Taking far too long to board in London meant missing connection in DOH
Mar 29, 2019, 5:27 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2011
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 174
Taking far too long to board in London meant missing connection in DOH
So I flew with Qatar again on Wednesday (27th March) from London on the A350 at 15.05. Huge queues to board and easily the majority of passengers are families with very old people needing assistance or very young children (babies and under 3) who take far longer than your average passenger to board.
I think we were still boarding at the time of take off and only got away nearly an hour late. I had a tight connection in Doha of an hour but given the delay I knew it was unlikely I would make my connection. Taxing in Doha airport also takes significant time. Fortunately my destination (BKK) had (at least) another departure soon after which I was put on. It complicated my taxi pick up at my destination but I was able to sort that in Doha.
The Doh-BKK that I flew on had about 45 passengers on a 350 capacity plane. So most people who wanted to lie on the four middle seats could do so. We were told by cabin crew the plane was full on the return journey. It was an old A340 (I think). No wifi and looked really old compared to all the new planes QR has in its fleet.
I was told by cabin crew when we landed at Doh that the afternoon departures from London are almost always full given they often suit for connecting times in Doha. But if these afternoon flights often have large numbers of families onboard why doesn't QR do something and board the families A LOT earlier?
I think we were still boarding at the time of take off and only got away nearly an hour late. I had a tight connection in Doha of an hour but given the delay I knew it was unlikely I would make my connection. Taxing in Doha airport also takes significant time. Fortunately my destination (BKK) had (at least) another departure soon after which I was put on. It complicated my taxi pick up at my destination but I was able to sort that in Doha.
The Doh-BKK that I flew on had about 45 passengers on a 350 capacity plane. So most people who wanted to lie on the four middle seats could do so. We were told by cabin crew the plane was full on the return journey. It was an old A340 (I think). No wifi and looked really old compared to all the new planes QR has in its fleet.
I was told by cabin crew when we landed at Doh that the afternoon departures from London are almost always full given they often suit for connecting times in Doha. But if these afternoon flights often have large numbers of families onboard why doesn't QR do something and board the families A LOT earlier?
Mar 30, 2019, 5:43 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London
Programs: Hilton, IHG - BA, GA, LH, QR, SV, TK
Posts: 17,005
I was told by cabin crew when we landed at Doh that the afternoon departures from London are almost always full given they often suit for connecting times in Doha. But if these afternoon flights often have large numbers of families onboard why doesn't QR do something and board the families A LOT earlier?
More likely the start of boarding was delayed for any number of reasons.
Mar 30, 2019, 11:00 am
#3
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Muscat/Doha/Manchester
Programs: Oman Air Gold, Qatar Airways Platinum, Marriott Ambassador, HH Diamond, GHA Black, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 432
QR always adds a significant buffer in their flight times, so even when I left a hour left I am sometimes onetime or just a few mins later from my scheduled arrival time. If they were worried about the delays due to passenger loading I am sure they would amend it as it would cost them a lot of money to reschedule everyones flights.
