Qatar Airways & Doha Airport

[rocketmanbkk]

Returned from LOS yesterday eve after flying Qatar.

My reveiw, good airline, good staff, food crap as all other airlines. Bussing to terminal OK, no big hassles as time to waste, on schedule and ealry into LHR last night by 40 mins.

Doha airport, funny thing, outbound with the short 2hrs odd stopover we were in a terminal with teribble toilets and 1 crappy food vendor, hated it.

On inbound were taken to another transit terminal, more toilets (cleanish), food vendors with more choice but still as in all airports expensive (2 x latter, 1 x coke and 1 x chips £12.50).

So, will we fly Qatar again, yes, probably if flight price is OK and reflects stops and crappy time inDOH.

Still prefer EVA but await Thai to get AVOD and will try them again again if price right. As for Etihad, preferred for stop if price again reflects it.

[SantiSuk]

Doha is the weakness in an otherwise excellent airline. I get really irritated by the 15 minute stand-up bus ride each side of a transit stopover (maybe one in 5 times you get a closer stand). As you say the terminal food is laughable - reminds me of British motorway service stations circa 1965. Last time I went through (2 weeks ago) they had even dismantled the wi-fi support stations; they still have (unreliable) free signal but you have to camp on the floor near phone booth power sockets to get your batteries topped up.

There is promise of a brand new world-class airport (their words not mine) in the future I believe. I think the better terminal you report must have been the arrivals terminal, rather than the transit terminal that we BKK-bound falang are normally subjected to.

I don't align with your comment about on-board food though. EVA's food is often dire and Qatar is usually pretty OK (for airline food) IMO. I like their starters and they always give you a decent desert, cheese and a chocolate! I'm not so convinced by their tortilla wrap snack though - bit like eating cardboard with a squidgy indefinable middle.

Otherwise Qatar have nice planes, good IFE and sometimes ravishingly cute trolly dollys - one Manchester to Doha flight I was on, they all looked like Vogue models (the guys as well).

Edited October 29, 2011 by SantiSuk

[smokie36]

Qatar business class is another world entirely....especially the biz/first class terminal....oh and the food and seats on the plane. In that class I'd place it at no1.

[Gonsalviz]

Qatar business class is another world entirely....especially the biz/first class terminal....oh and the food and seats on the plane. In that class I'd place it at no1.

I have only traveled Qatar in business class. I agree the food is good, the service is excellent and it is a very nice ride.

I have to admit that the only reason I ride them is I go from DXB to BKK with a stop in DOH which makes the price low. DOH is a dry airport but the stop is short.

[daiwill60]

I used Quatar on my first trip to Thailand and Kuwait Air on my second trip and Kingfisher on my last trip, IMHO there was no comparison between these flights, all of which cost very similar amounts.

Quatar Air had good IFE , reasonable food by flying standards and booze on flight, very nice staff. the airport stop over was boring, 13 hours on flight to BKK and 7 hours on flight home to Manchester. So i booked into local hotel for he long stop over and luckily a friend had advised me to book the exec lounge for simple reason that one could get free alcohol in there and as much very good quality food as you like in there, amazing in alcohol free country and spent7 hours in there sleeping and eating in comfort .

Kuwait , crap IFE nothing worked properly. food crap , staff gave impression of being helpful about IFE but must have been bored of everyone complaining all tiime as i have seen this complaint before with this airline. No booze available anywhere at all. Airport completely boring very little choices to eat or drink.

Kingfisher was ok for economy low budget airline, as long as you are not expecting too much , but at least IFE worked and could have a beer on flight, had stop over at Mumbai I think, which was really the pits of an airport, had my ciggie ligher taken off me by officials ( never been security checked on an in between stop over before), and to have a small very cheap disposable lighter confiscated was a bit pathetic i thought, as we just went to bar area where the staff where then being pestered for a light by everyone??? Beer in airport was just as expensive as airports in the UK.

[smokie36]

Qatar business class is another world entirely....especially the biz/first class terminal....oh and the food and seats on the plane. In that class I'd place it at no1.

I have only traveled Qatar in business class. I agree the food is good, the service is excellent and it is a very nice ride.

I have to admit that the only reason I ride them is I go from DXB to BKK with a stop in DOH which makes the price low. DOH is a dry airport but the stop is short.

Doha is not dry....plenty champagne available in the business lounge. Perhaps you travelled during ramadan?

