Ausriver

Right. I will be flying BOS-DOH-CMB, flight depart BOS after 9pm and there is no shower facility in BOS lounges. At the moment, I am looking at 30 hours + no showering, with a whole day driving from NYC and travel around Boston....

So hopefully the BOS-DOH could depart on time and arrive little bit ahead of schedule so I could have 10 minutes in the shower.

YuropFlyer

The same could be said for pretty much every airport, though

70min even in FRA can be "miss your connection" unless you are Usain Bolt or "have plenty of time for a shower".

msm2000uk

I agree, except that many of us have transit eddicott through DOH in less than 20mins, let alone 70mins.

M

Ausriver

I guess all airports are different.

Some are really small however very well built (i.e. some regional international airport in Australia & New Zealand), transit can be done in 10 minutes. Even SYD, transit will be done in about 10 minutes from gate to gate.

I have been transiting HKG hundreds of times, transit will be done in about 10-15 minutes with the help of ground staff regardless how busy the airport is.

I have never been to DOH, how easy about the signs, security checks & transports between gates compare with airports like SIN, HKG etc.

sharp5flat9

At what connection time does the issuance of 'short connection' BP wallets and bag tags kick in ? (I usually have a 'spare' wallet in my bag )

DOH is very easy to navigate if you've been there before or have some instructions/advice, although there can be some long walks. Gates don't actually close until 20 mins before departure, although I've seen screens showing 'closing' at 60 mins before departure, especially for A380 services. This tends to make one anxious ... but encourages the dawdlers I guess

The key factors seem, to me, to be whether your inbound arrives on time and whether you have to pass through transit security.

yorweb

Please could you post a link to this document.

YuropFlyer

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes...16)3502_en.pdf

ostendadler

Had a 45 min transit in DOH from DXB to CDG yesterday and barely made it (they even sat someone in my spot thinking I wouldn't make it).

YuropFlyer

Well, that's what "Minimum conncection time" is about. About barely making the connection

Some airports are more efficent than others, but usually when you've a connection being just at MCT, this means that your incoming plane needs to be on time, you'll need to go straight to the departure gate, and no bigger delays should be coming into play, and you'll make it just before gate closure.

Now, that still gives a few minutes extra time (people in last row Y considered, people losing a few minutes on the way due to slow walking speed etc.) usually, but it doesn't leave very much time for anything.

I've done quite some MCT transits at various airports. At none I had much time at my hands in such case, and I usually could board immediately with the queue having already been into the aircraft.

Booking MCT connections always bears a risk of not making the connection.

purple1addict

I believe connections under 1 hour will have the short transit orange-edged wallets.

And haha at your strategy - I may try it sometime on a late inbound!

yorweb

Many thanks. Unfortunately Qatar Airways want to fight my claim so I have filed a case using UK government's MoneyClaim service. Qatar even had the cheek to include the below in an email:-

"We are well aware of the law, but non-EU airlines such as ourselves and Emirates, to name just a couple, are winning cases of this nature because the regulation cannot be enforced on non-EU airlines flying between two non-EU countries, as in this case.

Our defence will be that as far as the regulation is concerned, your final destination was Doha and therefore the delay was less than 3 hours."

My flight was to Manchester to Hanoi with a 55 minute connection in Doha. Unfortunately we were around 2½ hours late taking off from Manchester so missed the connection and had to be put up in a hotel. Normally wouldn't have minded but I was a short 6 day business trip and it completely messed up my schedule.

toz100

When you had a flight from Manchester to Hanoi on one booking then you started in a EU country (at least still ;-)) and you reached your final destination (Hanoi) muh too late. So everything is set up for EU 261/2004, isn't it?

ostendadler

Agreed but it was anything but a pleasent experience for myself or the skipping the security line.


Last time someone from the ground staff was waiting for us at the arrival gate to drive us on a buggy all the way to our plane.

This could be a bummer for flight connections happening once in a few days.

YuropFlyer

My situation was very similar - in fact, with Switzerland as starting point, it was even slightly less "logical" (As Switzerland isn't enforcing EU261 as much as other countries do) than yours.

The delay was very similar (both to DOH as well as to the final destination) so I guess maybe QR has given the agents some freedom upon deciding if they grant it or not depending on their feeling towards if you're indeed going to take legal actions or not.

I simply wrote them that my next step will be a Swiss lawyer in my final email and the link to the PDF (and the PDF itself in the attachement), together with a last "chance" offer to send me the money. I guess they believed my words that I'll cost them more in legal fees if they don't agree, as the case is quite clear.

yorweb

Yes. However I suspect most airlines now have a team of people dedicated to handling EU261/2004 claims and for everyone like me (a belligerent Yorkshireman), there's 5 customers who won't pursue it any further. Makes economic sense to fob off customers although whatever they'll eventually lose giving me the run around (compensation + court costs + complaint to the CAA), they'll get back with other less litigious souls.