Originally Posted by
Graeme Reed
I'm sorry if the is a dumb question, this is my first time doing all this. Is the stickie info updated in 2017 still applicable: Will I be able to use Al Safwa arriving on QR(F) First Class A380 from Paris, 10 hour layover, then QR L Economy to MLE?
Booked the flights for my honeymoon with avios:
(F) CDG -> DOH on A380 in First
(L) DOH -> MLE on 777 in Economy (nothing else available)
(I) MLE -> DOH on 777 in Business
(I) DOH-> BOS on 777 in Business
The flight from Paris to Doha is over 6 hours, and based on the thread stickie, it seems like we should be able to access Al Safwa if I'm arriving in First class. When I was looking at the tickets, it said lounge access: in Doha; however at the end of booking it offered for me to buy access to the al-mourjan lounge. . We have about a 9 hour layover, and I'm really hoping we get access. We get in at 23:30 and leave at 8:40. Am I just screwed by the really crumby window because its after 6AM the next day? Do you think we'd be let in?
I have certainly bridged midnight in Safwa transferring from regional F to long-haul business, but i have no idea if that was good fortune or the correct interpretation of QR's newish rules.
Interpreting midnight as breaking a same-day rule after a 23:30 arrival would be as awkward as it is unfriendly, but maybe it's in sway with the thinking of QR's front line defending the integrity of Safwa: any welcoming warmth they might instinctively want to show can be tempered by fear of internal sanctions for getting things wrong.
But given that at that hour it's likely you'll have been beaten to the sleep-rooms by earlier arrivals buying their way in, and considering the dramatic change of gauge between F and Y, and the honeymoon nature of your trip, you might consider booking a hotel for your transfer time. The airport hotel is the clear winner, though the prices it charges reflect the high demand for its rooms. The faff of arrival and departure formalities mean a city hotel would give you only a few hours comfort for resting and showering between flights.