Will Quatar Gold and Silver flyer flying in Economy have access to this new facility?
As the new terminal will be finally opening tomorrow, Sunnday 26 November, it would be great to know what the rules are.

Will Quatar Gold and Silver flyer flying in Economy have access to this new facility?
As the new terminal will be finally opening tomorrow, Sunnday 26 November, it would be great to know what the rules are.

No idea, but since I am here now in the F lounge, let me go and ask.....

To be continued

OK, so the deal is as follows;

To ' preserve the exclusivity' of the new premium terminal, only business class and first class pax can enter.

In the mean time the old business class lounge remains open for silver members and the old First class lounge remains open for gold members of the privilege club.

I know this is OT but I'd be interested to see how the city is coping with the Asian Games chaos esp the airport..anyone in Qatar atm?

CJ :)

Well, will be able to give a better report about the city later today, but the airport seem to be doing fine.
Apart from the new premium terminal (all biz en F pax are asked onboard to make their way there) all Asian Games participants and entourage are asked to stay onboard. They are then transported to the dedicated Asian Games Terminal. This, purpose built, termporary facility is slightly further away and will cope with the bulk of the arriving athleets.
On my overnighter from HKG I had the HKG team, the Taiwan team and some PRC officials, if there were participants from Macau onboarrd then it was a greater China event in the true olympic sense of the word!

I might have missed it but nobody seems to have posted their experience of the new terminals. Are they fabulous? How do they compare with such leaders as the EK lounges in DXB or CX in HKG? What's truly innovative and why should one aspire to use them? For a long layover would they be unbearable / pleasant / a super mini holiday en route?

And, most importantly, can we have pics, please? :)

The targeting of premium customers seems to be working.

Interesting that they'll dispense withthe terminal by 2009....

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=November2006&file=Local_News2006112585637.xml

also noteworty from the articleis that Qatar is increasing the Premium Cabin size. Would be interested to see if they'll add first to some routes, or just increase the C cabin.

"Al Baker said that targeting premium travelers is a conscious move on the part of the airline as shown by Qatar Airways' decision to upgrade the premium cabins from between 18 and 24 to 42 passengers."

The targeting of premium customers seems to be working.

Interesting that they'll dispense withthe terminal by 2009....

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=November2006&file=Local_News2006112585637.xml

also noteworty from the articleis that Qatar is increasing the Premium Cabin size. Would be interested to see if they'll add first to some routes, or just increase the C cabin.

"Al Baker said that targeting premium travelers is a conscious move on the part of the airline as shown by Qatar Airways' decision to upgrade the premium cabins from between 18 and 24 to 42 passengers."

Increasing premium cabin seats makes no sense. If I'm up front I want least amount of pax possible!! GF has it right with only 8 in F (if full) which still seems very comfortable and intimate. Also service standards and availability of lavs may prove an issue. I agree whole-heartedly with Premium terminal concept, however!

The new DOH terminal is still a few yrs away so anything being built or upgraded still wont competer with the new EK terminal at this stage. I feel the EK terminal will be open before the QR terminal.

Enjoy :cool:

Increasing premium cabin seats makes no sense. If I'm up front I want least amount of pax possible!! GF has it right with only 8 in F (if full) which still seems very comfortable and intimate. Also service standards and availability of lavs may prove an issue. I agree whole-heartedly with Premium terminal concept, however!

The new DOH terminal is still a few yrs away so anything being built or upgraded still wont competer with the new EK terminal at this stage. I feel the EK terminal will be open before the QR terminal.

Enjoy :cool:

For passengers it may not make sense, but financially it sure does.

If QR has the demand to fly 50+ J class passengers and 15+ F class passengers on an A330, then it makes sense for them to do so, because the per seat profit in J and F is greater than that in Y.

It might deter some passengers, but I don't think it will deter enough to make a huge difference.

The BA 744 has up to 70 (!) seats in J and 14 seats in F. They rarely offer free upgrades, and yet the F&J cabins almost always go out full. :eek:

Other airlines like CO/EK/DL/TG have ~50 seats on the 777 in J.

although i have to agree that a large C or F class cabin is not ideal, my guess would be that QR would also increase the amount of dedicated staff in those cabins.

If they can then split up the C cabin like some other airlines do, it feels nicer than having a huge single C cabin (LH's 2 Class A346 comes to mind with 60+ seats in one big cabin).

For passengers it may not make sense, but financially it sure does.

