Originally Posted by
ThWilmesi
Well i also had a couple of flights with QR - and i also managed to make Gold, it goes the same for me - i fail to see the real advantages of QR Gold i am anyhow only flying business - so Lounge access not needed, the rest which is described there, not really interesting... dedicated phone line missing, improved award availability not really, yesterday i had an interesting experience with LH M&M, i was booking a reward for my wife and online it showed only availability for Economy class, called Senator Hotline - they immediately initiated the Senator Waitlist and it got confirmed on the spot, this is what i call an interesting feature.
Qatar is clearly overmatched by their expansion, they cannot keep pace in particular on the ground services. On the way back from FRA I talked to the station manager about my failed upgrade experience and he promised me to upgrade me if the flight would be overbooked ... i would be the first on the list.. well all business class were occupied... he told me afterwards there was just one more needed to upgrade me, he just couldn't do it with this situation - F-Class was not 1 passenger... well I have to say i appreciated his effort - but with LH even in such a situation i would have been upgraded pretty sure.
It is a pitty - QR has such a fantastic onboard service and program.... but the rest oh boy...
The only advantage I ever felt I had as a Gold was free Al-Maha Service in DOH on a stopover. Basically you get to slurp a Nespresso while two Asian girls take care of yr visa, and you get to be escorted between lines of "cattle". On the downside the idiot in CDG (on F counter, mind you) booked our luggage all the way to BOM, took us 2hr in the arrival terminal to get to it.
For a flight to MLE for me and my wife I wanted to upgrade from C to F, but it was a completely useless effort. Basically FRA office said DOH needed to do it, whilst DOH was saying the opposite. Both stubborn as hell. In the end F class had 4 empty seats.
For the bustransfer they put up a sign some yrs ago but previously I was also forced to be a staff member by informing people on a C transfer NOT to exit the bus as it would continue to the premium terminal. No information was given from anyone at that time.
They have grown too fast and too big for their capabilities.
Sorry for OT!