For reference regarding the sign I complained about upthread, here's the sign itself, photographed on February 14th:
Originally Posted by
jah718
I always use the Business/First immigration and security when departing from DOH in economy. Haven't had any issues or questions so far. And yes, that sign does exist and has been there at least 6 months, so no excuses from the staff that it is a new rule. Using the Biz line really does reduce the time as the immigration lines at DOH can be significant. I wish QR would just clarify what you get as a QR Gold/Plat.
In a near-perfect recreation of my past bad experience, I arrived at the entrance to the QR Platinum line at economy check-in at Zone 4 and it was cordoned off, and an agent told me to enter through the Silver/Gold line. I told him to just open up the elastic rope and he said "it's closed, I can't open it." I looked at him incredulously and said that my colleague and I were Platinum member and he walked up to us and then said that they need to do a 'documents check' which is only available at the Silver/Gold line. I then pushed past him and walked up to the counter anyway, only for him to follow and say he'll do the documents check on the spot... which is just opening up your passport to see if it's really you and asking you where you're flying to.
After checking in and getting my boarding pass, I asked about the sign above and spoke to a supervisor who then said, at first, that the sign was to allow Plats to use the dedicated check-in desk. I looked at him and said that the sign clearly mentions the "immigration lane" and not "check-in". He doubles back from his blatant lie and says yes, you can use the immigration lane but it really depends on the immigration officials and if they want to process economy Plats or not... then walks off, comes back a minute later and tells my colleague and I that we are allowed to go to the Business Class immigration and be processed.
We go there and true to form, get turned away for holding economy class tickets. The agent at the first counter says that, once again, disallowing Plats is a new rule so I flag down a cop, explain everything to him, he goes to one of the women at the immigration counter [for reference: one other passenger was being processed so the place is totally empty], and she tells him to tell us to go to the regular lane. I give up.
I go back to the check-in zone and talk to the supervisor again, and he was apologetic and says that they frequently deal with this inconvenience with passengers and that even though the sign is up, passengers are always subjected to the mercy of the immigration agents and if they choose to process economy Plats or not.
Originally Posted by
Dr. HFH
Just curious, -- how many people were in the regular line at the time?
It wasn't so much a matter of how many people were in the regular lane so much as it is a total lack of coordination on QR's/Hamad Airport's part. If QR tells you that you as a Plat can use the fast track lane, then you should be able to use it regardless. After returning to the main lane on the fourteenth, the area was fairly packed but we stood through it anyway.
Originally Posted by
Julien_O
This sign does not exist for transfer passengers right? I mean gold / plat can't use the business line when transferring via DOH between 2 Qatar airways economy flights?
Not that economy line is taking long (never waited more than 3minutes), but more for my general knowledge. Looked sometime but never seen anything related to privileged members.
Julien
Nope, the offending sign is at check-in on the outside.
In any case, I officially give up - HIA is a total sh_tshow and QR clearly doesn't give a crap. Short of being stellar in the air, anything else is a disaster.
khabah