If QR has the demand to fly 50+ J class passengers and 15+ F class passengers on an A330, then it makes sense for them to do so, because the per seat profit in J and F is greater than that in Y.

It might deter some passengers, but I don't think it will deter enough to make a huge difference.

The BA 744 has up to 70 (!) seats in J and 14 seats in F. They rarely offer free upgrades, and yet the F&J cabins almost always go out full. :eek:

Other airlines like CO/EK/DL/TG have ~50 seats on the 777 in J.

Sure it makes more money and I'm well aware airlines make their real money from F, J and cargo basically, however, a small calm cabin in F or J for the very frequent flyer is a God send considering the chaos of getting to airports, terminals, security etc. Personally, for example, if I cant fly upper deck on QF in J I wont fly on that flight;the added peace, tranquility, service and lav availability is all I really care about as the premium paying pax. Also a J cabin with 2-3-2 configuration is blatantly criminal on any ac;;;;how does it differ in feel to a Y class on a 767??..a glorified Y cabin me thinks at best :p

Maybe I'm an 'FFF'...........fussy frequent flyer :D

If they upgrad their cabin, can we please have F on DOH-HKG?? :)

I simply don´t understand why they don´t offer the F product on that route. I hve talked to several other passengers on one of my many flights and they too seemed to be happy with F class on that route. I don´t think that there would be no demand for that.....

Dunno about F to HKG, my company wont pay for it, but I had an involuntary downgrade from DOH to HKG because J was fully booked out. They gave me 4 seats in a row in Y and were quite OK about the whole thing. However the arm rests in the new y seats cannot go all the way up, so sleeping flat was a bit of a squeeze.
More seats in the premium cabins seems a must to me now!

The premium terminal is a 2 storey building with a large and quiet check-in hall, with very comfy high chairs on the left and low counters on the right. I have to say that I hate having to sit down for premium check-in, i just feel uncomfortable, but well, it seems to be the way now....
There are a few immigration counters after check-in and security. All is very quiet and pleasant, much better then next door.
After that there is a tax free shop, but most pax go straight to their lounges. These are upstrairs. Nice waterfall between the stairs. Gates on the right.
Apart from the J & F lounges there is a gaming room, a nursey, claok room, prayer rooms, business centre etc. All very nicely done.
The F & J lounges are in the 'along the windows' style, similar to KUL. J is the busier one. The J lounge is normal, with plenty of staff carrying drinks around and announcing flights. The smoking room is too small late at night. Wireless is available.
The F lounge has overnight beds in several rooms. This looked like they have never been used and it was quite nicely done.
Furthermore it offers a spa with a communal hot tub (can seat at least 8, but is not filled with water just yet), a sauna (which was 65C when I was there) and plenty of showers. I have not been able to locate a gym yet....
It will be my first comment.

Let me know if you have any questions,

Miles

Thanks for providing our first taste of the new DOHA lounges, miles4all!^

Thanks miles4all for your first impressions of the new premium terminal! Much appreciated, especially as I missed the opening by two weeks... :o

Two questions: do you know if the spa/sauna... etc. is only availalbe to F passengers? I thought I read somewhere that C class is excluded but couldn't really believe this... And, is there now also hot food on offer in the C lounge?

Thanks. :)

Thanks miles4all for your first impressions of the new premium terminal! Much appreciated, especially as I missed the opening by two weeks... :o

Two questions: do you know if the spa/sauna... etc. is only availalbe to F passengers? I thought I read somewhere that C class is excluded but couldn't really believe this... And, is there now also hot food on offer in the C lounge?

Thanks. :)

There is hot food in the C/J lounge - there were hot fish & chicken dishes together with rice,veg & potatoes.
Lounge was very impressive but as previously noted smoking lounge very small and I found the lack of a 'pour your own' bar a little annoying.

i am travelling thru doha in new year, ill be travelling in business and my son will be in econ, do we have to go to seperate terminals or will he be ble to join me in the c class terminal/lounge

I will be in DOH next sunday (Dec. 10th) and I will take some pictures of the new terminal. Will post them right away that night on the web so everybody can take a look at the new premium product of QR :)

I'll be doing LHR-DOH-AUH-DOH-LHR in J next weekend on Qatar.

As the DOH-AUH-AUH segments booked into Y any ideas as to how this might affect my use of the new premium terminal?

The reason why I ask is that I read earlier in this thread that F and J passengers are asked to go to the premium terminal.

