Doha Connection reduced to 1 Hour

Old May 18, 2016, 3:52 am
  #1  
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Doha Connection reduced to 1 Hour

I've got a flight booked Edinburgh to Denpassar in october, it has a connection in Hamad which when booked was 3 hours and has now dropped to 1, is this achievable? or should i ask to be rebooked onto the later flight which has a 7 hour connection?

Edit Sorry should this go into the Newbie Lounge?
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Old May 18, 2016, 4:12 am
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If you had searched this forum you would see people making it under an hour. I think MCT is now 45-50mins.

If you have a connection in DOH with QR, and things are getting tight, they will greet you at the steps of your inbound flight and drive you straight to the onward connection.
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Old May 18, 2016, 4:14 am
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Hi Muryu,

1 hour is usually fine at HIA, you will be given a boarding pass holder which will designate a short transfer, If your EDI leg arrives late you will normally find staff at the arrival gate who will assist.

Whilst there are many variables, I don't think you will have great problems (I have made shorter connections at HIA)

Have a good journey!
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Old May 18, 2016, 4:24 am
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Originally Posted by c2h
If you had searched this forum you would see people making it under an hour. I think MCT is now 45-50mins.

If you have a connection in DOH with QR, and things are getting tight, they will greet you at the steps of your inbound flight and drive you straight to the onward connection.
Thanks i did search but all that showed up was discussion about long security lines :/
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Old May 18, 2016, 4:27 am
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Muryu welcome to the QR forum. You can hopefully find much useful information here.

The MCT (Minimum Connection Time) st DOH is 45 minutes. This is almost always sufficient. If your arriving flight is delayed then there will be staff to meet the flight and assist you. I would suggest that you look at the departure gates on the IFE before you land.
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Old May 18, 2016, 4:00 pm
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My first trip on QR had a 45 minute connection. Plane arrived late, bringing it down to 15, and my connecting flight was right at the far end of the terminal. I still made it though.
Ground staff were nowhere to be seen though. I was first off the plane, travelling in F. Doubt I'd have made the connection if I was in economy.
I've always aimed for 1.5-2 hours since that experience, and have always found that to be the perfect amount of time to get food and/or a shower in the lounge.
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Old May 18, 2016, 4:15 pm
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Welcome to FT!

No problem with this (assuming inbound is reasonably on time). I've been hustled through in under 40 mins! Don't book yourself a 7 hour connection! Safe travels.
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Old May 30, 2016, 1:50 am
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Originally Posted by remdk
The MCT (Minimum Connection Time) st DOH is 45 minutes. This is almost always sufficient.
Well, I can categorically say I'm not doing *that* again. To be fair, I'd booked a 55 minute connection, which got enhanced to 45 minutes

Landed about 5 mins late, then taxied for 10 mins to a remote gate (are all 787s remote? Seems odd to build only half the airport...). Long bus ride and then agent waiting at top of escalators. Wasted precious minutes waiting for all other J pax connecting to my flight. Then "assistance" consisted of pushing to the front of a security line. Security was pointless, as pax were beeping all over the place and nobody was being stopped, nothing being searched. Pax struggled to keep up with the agent, so we lost one person (agent shrugged "he's gonna miss the flight"), and then the agent just pointed to the B gates and said "run"...

I did make it, just, and sweating like a pig, although others from my same flight didn't... And then of course we were delayed to offload their bags *sigh*

Really quite stressful, and I can't help but think things have got worse since the flight banks were re-timed - all my future connections have got shorter (thankfully I have nothing else booked under an hour), where historically it was always 2-3 hours
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Old May 30, 2016, 3:56 am
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My flight touched down exactly 45m before my connecting flight. Minus another 10m to taxi to the terminal..They had ground staff waiting to whisk me downstairs to bypass security and there was a buggy waiting to ferry me to my next flight. My bags made it too!

The Al Maha transit service is also quite useful if you have a transit that's under 2 hours.

Enjoy your time in Bali!
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Old May 30, 2016, 7:48 am
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So it appears that judging by these reports that assistance by QR staff is rather inconsistent and that booking tight connections can indeed be a bit risky.
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Old May 30, 2016, 8:12 am
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I just had my first flight booked on economy on Qatar and one of the flight involved a transit of 55min in Doha for the connecting flight (don't think there was other available flight to change to). Judging from above comments, should I start to worry about making the connection flight?
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Old May 30, 2016, 8:19 am
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I have made 45mins connections multiple times this year, and made a few 35mins one last year before they changed the MCT.

To answer one of the questions posed - the 787's do tend to park at remote-stands. If you are in J, you should be fine as there will be a separate bus. If you're in Y, and sat towards the front of the aircraft, you should also be fine - but engage with one of the 'Fast Track' staff, and get them to let you through.

M
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Old May 30, 2016, 9:43 am
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Originally Posted by msm2000uk
To answer one of the questions posed - the 787's do tend to park at remote-stands.
Had a jetbridge for the first time on the 787 flight arriving from MUC earlier this month. Haven't departed from a jetbridge gate on a 787 yet, always rode a bus.
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Old May 30, 2016, 10:40 am
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I arrived at DOH on a 787 from VIE a few days ago to the welcome sight of a jetbridge at the far end of Terminal D.

On-time arrival, but only 55 mins to connect to the BKK A380. I was one of the first off the plane, and walk briskly - but it was frustrating to see the rail shuttle still being "tested" after - what is it? - 15 months or so? Ridiculous, and what a waste of power.

After passing through fast-track security and not stopping off elsewhere, I boarded the A380 just about 10 minutes before the "boarding completed" announcement - so not much leeway there.

I had checked a bag and expected it not to arrive at BKK. After seeing about 30-40 bags arrive on the luggage belt with "short transfer" tags, I feared the worst. I spotted the QR agent and asked if she knew how many bags didn't make it. Only one, she said - and she had the passenger name on a board. Quite impressive. My bag arrived a couple of minutes later.
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Old May 31, 2016, 7:37 pm
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BRU-DOH-BKK transit reduced to 45 min

I flew Sunday 29 May BRU-DOH-BKK QR194-QR836 with a reduced connection time of 45 minutes. Received message Meet and Assist code HN.

Aircraft at BRU was ready to go 20 min before shedule but ATC did not allow and we left the gate 10 min late.

Parked on tarmac at Doha, wait for stairs, bus, then bus got into traffic jam waiting for an aircraft to find it's way to somewhere, went through the chaotic transfer area (even showing J boarding card) Had a fast walk to gate B3, was the last passenger to board at business gate, plane still left gate 30 min after scheduled dept time (waiting for some Y passengers?)

Meet and Assist service?
Really?

Landed BKK 30 min late to find a QR message posted at luggage band "Mr Tartempion luggage delayed" Filled in form to have bags dispatched next day to UTH. At least the follow up on bags was handled professionally.

And on board service was 5* indeed, had an excellent 5 course meal and excellent staff on both legs, wine quality was less than last year though.
Billecart Salmon, Drapier, did not like the Vouvray and the German Riesling neither, a shame the Meursault, Pol Roger and even the Taitinger are gone.

Went to check in for my domestic connection (two hours after scheduled BKK landing) made it to the gate just in time, pax were boarding.

Conclusion: Stressful trip, will avoid QR flights with connections less than 60 minutes at least.
I have two more returns to AMS booked, think some connections around 60 minutes.
Not planning any 2017 trips yet but will watch out for short connections and avoid QR if so.
Also unhappy only one A380 left to fly DOH-BKK. (two A380 legs changed to B777/300)

Last edited by tartempion; May 31, 2016 at 7:43 pm
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