Potential first flight to Kochi on Qatar
Jan 17, 2015, 3:12 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 778
Potential first flight to Kochi on Qatar
Hello,
Please could you give me some advice I have never flown with Qatar (but have flown Emirates twice before on this routing) The Qatar prices in business are about £150 cheaper than Emirates and also as a BA Executive Club Member it is a good thing to be able to earn points.
I am nervous about flying Qatar due to two things firstly the times between flights in Doha seem rather short (Emirates diverted by luggage for a mini break both times in Dubai last time!) and also I have heard that you can easily be downgraded if a VIP and his family shows up!
Looking at my dates early March there is an A340 with 55 before connecting flights, the A380 with 1.15 hours or a A330 with 2 hours. What would you recommend I consider....?
On the way back once again the connection times are very tight unless I consider the A319 which has a 4 hour connecting time.
What is the food and the entertainment like on the plane - I know not nearly as good as Emirates (with their ICE) and I have heard the wine is excellent.
Help - all advice very thankfully and gratefully received?
ps one last question how would I go about transferring any points I might earn to BAEC? Do I sign up to Qatar Miles and get the additional 2,000 and transfer or do I just add them to my booking?
Thank you very much for your help - much appreciated.
Please could you give me some advice I have never flown with Qatar (but have flown Emirates twice before on this routing) The Qatar prices in business are about £150 cheaper than Emirates and also as a BA Executive Club Member it is a good thing to be able to earn points.
I am nervous about flying Qatar due to two things firstly the times between flights in Doha seem rather short (Emirates diverted by luggage for a mini break both times in Dubai last time!) and also I have heard that you can easily be downgraded if a VIP and his family shows up!
Looking at my dates early March there is an A340 with 55 before connecting flights, the A380 with 1.15 hours or a A330 with 2 hours. What would you recommend I consider....?
On the way back once again the connection times are very tight unless I consider the A319 which has a 4 hour connecting time.
What is the food and the entertainment like on the plane - I know not nearly as good as Emirates (with their ICE) and I have heard the wine is excellent.
Help - all advice very thankfully and gratefully received?
ps one last question how would I go about transferring any points I might earn to BAEC? Do I sign up to Qatar Miles and get the additional 2,000 and transfer or do I just add them to my booking?
Thank you very much for your help - much appreciated.
Jan 17, 2015, 3:34 am
#2
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Singapore
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 91
Go for the A380. 1.15 hours is plenty of time (I have transferred with only 25 mins to spare following a late connection from LHR, and my bags made it too). The service on board is fantastic, as is the hard product on the A380. When booking, add you BAEC number, and the avios and tier points will be credited to your account automatically. Finally, I have never heard of anyone being downgraded due to VIPs! I have flown QR business 30 times and never been downgraded.
Jan 17, 2015, 4:13 am
#3
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 842
CharlotteC,
Connection time is very easy and doable.
As for the legend of downgrading PAX for VIPs. I have been flying QR since the mid 90s and all but 4 flights in those years were either in Business or First, I have never been downgraded.
Downgrades happen either due to equipment changes which happened a lot in 2012/2013 due to 787 issues and reshuffling of the fleet, or the rare overbooking in J gone wrong. For example if a 3-class A330 was operated on a 2-class route in some cases QR would sell both the F and J seats as J, then if it changes to a 2 class A330-200 for a technical reason you have about 12 pax to downgrade.
There was one report here on FT of downgrade due to VIPs happening (and I would question the ability of the pax to be 100% sure of that diagnosis) and some "I heard..." reports on this and another forum. A colleague of mine flying a European to DOH flight a few years ago was booked in F and the passengers in F were asked if any would volunteer for a downgrade with compensation to accommodate a certain well known Qatari VVIP. My colleague and a few other passengers volunteered, if QR had that policy then they would have just downgraded and claim an overbooking situation and be done with it.
QR (and EK) are actually very strict with regards to not delaying the flights for VIPs too, which was quite common in the Gulf back in the 90s and still occurs for some carriers here in the region.
Connection time is very easy and doable.
As for the legend of downgrading PAX for VIPs. I have been flying QR since the mid 90s and all but 4 flights in those years were either in Business or First, I have never been downgraded.
Downgrades happen either due to equipment changes which happened a lot in 2012/2013 due to 787 issues and reshuffling of the fleet, or the rare overbooking in J gone wrong. For example if a 3-class A330 was operated on a 2-class route in some cases QR would sell both the F and J seats as J, then if it changes to a 2 class A330-200 for a technical reason you have about 12 pax to downgrade.
There was one report here on FT of downgrade due to VIPs happening (and I would question the ability of the pax to be 100% sure of that diagnosis) and some "I heard..." reports on this and another forum. A colleague of mine flying a European to DOH flight a few years ago was booked in F and the passengers in F were asked if any would volunteer for a downgrade with compensation to accommodate a certain well known Qatari VVIP. My colleague and a few other passengers volunteered, if QR had that policy then they would have just downgraded and claim an overbooking situation and be done with it.
QR (and EK) are actually very strict with regards to not delaying the flights for VIPs too, which was quite common in the Gulf back in the 90s and still occurs for some carriers here in the region.
Jan 17, 2015, 8:57 am
#4
Join Date: May 2013
Programs: Qatar, B.A.
