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

Gulf Air

Advantages: clean, comfortable, good service
Disadvantages: No direct flights out to Asia

...I have flown repeatedly with Gulf Air out to various places in Asia from India to South East Asia and the far east. These have always required a stop-off in the gulf area of the Middle East, almost always Bahrain which is the airlines hub. The airline has connections from London, Paris and Frankfurt out to Bahrain and from there there are plenty of connections out to Asia and to various places around the Middle East and Islamic countries such as Sudan and Iran. Thus it isn't the best connected airline for those trying to connect from Western Europe as it will almost always require a change over unless Bahrain is the final destination. The main reason I have flown with Gulf Air is that they have consistently been the cheapest option on offer for flights out to Asia-perhaps because of the required change over. I have flown with them for 3...

flyingllamas 02.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Gulf Air - GFA

Qatar Airlines - Cheap and Great

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

...are rude whereas you do also get nice ones. The prices are the best around (well they are from the travel agents I usually use : Apple Air LTD. 338a King Street, London) They offer the lowest rates I can find for any airline going to Sri Lanka and for the airline, Qatar Airways itself. I think their Christmas prices are starting from £345. The food here isn?t too bad and is average. Altogether, I think with the shopping experience it offers in Doha, Qatar, along with the price of the airline ticket, it is a great offer....

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

Air Southwest

Advantages: Customer Service, Regional Destinations
Disadvantages: Can be expensive for late bookings

...I had to travel recently to meet up with some friends in London and this airline provided the easiest way to ge there! I work in travel and thought I'd offer a professional opinion on their services. THE COMPANY and THE PLANE Air Southwest is a small airline based in Plymouth and Newquay and operates between 12 destinations all over the UK and Ireland. During the winter they have also been flying to Grenoble for the skiers in the region. They fly Bombardier dash 8 Q300 aircraft - this translates as a prop plane with 50 seats on board with the same seat layout as you would find on most coaches - two on the left and two on the right. For your convenience there is a lavatory and washroom at the front of the cabin. THE JOURNEY I flew from Plymouth to London Gatwick, travelling out on Saturday morning and returning the Same...

Vixterbelle 01.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Air Southwest

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

Air 2000/First Choice Flights

Advantages: Cheap but not cheerful
Disadvantages: Offer you no support if things go wrong

...Now the holiday season is fast approaching, no doubt many of you will be perusing the websites and holiday books for ideas on where to spend that elusive two-week break. To be honest, when booking a package holiday I never really took into consideration which airline would be responsible for taking me to my Mediterranean destination. All I looked for was the nearest airport and then the price. ***** WHO ARE THEY AND WHAT THEY DO ******** Since we travelled with Air 2000, they have since become First Choice Flights. As Air 2000 they were quite surprisingly an award winning UK airline. Every year, the airline's 29 aircraft make on average 30,000 flights from fifteen airports in the UK and Ireland. Air 2000 started on 11 April 1987 and is the UK's 3rd largest charter airline. The airline flies from Manchester, London...

mrsmopples 04.06.2006 · Read review
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Review of Air 2000

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

Freshen your room with Fresh Air Globe

Advantages: Definitely does help to freshen the air drawing in impurities
Disadvantages: Main unit is £39.99 and replacement oils are £9.99 each

...I purchased the JML Fresh Air Globe and am glad I did! The globe comes with 2 fragrance oils - 1 eucalyptus and 1 lavender which offer both a stimulating or soothing experience. Within the unit there are coloured led lights which change randomly thus creating a relaxing atmosphere when using the appliance in a darkened room. It is amazing how much dirt the water collects (much better in the water than breathing it in). The only drawback with this appliance is that replacement oils are a bit pricey at £9.99. I have been using the JML Fresh Air Globe for about a year now and would definitely recommend it to anyone. Maintenance is exceptionally easy. When the water becomes cloudy simply empty the basin, rinse and refill. The filters are easy to clean too and unclick so you can get access....

Jenny39 18.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of JML Fresh Air Globe

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