qatar airways

[pauly77 1]

Qatar have a pretty good offer on, flying out up to end of November. Went with Etihad last month,Qatar are about £30 cheaper then,never used them before.Would be travelling from Manchester,A330-200 used on both legs.

Would appreciate hearing from anyone who has travelled with them recently regarding service,food,entertainment etc and how you would compare them with Etihad and Emirates.Cheers.

[MaiPenRai5555 0]

Yes Flown with them at least twice.For me on board as good as emirates.But the problem is Doha airport.I found joining the freqant fliers was a good idea,got me a better seat.

Small terminal your bussed in and out.Toilets pretty bad,not enough.

Airport organisation not good.Watch the departures board.

There is talk of building a new terminal though.

After that I would use them again.Just tie a knot in it ;-)

[Brown1950 67]

Yes Qatar have just announced flights from Manchester to Bangkok between 20/8 - 30/11 for £372.00 incl tax. Check Airline Network website

[jacko 8,815]

Yes Qatar have just announced flights from Manchester to Bangkok between 20/8 - 30/11 for £372.00 incl tax. Check Airline Network website

That is certainly cheap.........don't know how they do it?

Hate transit in the Middle East though, used to work there, travelled a lot, seems to get under my skin now.

[BongoBill9999 0]

Yes Qatar have just announced flights from Manchester to Bangkok between 20/8 - 30/11 for £372.00 incl tax. Check Airline Network website

Thanks for the heads up. Just booked MAN - BKK for £375.70 with Airline Network. Nearly booked with Etihad a couple of days ago for £405.

 

I think Etihad must now be giving Emirates and Qatar a run for their money hence the keen prices.

 

For Pauly, flown Qatar many times now, generally very good, connections good but as mentioned Doha Airport is the pits - take a leak on the plane before you land a good idea to keep a bottle of soft drink in your hand luggage for while you are there. Refreshment facilities are limited.

 

As also mentioned get the frequent flyer card (Q Miles) - enables Biz Desk check in when you get to silver status which doesn't take long, and you can use the Biz Lounges at MAN, DOH and BKK. A big bonus.

 

Bill

Edited July 6, 2006 by BongoBill9999

[kolobos 0]

Just flown bkk/man with Qatar and they were fantastic...however it was business class and worth every penny...looking forward to my return back home.

 

With the £30 you just saved why not pay to go into the business lounge??? You can take a piss whenever you want and dont have to look at the departure board as they call you up....and you can drink and eat what you like! Well worth it

[BongoBill9999 0]

Just flown bkk/man with Qatar and they were fantastic...however it was business class and worth every penny...looking forward to my return back home.

 

With the £30 you just saved why not pay to go into the business lounge???

I have a silver card so I do anyway.

[seabass 0]

thats good news as Im coming in January. Hopefully they will both extend these prices

 

Both airlines can do it as they dont pay much if anything for petrol or airport charges, as they are al owned by the emir or whoever. This means that they have a massive advantage over traditional airlines on these routes. Coupled with this they are targeting these routes to get a foothold in the world market and arent making much if any money at all at the moment, in fact they are probably losing it in an attempt to copy the success of emirates.

 

In the same way, my mate works in Qatar and he says that they are building very similar style complexes and buildings as Dubai, but without any idea of how they are going to fill them. It seems to me that theyve seen what Dubai is doing and dont want to miss the boat, but arent doing it quite as well.

 

Anyway, lets hope that these countries continue this for at least the next 30 years, as £100 or £200 is a lot of fun in Pattaya

[CheshireTom 1,377]

If you are booking some of the cheapest deals on either Qatar or Emirates be sure to confirm with the airline that the class of travel attracts FF mileage. I'm not sure about Emirates but Qatar works on a calender year and it is easy to lose your FF status if you don't accrue the miles on time. Once you attain silver/gold membership the bonus miles become a significant factor to take into account viz a viz tickets which, on the face of it, are great value. It may be a false economy if you ain't getting the miles you expected.

[bob2005 0]

Do any of these Middle East airlines NOT serve booze? TIA.

