bosbiz

As a 'thank you' to those who posted their experiences and making my journey easier, an update...

- Flying back from TRV to JFK via DOH, they asked about electronics and I said 'none to report'. At DOH, they packaged up my tablet at the departure gate itself.

- No issue with my older Bose Noise cancelling headset - QC 3 I believe.

- At JFK, ended up waiting about 10 minutes for my luggage and then 5 minutes after that the boxed laptop arrived at the oversized luggage area. (I have Global Entry, so was through customs/immigration in minutes.)

Side notes:

- Flight out (ATL - DOH) was packed in Y.
- Flight back (DOH - JFK) had perhaps 50 or so seats free, many were able to spread out.

- Had to go back out and re-clear regular security to catch my onward flight at JFK, which was a bit of a pain. I would have missed the connection (due to QR 701 being late) if I didn't have Global Entry.

- On the DOH-JFK route, I gave up my bulkhead seat for a young couple that needed the space, and joked with the flight attendant that the only special meal I ordered was from first class. At the end of the flight, he went around asking all the flight attendants where I was, and found me and gave me some arabic sweets. Very thoughtful, and I'll write a note to QR.

C17PSGR

Qatar Airways CEO: Laptop ban doesn't make flying safer ...

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/17/news...cs-laptop-ban/

He also references loaner laptops which no one here seems to have seen.

forumpersona999

ExpertFlyer has a survey they would like people to complete just for their own curiosity.

sdsearch

Emirates just announced that they are cutting flights to several US cities, in part because of this ban. Among the cuts is LAX (where QR has just one) going from two to one at Emirates. I wonder if this ban will be "relatively good" for QR in that it balances out how many can fly QR vs how many can fly Emirates better from QR's perspective?

dkc192

Slightly OT but EK announced that they would cut one LAX frequency before the electronics ban was introduced, IIRC.

miamiflyer8

Typical promise from Al Baker, takes ages to get something implemented.

ANZ787900

I flew DOH-LAX in J last week. Checked my DSLR camera and laptop in at the gate. Bubble wrap, box and a plastic bag around the box. The boxes aren't big so I ended up having a box each for the DSLR and laptop. You write down your details on carbon paper and keep one of the copies. On arrival in LAX, they took all the electronics to the podium on the right hand side of the terminal and everyone collected their items one by one according to the luggage tag and the piece of paper you filled in; before signing that you had received the electronics back. Apparently you can gate check your hand luggage with electronics inside them and they'll travel alongside the boxes and be returned to you in the same method as above.

Onboard laptops - I have heard that there are 7 laptops per flight, however only 3 routes have so far been loaded with them (LAX not being one of them). I assume the 3 routes would include JFK and IAD.

dboston

For those using the laptop check service in DOH, what are you doing with the laptop battery? Putting it in checked luggage at point of origin, or wrapping it with the laptop in DOH? Thanks!

Glenn90

I couldn't find a clean description of the process for traveling with a laptop from DOH to ATL (perhaps I missed it?), so I'm posting my own experience.

Flight QR755, DOH > ATL, 21 Apr 2017

In DOH, I arrived at the gate and, upon getting into the security line, I was asked by an agent if I was carrying a laptop. I said yes, and was directed to a small table to the left of the gate boarding area. At the table, two agents packed up my laptop, iPad, and Kindle in bubble wrap, then placed all 3 in a medium-size cardboard box, perhaps 15" x 10" x 6" or so. They put a sticker on the box with my name & info, then put the box into a large clear bag, which they tied with a ziptie. They then placed a "checked bag"-type barcode sticker on the bag, and put a typical baggage claim sticker on the back of my boarding pass. I was handed the bag, and told to bring it through the gate check-in.

After clearing the metal detectors, I was directed to drop off the bag with the boxed computer in an area near the check-in desks. There were about 15 other similar bagged boxes piling up. I asked where I should pick up the box in ATL, and was told "a Qatar agent will be handing them out in the baggage claim area."

Upon arrival in ATL, I cleared passport control in Terminal F, and proceeded into baggage claim. The computer monitors showed QR755 baggage on "Carousel 4/5". Odd to see 2 carousels listed. No Qatar Airways agents in sight; no signs or other info. I asked several ATL baggage personnel where to pick up laptops from the Qatar flight. Two had no idea; one directed me to the "Korean Air" lost baggage desk on the right side of the claim area. The clerk there had no idea what I was talking about. I telephoned Qatar Airways, but the phone agent had no idea either.

