ISTFlyer

Unfortunately, still, the OP is considered as a point-to-point passenger and should meet the Qatari requirements for entry. TIMATIC does not have anything about transfers but clearly indicated that non-citizens and non-residents are not allowed to enter Qatar.

1Aturnleft

It's a bit late contacting them.now. With hindsight perhaps they should have checked before travel - it could have saved a lot of Avios. Unfortunately the onus is on the passenger to ensure they hold the correct documents for the journey and meet the requirements in order to travel. This scenario is exactly the reason why you shouldn't assume without properly checking and keeping in mind that these requirements can change without much in the way of notice. It's regrettable but I fail to see how the responsibility can lie with anyone other than the OP on this occasion. It will also be interesting to understand on what grounds they feel they have cause for complaint to BA (ticket provider) in order for an Avios refund to be made. Just because they're not getting the responses they would like to hear doesn't mean there's a complaint to be made that justifies the kind of service recovery they're expecting/hoping for.

Tobias-UK

Greetings (from the USA) my dear friend. Get your EC261 claim in, you were IDBd - and QR’s own reply confirms it. Spend that €1200 wisely - Felice Navidad (or is Mele Kalikimaka more appropriate? ).

TPJ

Very OT but please do not forget you may need Yellow Fever vaccination certificate, if you enter Columbia from Brazil. Transit passengers not leaving the airport are exempt (if memory serves).

garykung

While wording varies, the essence is "Entry into Qatar is now permitted for Qatari nationals, their families, permanent residency holders and Qatar ID (QID) holders."

https://www.visitqatar.qa/en/plan-your-trip/travel-tips

Not only OP has no case at all, but OP in fact acted in bad faith. Specifically, OP has said:

Viewing this in light most favorable to OP, just because OP claims no intention entering Qatar, it does not exempt OP from meeting the transit requirement. The fact that Qatar does not allow transit currently, and yet, OP chose to do this is a sufficient proof that OP disregarded the rules, regardless he was aware of this or not.

If OP deserves sympathy, QR would have let OP to board and complete the trip as-is. This is the sympathy OP should get and yet OP did not have it.

My friend - do you mind educating me how EC261 applies here? At the minimum, OP was IDBed because of OP's failure to comply necessary immigration rules.

KARFA

I think you are confusing the two scenarios in the thread now.

Howard Long (OP) who had LHR-DOH-LHR booked and was denied as he did not have any right to enter Qatar and it was not a transit.

nufnuf77, whom Tobias-UK was replying to, and had LHR-DOH-VIE booked and was denied boarding since QR staff incorrectly believed he did not have a right to enter Austria, a clear mistake in his case and therefore gives rise to a claim for denied boarding under Art. 4 EC261.

GUWonder

This thread reminds me of US and EU passport users who thought they could use airside TWOV to do cheap trips to/from China only to find out that a roundtrip ticket to and from China even when heading back on the same plane as the one coming in -- and having no need to even go landside for any reason -- wasn't going to fly with the airline and not necessarily reliably even with the Chinese personnel manning airside TWOV stations.

If you're going to try to game around a restriction, then note there are risks of facing an unwelcome situation when the game is being done on a basis that is short of adequate information and experience to avoid an unwelcome surprise on the intended day of travel.

FlyDeltaMD88

Isn't this a clear case of fraud that they are refusing to refund you your miles? If you were a no show that would be one thing but they wouldn't let you go so no trip, no miles. I'd personally be looking into a civil suit and contacting the government to get your miles back.

GumshoeW12

Assuming you are referring to the OP, and assuming they were correctly denied boarding, no it isn’t.

It is the passenger’s responsibility to ensure they are permitted to fly to their destination.

Gabbr

I'm sorry to hear about this headache you had to go through, but as others already said here, why choose Qatar as a stopover in the first place?
If possible, I'm definitely avoiding going there and doing business with Qatar Airways in the future.

:D!

From a philosophical point of view, while the OP did not intend to legally enter Qatar, the purpose of his trip was not for transit. It was to go to Qatar for a meeting to be held on Qatari territory. So if a visa would normally be required and I were in charge of a country's visa policy, I would require a visa for such a trip even if not entering the country - which is much like China's TWOV policy.

FlyDeltaMD88

OK, most of my trips are domestic and not international so I'm not totally educated on different entry requirements and what happens if you are denied boarding due to not meeting those requirements. Thanks.

LondonElite

You mean a 340-300? LX doesn’t have the 340-600 in their fleet.

Dave Noble

Why would you avoid doing business with QR based on it correctly denying travel to a passenger due to not having the required documents to be allowed to travel ?

Qatar wasnt just a stopover , it was the destination

LondonElite

I suspect QR system would detect an impossible itinerary and cancel one or both flights. You can’t be travelling to IST and LHR at the same time.