SamirD

Doubly nice!

Might want to drop AA a line and see what they do...

Ivan Dobrila

Worst flight ever!!

I was flying Sofia-Doha-Seoul on 6th Feb 2017.

Everything started at Sofia Airport.
Few days before my flight I called Qatar office in Bulgaria to purchase extra sport equipment bag but they told me that they cant process it as they have some issues so that I come to ticket office before flight and sort it out there.
I was there before opening time and they told me that they can not do this and that I should buy this before flight.
I always do that in advance but sometimes I also did at the airport I nobody made any problems before this time.

At the end I had to pay 12 kg excess wight at the price of $840!!!!
32kg sport bag to Seoul would be $300!!!

Next problem started at Doha Airport.
After arriving to Doha airport (17:30) I went straight to ticket counter to ask for upgrade to business class and they told me there is 2 seats left but they cant do it now as sale is still on and that I need to wait till 3h before flight, they told be they put me on the waiting list and that Im 1st on it.
Also just to mention that I was trying to upgrade almost every day from beginning of January.
Even my wife called Qatar office in Dubai and they told her that Im on the waitlist for upgrade.

After that I went to lounge and every while I went to check if there is some news about my upgrade.
Even 3 h before flight they told me that I should come 1h before flight as sale is still on but that Im 1st on the waitlist.
At 01:30 I went last time to check it and then got relay “nice" news, they gave upgrade to somebody else!!!!

They told be they forgot to put me on the list!!!! and that somebody else was in front of me for upgrade which is complete nonsense as I was trying to upgrade from 17:30 day before!!!!

Only explanation I got is that they are sorry!!!!!

So THANK YOU QATAR AIRWAYS FOR MAKING MY FLIGHT EXPERIENCE A 5 star!!!!

msm2000uk

Welcome back to the QR Forum!

As a QRPC Gold card holder, I would have expected you to know that QR do not have an Upgrade 'Waiting List'. That is an American concept, and not something operated by QR, so I'm unsure as to why you were advised that there was such a list in the first place.

Upgrades on QR are offered only if a cabin is full, and then it is done by QRPC/OneWorld status card level, as well as fare class type. As a QRPC Gold, it is likely there were other members ahead of you.

In terms of the 'sports bag' issue, I presume you still have the receipt showing the cost of $70 per kilo? If so, call QR and ask for the specifics as to why you were charged that rate.

M

wheatbeer

Just returned from a AMS-DOH-HND/NRT-DOH-AMS trip a couple of days ago.

All was good but disappointingly they ran out of champagne on both flights on the inbound.

On the NRT-DOH flight they had 2 bottles of the white champagne for around 38-39 J passengers (if I counted correctly), which seems ridiculous for a 12 hour flight. The purser said they are not able to load more in Japan and so they only have what is left over from the DOH-NRT flight. It seems really unfair that the allocation is not segregated between inbound and out.

On the NRT-DOH they also had no soup or appetisers from the evening meal when they got to me. The purser said they only load 20% of the evening meal as they don't expect many to eat, although most around us were eating and drinking.

On the DOH-AMS flight we were even more surprised they ran out as this flight originates in DOH so we assumed they would be well stocked?

After 4 flawless flights in November with QR where all food and drink was available, this was a bit of a shock to us.

We would like to continue flying QR in the future but worrying if they will run out of the booze we like an hour in to the flight takes some of the enjoyment out of it.

I don't know if we were just unlucky here or whether this is due to cuts being made seeing as it was 2 flights in a row? Anyone have any insider info or has anyone else experienced this?

N1Rotate

I think its just being unlucky, some of the cuts are actually being reversed. I would highly suggest that you write a complaint, and also if this happens in the future to complain to the senior cabin crew and ask them to note your complaint and that it will affect your decision to fly QR in the future. Even if you get a generic response, the concerned department will read your complaint and take it into consideration.

BA Humbug

Mini-rant after a particularly stressful day, so take with a pinch of salt. I also understand this may have more to do with Qatar's culture than QR itself, but here goes...

What's with the overzealous IFE censoring? I hate watching new content on airplanes so I'll play Movies/TV episodes I've practically memorized while dining just as sort of a background distraction, and I find that many things I consider tame are often censored:

- so many Deadpool scenes (understandably the love scenes, but also some fight scenes)
- talk of, and successfully saving of a spaceship [not airplane] from crashing (Supergirl)
- dropping trousers during medical examination (The Big Bang Theory)
- implied bedroom scenes without actual nudity (The Big Bang Theory)
- topless male training on a salmon ladder (Arrow)
- basically every other scene in Avatar

It's at a point where I think people who've never seen this show/movie before would kind of lose the plot as these scenes are sometimes pivotal (e.g., Superman saving a crashing spaceship, the development between Deadpool & Vanessa). If something needs to be censored so much, would it not make sense to exclude them from the IFE?

