Qatar Airways Privilege Club - Does QR really have a policy of racial discrimination?

I have never flown QR. I always wanted to. But after reading this http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/146050/

" Yet, they were extremely civil to the few white guys in the KHI bus and told them that their upgrade had cleared! ...!!! The Pakistanis were sent packing to the Y-terminal! As many of you know, I am not someone that stands for such crap and began losing my mind with the Filipino dude. Anyways, after talking to his Lebanese supervisor who basically told me it was corporate policy to do what they did!"

I am now having second thoughts.

The person who wrote the trip report is well respected and I see no reason for him to make a false statement.

Sadly, this sort of discrimination is typical in the region.

In the general hierarchy in Qatar, Qataris are at the top, followed by Western expatriates, then non-Gulf Arabs (e.g., Jordanians, Lebanese, Palestinians) who form a lot of the middle/professional class, then Filipinos who form sort of a lower middle class (store clerks, waiters, office attendants, etc.), following by South Asians (from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal) who are generally the laborers.

Of course there are exceptions, yet unfortunately this type of racial profiling is pretty ingrained in the "customer service" (poor and inefficient as it generally is) in the country. For example, at the malls they often have "family days" on the weekends, in which only families are ostensibly allowed. As a single, neatly dressed white male, I have no problem walking right by the guards at the door; the "family day" is basically a pretext to keep Indians out.

By the way, I am a bit skeptical of this poster's account of passports being siezed and ripped.

For example, at the malls they often have "family days" on the weekends, in which only families are ostensibly allowed. As a single, neatly dressed white male, I have no problem walking right by the guards at the door; the "family day" is basically a pretext to keep Indians out.

By the way, I am a bit skeptical of this poster's account of passports being siezed and ripped.

THat is a bad example. Family days applies to males--sometimes men can enter without notice--but most of the time they dont.

I read this post before and there is not way that QR would rip a passenger's passport apart. NO WAY.

Racial discrimination is everywhere in the world--and is not exclusive to this part of the world.

QR does not treat non-Qataris differenetly. Most of the staff--especially in the hospitality and service sectors of QR are not Qatari--Why would they discriminate against people of their race or social level (dont know what the politically correct term to use).

THat is a bad example. Family days applies to males--sometimes men can enter without notice--but most of the time they dont.

I read this post before and there is not way that QR would rip a passenger's passport apart. NO WAY.

Racial discrimination is everywhere in the world--and is not exclusive to this part of the world.

QR does not treat non-Qataris differenetly. Most of the staff--especially in the hospitality and service sectors of QR are not Qatari--Why would they discriminate against people of their race or social level (dont know what the politically correct term to use).

Your explanation is not at all convincing or persuasive. Keep in mind that a lot of North American and European customers are accustomed to a very diverse racial environment where this kind of example, cited by OP, is not well tolerated at all. It could affect Qatar's reputation as an airline as stories like this spread. I am mindful that most of QR's corporate accounts are probably Middle East based and they use a different set of cultural norms to look at this but here in the U.S., it is not unheard of that companies terminate contracts or corporate accounts when such accounts of systematic racial or gender discrmination surfaces.

If you work for QR, you should treat these allegations or even just perceptions, rightly or wrongly, seriously or you will run into problem as you start to expand your operations beyond your existing ports.

Your explanation is not at all convincing or persuasive. Keep in mind that a lot of North American and European customers are accustomed to a very diverse racial environment where this kind of example, cited by OP, is not well tolerated at all. It could affect Qatar's reputation as an airline as stories like this spread. I am mindful that most of QR's corporate accounts are probably Middle East based and they use a different set of cultural norms to look at this but here in the U.S., it is not unheard of that companies terminate contracts or corporate accounts when such accounts of systematic racial or gender discrmination surfaces.

If you work for QR, you should treat these allegations or even just perceptions, rightly or wrongly, seriously or you will run into problem as you start to expand your operations beyond your existing ports.

I do not work for QR and my field of professional work is far from the aviation sector. Racism is everywhere in the world. How many stories do you hear from the net about a Muslim family being denied boarding in the United States or a Muslim man being off-loaded from the plane because of praying?

I am not trying to be persuasive or trying to convince readers that QR are innocent. A person being denied an upgrade because they are Pakistani, for instance, is rubbish. No airline of airline official would think of doing this. A person being offered a free upgrade because they are Qatari is equally rubbish. I do not buy these stories and yes, racism exists but it does not happen all the time--and should not be tolerated.

I do not work for QR and my field of professional work is far from the aviation sector. Racism is everywhere in the world. How many stories do you hear from the net about a Muslim family being denied boarding in the United States or a Muslim man being off-loaded from the plane because of praying?

I am not trying to be persuasive or trying to convince readers that QR are innocent. A person being denied an upgrade because they are Pakistani, for instance, is rubbish. No airline of airline official would think of doing this. A person being offered a free upgrade because they are Qatari is equally rubbish. I do not buy these stories and yes, racism exists but it does not happen all the time--and should not be tolerated.

You seem to be in a state of denial and total confusion. Good luck to you. Racism exists everywhere.....yes but it should not be institutionalized. The Muslim family being asked to deboard the plane has nothing to do with racism. You need to be a little more open minded. In today's world security is very important. If the activities of the members of a family arises suspicion, it is better deal with the situation. The family too should have been careful. Tolerate everyone but we should also keep in mind the feelings of others and the present environment. Peace be with you.

THat is a bad example. Family days applies to males--sometimes men can enter without notice--but most of the time they dont.

