andymcdonnell

Once again I’m looking for your valued opinions.

Im looking at flying J to JNB in Jan. QR are currently offering DUB-DOH-JNB on 788 & 359 for about €1850 rtn. That’s the lowest QR have been ex DUB in a very long time. On similar dates ex OSL they’re about €1350. Add in the DUB-OSL hop with bags and it’s about €1550. The advantage ex DUB is I can add in car hire to make it a package and just put down €150 deposit pp

For similar dates BA DUB-LHR-JNB in J are about €2400. Again I can add car hire to make it a package and just put down a deposit.

So, is the longer flight time with QR worth it for their service over BA? Connections in DOH are about 90mins, about 2.5-3 hrs in LHR. I’m edging away from the OSL option, it seems like a hassle too much, extra self connect etc.

As a ref, I’m BA Gold and will almost certainly requalify either way so TP don’t matter. Never flown QR but flown J with AC, SQ, BA, AA, UA, VS so a bit of variety. We’ll probably come back ex CPT which currently is rostered as a mid J 744 but given what’s going on that’s unlikely so probably shouldn’t be a consideration

Thanks guys

econ

Given those options, I'd definitely choose QR over BA. I do enjoy BA CW every now and again, but in my expereince QR has one of the best J expereinces out there. Better food (incuding dine-on demand), better J seats, better lounges.

SFO777

QR in a heartbeat. Better cabin, better seat, better service, better food and drink, better connecting airport. And the price is considerably less.
Now if you had asked about QR J vs. BA F, that might be a closer experience and tougher decision.

Hawk777

Have done QR once in J on a reward booking DUB to DOH and Jesus it was a lot better than BA, even compared to the A350 on ba I still prefer the QR product as a whole in terms if service and food etc

nachosdelux

if the prices were reversed, I could see the dilemma.

as it is, I would most certainly pick QR.

jerry a. laska

That has also been previously asked and discussed here:
Advice Needed. QR J or BA F?
Also OP, as noted earlier there is quite a bit of discussion of BA and QR J and ex-EU on this forum that you may find helpful; here is one thread:
BA Club suite vs QR Qsuite

ermis177

For me, Qatar J product is one of the top 3 J products i ever flew with. Better cabin, better service, better seat. Pretty much better on everything. As John Hammond used to say in Jurassic Park 'Spared no expense'. Which unfortunately is quite the opposite when it comes to BA.

Is any of your flights Qsuite? I doubt you will fly with BA again if you try the Qsuites.

LCY8737

While I tend to agree on QR being the better product, in the end it is two flying beds.

OP, how much longer is your trip going to be overall? Given you have to make one stop anyway, whether that is in LHR or DOH is probably not going to make a massive difference. At a saving of ~€600, I'd be willing to spend a few extra hours in the air.

brunos

I can understand hesitating when choosing QR adds a transfer. But in your case, you will have to transfer in LHR anyway if you choose BA. Waiting for an unpleasant shorthaul on the way back after a long flight is never a pleasant prospect. With QR you arrive after a pleasant J longhaul.

All signals point in the same direction: much better product on QR, cheaper.

Cris L

Deposit on QR? How? What website?

Yanshuf

Interestingly enough, I am planning a similar trip (in to PLZ, out from CPT), and in the end, opted for outbound from OSL on QR, rather than from DUB on BA. Some aspects of the Business cabin are superior (service, dine on demand, and usually better food and better range of choices).

I would have preferred a package, and thereby putting at risk only the value of the deposit, but couldn't get it to work. In the end, I decided that the overall total price was the most important.

JeffBHD

Consideration of the implications to your entire QR trip if the DUB-OSL is delayed, would be high on my decision list

TPJ

Winter 20/21? Isn't the second waive of COVID fairly likely during the winter and the hope to have vaccine may not materialize any time soon (or COVID mutates, so it is useless)? My worry would be that QR customer service is terrible. These call center/airport agents have zero flexibility and just go by the script.

BA is a bit better, but not much...

Regardless if BA or QR, I would book through a reliable travel agency that has good contacts with airlines. This is what I do with TK bookings (yet another airline with awful customer service) and the agency I use knows someone at a local TK Sales Office, who is high enough to be able to always offer me an acceptable solution.

PS. Sorry if I am panicking too much

r22r44bell47

Overall agree with all the positive comments about the hard and soft product on QR and anticipate using them in preference to BA for a significant portion of future LH flights. One word of caution is that there are a number of different J cabin and seating variants depending on the airframe including the frankly dismal 359s leased from Latam and which were still in service at least in Jan. QR do make frequent and extensive changes to the aircraft scheduled for many routes and so it can be difficult to be sure what you’ll actually get. That said I’d still opt for QR in your boots.

allturnleft

I have never flown QR but one thing I do know is that CW has deteriorated since the innovations of hand delivered service ablut a year or so ago

Will be interesting to see what pans out post apocalypse