty old A330s and old B777s. Crew were nice enough in Economy but seats were very small and 10 across - that extra seat takes away a lot of space and the aisles were narrow with carts banging seats all the way down the plane. Price was cheap and you get what you pay for.

 

[Photoguy21]

Flew last year with them from Italy to Thailand. They was excellent but things do change and obviously they have been hit by changes probably imposed by changes in other countries.

[Whale]

10 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

& do not pay Manchester Airport for the Priority Sticker you need to go through the Fast Track lane so we had to argue (twice) with the guys at Manchester airport to let us through (even at 5:30am Manchester airport was absolutely heaving, must have been a 2hr queue to go through security). 

And one the worst business class lounges in my memory is used at Manchester. 

[Whale]

My issue with Qatar is you have to select a flight that has a certain aircraft and configuration because some of the their fleet still has the old style side by side seating. Easy to choose Emirates and their 380 fleet. Although Emirates suddenly more expensive by a lot these days. 

[mtls2005]

When are you flying? Which sectors, besides DOH-BKK?

 

QR are switching to two (2) daily A380's on the DOH-BKK sector, in August I think. (Maye one A380, of three dailies today?)

 

https://simpleflying.com/qatar-airways-bangkok-airbus-a380-flights/

 

I don't think the A380's have Q-Suites, but the J product is said to be quite nice.

 

I think they'll have at least one or two more dailies, potentially with Q-Suite-equipped metal.

 

QR jiggers their schedules and aircraft nearly dynamically, so one needs to get up to speed on the aircraft, and monitor your reservation (use their mobile app).

 

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/ultimate-guide-to-qatar-qsuites/

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.m.qr

 

Even when they had 6 or 7 dailies BKK-DOH, only two/three might have had Q Suites.

 

You may be able to change to a Q-Suite flight, but your layover might get a lot longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[clivebaxter]

9 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

Not this time, the bag was delayed in either Thailand Or Doha as I got a notification 4 days later that it would be arriving on the same flight the following day. 

 

Must have been a security thing as the padlock was removed & they took a hacksaw through one of the struts holding the handle (Needless to say I threw the case away & bought a new one, have put in a separate claim for a new case £89.99)

 

Again, not neccesarily Qatar's fault, but what is their fault is the way they've handled the claim - In fairness their premium support team have been very responsive to emails BUT even they cannot get the people they use at Manchester to even acknowledge my claim... It's < £120 so it's more the principle of the thing than the money.     

 

 

Wow I would hate that, what did you have in the bag that alerted a break in, electronic/battery, some 'forbidden' substances, food?

[Will B Good]

Not read the thread.....but I felt cheated.

 

Booked QSuite...... BKK to London.........No QSuite on the BBK to Doha route.......spoke to the guy next to me and he said it is regular thing.......they reserve the Qsuite flights for Doha to London, the 'big money' route........and just plain (pun) cheat on the BKK-Doha leg.

 

Won't book again.

[Mike Teavee]

1 hour ago, clivebaxter said:

Wow I would hate that, what did you have in the bag that alerted a break in, electronic/battery, some 'forbidden' substances, food?

As I keep most of my winter clothes at my parents house my case had very little in it but what it did have was a pair of Fairtex Muay Thai gloves (one of my mates coaches Muay Thai in the UK and asked me to bring them back) & I'm wondering if this somehow triggered the inspection.

 

 

Only Electronics I had in there was the charger for my Macbook (which was also the only thing that I missed).