BA holiday trips via Doha
Jan 12, 2022, 10:36 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2013
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond *, IHG, Couples Romance Rewards
Posts: 2,347
BA holiday trips via Doha
It's tough to decide which board this goes on but since BA currently is routing holidays to some Indian ocean destinations via Doha and Qatar airways I thought it was worth posting experiences here - especially with the double tier point offer a luxury holiday with BA flight numbers can get someone from blue and 0 tier points to almost gold in one go at the moment (5 tier points short). The Qatar Airways(QR) board is not as helpful as the folk here. Some of this info can be found in other threads but I've gathered it all here for convenience.
To book seats on Qatar even as gold / silver you have to phone up exec club to change. The BA website does not connect properly to QRs.
Experiences so far (before we leave on our trip to Seychelles)
There's not much information around about the rules for transiting in Doha. There's nothing on the BA website. Verifly which we were encouraged to use by BA says you must have a negative PCR test even for transit taken less than 72 hours before arrival in Doha. Our destination says 72 hours before departure. (We think this information is out of date/wrong but think that BA may rely on it so put back our pcr test to conform to the stricter time schedule verifly requested) Qatar Airways says that the final destination rules apply for transit passengers. IATA / Timatic is silent on the subject.
Verifly which BA would like us to use doesn't recognise Seychelles and is asking us for paperwork we would need to go to Qatar.
For the Seychelles you need to apply for permission to travel which includes providing hotel and all flight information as well as covid vaccination certificates and test results. You can't save progress until you've provided all these documents and the app is easiest to use. We found the Qatar manage my booking printout was better than the BA one for this purpose.
For the travel authorisation for seychelles you have to pay €10 for 9 hour processing or €70 for one hour processing but we paid €10 each and were both authorised in just 10 minutes, your experience may vary.
Even as experienced COVID travellers we've found the process for this trip considerably more stressful than other trips we have been on which were direct flights on BA so are posting this along with updates to help others doing the same thing.
To book seats on Qatar even as gold / silver you have to phone up exec club to change. The BA website does not connect properly to QRs.
Experiences so far (before we leave on our trip to Seychelles)
There's not much information around about the rules for transiting in Doha. There's nothing on the BA website. Verifly which we were encouraged to use by BA says you must have a negative PCR test even for transit taken less than 72 hours before arrival in Doha. Our destination says 72 hours before departure. (We think this information is out of date/wrong but think that BA may rely on it so put back our pcr test to conform to the stricter time schedule verifly requested) Qatar Airways says that the final destination rules apply for transit passengers. IATA / Timatic is silent on the subject.
Verifly which BA would like us to use doesn't recognise Seychelles and is asking us for paperwork we would need to go to Qatar.
For the Seychelles you need to apply for permission to travel which includes providing hotel and all flight information as well as covid vaccination certificates and test results. You can't save progress until you've provided all these documents and the app is easiest to use. We found the Qatar manage my booking printout was better than the BA one for this purpose.
For the travel authorisation for seychelles you have to pay €10 for 9 hour processing or €70 for one hour processing but we paid €10 each and were both authorised in just 10 minutes, your experience may vary.
Even as experienced COVID travellers we've found the process for this trip considerably more stressful than other trips we have been on which were direct flights on BA so are posting this along with updates to help others doing the same thing.
Jan 12, 2022, 11:06 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: BRS
Programs: BA Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 4,986
It's tough to decide which board this goes on but since BA currently is routing holidays to some Indian ocean destinations via Doha and Qatar airways I thought it was worth posting experiences here - especially with the double tier point offer a luxury holiday with BA flight numbers can get someone from blue and 0 tier points to almost gold in one go at the moment (5 tier points short). The Qatar Airways(QR) board is not as helpful as the folk here. Some of this info can be found in other threads but I've gathered it all here for convenience.
To book seats on Qatar even as gold / silver you have to phone up exec club to change. The BA website does not connect properly to QRs.
Experiences so far (before we leave on our trip to Seychelles)
There's not much information around about the rules for transiting in Doha. There's nothing on the BA website. Verifly which we were encouraged to use by BA says you must have a negative PCR test even for transit taken less than 72 hours before arrival in Doha. Our destination says 72 hours before departure. (We think this information is out of date/wrong but think that BA may rely on it so put back our pcr test to conform to the stricter time schedule verifly requested) Qatar Airways says that the final destination rules apply for transit passengers. IATA / Timatic is silent on the subject.
Verifly which BA would like us to use doesn't recognise Seychelles and is asking us for paperwork we would need to go to Qatar.
For the Seychelles you need to apply for permission to travel which includes providing hotel and all flight information as well as covid vaccination certificates and test results. You can't save progress until you've provided all these documents and the app is easiest to use. We found the Qatar manage my booking printout was better than the BA one for this purpose.
For the travel authorisation for seychelles you have to pay €10 for 9 hour processing or €70 for one hour processing but we paid €10 each and were both authorised in just 10 minutes, your experience may vary.
Even as experienced COVID travellers we've found the process for this trip considerably more stressful than other trips we have been on which were direct flights on BA so are posting this along with updates to help others doing the same thing.
To book seats on Qatar even as gold / silver you have to phone up exec club to change. The BA website does not connect properly to QRs.
Experiences so far (before we leave on our trip to Seychelles)
There's not much information around about the rules for transiting in Doha. There's nothing on the BA website. Verifly which we were encouraged to use by BA says you must have a negative PCR test even for transit taken less than 72 hours before arrival in Doha. Our destination says 72 hours before departure. (We think this information is out of date/wrong but think that BA may rely on it so put back our pcr test to conform to the stricter time schedule verifly requested) Qatar Airways says that the final destination rules apply for transit passengers. IATA / Timatic is silent on the subject.
