Qatar Airways From Lht To Bkk

[Spartacus_m]

Hi All

I am looking for flights at present and Qatar Airways have the best deals for the dates we can travel.

Anyone have experience flying with them? Good or bad? I have looked at the airline quality and read a few reviews and they seem OK but I wanted to know about the stop overs in Doha etc. The stop overs we will have are 1hr 35 mins and then on the return leg 4hrs 20 mins so not too bad at all.

Anyway, any views will be appreciated.

Cheers

[brownknees]

If this is any use to you ,I and family traveled from BKK to Doha and on to Cairo in November,7h 20 min to Doha.The flight was on time and OK although there was some problems with the entertainment system!At Doha we had only 1 hour until our next flight so no time to see anything but it was efficient and getting the onward flight was OK.Aircraft was clean and cabin crew friendly ,hope this helps.

I am looking for flights at present and Qatar Airways have the best deals for the dates we can travel.

Anyone have experience flying with them? Good or bad? I have looked at the airline quality and read a few reviews and they seem OK but I wanted to know about the stop overs in Doha etc. The stop overs we will have are 1hr 35 mins and then on the return leg 4hrs 20 mins so not too bad at all.

Anyway, any views will be appreciated.

Cheers

[Rinrada]

Had my brother and wife over vfor a visit about a year ago and the got a special £360 r/t from..think Manchester/East Midlands Airport (they live in Yorki country) and the reconed it was very good,

Short stopover in the ME,food and booze top notch with service and ents..back seat video/tv etc the bees knees.

Must hava go one day.

[jubby]

I've flown with them a few times , definately one of the best Economy class I've used.

The stopover can be a bit tight for time but whenever we've been delayed slightly from the UK they've held the plane to BKK so no probs.

[colino]

I use them when i can , and never really had a problem the stop over is ok ( cheap dutyfree cigs, )

The flights have always been good, upto date movies to watch and the foods ok , and they dont skimp on the drinks,

only once i had a delay in Doha ,3 hours but they gave us free food and drink anytime we asked and also gave me $250 credit note,

better than Gulf thats for sure ,

colino,

[ged]

I think they are the best airline UK to Thailand,

I have flown with Emirates, etihad , BA ,Thai,Air France but Qatar are the best.

[ClaytonSeymour]

I think they are the best airline UK to Thailand,

I have flown with Emirates, etihad , BA ,Thai,Air France but Qatar are the best.

Having recently flown both Qatar & Emirates in Y class & I'm inclined to disagree with this.

Where are QR better? Well I flew MAN>HKG & as they use Airbus aircraft on both sectors, you get 2-4-2 configuration which IMO is better if there are two of you as you don't have to share your space. Their frequent flyer club enables you to move up a tier fairly easily which generates extra baggage allowance. Little between them inflights service wise, but, as for inflight entertainment - EK's 'ICE' is far superior to QR's. This was the biggest let down for me, the choice/selection was extremely poor & what's more, the old A330 used on the outbound between MAN & DOH only had the controller attached to the seat arm rendering it impossible to play the games.

If your period of transit it is any length of time - DOH is terrible - either pay to go into the Oryx lounge or the facilities are extremely limited & 'dry' to boot. Depending on where the aircraft stops - the bus transfer can be terrible & on each occasion, we arrived at the aircraft at least 10 minutes before the flight departed meaning we were stuck, packed like sardines on the bus. Despite its' failings, DXB is far better.

Overall, I was underwhelmed, especially having listened to people on here, along with colleagues at work, raving about them. I'm not saying they are bad, just not as good as some people would lead you to believe. I have another story I'd like to share with you regarding my flight from HKG to DOH - right now, I'm heading off to work, so I'll post it here a little later.

[torrenova]

I guess it depends upon what you value. Personally, I hate layovers and will only fly indirect if the cost savings make it worthwhile. Second is on board quality. I will not travel in crap like TG on the LHR route. I will also not stop over for 4+ hours either.

Some people will just fly the cheapest no matter what. Just look at some of the crap airlines still booking passengers.

[gobs]

I've traveled with Qatar last december to have a short go and back to Paris. It was the first time (not very much choice in the hurry) with Qatar.

I can say good service, good staff, good eating/drinking/entertainment... for the price!

Just the short stop in Doha was not so appreciated: the bus transfers on the tarmac is a little "old schoool style" and long, and the "hub" is crowdy, loudy and not spacy... Sardines in a can there: yes...

And for sure around 5 hours more than a direct flight.

But one more time, for the price, no complain. All in all good company...

