Qatar Airways Privilege Club - Distressful trip with Qatar Airways: Lack of care when my Laptop was left on flight.

As I got off the bus and entered DOH terminal after disembarking from a QR flight, I realized that I forgot my laptop which I had placed in the overhead compartment. I immediately notified a ground agent who asked that I proceed to the Transfer Desk and report it which I did right away. There I was informed that all they can do is call Lost & Found and wait for them to receive a laptop. I explained to them that the laptop is in the compartment above my seat and I just disembarked 10 minutes ago. If they would please radio air side and ask an agent to bring it. The agent refused and said that they can only wait for Lost & Found and I should come back in an hour before my connecting flight to LHR!!! I spoke to two other agents and both declined to do more. Right before boarding my LHR flight, they told me no laptop was found!! I reiterated to them that the laptop may not be easily viewable since it is thin and slid down into the compartment and if not checked properly, it may simply go out on the aircraft's next flight. My repeated requests went all in vain and I was told to file a report in LHR and get a tracking number to follow up. Obviously upon arriving at LHR, I was told since it was not checked luggage, I couldn't file anything!

It amazes me how much Qatar Airways spends on advertising an image of a 5 star airline, yet it doesn't train or hire trained employees that are of high caliber... Their ground staff are a bunch of incompetent brainless robots that couldn't figure out the ease of getting my laptop if they were proactive and acted quickly!

I know it was my fault to have left my laptop on board but I can't seem to understand why Ground Staff didn't want to contact anyone other than Lost & Found. Was proper procedure followed? Shouldn't they have immediately contacted air side and asked an agent to check my seat and bring my laptop? Critical time was lost causing the loss of my laptop which is a major problem for me.

It seemed to me that the agents deemed my laptop as lost from the minute I reported it or they wished it so for some reason! As far as Qatar Airways is concerned, a passenger is a nuisance; Unfortunately, no kind-hearted employee was willing to go beyond their presumed call of duty. Qatar Airways is not even a One star airline, its a worthless airline.

There have been numerous threads about the lack of service when you're travelling in economy.. and the ground staff are useless when it comes to something out of the norm.

I am sorry for your loss. And yes, I agree they should have done better - like yes, contact the aircraft crew etc. Imagine if you said that the laptop would self destruct if it doesn't come in contact with you in an hour. I bet they'll find it immediately!

I think it might eventually turn up. I think when the aircraft goes out again, someone might find it and hand it to the cabin crew who might in turn take it to XXX destination.

Yes, the service agents at DOH are clueless. And seem to pass the buck. As long as its not within their scope of duties, they don't care.

I can only suggest you write and courier your letter to the CEO of the airline to express your displeasure.

There have been numerous threads about the lack of service when you're travelling in economy.. and the ground staff are useless when it comes to something out of the norm.

I am sorry for your loss. And yes, I agree they should have done better - like yes, contact the aircraft crew etc. Imagine if you said that the laptop would self destruct if it doesn't come in contact with you in an hour. I bet they'll find it immediately!

I think it might eventually turn up. I think when the aircraft goes out again, someone might find it and hand it to the cabin crew who might in turn take it to XXX destination.

Yes, the service agents at DOH are clueless. And seem to pass the buck. As long as its not within their scope of duties, they don't care.

I can only suggest you write and courier your letter to the CEO of the airline to express your displeasure.

It's not only in Y, the same applies to C passengers.
As much as on-board service is wonderful on QR, ground service is simply pathetic.
I once forgot a box of Thai Orchids on the plane whilst transiting in DOH on a BKK-DOH-CDG flight.
I immediately alerted the ground staff at the Premium Terminal upon realizing my mistake.
Despite a 2 hours transit time in DOH, I never got my orchids back.

Talking of the ground service. Has anyone reading this been on the DOH arrivals around 23:30 yesterday (20.11.10) and have seen the mess there?

Unfortunately I was with my wife and son returning back from MLE. I guess couple of thousands were in the arrivals, including transit passangers with overnight stay. At least 5 flights on each belt, mixed to each other. Half of the luggages for any flight now and the other half after 40 minutes, and after two other flight's luggages.

