Lefly

My 7hrs layover become an 8h30m one, but I can't have STPC as I am connecting from RKT.
With just a 1h30 change time, could my chances be more or less than 50/60% if asking a free flight change to the day before when there is an earlier flight, or even a same day rerouting via LHR, to avoid the long layover? I ask to the more experienced because if chances are slim I will not even try...

thanks!

daddycool7

Had a 30 minutes earlier departure change in business R Class, customer service allowed me to change for the next day departure at no fee after a bit of complaining

nacho

Thanks a lot! We won't go shopping - how bad is the security? All liquid, belt, laptop, tablet out of the case? Normally we transit at IST and when coming from CPH there won't be security, so we packed those gadgets away and Mr. Nacho doesn't have to take his belt off.

However if we have to be screened again then we will have to pack again for another security check - not my favourite but I guess we'll have to live with it. I guess we have to let the IFE on for the kids so they won't be sleeping when we arrive DOH.

TIA!

Is there any fast track for OW S?

remdk

nacho security in DOH is a farce the only item on your list that is subject to scrutiny is your belt. There is a fasttrack area in the middle of the security area which OWSs can use.

msm2000uk

Just for clarity, so is Dubai, Muscat, and Abu Dhabi - I've done all 3 in the past 2 weeks as comparables against QR and DOH!

M

ms101

OWS can use the fast track too? I previously attempted to use the fast track and was told business class only

sbams

Surely you need to depart from where you are, and not somewhere that just happens to be within 500 miles of London, in which case you need to get to that place first

BobBHX

I can't answer your question for certain but if the flight MEL/ADL arrives less than 24 hrs before departure of the ADL/DOH then it is not classed as a stopover and most airlines would be prepared to make the change. Any longer in ADL and that is a stopover and probably not permitted for free.

I have a booking including DOH/ADL/SYD returning SYD/ADL/DOH. First, Qantas changed the SYD/ADL flight which reduced the connection time in ADL to a do-able but tight timeframe. Then QR cancelled the DOH/ADL flight and rebooked me on the DOH/ADL the following day, giving me a 27 hr layover in DOH. I called QR reservations and got a very helpful agent (my experience with QR on the phone has usually been more at the incompetent end of the scale). He changed my booking to the direct DOH/SYD flight and had no problem in changing my QF SYD/ADL flight to an earlier one on the same day.

I think a lot depends on the agent you speak to so, as others have said, if you don't get the answer you want first time, keep trying.

MHendo84

Thanks BobBHX for your advice.

msm2000uk

I think the point being made, is that quite a few of us based in London, book Ex-EU flights - thus inconveniencing ourselves to begin with.

If we have the option to fly into LHR directly, or even BHX, then it is worth it as it saves the cost and time of the positioning flights.

M

irishguy28

Many FlyerTalkers first fly to a distant city before departing on their "real" ticket - because ticket prices from other locations can be far, far cheaper (when talking about premium cabins).

I have had 4 tickets to the US departing from Oslo in the past 12 months, with other re-positioning flights to Italy, Ireland, Norway and Poland coming up in the next few months to take advantage of cheaper fares, too.

You don't always have to fly from your local airport - there are great savings to be had by shopping around @:-)

(I can't remember the last longhaul flight I flew directly from AMS - though my upcoming trip from Ireland will be routing me via AMS on KL for a saving of over half the ticket price that KL charges from AMS )

The 500 miles here refers to Qatar's apparent rebooking policy - they are quite lenient and, in the case of major schedule changes, allow you to move the origin of your ticket (for free) to any point within a certain radius of the original origin. Hence, the desire to first pick an origin close enough to where you really are - because in a case like this, you may be allowed to rebook the ticket to depart from your home airport, at the price of the "far" airport, thereby cutting out the unnecessary positioning before/after the "main" ticket.

gorps1

I was rebooked to a later flight to SIN with a layover at HIA of 7 hours. The flight is next week. I've checked the departure time of the flight FROM DOH to SIN from which I was transferred and this now leaves 50 minutes after the scheduled arrival from OSL so is within MCT of 45 minutes. I'll ring Qatar tomorrow but what are my chances of getting them to transfer me back to my original itinerary at no charge?

Shareholder

Once more a sked change dumps me off a 787 onto a 777 next year. This occurred to all my booked 787 flights this year to/from South Africa too. I far prefer the privacy of J pods on 787s but alas appears I'll never get one again on QR!

remdk

Shareholder QR have just announced that due to increased demand the B777 will permanently replace the B787 on the CPT route. See http://www.qatarairways.com/english_...essrelease_cpt for details. Do not fear because the B787 is still to be found on many other QR routes.

sdsearch

So are you flying to CPT or JNB?

To CPT, as remdk just documented, they did that to increase capacity while staying at 1 flight per day.

To JNB, at least in February, there are two flights per day, one is still 787 (the daytime flight southbound, the overnight flight northbound), the other one is 777 (the late night->mid morning flight southbound, the afternoon -> late evening flight northbound).

if you want to fly to CPT on a 787 most of the way, you could pick the 787 flight to JNB and then connect on Comair (or whatever the BA subsidiary is known as this week) to CPT same day.