[sysardman]

Quoted from Daiwill60

/>Kingfisher was ok for economy low budget airline, as long as you are not expecting too much , but at least IFE worked and could have a beer on flight, had stop over at Mumbai I think, which was really the pits of an airport, had my ciggie ligher taken off me by officials ( never been security  checked on an in between stop over before), and to have a small very cheap disposable lighter confiscated was  a bit pathetic i thought, as we just went to bar area where the staff where then being pestered for a light by everyone???   Beer in airport was just as expensive as airports in the UK.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

Flew from London to Bangkok with Air India via Mumbai and agree about airport in Mumbai, herded like cattle through transit and was hassled by security, why? I took my laptop from my backpack and was chastised for not having a label on the laptop bag!!!!!! was made to stand and fill out new label. This after having queued ages because hundreds of transit passengers were expected to be screened through two inefficient security gates. Also Air India planes old, movies old, cabin crew old (and rude), food inedible. The price was good which is the only reason for choosing but I think the middle eastern airways provide better service for the price.

Edited October 30, 2011 by sysardman

[yermanee]

Qatar business class is another world entirely....especially the biz/first class terminal....oh and the food and seats on the plane. In that class I'd place it at no1.

I have only traveled Qatar in business class. I agree the food is good, the service is excellent and it is a very nice ride.

I have to admit that the only reason I ride them is I go from DXB to BKK with a stop in DOH which makes the price low. DOH is a dry airport but the stop is short.

Doha is not dry....plenty champagne available in the business lounge. Perhaps you travelled during ramadan?

Even during Ramadan the business class lounge is not dry, at least it wasn't when I was there.

Yermanee :jap:

[tutsiwarrior]

^^^the business class lounge was dry when I was there in August (Ramadan) this year...still, food excellent, etc, the usual dynamite mezze with fresh bread...and I was told that food is available all day during Ramadan, not just after Iftar and before dawn...they had a special table with break-the-fast treats like dates, samosas, etc...

Edited October 30, 2011 by tutsiwarrior

[sysardman]

Quoted from Daiwill60

/>Kingfisher was ok for economy low budget airline, as long as you are not expecting too much , but at least IFE worked and could have a beer on flight, had stop over at Mumbai I think, which was really the pits of an airport, had my ciggie ligher taken off me by officials ( never been security checked on an in between stop over before), and to have a small very cheap disposable lighter confiscated was a bit pathetic i thought, as we just went to bar area where the staff where then being pestered for a light by everyone??? Beer in airport was just as expensive as airports in the UK.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

Flew from London to Bangkok with Air India via Mumbai and agree about airport in Mumbai, herded like cattle through transit and was hassled by security, why? I took my laptop from my backpack and was chastised for not having a label on the laptop bag!!!!!! was made to stand and fill out new label. This after having queued ages because hundreds of transit passengers were expected to be screened through two inefficient security gates. Also Air India planes old, movies old, cabin crew old (and rude), food inedible. The price was good which is the only reason for choosing but I think the middle eastern airways provide better service for the price.

Sorry, was reading through the posts again and realised I had slagged off Mumbai airport when it was actually Dehli airport - the airline was correct though. My bad!!!!

[smokie36]

^^^the business class lounge was dry when I was there in August (Ramadan) this year...still, food excellent, etc, the usual dynamite mezze with fresh bread...and I was told that food is available all day during Ramadan, not just after Iftar and before dawn...they had a special table with break-the-fast treats like dates, samosas, etc...

Yes I love their scoff...also worth noting if you are flying Royal Jordanian even in economy they offer a hotel in Amman for long stopovers....the breakfast buffet mezze offers much the same...a welcome surprise that was...as was the pool!

[tutsiwarrior]

^^^the business class lounge was dry when I was there in August (Ramadan) this year...still, food excellent, etc, the usual dynamite mezze with fresh bread...and I was told that food is available all day during Ramadan, not just after Iftar and before dawn...they had a special table with break-the-fast treats like dates, samosas, etc...

Yes I love their scoff...also worth noting if you are flying Royal Jordanian even in economy they offer a hotel in Amman for long stopovers....the breakfast buffet mezze offers much the same...a welcome surprise that was...as was the pool!

ah, yes...a mezze for breakfast...some years ago I treated the wife to a weekend at a fancy hotel in Jumeirah in Dubai and we got the room service breakfast served on our balcony overlooking the sea...she got the american breakfast and I got the arab breakfast and man, was that a treat also included a plate of nice hot foul medames...unforgettable, scarfing it down all towelled up in our complementary bathrobes...etc...I felt like James Bond on holiday...

Edited December 26, 2011 by tutsiwarrior