Posts: 17
Hi
We did this route some years ago and one item of the luggage didn't arrive in Kochi, However, We had to sign lots of forms allowing the QR staff to collect the luggage for us, We continued on our tour and it found us few days later, one of the QR staff bought to up to Munnar. I always take a few things in the hand luggage just in case now, and make sure the luggage is divided (His and mine) between cases.
These things do happen, it happened to us again last month with Virgin flying from J'Burg to Manchester via LHR . We had a 3 hour wait at LHR and the luggage still didn't arrive at MAN, didn't really mind in this case the final part of this journey was by train. It duly arrived the next day delivered to our door, bit of a bonus really!!!
We did this route some years ago and one item of the luggage didn't arrive in Kochi, However, We had to sign lots of forms allowing the QR staff to collect the luggage for us, We continued on our tour and it found us few days later, one of the QR staff bought to up to Munnar. I always take a few things in the hand luggage just in case now, and make sure the luggage is divided (His and mine) between cases.
These things do happen, it happened to us again last month with Virgin flying from J'Burg to Manchester via LHR . We had a 3 hour wait at LHR and the luggage still didn't arrive at MAN, didn't really mind in this case the final part of this journey was by train. It duly arrived the next day delivered to our door, bit of a bonus really!!!
Jan 18, 2015, 2:24 am
#5
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: MAN, HKG, DOH, MNL
Programs: QR Gold
Posts: 491
regarding the ICE I prefer the QR offering if i am honest...
Not flown in Biz on the A380, but the Y offering on the upper deck was very nice and if it's the same as the Biz on the dreamliner then it's very good...
Not flown in Biz on the A380, but the Y offering on the upper deck was very nice and if it's the same as the Biz on the dreamliner then it's very good...
Jan 21, 2015, 12:35 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 778
So sorry me again - what happens if the A380 is delayed with a 1hour 10 minute connection time its tight and all the baggage will need to be transferred etc. The next plane to Kochi won't be until that evening (so potentially we are looking at a 17 hour delay). Do they hold planes or do they just reschedule you? Thank you very much for your help
Jan 21, 2015, 3:05 pm
#10
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: LHR
Programs: QR Platinum, WY Gold, Shangri-la Diamond, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,151
They will often hold planes where a number of connecting passengers are delayed - depends what proportion of passengers and how long the delay is.
I've misconnected once with a 24 hour wait until the next flight (50 minute scheduled transit at old DOH airport with heavy traffic as leaving LHR)... I was looked after really well though with visa, hotel, meals, international phone calls and airport transfers all provided by QR. Ended up having a really lovely (if unexpected!) stopover in Doha!!
My baggage has made numerous tight connections - it was delayed once but delivered direct to hotel the next day.
1hr 15 transit should be fine. It's 30 mins longer than the minimum connecting time so you should make it even with a slight delay. Enjoy your flights - the A380 is amazing
I've misconnected once with a 24 hour wait until the next flight (50 minute scheduled transit at old DOH airport with heavy traffic as leaving LHR)... I was looked after really well though with visa, hotel, meals, international phone calls and airport transfers all provided by QR. Ended up having a really lovely (if unexpected!) stopover in Doha!!
My baggage has made numerous tight connections - it was delayed once but delivered direct to hotel the next day.
1hr 15 transit should be fine. It's 30 mins longer than the minimum connecting time so you should make it even with a slight delay. Enjoy your flights - the A380 is amazing
Jan 22, 2015, 8:04 am
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 778
Please could you tell me what are the best seats on the Qatar A380 J class. I will be travelling alone so presumably one of the single window seats? There seems to be fairly good availability from 14 onwards.
Also what are the best seats on the A319 which is my likely plane of choice for the trip back, and on the A330-200 to Cochin and the A340-600 back to Doha.
Many thanks again and I will try not to bombard you with any more questions.
Also what are the best seats on the A319 which is my likely plane of choice for the trip back, and on the A330-200 to Cochin and the A340-600 back to Doha.
Many thanks again and I will try not to bombard you with any more questions.
Jan 23, 2015, 12:18 am
#13
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Singapore
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 91
Jan 23, 2015, 12:29 pm
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 778
Thank you all for your help I am now booked and have so far booked the following seats: 14k on the A380 to Doha, 2F on the A330 from Doha to Kochi and back and 3C on the A319 back to London.
Hope these will be ok..and many thanks for your help.
Hope these will be ok..and many thanks for your help.
Jan 23, 2015, 8:11 pm
#15
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: The Embassy
Posts: 677
Front row window on J on the A380 marginally better than the others:
1) Feels less crowded because there aren't seats as far as the eye can see
2) there are two extra cupboards built in to the bulkhead, presumably because this is also where the baby bassinet goes, and people with babies need them? Or maybe there was just extra room there. Either way, nice to be able to stow my shoes ;-) I imagine they block this off and you'll need to ask for it at checkin
1) Feels less crowded because there aren't seats as far as the eye can see
2) there are two extra cupboards built in to the bulkhead, presumably because this is also where the baby bassinet goes, and people with babies need them? Or maybe there was just extra room there. Either way, nice to be able to stow my shoes ;-) I imagine they block this off and you'll need to ask for it at checkin