</rant>

I know the solution is to bring my own entertainment which I've started doing, but it's kind of a bummer to not be able to use the bigger-than-my-tablet screen for some entertainment.

lost_in_translation

Sounds unfortunate, sorry to hear!

As a slight counterweight, I got off NRT-DOH a couple of hours ago and not sure if they've decided to load more or we just had less thirsty passengers on NRT-DOH but the champagne didn't appear to run out this time. Regarding food choices, I was sat in the second cabin to be able to have two seats myself and was warned there may not be enough of my main course choice (I think there were already four orders for it on that crew member's sheet by the time they got to me). Not sure if they prioritised by status or no-one else ordered it but I got what I asked for in the end.

obduro

I'm interested to see if QR's IFE system is compatible with playing external HDD content. BA's isn't - I spent around £100 on a 3TB HDD that has hundreds of hours of boxsets and movies on it that I then play off my macbook. It would be handy to hook it up and play the content, similar to a Smart TV (also another use)

SamirD

I think as airlines evolve to the 'byoife' model, you'll start to see the ife stripped of content and become a platform for you to bring your own entertainment (or at least this as an option). The content licensing can't be cheap and as we know, every penny seems to count.

Skoodledoo

I don't know if it's just me, but I've never been able to play my own video content on Qatar's IFE, only option is a photo slideshow. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, maybe it's been updated I don't know. Anyone else?

SamirD

I don't think anyone has their economy ife set up for bringing your own media yet. Apart from Ethiad's apartment and residency, I've never seen an hdmi port in a plane before, but it seems those class seats would have the ability for you to play your own media via a laptop.

Sisyphus1carus

Oh I could spend six days straight ranting about QR and mostly regarding their Customer (Dis)Service phone & email offering.

Anyhow, my current gripe is with their online QCalculator which seems to have no grounding in reality at all. Certainly when it comes to business class award flights.
I can't recall ever finding flights actually available at the rates stated within the QCalculator. I may well have a long time in the past or when just doing a few dummy checks but certainly never when I've come to truly use it in anger.

Am I the only one ? OR just seriously unlucky with the many dates I check ? (And I do look out of season to give them the benefit of the doubt).
Right now I'm looking at LON-BKK in business class. The QCalculator states 150k QMiles return. I can not find a single date where they are available at this rate. They are more like 280k. Now I haven't checked every possible date so it is plausible that they have one flight on one day which meets that 150K pricetag. However, even if they do have one token flight, its just bloody misleading. The QCalculator doesn't give a range of prices even. It simply states you'll need 150k for a return in business class LON-BKK-LON.

Aaaaaagh.
I hate the f'ing thing.

I have tried in the past to have QR Customer Dis(Service) find me flights that are available for the figure stated in the QCalculator and they essentially refuse to and just ask what dates I'm interested in and tell me the 'price' for that day.

Is there an online tool which will find flights with the lower QMiles cost across a month or even better the year ?! I would really like to be able to hold evidence up infront of Qatar and point out their BS, however I'm sure they wouldn't care in the slightest and possibly do have one token flight per year available at the QCalculator rate (although that would be crediting them with more integrity than I suspect they have).

Grrrr.................

Johnnieboy

It is quite difficult to find normal price qmiles returns in J from London. The prices in the qcalculator are correct, but availability is often low. You may have more success looking to depart from elsewhere in the UK or in Europe. Alternatively, try looking at availability for each sector, noting which are available, and then booking it as a multicity itinerary. And I usually book two one ways rather than a return, which I find more flexible if you need to make changes.

That being said though, there do seem to be large parts of the year that are always only available as x2 qmiles, although seats do open up if flights aren't selling.

AVIATORPJ

Well stated Johnnieboy and appreciated. The X2qmiles now seem miasmic for months out enquiries in 2017. I've made several enquriies too, on q calculator, and more so recently than last year. Your two by one way strategy for flexibility also hits home.. Renewed thanks.

Fontana

Regarding bringing your own content to play/load on Qatar's IFE or any airline, this is going to open up a can of worms. Lets say for example :

You're watching manga/gore/violent or a p0rn movie and people can see your screen. You can see how this is not going to go down well cause you'll have the normal pax who'll complain, you'll also have the parents who don't want there children seeing "non-educational" movies But what if you wanna continue watching it cause its your right? I know the flight attendants "could" switch your unit off, if they wanted to? Besides, there isn't a law that says, you can't watch this kind of stuff on plane?

Its a very grey area.

Besides, read a few stories in the paper about people watching p0rn on the busses now.