ph-ndr

It is, sadly, a fairly well known phenomenon with "local high maintenance passengers". I've had a few experiences, and I make a big stink as long as we are not inbound to Doha.

On the other hand, on some previous segments we departed at a similar time as an EK flight, and shared lounge at the outstation, and it was interesting to see how well the locals got along discussing the blockade and politics and having fun across the borders.

-A

hlal

I have been flying QR for 12 years, and the quality of service over the past three years (at least) has been on a downward trajectory. Anyone who flies the top-tier asian carriers like CX, JL, SK can tell the big difference between these true 5-star airlines and QR. My most recent experience with QR was on a flight to Marrakesh (DOH-MAR) in J class. We took off at 09:30 and landed at 18:00 (20:00 in Doha) after a 90-minute stopover in CAS. For this 10+ hour flight QR offered a breakfast around 11:00, which most of the J passengers, including me, skipped. Did QR really think their passengers didn't have breakfast (home/hotel/lounge) by the time we started boarding? Anyways, other than the breakfast, the only thing on offer, for a flight that landed past dinner time, were the "light options" - a two-bites sandwich or a 4-bites pasta. I won't go into the green on-board crew who could barely understand English and who couldn't properly serve a meal or drink. Sorry QR, but this is nowhere near 5-star service.

SamirD

Thank you for the update on their service. I've flown with them a few times (only once in J), but they are from a region of the world that would love to overcharge and then underdeliver and get away with it, and it is alarming to see this ideology enter the airline. That's exactly what makes regional and domestic carriers in that part of the world terrible.

onapea

Just did DAR-DOH and DOH to DFW
Service sucked couldnt wait to get off plane.
Ran into an Emeriates crew at DOH hotel, they said I should fly them,boyt were they correct.

purple1addict

makrom

jrobin

Mrs Jrobin and I are in SEZ as part of two RTW trips on different PNR's.
We flew LHR-DOH-SEZ on QR; we checked in online and received emailed QR boarding passes LHR-DOH-SEZ. The flight LHR-DOH was late and we just made the connection DOH-SEZ but our bags did not. QR were excellent and delivered the bags to us the next day. So far all seemed fine.
On Monday we are to fly SEZ-CMB-SIN on UL, but UL online checkin says I cannot check in for the flights SEZ-CMB-SIN because we never checked in on QR for DOH-SEZ.
So somehow both of us have been unchecked-in for a flight we took.
Anyone have similar experiences? or advice?

Dr. HFH

Are you still in SEZ? It's a very small airport, as you know. I'd go to the airport and talk to a UL rep in person. Take all the paperwork with you, -- BPs as well as the bag tags off your luggage showing the routing. If you do this the day of your outbound, make sure to leave plenty of time at the airport. Also, remember that the UL flight arrives at 0435 and leaves an hour later. I would recommend getting to the airport around 0230, given the possible complications you may have.

You're doing a RTW with checked bags? You're a braver person than I!!

jrobin

We are still in SEZ. We have learned that in addition to meds etc, a change of clothes (and a bathing suit for some destinations) should be in carry-on so a day without a suitcase is not an especially big issue.

Anyway, I called QF as Mrs Jrobin is on an 081 ticket. The telephone agent found that when we made the short connection in DOH, QR had not marked us as having flown on that flight.
[They had checked us in manually, as the boarding pass printed at home would not scan, as the printhead had gone a bit wonky] (Note to self: always get BP's at the airport. Do not show boarding passes, just the itinerary. BA would not provide BP's except for one of us for their flight with the gate number on it, as we had BP's already, even though they were not scanning.)

The agent reported that Mrs. Jrobin's 081 ticket should now be fine, and suggested that using the ticket number rather than the record locator was more likely to indicate all was well. and that I should call AA to get my ticket sorted.
AA telephone waits were about 30 minutes, so I tried Manage Booking on UL for the supposedly fine 081 ticket.
I got a warning that "Please note that the Airline has cancelled one or more of your selected flights...."

This was rather disconcerting for a supposedly fine ticket.

jrobin

Once I found that the QF agent had not fixed the booking to the satisfaction of the UL website, I decided to contact UL, as UL could possibly fix both tickets, rather than calling AA which even after waiting on hold for 20-30 minutes may do no better than the QF agent was able to do. UL have a chat facility; I like those because I have a record of what is said on both sides.

The UL chat agent was convinced that my problem was that I was trying to check in too early. I did not realize it, but if you try to check in too early, many airlines give a message to the effect:
"WARNING: No journey available. None of the journeys retrieved are available, please contact an agent at the airport."
I understand now that what the message means is there is no flight which is available for online check-in. The agent thought this is the message I was concerned about, and was trying to calm me down to wait until 24 hours before the flight and check in then, and all would be fine.

I finally got through that I was using Manage Booking rather than Online Check-in, and that the message I was getting was different: "Please note that the airline has cancelled one or more of your selected flights."
The agent tried but was unable to find the cause of the dire message, and offered to email me both tickets from UL showing that the status of all flights was OK and no flights appeared to have been cancelled.
So it appears that we still have bookings.

However, our seats are both different and not together on the SEZ-CMB leg now, so it would appear that that is the leg that may have been cancelled. I adjusted the seats back to what they were and hope we are good to go on the flights.

It appears web check-in will work also for both itineraries; I plan to check in when our SIN-MEL flight is also available for checkin so all boarding passes as far as MEL can be emailed together.

And perhaps QF points/SC's will come through for LHR-DOH and for DOH-SEZ now that I have been correctly entered as having taken the flight DOH-SEZ.

Dr. HFH

In my book, that would qualify as more severe than "rather disconcerting." I would suggest dealing with it toute de suite!

jrobin

It seems to have been dealt with successfully, as online checkin gave us each boarding passes for our next four flights. SEZ-CMB-SIN-MEL-CBR
And yes, we will have a change of clothes in our carry-on bags.

IAN-UK

I know it's really not col to let silliness like this get to me but ...

Every week /i get a couple of excited emails from QR Towers promoting run of the mill fares as special opportunities.

The latest offers me Saigon for £2500+

Spookily, I just booked Saigon with Swiss for £1370 for dates when QR would be twice that. OK the long bits of the journey are with the airline's leisure arm: but still.....

Johnnieboy

OK, I've finally cracked.

I have tried to cut QR some slack over the last 18 months, times are hard. I have tried to stay calm about the FFP "enhancements" this year. And I have at times even found ways to convince myself the higher fares are worth paying.

But when their online system just generates an email to the same person who told you not to email them but do it all online, and who then isn't interested in being told there are website bugs which mean you can't do it online so that is why you are having to email them (again), and their responses are of patronising disbelief, trying to achieve anything becomes an exercise in timewasting futility.

Great in the air, in fact the crews seem much friendlier and chatty of late. But as many people have said, truly awful customer service

quinzinho

The long flights are with Edelweiss? And then you complain Qatar is twice the price? Come on...