After about 20 minutes lingering around Carousel 5, finally an agent with a clipboard showed up. I asked her and she said "wait here, the laptop boxes will be coming to the carousel." She also said there was a "security delay" on the laptops. Soon after, normal luggage started appearing, but no laptop boxes.

After another 20 minutes, laptop boxes finally started coming off the conveyor belt. A baggage worker piled them up off the carousel onto the floor. He had no idea who was supposed to be handing them out. After another 5 minutes, the agent with the clipboard returned, and started a chaotic process of matching boxes with passengers. Basically a free-for-all.

All that said, my laptop was intact, and overall the boxes appeared to be in good shape for the journey.

Summary:
* Laptop boxes arrive at the same carousel as other baggage.
* Prepare to wait 45 minutes or so.
* It'd be nice to have (1) signage, (2) informed ATL baggage workers.

forumpersona999

Was the box sealed in DOH and did it appear to have been opened / unsealed when you received it in ATL ?

wcalvert

Another data point (a little long-winded, but wanted to be specific).

Flew EVN-DOH-IAH on Sun/Mon.

At check-in in EVN, was asked if I had any large electronics (I lied and said no). EVN security didn't care of course.

Gate opened T-2 hours in DOH and there was a table to check electronics. Gave my Surface and Kindle over to be wrapped and asked about my Canon EOS M and 3 lenses. The EOS M body is shockingly small (easily fits within the size constraints, but maybe 2-3X the allowed thickness), but she said it would need to be wrapped. They didn't know what to do with the lenses (Rokinon 12mm, Canon 22mm pancake, Canon 18-55 kit). I said I would ask at security.

I asked desk about my RAVPower 20100 mah external battery and they said it was fine (it's maybe 2-4 times larger than specifications).

X-ray tech saw the lenses packed in my backpack and told the screeners to pull my camera. I explained that the camera was in the sealed box and it was just the lenses. He said that they were fine then. He never mentioned my quite large USB battery.

Handed over my sealed box at the desk and filled out the form they give you. I received a notification from the QR app with the new luggage tag number and that it was loaded onto the plane.

Upon arrival in Houston, all sealed boxes in wrappers came off of the belt first. A Swissport employee took them all off into a scansioned off area and then walked them over to a table for pickup. He said a QR employee would be the one checking receipts and giving out boxes. 15 minutes later no QR employees so he told us to sort through them ourselves and he would check luggage tags. I have GE, was through immigration immediately, and boxes were maybe 2-3 minutes after me getting to the carousel. Swissport guy left the table with laptops several times and someone could have easily taken some.

Emirates was at the next carousel and had 7(!) employees helping with the checked electronics area for their belt. They also had separate lines for pickup for 1st/biz and economy passengers.

There were maybe 20-30 checked electronics boxes for my mostly full flight on a 77L. There were however 51 wheelchairs waiting at gate (I asked one of the handlers!).

htwild1

Hi all,

We will passing thru DOH in July.
Our itinerary is on BA code sharing with QR (IAD - LHR- DOH - SGN) same routing back.

I have a laptop and a small Samsung G200 camera.
From the readings, I believe it is OK to have the laptop in cabin on the outbound and not on the return.

I was thinking to 1) remove the SSD from the laptop, pack it in our checked bag, or 2) take it to DOH and have QR helps in special packing.

Our checked bags will be tagged all the way to IAD.

With option 2, outbound DOH - LHR is handled by QR which is "OK", but will BA (LHR -
IAD) takes the special package (laptop) to IAD? Or taking the chance that the laptop is OK inside the checked bag from SGN.

Thanks in advance.

remdk

htwild1 welcome to the QR forum.

Please stop worrying! This electronics ban is about nonstop from a number of Middle eastern airports to the US ONLY. Where in your itinerary are you flying nonstop from DOH to IAD? You are in no way affected by this ban.

C17PSGR

+1

The UK has a similar ban but DOH is not covered in the UK's ban (other airports are) so if you are returning DOH-LHR-IAD you'll be fine.

Now ... it would be nice if QR would give me DOH-LHR-LAX on my upcoming return

htwild1

Thanks for the good news.

We are coming back to the USA, SGN-DOH-LHR-IAD on BA.