Gobs

[topdjdel]

Have flown with them a few times,overall tho not bad for the money only had 1 bad experince with them.I remember they used the older planes from LHR to Doha.

If memory serves me right times at connections vary,one time we(mrs and me) had I think 8hr waiting time.Hotel provided I thought very nice but the MRS thought the food was rubbish and the men smelled lol she would.or can be 1hr 30mins.

I personally think not bad,if you get good connections all good.

Do check tho,it appears they are all competitive at mo,I do really wonder if Thai will reduce fares by 50%.????

Delboy

[ClaytonSeymour]

Overall, I was underwhelmed, especially having listened to people on here, along with colleagues at work, raving about them. I'm not saying they are bad, just not as good as some people would lead you to believe. I have another story I'd like to share with you regarding my flight from HKG to DOH - right now, I'm heading off to work, so I'll post it here a little later.

A little later than intended, but as I was saying HKG to DOH. The Wife & I were seated in the exit row, 24 a/b, a couple of Arabs (turned out to be Algerians) boarded the aircraft & sat a couple of rows in front, middle row, just by watching their body language & discussion I suspected that this pair weren't in the 'correct' seats. One of the stewardesses, another Arab, approached them and asked, to see their boarding passes, I don't know what was said, but it was evident that she wasn't gong to be 'strong enough' to move these two gentlemen. A couple of minutes later, two Greek couples boarded the aircraft, they'd obviously asked to sit together i.e. one couple in the window seats & the other in the adjacent aisle seats, already preoccupied by these two characters. A discussion took place & the Greeks agreed to move, to the two Algerians seats (aircraft full by the way) at the back of the aircraft, reasoning that they didn't want the aircraft to depart late. A few minutes later, a Chinese stewardess approached the two gentleman & more robustly told them that they'd have to move. She went on her way & they ignored her.

By now the flight was full, but there was an empty seat next to the two Algerians, the Chinese stewardess returned in a state of panic, I'd already heard the call for a passenge to identify themselves, anyway it turned out that the 'missing' passenger was travelling with the other two to Algiers. From what I caught of the conversation, the last time they'd seen him was in the Duty Free shop!

The missing Algerian had now taken precedent, but he eventually turned up, delaying departure by around twenty minutes. By now it was clear that the other two had wanted to sit next to their friend & through the weak stewardess, not forgetting the far too amicable Greek couple, they had successfully achieved this.

Later in the flight I was reading in the newspaper how the middle eastern carriers are employing more Arab (female) stewardesses. It seems to me that because of cultural reasons, this is probably a bad thing, as highlighted here.

[tartempion]

Na, not just Arabs!

On my last return flights had British people twice in my window seat booked in advance on B777/300 (3-4-3 seat config)

Each time two men just hoping the guy with the windows seat boarding pass would not show up and thus not sitting in the seat assinged to them.

In both cased needed attendant to move their *sses.

I flew Qatar many times, always good experience and their business class is superb when you get to fly business that is, but cattle class was very good also.

[thetefldon]

Hi All

I am looking for flights at present and Qatar Airways have the best deals for the dates we can travel.

Anyone have experience flying with them? Good or bad? I have looked at the airline quality and read a few reviews and they seem OK but I wanted to know about the stop overs in Doha etc. The stop overs we will have are 1hr 35 mins and then on the return leg 4hrs 20 mins so not too bad at all.

Anyway, any views will be appreciated.

Cheers

Hi I have flown Qatar several times last being 16/1/09 BKK-LHR, apart from the four hour wait in Doha, I have nothing but positives for this airline. Economy is fine with plenty of leg room (better on DOH-LHR leg since A340 used). Food high quality and service excellent. In comparison my return flight with EVA although direct fell well short of the standards of Qatar. Service was poor and little English was spoken, that said the leg room on EVA was better than Qatar.

For price when booked in UK Qatar comes out on top especially through Trailfinders (hope its ok to mention name).

[jamesjdaly]

The flights, check ins etc are fine, but avoid dealing with the staff in the Bangkok office in Asoke. Rude, arrogant, animals wouldn't even begin to describe them. I even complained to the HQ in Doha about them, twice by phone and 3 times by e-mail. I said they were rude, arrogant, unprofessional, unhelpful and totally unempathetic.

Edited January 29, 2009 by jamesjdaly

[CharlieB]

I've flown with them a few times , definately one of the best Economy class I've used.

The stopover can be a bit tight for time but whenever we've been delayed slightly from the UK they've held the plane to BKK so no probs.

If you watch closely next time, it's probably the same plane that does the onward leg to BKK. It waswhen I flew on them.

