Modo

Lounge is after passport control and passport control is not opening tonight Thursday October 3 until after 8.30p so effectively an hour after check in. Several very unhappy passengers not surprisingly.

If if this is going to be the case QR needs to advise passengers in advance.

mr_botak

Not many international departures then!?

Smid

Is it just that night, or normally? I've just booked Easter from ARN.

Schwann

I'd quite happily have an extra hour to avoid that bad ARN lounge.

Smid

I looked at its review and remember it now. Not a lot lost, if I recall correctly.

Johnnieboy

I was there for that flight on Monday, I would say that there are better places to eat and drink landside. I didn't notice a problem with passport control but probably only checked in around 2 hours before departure. The airport was extremely quiet at that time though.

angeloedades

Travelling on this flight in the next couple of weeks - AFAIK last time I did exARN with QR, lounge was absolutely dire.

Modo

The lounge wasn't great but it was no worst than the one they use in Manchester. Wine was OK, reasonable drink selection. Food looked tired ---- but at least it wasn't over crowded. No newsapers other than from Middle East, but they had the FT on board which is better than BA.

And TBH it was no worst than the Al Mourjan when I landed. The place was an over crowded zoo! People were queuing to sit in the restaurant areas and the shower wait was 40 minutes. They said 30 but I gave it 40 - and by coincidence they were calling my name as I walked in.

The onward trip to HKG on QR815 saw an aircraft swap to a very tired 777 (I think - no WiFi so maybe an A330/340?). I havent been on such a poor plane for years. Reminiscent of US Domestic or Dragon Air from HKG to China.

ngfan

Glad I went to the AMEX lounge for dinner on that evening before heading to the Aviator Lounge. When I showed up at Passport control just opened a third line. Aviator lounge is ok for waiting and some drinks but nothing serious to think about dining there. The calmness of the airport at that time was very welcomed though.

Modo

That third line was designated EC passports only.. They were having huge issues understanding how to process EC/Non EC couples with kids. And they were travelling business class... mostly.

I arrivied in ARN in the morning on BA behind the Aeroflot flight at T!. Despite being in 1F a huge queue was handled by only two immigration lines. Movement was painfully slow. Their solution was to suddenly designate one lane EC only. They then proceeded to send several passengers without EC passports - who had joined the line before they changed it - to the back of the other line behind the whole BA flight.

To say I was unimpressed with ARN would be a massive understatement.. The whole experience made MNL T3 look world class.

Staff were unhelpful, unknowledgable and seemingly disinterested in anything other than being paid.

MKE-MR

Having done ARN last week, I'd say almost the same. Startlingly bad. Long wait on the way in (from London), long wait on the way out. Lounge was the worst I'd seen in a long time, though admittedly flight was already T-45 so not a lot of demand or passengers.
The airport *is* completely empty at that hour for the QR night flight, but unfortunately Swedavia or the government appear to staff passport control accordingly.

schmidtyy

That was my plane back from HKG to DOH. Awful old plane but decent service.

Modo

But QR infrastructure was creaking under over expansion based on my experience. The D/E Gates at DOH need that lounge opening FAST.

The QR business model uses highly educated, hugely capable and customer friendly personalities employed ----at relatively low salaries - cabin crew selected from less developed Asian nations. They should not be carrying the burden - of in my case firm but polite and VERY sympathetic criticism that is the responsibility of managemen to handle..

That flight was a shambles from start to finish.

I mix J and Y flights on QR. That was worst than most of my Y flights. Even the OneWorld First Clas lounge has been better than the QR flagship lounge prior to that as BA Gold travelling Y on recent flights.

mpkz

Just by the looks of it from the past few trips, that lounge has been abandoned and instead they are opening more hotel rooms there...