I can understand that going from DOH-AUH I may not not able to use the premium terminal but on the return DOH-AUH when I'll be in Y connecting to a business seat from DOH-LHR I thought that I should have access to the premium lounge although not sure whether the airline would allow me to go from the plane in Y to the premium lounge.

The whole ticket was booked as J but the internal connections automatically booked into Y.

If the premium terminal is connected to the main terminal then maybe I can walk to it?

Thank you for all your help.

Hi FlySAS,

As I already mentioned, you will indeed have to go to seperate terminals, unless you decide to downgrade yourself to the old terminal.

The new terminal is only for J and F ticketed pax!

I am coming into Doha from LHR in First, and in transit to Colombo in business. Will I get acccess to the First lounge?

I am coming into Doha from LHR in First, and in transit to Colombo in business. Will I get acccess to the First lounge?

Unfortunately not, from experience I can tell you that J->F will get you access, F->J will not.

Regards

Qatar is indeed EXTREMELY strict about access to the new terminal.

I was on a Business Class ticket DOH-LHR last week which unfortunately got involuntarily downgraded due to an equipment substitution at the last minute.

I was shocked to find that QR staff rounded up all of us who had been involuntarily downgraded and escorted us out of the Premium Terminal as it was only for use by J/F class pax (which we no longer were). Talk about adding insult to injury!

Qatar is indeed EXTREMELY strict about access to the new terminal.

I was on a Business Class ticket DOH-LHR last week which unfortunately got involuntarily downgraded due to an equipment substitution at the last minute.

I was shocked to find that QR staff rounded up all of us who had been involuntarily downgraded and escorted us out of the Premium Terminal as it was only for use by J/F class pax (which we no longer were). Talk about adding insult to injury!

That's awful! I probably would have taken a refund and gone to BA or EK.

Qatar is indeed EXTREMELY strict about access to the new terminal.

I was on a Business Class ticket DOH-LHR last week which unfortunately got involuntarily downgraded due to an equipment substitution at the last minute.

I was shocked to find that QR staff rounded up all of us who had been involuntarily downgraded and escorted us out of the Premium Terminal as it was only for use by J/F class pax (which we no longer were). Talk about adding insult to injury!

What was offered as compensation for this invol downgrade ?

Yeah, only customers booked with QR in first or business can use the new terminal. I wrote this a few weeks ago when we passed through the terminal on our way to BKK. Also, duty free is nothing to write home about; it is too bloody expensive (unless you are only interested in buying cigarettes)...

"We were picked up from the plane by a bus (leather and suede seats, ohhh) and taken to the main terminal where those passengers who were concluding their trip could get off. Then the bus took the rest of us to the F/C terminal. It is literally a stand alone terminal with its own security and boarding gates (4 or 5 in total; obviously much smaller than your typical gate area). Over all, a very elegant building with marble floors and very mondern furniture. Both the First and Business class portions of the building are exactly the same with both sharing the same floor amenities but with the First class "lounge area" seperate from that of Business class. I didn't have a lot of time to look around (30 minutes) but I can tell you that there are individual bathrooms with showers, a jacuzzi (or two), a few "massage rooms" and a few sleeping quarters, a couple of cloak rooms, a duty free area (on the first level), a children's play room (complete with all types of arcade/video games) and his and hers prayer rooms. Hot and cold food is served in both lounges (exactly the same food) with a good selection of sweets and drinks (but no alcohol). When your plane starts boarding, a person goes around calling the destination (which I found to be very odd; why not just use a PA system). You go back down to the lower level of the terminal and head to your "gate" where a bus is waiting to take you to your plane."

a good selection of sweets and drinks (but no alcohol)

no alcohol? :eek: not that I really need it, but I was looking forward to having a glass of bubbly in the lounge... they serve alcohol on their planes, why not in their ground facilities?

very interesting report, btw. i was wondering how passengers get to the terminal, good to know that they already pick you up at the plane. I assume the same goes for the A320s, not just for the widebodies? Anybody knows how the biz class is on the 320s?

there IS alcohol, just no 'pour your own' - it's waiter/ess service.

What was offered as compensation for this invol downgrade ?

Nothing. Just an apology.

That's awful! I probably would have taken a refund and gone to BA or EK.

Not so easy. I was in transit at Doha and did not have a visa to go landside. Also, being stuck in the Premium Terminal which is exclusively used by QR, there was no BA/EK representative to deal with. The options were pretty much to accept what QR offered or else be deported back to the starting point of my journey - and having been through the Qatari deportation process before (paperwork error that was corrected after a few hours) that was not a pleasant thought.