Flew with them once. Food is ok, entertainment system good, didn't like the way we sat on the deck for 1 hour waiting for a first class passenger to decide to get on the bloody plane! I'm sure other airlines would have turfed his bags off by then.

Edited January 29, 2009 by CharlieB

[Eff1n2ret]

The flights, check ins etc are fine, but avoid dealing with the staff in the Bangkok office in Asoke. Rude, arrogant, animals wouldn't even begin to describe them. I even complained to the HQ in Doha about them, twice by phone and 3 times by e-mail. I said they were rude, arrogant, unprofessional, unhelpful and totally unempathetic.

That wasn't my experience. We had to go to the office to get sorted out during the airport closure at the end of November. The staff were under extreme pressure, but had set up a ticket queuing system and with about 50 in front of us we were seen within a couple of hours and much to my surprise they fixed us up with a flight out of U Tapao the following day. I thought in the circumstances they did a fine job, and I saw no sign of arrogance or rudeness.

My only beef was that I couldn't find out by phone what was going on, but given the weight of numbers of callers at the office it's not surprising they weren't answering.

[rixalex]

Agree with everything Clayton said.

Flew with Qatar BKK to LGW return earlier this month. Don't have anything recent to compare them with, but will say i felt fairly underwhelmed with all aspects of their service. Not terrible, but could have been better in most departments. Perhaps the other carriers are just as bad, couldn't tell you.

Not that this has anything to do with them or their service, but i do concur that Doha airport is a dump and suggest you spend as short a time as possible there.

Oh yes, one more thing regarding Qatar - on one of the legs of our flights, a fight broke out amongst a few passengers near us - mainly throwing verbal abuse as well as full cups of water. A couple of passengers seemingly lost their patience with a passenger who had been chatting loudly with his friend for most of the flight. Anyway, the point i was going to make is that all the staff, despite people shouting for their assistance, simply disappeared and took cover behind the curtains. It was quite funny actually and provided some much needed entertainment... but on a serious note.. doesn't exactly fill you with confidence does it.

[Eff1n2ret]

Agree with everything Clayton said.

Flew with Qatar BKK to LGW return earlier this month. Don't have anything recent to compare them with, but will say i felt fairly underwhelmed with all aspects of their service. Not terrible, but could have been better in most departments. Perhaps the other carriers are just as bad, couldn't tell you.

Not that this has anything to do with them or their service, but i do concur that Doha airport is a dump and suggest you spend as short a time as possible there.

Oh yes, one more thing regarding Qatar - on one of the legs of our flights, a fight broke out amongst a few passengers near us - mainly throwing verbal abuse as well as full cups of water. A couple of passengers seemingly lost their patience with a passenger who had been chatting loudly with his friend for most of the flight. Anyway, the point i was going to make is that all the staff, despite people shouting for their assistance, simply disappeared and took cover behind the curtains. It was quite funny actually and provided some much needed entertainment... but on a serious note.. doesn't exactly fill you with confidence does it.

I won't disagree that Doha airport is not a place you want to spend much time in. It has one thing to recommend it, that you don't have to walk miles to the gate.

I thought our flights on Qatar were quite comfortable, the food was a lot better than some airlines, particularly EVA out of LHR, and they're reasonably generous with the booze.

However, one feature of most if not all of the airlines operating out of the Gulf States is that their cabin staff are usually not native to the airline, and are not inclined to argue with passengers who are, which probably accounts for the type of incident described above. I remember years ago on a Kuwait Airways flight from BKK being sat in non-smoking (yes, it was that long ago) close to a Kuwaiti in full dishdash who insisted on smoking the whole way. The cabin staff turned a blind eye, and I'm afraid that despite my discomfort I lacked the courage to say anything as I was returning to work in Kuwait and didn't fancy being arrested on arrival.

[rixalex]

Agree with everything Clayton said.

Flew with Qatar BKK to LGW return earlier this month. Don't have anything recent to compare them with, but will say i felt fairly underwhelmed with all aspects of their service. Not terrible, but could have been better in most departments. Perhaps the other carriers are just as bad, couldn't tell you.

Not that this has anything to do with them or their service, but i do concur that Doha airport is a dump and suggest you spend as short a time as possible there.

Oh yes, one more thing regarding Qatar - on one of the legs of our flights, a fight broke out amongst a few passengers near us - mainly throwing verbal abuse as well as full cups of water. A couple of passengers seemingly lost their patience with a passenger who had been chatting loudly with his friend for most of the flight. Anyway, the point i was going to make is that all the staff, despite people shouting for their assistance, simply disappeared and took cover behind the curtains. It was quite funny actually and provided some much needed entertainment... but on a serious note.. doesn't exactly fill you with confidence does it.