Thanks god, they reserved a passport control line for families with children. (it was some good act of the Immigration guys rather than QR)

Funny thing was all the luggages with "Priority Tag" came the last.

And as expected, there were a couple of ground staff which were always busy on their radio and had no clue of where the luggages are or whatsoever.

Hope things get better after NDIA opens.

Talking of the ground service. Has anyone reading this been on the DOH arrivals around 23:30 yesterday (20.11.10) and have seen the mess there?

Unfortunately I was with my wife and son returning back from MLE. I guess couple of thousands were in the arrivals, including transit passangers with overnight stay. At least 5 flights on each belt, mixed to each other. Half of the luggages for any flight now and the other half after 40 minutes, and after two other flight's luggages.

Thanks god, they reserved a passport control line for families with children. (it was some good act of the Immigration guys rather than QR)

Funny thing was all the luggages with "Priority Tag" came the last.

And as expected, there were a couple of ground staff which were always busy on their radio and had no clue of where the luggages are or whatsoever.

Hope things get better after NDIA opens.

They will open the new Arrival Terminal soon within the next month, and it should relieve some of this misery! and expand the transit area considerably!

I fully agree with most here that groundstaff / QR offices and callcenters are horrible when it comes to helping out a passenger. I'll be updating my "quest for an upgrade" nightmare in the respective topic soon.

Hi Louay, I've had problems with QR before and have always dealt with their Customer Relations Head Office in Doha tell-us@qatarairways.com.qa. Might be worth a try !

Hi Louay, I've had problems with QR before and have always dealt with their Customer Relations Head Office in Doha tell-us@qatarairways.com.qa. Might be worth a try !

Even though I had sent an email to QR through their LHR office, I have not received any response at all! So I just forwarded a complaint to them using the email address you provided, hoping that might get someone's attention....Thanks MOLBY!

They will open the new Arrival Terminal soon within the next month, and it should relieve some of this misery! and expand the transit area considerably!

QatarA340, as suggested by your message to me, you were going to try and speak to someone at DOH and inquire about my laptop. I never heard back from you!

QatarA340, as suggested by your message to me, you were going to try and speak to someone at DOH and inquire about my laptop. I never heard back from you!

Louay, yes I spoke to the airport several times. They found another laptop which is not yours in the terminal. However, Ill keep on checking it out. I hope they do find it. Good Luck.

Obliged to write this as coincidentally my wife left her passport + boarding pass on the flight from Male. Premium Terminal send someone over immediately and we had it within 10 minutes.

Obliged to write this as coincidentally my wife left her passport + boarding pass on the flight from Male. Premium Terminal send someone over immediately and we had it within 10 minutes.

LUCKY YOU! As for me, QR Ground Staff did not find it the least bit necessary to send someone immediately to grab my laptop. Even with repeated requested from myself, I still couldn't convince them to do that. Instead, I was being lectured by the Ground Agent that it is my responsibility to guard my belongings (as if that was the issue)!! Unbelievable attitude at QR DOH!

Its been 18 days since my loss and the information I have received from Qatar Airways has been negligible. My laptop most definitely was taken by an QR employee either in DOH or in the station of service where the aircraft flew to next. So unfortunate!

While I agree with the overall assessment that QR staff are somewhat useless when one is in a pickle, I have had two experiences with items left in the cabin, both of which were very different. The first was a Red Nintendo DS player my son left in J, which we discovered as we were boarding our connecting flight from DOH. Not really any wiggle room to get any extra assistance with that one, but it was never found either, and L&F was not particularly helpful about it either.

The second incident involved a jacket I left on a flight into DOH. The flight crew must have called it in before closing out the flight because an agent in the Premium terminal legged it out to the plane and retrieved it before I even knew I had left it behind. I still didn't realize it until the point I got up to leave for my onward flight and ran over with my jacket in hand and slid it onto me without saying a word about it being left on the plane. Only after I inquired about how he got my jacket in the first place did he explain what happened.