Verifly which BA would like us to use doesn't recognise Seychelles and is asking us for paperwork we would need to go to Qatar.
For the Seychelles you need to apply for permission to travel which includes providing hotel and all flight information as well as covid vaccination certificates and test results. You can't save progress until you've provided all these documents and the app is easiest to use. We found the Qatar manage my booking printout was better than the BA one for this purpose.
For the travel authorisation for seychelles you have to pay €10 for 9 hour processing or €70 for one hour processing but we paid €10 each and were both authorised in just 10 minutes, your experience may vary.
Even as experienced COVID travellers we've found the process for this trip considerably more stressful than other trips we have been on which were direct flights on BA so are posting this along with updates to help others doing the same thing.
Jan 12, 2022, 11:20 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2013
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond *, IHG, Couples Romance Rewards
Posts: 2,347
Thanks. The first flight is operated by BA so thats why Verifly was suggested, the rest are not. Until COVID disruption, BA did operate direct flights to SEZ seasonally but don’t at the moment.
Jan 12, 2022, 12:25 pm
#4
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: London
Programs: Sir Ratechaser Seigneur de la Patience d'un Saint (Mucci), BA Silver, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 2,539
I've started seeing this recently on dummy BAH bookings to Dubai, and frankly it's bloody annoying that there's no option (although I'd love to be corrected) to ask for direct flights only - very much like the limitation of the 'cheapest fare finder' in the app.
Whats worse is that I'm seeing indirect via DOH being presented as the first option even if there is a same priced or cheaper direct option to DXB. Oh, and I'm searching on WT+ fares, which aren't even possible all the way through on an indirect. This is just unwanted noise and clutter that requires several more mouse clicks to correct...
I was thinking about making some comment about BA''s IT... but what's the point
Whats worse is that I'm seeing indirect via DOH being presented as the first option even if there is a same priced or cheaper direct option to DXB. Oh, and I'm searching on WT+ fares, which aren't even possible all the way through on an indirect. This is just unwanted noise and clutter that requires several more mouse clicks to correct...
I was thinking about making some comment about BA''s IT... but what's the point
Jan 12, 2022, 3:21 pm
#5
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: UK
Programs: DIAMOND in Life, but BA Gold, FB Plat
Posts: 37
It's tough to decide which board this goes on but since BA currently is routing holidays to some Indian ocean destinations via Doha and Qatar airways I thought it was worth posting experiences here - especially with the double tier point offer a luxury holiday with BA flight numbers can get someone from blue and 0 tier points to almost gold in one go at the moment (5 tier points short). The Qatar Airways(QR) board is not as helpful as the folk here. Some of this info can be found in other threads but I've gathered it all here for convenience.
To book seats on Qatar even as gold / silver you have to phone up exec club to change. The BA website does not connect properly to QRs.
Experiences so far (before we leave on our trip to Seychelles)
There's not much information around about the rules for transiting in Doha. There's nothing on the BA website. Verifly which we were encouraged to use by BA says you must have a negative PCR test even for transit taken less than 72 hours before arrival in Doha. Our destination says 72 hours before departure. (We think this information is out of date/wrong but think that BA may rely on it so put back our pcr test to conform to the stricter time schedule verifly requested) Qatar Airways says that the final destination rules apply for transit passengers. IATA / Timatic is silent on the subject.
Verifly which BA would like us to use doesn't recognise Seychelles and is asking us for paperwork we would need to go to Qatar.
For the Seychelles you need to apply for permission to travel which includes providing hotel and all flight information as well as covid vaccination certificates and test results. You can't save progress until you've provided all these documents and the app is easiest to use. We found the Qatar manage my booking printout was better than the BA one for this purpose.
For the travel authorisation for seychelles you have to pay €10 for 9 hour processing or €70 for one hour processing but we paid €10 each and were both authorised in just 10 minutes, your experience may vary.
Even as experienced COVID travellers we've found the process for this trip considerably more stressful than other trips we have been on which were direct flights on BA so are posting this along with updates to help others doing the same thing.
To book seats on Qatar even as gold / silver you have to phone up exec club to change. The BA website does not connect properly to QRs.
Experiences so far (before we leave on our trip to Seychelles)
There's not much information around about the rules for transiting in Doha. There's nothing on the BA website. Verifly which we were encouraged to use by BA says you must have a negative PCR test even for transit taken less than 72 hours before arrival in Doha. Our destination says 72 hours before departure. (We think this information is out of date/wrong but think that BA may rely on it so put back our pcr test to conform to the stricter time schedule verifly requested) Qatar Airways says that the final destination rules apply for transit passengers. IATA / Timatic is silent on the subject.
Verifly which BA would like us to use doesn't recognise Seychelles and is asking us for paperwork we would need to go to Qatar.
For the Seychelles you need to apply for permission to travel which includes providing hotel and all flight information as well as covid vaccination certificates and test results. You can't save progress until you've provided all these documents and the app is easiest to use. We found the Qatar manage my booking printout was better than the BA one for this purpose.
For the travel authorisation for seychelles you have to pay €10 for 9 hour processing or €70 for one hour processing but we paid €10 each and were both authorised in just 10 minutes, your experience may vary.
Even as experienced COVID travellers we've found the process for this trip considerably more stressful than other trips we have been on which were direct flights on BA so are posting this along with updates to help others doing the same thing.
Jan 12, 2022, 3:29 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2013
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond *, IHG, Couples Romance Rewards
Posts: 2,347