[CheshireTom 1,377]

The four main carriers (Gulf, Emirates, Qatar and Etihad) all serve booze. Kuwait and Saudia do not, although I believe on Kuwait you can bring your own.

[jacko 8,815]

The four main carriers (Gulf, Emirates, Qatar and Etihad) all serve booze. Kuwait and Saudia do not, although I believe on Kuwait you can bring your own.

Saudia used to allow you to have a bottle but that was if you boarded outside the Kingdom...they would give you mixers and dispose of your empties. Wouldn't fancy wandering around in Riyadh airport as a transit passenger with a couple of bottles of scotch in my carry-on.

 

I was told that the Kuwait customs would let you bring a bottle into the country when I was working there and doing a visa run to Bahrain. But bring 2...he keeps one, you keep the other....he took both without so much as a word!

 

Yes Kuwait and Saudia flights are 'dry'.....the other Arabian Penninsular countries airlines are certainly not.

 

Is Sharjah still dry?

[thunder367 0]

i have just returned from thailand.i flow from manchester had 4 seats to my self to doha then had 2 sets to myself to bkk.the meals where nice and if ther was any going spare u could have extra,the flight back from bkk with my thai lady aswell was fully booked but once on the flight to manchester we had extra seats to ourself.u get your own tv screen with games to play good selection of movies aswell.i paid 407 for the return flight whic is the cheapest i have paid for a flight to thailand.also the chnger over is good at the most it is 2 hours from landing to taking off again.but just take not that they are working on the doha airport at the monment so there is not a lot of room at some of the gates but most have plenty just repends on how others ar jioning ur flight.

[deadman 0]

question to all: is there anything to do in doha airport? i have a 6 hour wait on my return leg on sept 13! thx

[Cennn3 0]

question to all: is there anything to do in doha airport? i have a 6 hour wait on my return leg on sept 13! thx

No.

[CheshireTom 1,377]

question to all: is there anything to do in doha airport? i have a 6 hour wait on my return leg on sept 13! thx

There's nothing to do in Doha, full stop!

[Julio 0]

Flown with Qatar once in February this year. Flights OK (comparable with Emirates) but stopping in Doha makes it a long journey. Previous replies highlighted the problem that is Doha airport i.e too hot, too crowded, queues for the bog, limited refreshments and poor information boards. They are right.

[CheshireTom 1,377]

Flown with Qatar once in February this year. Flights OK (comparable with Emirates) but stopping in Doha makes it a long journey. Previous replies highlighted the problem that is Doha airport i.e too hot, too crowded, queues for the bog, limited refreshments and poor information boards. They are right.

Julio,

 

Only for economy pax. For those in Biz or holding Silver/Gold FF status the stopover is extremely good ......... free internet, booze, food, spacious. The new dedicated first/biz class dedicated terminal terminal will open soon which will free up a lot of space in the main terminal. There is a fair bit of construction going on to accommodate the increase in traffic expected for the Asian Games in Nov/Dec which again will enhance the current terminal whilst the new one is under construction.

 

If possible, avoid Thu/Fri/Sat flights as that is the busiest period.

 

Tom

[simon8783 0]

I flew in March for the first time with Qatar from LGW to BKK. I was worried about the transit time which was only an hour between touchdown and takeoff. For me that was quite a narrow window.

 

Took off at Gatwick dead on time and landed at Doha dead on time. Was literally wisked through transit straight onto the next plane which then left the runway dead on time....they were smooth.

 

The only thing was the seats from Doha to BKK. There was an arguement on board about the allocation of seats. A family that had boarded at Doha decided it was going to occupy someone elses seat...and for reasons I can't figure they got their own way. The other thing is that a Qatari gentleman who clearly wasn't used to the alcohol content of wine got a little under the weather and tried groping the flight crew. He also decided to have a 6 hour sing a long.....fantastic...

 

But all in all I'd fly with them again (trying Etihad in Sept though!!)

[CheshireTom 1,377]

The extension to the current terminal at Doha (increased the number of gates by 50%) is now finished and open for business.

 

Went through last night and it makes a huge difference to the place.