I read this post before and there is not way that QR would rip a passenger's passport apart. NO WAY.

Racial discrimination is everywhere in the world--and is not exclusive to this part of the world.

QR does not treat non-Qataris differenetly. Most of the staff--especially in the hospitality and service sectors of QR are not Qatari--Why would they discriminate against people of their race or social level (dont know what the politically correct term to use).

Hi,
I can only speak from experience. I find the original story believable. With much experience in the Philippines and on their flag carrier, I have found that I get consistently better service both in the air and on the ground ( when travelling in Y) when being served by Filipinos, compared to other Filipino passengers. The only exception has been in J class when obvious hi so Filipinos are present. They get the most attention as they could bite back hard if they are upset by any pecking done by Fa's or ground staff.

In the case of the post Im replying to, it could well be the case of the Filipino ground staffer, powerless all his life, using his new power on other powerless people knowing full well that any pakistani complaints would fall on deaf ears. Westerners could have caused more problems on him so in a way he could have also been playing it safe for himself. ( a survival tactic?) Either way you can't really blame him for his actions. If the orders realy do come from the top then you also can't blame him for carrying out the policy whther written or unwritten.
Having said that, I have had many non Gold member Thais upgraded ahead of me during the course of my flying TG. It's just a fact of life which I accept and do not complain about.
Cheers!

You seem to be in a state of denial and total confusion. Good luck to you. Racism exists everywhere.....yes but it should not be institutionalized. The Muslim family being asked to deboard the plane has nothing to do with racism. You need to be a little more open minded. In today's world security is very important. If the activities of the members of a family arises suspicion, it is better deal with the situation. The family too should have been careful. Tolerate everyone but we should also keep in mind the feelings of others and the present environment. Peace be with you.

Yes, of course I agree with you. THe Muslim family shouldve been more careful not show sign that they are Muslim. The women should wear short skits and full makup and the guy drink wine and beer to make himself more "like the normal travellers" Afterall, when Muslims get discriminated against, its not racist--its appropirate action. :rolleyes:

Peace

Yes, of course I agree with you. THe Muslim family shouldve been more careful not show sign that they are Muslim. The women should wear short skits and full makup and the guy drink wine and beer to make himself more "like the normal travellers" Afterall, when Muslims get discriminated against, its not racist--its appropirate action. :rolleyes:

Peace

So are you saying it is perfectly ok for QR staff to be rude to passengers from Pakistan because some muslim family was asked to leave the aircraft in the United States? I see no connection between the two.:confused:

Yes, of course I agree with you. THe Muslim family shouldve been more careful not show sign that they are Muslim. The women should wear short skits and full makup and the guy drink wine and beer to make himself more "like the normal travellers" Afterall, when Muslims get discriminated against, its not racist--its appropirate action. :rolleyes:

Peace

Hi QatarA340,

You are comparing apples and oranges here. Plus the people from KHI who were mistreated by a so called muslim airline were probably mostly muslims so i don't know what your argument is.

I am a muslim, born in Pakistan and having lived in the US since 1985. Even in a post 09/11 america, i enjoy more respect and dignity as an individual than i ever would in a place like Saudi Arabia or Qatar or UAE. I know and have seen how pakistanis or people from the subcontinent in general are treated ( or should i say abused ) there by our arab brothers. I have seen people from pakistan and bangladesh assaulted and police would not do anything because the so called arabs are better than the pakistanis or bangladeshis so arabs can do anything to them. So why do you have a problem with the argument that this is institutionalized? It is institutionalized. No doubt about it.

Going back to the original topic. Again i have seen the practice that the trip report alluded to. It happens quite often. I fly Y and as a non white i can forget about ever being upgraded. I have seen white passengers being upgraded without even asking. Also, if i have a transit in Doha where QR provides a hotel, i will get a pretty basic hotel while white passengers will be sent to a superior hotel.

You are complaining about discrimination against muslims in the US ( or any non muslim country ) but defending discrimination against muslims from a particular country or region by an airline of a muslim country. I don't get it.

As someone who had flown on hundreds of flights with QR and has a lot of friends in the airline I can say the following.

1. The Cabin crew and ground staff get drilled from early on about equality and treating all passengers with same dignity and respect. In fact this is in one of the first pages of the cabin crew manuals. The CEO is a naturalized Qatari from an Indian/Iranian background and he himself talks about issues he faced with racism and how he will not tolerate that in the airline. Therefore whatever discrimination happened is of course not acceptable but to say that it is institutionalized is also wrong.

2. On the Pakistan routes many of the "White" passengers are corporate account passengers mainly contractors and diplomats and many of the local passengers are visiting friends and relatives on very low fares bought from consolidators. Passengers from an important corporate account, especially on a higher fare will have more priority for an upgrade. In addition to that I have been on almost 100 QR flights from the subcontinent on QR and I have never seen there being a preference for upgrading any certain race or creed.

The vast majority of QR staff are in fact from the Indian subcontinent. This doesnt only apply to low level staff but as well as the management.

THat is a bad example. Family days applies to males--sometimes men can enter without notice--but most of the time they dont.


Sorry I dont believe that for a second. I was in Doha for 5 months and never once got denied entrance on dozens of mall trips on family day going by myself as a sloppily dressed young white male (this includes during Eid). I know I am not alone in this experience. Family day is a poorly disguised way of not allowing laborers in to the malls the one day a week they have off work :td:

As per QR, I highly doubt they have any official policy and have never seen anything I would call discrimination, but it wouldnt surprise me if the agents tend to prioritize arab/white travelers instinctively