ph-ndr

I could see other people in the distance. It was horrible. Must have been 40-50 people cramped up in all of AS at the time.

The sleep rooms are wonderfully sound proofed, not like the Cathedral of Snore over in AM. Now if they only could move the coffee machines in AS into one of those rooms, the acoustics in the main hall at AS are great/bad depending on how you value things.

-A

ft101

Another option at Doha is to scan your boarding pass from the airport app and it'll tell you the Gate number.

CheckInPeach

I have to confess, I never expected QR will allow Platinums into AS for free. And even including 2 guests, which seems extremely generous.

Sitting in AS now, at 1am ... the lounge is not more full than before. Just a hand full of people. Wow, impressive.

becharted

Just getting back and wanted to report on a few different instances.

Just before announcement — Full Qmile redemption, as expected had to pay for access + 1 guest and was limited to 6 hours. This was enforced.

After announcement — Was first to try with a ticket that was upgraded with miles. On entry, was told internal memo said upgraded tickets are not included. Upon asking, supervisor referenced the press release on QR website, then simply scanned BP and admission was not a problem. Said internal memo was wrong. Roughly 1-2 hours later was approached by another supervisor and asked to leave. This supervisor had written the memo themselves and said it was correct and press release was wrong. Upon escalation was granted access +1 guest on a one time basis. No time limit. Lounge director confirmed no access for mileage upgrades at this time.

Again 2 days later - Full Qmile redemption, no issues gaining access. No time limit.

Overall, a positive move that I’m very happy about but it was clear that this came unexpectedly from Corporate and lounge staff had not been given advanced notice to prepare for nuances.

It also doesn’t help that the press release was pretty vague, and that’s the only information the public has to go on. Even more so that it more or less conflicts with the staff’s internal memo.

I’m not convinced that access for upgraded tickets will be solved with a technical issue, as staff had no problem scanning the BP and stamping it on entry. Seems like it’s a policy-driven decision for now, as the lounge director made it quite clear that upgrades only apply to the on-board experience and not on-the-ground services.

ph-ndr

Well, at least he agrees with large portions of this forum, on the ground there is things that defintely isn't up to premium standards (even if AS is nice).

-A

Schwann

Keeping it classy, QR!

Dr. HFH

I assume, becharted, that the lounge director made it clear (in your opinion) by his/her actions, not by him/her saying that things on the ground aren't up to snuff, yes?

becharted

He meant that when you upgrade your ticket, it doesn’t entitle you to an upgraded experience on the ground as well. The full experience comes with a full fare ticket (paid or redemption).

nilsfr69

So wait, your one of their most frequent flyers... a Platinum Customer and than this..... "Roughly 1-2 hours later was approached by another supervisor and asked to leave"....
SERIOUSLY Qatar??

brunos

That should generate guesting demands from non-Plat.
Like, I am arriving with wifey in J at 23:30 (from CDG) on 7 November and depart for HKG at 2:00 Nove 8 to HKG.

celtic_warrior

But the customer was then allowed to stay. So IMO well done Qatar. These are teething problems. The customer plus a guest got access , for several hours, to a lounge they were not entitled to.

For some on here, Qatar can do no right. A few years back some were moaning how the saki fare ,and other promos, would create too many plats and the fare was way too cheap. Yet they took advantage of the fare. Now people complain there are no great sales.

mpkz

Dear Qatar Airways staff reading this thread,

When we talk about your on-the-ground service being horrible, this is exactly the kind of thing we are referring to. Any staff member with a modicum of common sense would have realized that asking a platinum member (or anyone for that matter) to leave the lounge is a terrible look. You let him in, the marginal cost of letting him stay is negligible yet for some reason the robots you employ feel like they have to abide by the (vague) rules 100%.

Please consider implementing basic service training or including some tests of common sense (maybe a customer case study) in your hiring process.

Dr. HFH

Yes, sarcastic insults, -- always a good strategy for getting someone to take you seriously.

The on-the-ground service isn't horrible. Perfect? Far from it. But horrible? Would you take an Admirals Club over Al Mourjan? No, I didn't think so. How many other airport lounges have small apartments (a/k/a "sleeping rooms") which are available at no charge? Much cheaper and more convenient than a hotel, IMO. How about Al Maha escort service? Free for premium pax, no? Sure, a couple of other carriers have it, TG for one. TG, of course, is bankrupt and on the verge of closing, at least according to the Bangkok newspapers. The LH FCT? Great facility. After you find your own way to the front door.

Yes, there's no question that QR ground service has a way to go, mostly, AFAICT, in the organization and structure. There seems to be a fair amount of confusion. But horrible? I think not.

becharted

I have to admit when I was asked to leave I thought it was a bit rude. It didn’t help that I was on my honeymoon, and in the middle of dinner with my wife. But I thought it was a trigger reaction from the staff and that’s why I escalated it. No harm done, and I was very happy with Qatar’s service once they took a step back and realized what happened was an internal communication error and not something to blame the customer for.

I think the biggest talking point is this. A customer reading the press release would assume they were entitled to access if their ticket says Business Class, so the disconnect happens when announcements are made and internal memos are sent without the forethought of how this will impact customers. They could have easily included language in the release to clarify access rules for redemptions and upgrades, and all of this would never have become an issue.

At the end of the day, Qatar service is always great — on the ground or in the air. It’s only when things go out of the norm or an exception has to be made where I think a fear of deviating from the rules sets in and it results in an unfavorable customer experience.

Hopefully with some of the new changes Jacob and team are making, staff will feel more empowered moving forward.

fender5787

I agree 100% sentiment, but tbf its better to compare AM with a flagship lounge (I’d probably take a flagship lounge over AM in most cases). QR performs better on the ground than many carriers on certain aspects and fails on others. I’d say QR’s ground experience ranks at 3.5 to 4 stars out of 5; not the best overall, but absolutely not the worst by any means. For better or worse, QR has probably the best in the air experience overall for any airline, and that sets up the expectation that the on the ground experience will also be the best, which unfortunately isn’t the case. With that said, I’d still transit in DOH over the vast majority of other places.