Originally Posted by
immunedata
I'd have booked TG if I'd known there's no free stopover and no reasonably priced options....this is not meant to be some idle threat but highlighting a potential business reason for QR to offer the stopover to capture market share.
The language in that linked page is certainly wordy so it's easy to miss some things at first glance.
And yes as you say, there has to be a cut off time, and midnight at the point of departure seems as globally universal as any. There will always be those close to any deadline who may feel they've missed out (eg. 7hr 55min transits), but I guess there has to be a line drawn somewhere.
Whether QR having to pay for a hotel, transfers and meals on a USD 400 ticket represents profitable business for them to be chasing I do not know. Perhaps not. But fortunately in your case the transit is during the day so it's easy to make a trip out of it - visit a museum or mall, take a dhow ride, find a shady spot in the souk for a coffee, that sort of thing - without your sleep being messed up.
Or at first glance I can see day rooms available for around $75 that day. You could no doubt find cheaper if you dig...