Qatar Airways: A tale of two flights

Advantages: Value for money in business, excellent service, good wine!
Disadvantages: No flat bed in business, lower standard on Africa route, premium terminal falls short

...In recent years I have twice opted to start my holiday with Qatar Airways flights. The first time was a few years ago when I travelled to Nepal and much more recently I visited Tanzania. A few years of regular business travel has left me with the expensive affliction of being unable to tolerate economy class for much over four hours and so the reason I chose Qatar on both occasions was because the business class fares were the most affordable. Indeed I have noticed that Qatar is often very competitively priced in this class, which is slightly surprising considering they are one of a very small number of five star airlines. Most of my observations will be about business class and my most recent trip, although I do recall enough about the earlier to trip to conclude the experiences were fairly consistent. Pre flight My...

Cat199 11.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Qatar Airways - QTR

Qatar Airways....brilliant!

Advantages: Cheap, Safe, Excellent Service, V Polite staff
Disadvantages: Doha Airport

...Wow!! I flew to Bangkok via Doha in May (QR42 & QR612) and it was the first time i'd flown with a proper long haul airline in a long time, to say i was very impressed would be an understatement. The flight was part of a package type deal to spend 3 nights in Bangkok and 11 nights in Cha-am. The whole holiday only cost £520...so the flight part of that must have been substantially less. Saying that for the service we received on the plane, I would have paid £520 just for that! Firstly the check-in experience at Manchester was seemless. We were greeted by a man in a Qatar Airways suit who crossed us off his list on his clipboard, helped us get are luggage into the queueing system (there was no queue to speak of though). We stood there a couple of mins then checked straight in, all the way through to Bangkok. Our luggage was being...

jrc1984 29.07.2006 · Read review
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Review of Qatar Airways - QTR

Qatar Airlines - Cheap and Great

Advantages: Free shopping and stay in a hotel courtesy of the hotel
Disadvantages: Some rude airhostesses

...Qatar Airways is a really fabulous airline up to and after some minor hick-ups. Whilst once travelling to Sri Lanka on Qatar Airways, I found that from the flight from London Heathrow to Doha Qatar, a lot of the backpackers travelling to Nepal were treated better than the people travelling to Sri Lanka. When arriving at Doha, people travelling on a flight to Colombo will be put up in a hotel in the city until their flight is ready to leave. This then allows you to explore the city of Doha. It is very dusty and there isn?t much to buy there apart from gold, gold and more CHEAP gold. On the flight from Doha to Colombo, you are treated exceptionally well and travel in a smaller aircraft than originally travelled in from London to Doha. Some of the airhostesses are nice but a lot give out a sense of not wanting to be in the aircraft. Some...

perera 05.12.2000 (27.11.2000) · Read review
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Review of Qatar Airways - QTR

Very bad experience with Qatar Airways

Advantages: Cheap?
Disadvantages: Too many to list.

...Dear Sir/Madam, I would like to advise users of your website never to fly on Qatar Airways. I originally booked a flight to Delhi and back, one part of which Qatar Airways simply dropped a few days before I was due to fly out. They never contacted me about this as I only learned about it when I phoned their Gatwick number to enquire about an unrelated issue about the flights. As a replacement flight to the one they dropped (Doha to Gatwick), they put in place a flight that was supposed to fly out 11 hours later than the one originally scheduled. The result being that when I landed in Doha, I was denied a hotel room and had to contend with the dreadful food they give to passengers awaiting transfer in the Doha airport. The reason they gave for this is that the original booking I made never included a hotel room as the original...

mgacourt 23.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of Qatar Airways - QTR

Well done and keep it up, Qatar Airways!

Advantages: spacious, good service, on time, very helpful and understanding
Disadvantages: Staff do not speak well english nor arabic

...A few months ago, I had a family bereavement in the Middle East (Not in Qatar). I stayed at home wondering what to do and then I came up with the idea to go over and help in the burial and so on. I called around nearly all the airways and they were all either full or a few days later and I was not able to hold my patience anymore. I then came across the Qatar Airways website and I called their office on one the airports and they were just so helpful and understanding. They asked for my mobile phone number, called around to find the earliest flight and working out my connection from Qatar airport then called me back with all details of at least two current flights. Although they were not able to sort me with a return flight at that time as I wanted to come back on the same week, I requested them to select the earliest date and I will try...

TheJudge1979 30.10.2005 · Read review
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Review of Qatar Airways - QTR

Qatar Airways...now my preferred airline.