It was overall a rather unpleasant situation, especially since the flight in Business Class would have qualified me for Gold Elite with them (I have been Silver Elite for 2 years now), but they only posted Economy Class miles due to the downgrade and so I am still hanging short of the threshold. :(

Not so easy. I was in transit at Doha and did not have a visa to go landside. Also, being stuck in the Premium Terminal which is exclusively used by QR, there was no BA/EK representative to deal with. The options were pretty much to accept what QR offered or else be deported back to the starting point of my journey - and having been through the Qatari deportation process before (paperwork error that was corrected after a few hours) that was not a pleasant thought.

It was overall a rather unpleasant situation, especially since the flight in Business Class would have qualified me for Gold Elite with them (I have been Silver Elite for 2 years now), but they only posted Economy Class miles due to the downgrade and so I am still hanging short of the threshold. :(

Ouch. I guess I probably would have had a slightly easier time as I can go landside in QR, but the airline still seemed pretty unforgiving. Something similar happened to me on EK from KHI, but by the time I got to DXB for my connecting flight everyone was apologizing and going out of their way to make things better. I've never experienced this with GF.

Thanks for sharing though - I probably won't go out of my way to fly QR now. Did they at least offer the option to go on a later flight that had J?

Thanks for sharing though - I probably won't go out of my way to fly QR now. Did they at least offer the option to go on a later flight that had J?

Oh, I will still fly QR - just not in a premium cabin. Their Y class service is still quite fantastic, but they have deficiencies when it comes to treating their premium customers. They fawn all over you when things go right, but when they go wrong it all goes to pieces.

there IS alcohol, just no 'pour your own' - it's waiter/ess service.

Oooppss... Sorry...

I can see why they would have you "order" your drink. Like I said, we were only there briefly and I certainly didn't see any alcohol out in the open; certainly no cans of beer in the fridge or on draft :D .

Yes, these are just the goodwill offer. The refund was processed earlier.

ah, i misunderstood.

QR have finally responded to my note.


Dear B747-437B,

Thank you for taking the time to write to us about your recent trip from Bombay to London Heathrow on 29th of December 2006. We fully understand the inconvenience you went through because of the involuntary downgrade in the class of service as we had to change aircraft due to technical reasons. You will appreciate the fact that disruptions of this nature are unforeseen and totally beyond our control.

Nevertheless, we value you as our customer and as a gesture of good will we would like to offer you 3000 Q-miles which will be credited to your member account accordingly.

Please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience caused. We look forward to welcoming you again in one of our flights in the near future.

With kind regards,

Senior Customer Relations Assistant

QR have finally responded to my note.

"...technical reasons. You will appreciate the fact that disruptions of this nature are unforeseen and totally beyond our control..."



Aren't technical reasons the one time when it is the airline's fault? I assume the Q miles are in addition to any refund you are due?

Aren't technical reasons the one time when it is the airline's fault? I assume the Q miles are in addition to any refund you are due?

Yes, these are just the goodwill offer. The refund was processed earlier.

Planes break. Can't blame the airline for that.

Hi I just got the information from QR that one could get for 19 Euros fee in the new lounge. Is that correct or can anybody confirm this ? I can hardly believe this ?

Sounds like nonsense to me. QR are very strict on access to their terminal.
Perhaps this is for the lounge they have in the main terminal ?

The reason why I ask is that I read earlier in this thread that F and J passengers are asked to go to the premium terminal.

I can understand that going from DOH-AUH I may not not able to use the premium terminal but on the return DOH-AUH when I'll be in Y connecting to a business seat from DOH-LHR I thought that I should have access to the premium lounge although not sure whether the airline would allow me to go from the plane in Y to the premium lounge.


Did you get any replies to this?

-A

IIRC the regular economy bus stops at the normal terminal first and then continues to the premium terminal if there are J/F pax on the bus.
In this case coming from Y to a J flight just stay on the bus and tell the driver.

Hi I just got the information from QR that one could get for 19 Euros fee in the new lounge. Is that correct or can anybody confirm this ? I can hardly believe this ?

Nope. You must hold a valid QR J or F boarding pass to access the Premium terminal.

If you are coming in on another carrier, you'd have to go to the MAIN terminal first, then after security, proceed on the same level to boarding gate 1 and tell the QR Customer Service reps there that you want to go to the Premium Terminal. They will first check your BP and res, and then will call the bus to take you there.