I won't disagree that Doha airport is not a place you want to spend much time in. It has one thing to recommend it, that you don't have to walk miles to the gate.

I thought our flights on Qatar were quite comfortable, the food was a lot better than some airlines, particularly EVA out of LHR, and they're reasonably generous with the booze.

However, one feature of most if not all of the airlines operating out of the Gulf States is that their cabin staff are usually not native to the airline, and are not inclined to argue with passengers who are, which probably accounts for the type of incident described above. I remember years ago on a Kuwait Airways flight from BKK being sat in non-smoking (yes, it was that long ago) close to a Kuwaiti in full dishdash who insisted on smoking the whole way. The cabin staff turned a blind eye, and I'm afraid that despite my discomfort I lacked the courage to say anything as I was returning to work in Kuwait and didn't fancy being arrested on arrival.

Interesting points.

The only thing i would say to your comments about the staff being reluctant to get involved with "tricky" customers who are native to the country of the airline, is that the passengers involved in the fight that i witnessed were in fact Europeans. I don't think the staff would have intervened no matter what their race had been. I was under the impression that all air stewards had fairly extensive training in the art of dealing with testy passengers - a false impression it would seem!

[ClaytonSeymour]

I thought our flights on Qatar were quite comfortable, the food was a lot better than some airlines, particularly EVA out of LHR, and they're reasonably generous with the booze.

It always gets me when people say this & incidentally, I didn't find them that 'generous' - no pre dinner drinks on any of the four sectors I recently flew with them - the drinks were served with the food. Getting back to the generosity point though, I haven't found an airline yet that wont let you go & help yourself, Qatar being no exception.

However, one feature of most if not all of the airlines operating out of the Gulf States is that their cabin staff are usually not native to the airline, and are not inclined to argue with passengers who are, which probably accounts for the type of incident described above. I remember years ago on a Kuwait Airways flight from BKK being sat in non-smoking (yes, it was that long ago) close to a Kuwaiti in full dishdash who insisted on smoking the whole way. The cabin staff turned a blind eye, and I'm afraid that despite my discomfort I lacked the courage to say anything as I was returning to work in Kuwait and didn't fancy being arrested on arrival.

That's what I was reading about in the Khaleej Times, these airlines are now recruiting more female Arabs i.e. Egyptians. Previously it was predominantly male Arabs who were recruited by these airlines, who would be much stronger at dealing with the example I gave.

[ClaytonSeymour]

entertainment system good

As I said earlier, this was a bit of a let down for me; there are better systems out there & I'd choose Emirates over Qatar for this alone. Even airlines such as KLM, who I've flown with to the Middle East, IMO have a better system on their 777's, unfortunately, many of their flights to Asia, including BKK, are on their old 747's which are without an acceptable in flight entertainment system.

[CharlieB]

entertainment system good

As I said earlier, this was a bit of a let down for me; there are better systems out there & I'd choose Emirates over Qatar for this alone. Even airlines such as KLM, who I've flown with to the Middle East, IMO have a better system on their 777's, unfortunately, many of their flights to Asia, including BKK, are on their old 747's which are without an acceptable in flight entertainment system.

In comparison with BA, Thai etc who still insist on tiny 4:3 shared screens which give no choice and are usually placed in areas where the least number of people can see them, the Qatar system is fantastic. Yes, I'm aware other airlines have better, but some still have utter crap.

[syd barrett]

I thought our flights on Qatar were quite comfortable, the food was a lot better than some airlines, particularly EVA out of LHR, and they're reasonably generous with the booze.

It always gets me when people say this & incidentally, I didn't find them that 'generous' - no pre dinner drinks on any of the four sectors I recently flew with them - the drinks were served with the food. Getting back to the generosity point though, I haven't found an airline yet that wont let you go & help yourself, Qatar being no exception.

Qatar have stopped pre-meal drinks now, in Economy class.

I make a point of asking for a tin of beer and a spirit at regular intervals and have never had a problem.

At meal times I ask for two mini bottles of wine saying 'I don't want to disturb you again': Say it confidentally and they will give you two bottles.

Another tip is to ask the male hostesses for extra drinks while smiling idiotically. They tend to get the horn and become generous with the booze. PS. This does not work if you are an unshaven, balding 60+ with a huge beer belly in a sweaty Tee shirt, shorts and flip-flops.