Advantages: Five Star Service, Low Fares, Very New Aircraft, Generous Frequent Flyer Plan
Disadvantages: Change of Plane at Doha...a very cramped Airport. Inconsistant Product.

...My experiences with this airline started in November 2004, when I managed to book a round trip to BKK for £380 including tax from Manchester. I had heard great things about the airline, which had already been awarded 5* status by Skytrax, the Airline quality passenger forum. When we boarded our flight, there was already someone sitting in our seats, but the Purser quickly came to our rescue and we were shown to Business Class for the 1st leg to Doha. Staff were wonderful throughout, and so keen to impress, I couldn't help but wonder how long they will be able to keep this up for. I hope they can maintain the high standards they have now. I was so impressed that I have now paid to go Business Class ever since..... Qatar are a fraction of the cost of Thai or B.A. and I am pleased to have found them as I make the trip to BKK...

caligulase19 15.06.2005 · Read review
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Review of Qatar Airways - QTR

Confused in Qatar!

Advantages: Cheap petrol, extremely safe, hardly ever rains
Disadvantages: quiet, no pubs, extremely hot and humid in Summer

...If you are thinking about travelling out to the Middle East, more specifically Qatar, then forget all the horror stories about public beheadings and women having to cover themselves up from head to toe. Admittedly, it is not the sort of place if you enjoy a 'rave up' or hectic nightlife, but then if you like the idea of peace and tranquility combined with absolute safety - then this is the place to be. The capital city, Doha, has around 600,000 inhabitants mostly made up of expats from the Phillipines, Indian subcontinent and europe. You need to apply for a visa and arrange for one of the many hotels here to sponsor your stay in Qatar. Best time of year for a visit is in the 'Not Summer' season ie. October - May, when the temperature is around 80 degrees fahrenheit and the humidity is only 10 - 20% Women and men are asked to use their...

Sushi 29.06.2000 · Read review
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Review of General: Qatar

great airline

Advantages: staff, price, quality of food and drink, connections smooth
Disadvantages: shame doha airport isn't larger(this is being done though)

...I have been lucky enough to have travelled with Qatar airways in all 3 classes and wanted to share my experience as i think many people will find it interesting. Prices: prise wise, they are pretty similar to rates with similar airlines such as emirates, ethiad, etc but , you may find they do a lot of offer seats so can be much cheaper on certain occasions than their competitors. If you are doing economy for a round trip to bangkok you can get it at around £450pp maybe little bit less or more is any special offers are out, business approx £1200pp and first around £1600( very much rough ball part as like i said it does pay to see if any operators have specials if you are actually booking a whole package rather than just flights as it can work out a lot cheaper than paying for the flights plus accom in whichever resort you are staying...

frankiecesca 07.09.2007 (26.10.2007) · Read review
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Review of Qatar Airways - QTR

Fasten your seatbelts please??

Advantages: Price, nice, clean aircraft
Disadvantages: Other passengers.......

...Well, we decided to head back to Thailand this time. Last time we flew with Emirates. However, the flights with Qatar were coming up cheaper and for the dates and times we wanted. My husband's family had used Qatar in the past and were pleased with their trips. So, we decided to go with them. Our flight was from Manchester to Qatar to Bangkok and then the reverse for going home. ~ Booking ~ We booked this flight in January 2007- 11 months before we took the flight. We went to Ausitravel and had them look for our flights. It was done quickly and we got our vouchers 2 weeks before we left. ~ Check-In ~ We are NEVER ones to get to check-in late. My one obsession with flying is that I don't want to miss a flight. Thus, we are always VERY early for check-in. So, we were at check-in 1 hour before it even opened. However...

ukusa 11.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Qatar Airways - QTR

Never Again!!

Advantages: The Ground Crew in London and Karachi
Disadvantages: The In flight crew, The Malfunction of AVOD, Doha Connection

...only 30 minutes! No educational channels or trips to the cockpit for the many children on vacation in-flight. In-flight Duty Free terribly expensive. The AVOD malfunctioned on a few seats while on the way back and hence had an extremely boring and hard to get through experience! Cabin staff: Efficient and helpful on the way to LHR but the way back was pretty unsatisfactory and harrowing as no activity packs for kids were available, same choice of programs on the AVOD and so had to actually rummage through the hand luggage to find my little one stuff to do!! Arrival services: Transfers of Qatar Airways are usually through Doha and the ground staff guide you but with no courtesy that a child is along. The wait at the Doha Airport was for 6 hours, minimum available and the dinner provided was as if in a school cafeteria with one apple...

DaQueen 03.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Qatar Airways - QTR