... My laptop most definitely was taken by an QR employee either in DOH or in the station of service where the aircraft flew to next. So unfortunate!

How do you know that for sure?

How do you know that for sure?

I could never know for sure but I said "most definitely" because it seems clear to me from the events that morning. Flight QR457 on which I left my laptop had a very light load factor. I was the last one from my seating area to disembark because, I, coincidently had found a small charcoal grey I Pod in the crease between my seat and the empty seat besides me, probably left by another passenger from an earlier flight. I got so preoccupied wanting to hand over the I Pod to the Purser/Flight Supervisor that I forgot my own laptop in the bin above! I did hand over the I POD to the Purser as I reached the front galley and as I mentioned my seat number I glanced back down the aisle and recall seeing only a few passengers standing behind me but no one beyond. (I wonder if that I Pod was ever reported!). Therefore, I am sure the laptop was still in the overhead compartment and if it were not picked up in DOH by Qatar Airways staff or cleaning, it could very well have flown on the next flight out to whatever destination the aircraft was scheduled. Given today's tight security environment, I doubt very much that any passenger would dare take a laptop and clear International Customs and Security at any destination not knowing what they are carrying. All flights out of DOH are international; there are no domestic flights. With that said, it takes an Qatar Airways employee to sneak out such a visible item conspicuously, through lost & found or cleaning services or whatever, either at DOH or the following station. I've specifically requested Qatar Airways to check with the aircraft's next arrival destination but nothing was done!
Foremost, I blame myself for forgetting my laptop but I definitely blame Qatar Airways' DOH ground staff for refusing to take immediate steps to retrieve a laptop left behind reported 10 minutes after disembarking by calling air-side!! Although it was an expensive laptop, I am most saddened by the loss of personal and professional files some of which I had no copies of!

Its been 18 days since my loss and the information I have received from Qatar Airways has been negligible. My laptop most definitely was taken by an QR employee either in DOH or in the station of service where the aircraft flew to next. So unfortunate!

Do you have anti theft or geo detection software loaded on your laptop?

(something like PreyProject or locate laptop?)

Do you have anti theft or geo detection software loaded on your laptop?

(something like PreyProject or locate laptop?)

Unfortunately not that I am aware of!

Unfortunately not that I am aware of!

If your laptop belongs to your employer, it likely has some sort of geo-tracking capability. I do hope it pops up somewhere that the police will be willing to retrieve it.

Left laptop in the seatback pocket on a QR flight business class coming into DOH from LHR once. I remembered as soon as I boarded the bus, and was asked by ground staff to contact Lost & Found in the terminal. They brought the laptop to me within 20 minutes.

Left laptop in the seatback pocket on a QR flight business class coming into DOH from LHR once. I remembered as soon as I boarded the bus, and was asked by ground staff to contact Lost & Found in the terminal. They brought the laptop to me within 20 minutes.

That is exactly what they should have done for me or for anyone else regardless of class of service! Unfortunately, in my case, ground staff that morning were not up and running; they were being ignorant!

In the past 5 years I have left a paper ticket, my cellphone and a Delsey roll on. Each were on separate flights. With my paper ticket I didn't actually notice that I forgot it. The ground staff ran to the Business Class bus just before it left the side of the aircraft, I guess the cabin crew pointed at me after they found it in my seat. My cellphone I reported to a random ground staff agent after claiming my luggage when I realized it was not on me and I got it in around 30 minutes. My Delsey roll on took a day to recover after I reported it to lost and found.

The cabin crew conduct a security check after each flight where each item left is documented and handed over to ground staff.

The treatment of the ground staff not taking responsibility and passing you off is not good customer service of course. You should sent a letter to QR, they DO read them even if they don't respond. Emphasize the point of the ground staff constantly passing you off to the next person and not attempting to help you as the main point of the complaint and not the fact that your laptop is not recovered.

Really sorry to hear about loosing your laptop, lets face it; when you are in an airport you are at the mercy of the ground staff and if they where unwilling to at least contact someone that is totally out of order.

Shame on Qatar airways... :td:

Hope your laptop turns up!