Dear All,

I will be making my first flight as a Platinum member with Qatar next week from SYD-FCO in Business Class. I have a 2.5hr layover in DOH.

I understand as a Platinum member, I can make use of the Al Maha transit meet-and-greet services.

My question is, do you recommend it? I've never used this service before so am admittedly naive and unsure if it is of benefit.

I greatly appreciate your opinions, and suggestions. Many thanks in advance!

I used it on my first flight through DOH as I had a short transfer at a new (to me) airport. With 2.5 hours you shouldn't be under any time pressures so probably not worth getting your hand held by them.

Definitely ONLY if you're not paying for it or are travelling with an elderly person, young children etc and/or in Y class; otherwise it's the biggest waste of money.

Unless you have trouble dealing with airports there is no advantage, unless you want to feel special.....or like the idea of someone to make small talk with.

There again, it's a new experience: maybe you should try it!

I used that service when flying with my 88 year old mom. She is very hard of hearing and refused to wear her hearing aids and has macular degeneration so depth perception in unfamiliar surroundings is an issue. Since I was traveling on to NBO and she had a longer layover than I did for her to get to BEY, I knew I would have to leave her and that service was worth every penny to me. She was quite terrified that I had to leave her and the staff kept checking on her while I was still there.
After I left they even took her to the Al Safwa lounge as her next flight was within the Middle East and they considered Business Class to be eligible to use that lounge.
If you are comfortable in airports and are traveling alone I would not pay for this. DOH is large but very easy to navigate and if your flight arrives on time you will not have to rush to board your next flight.

Was a wonderful service for my elderly mother in law as she was intimidated by connecting in a foreign country without much international travel experience and has a bit of difficulty with non-American accented English due to hearing issues.

Dear ft101, Cedar Jet, IAN-UK, sweetsleep and DeepUnderground,

Thank you so much for your replies, insights and experiences. This is why I love FlyerTalk so much. Such a great supportive and informative community.

Thanks to all your advice, I've decided that I won't book the service. Although I would get it for free (being a Platinum member), I guess after reading everything here, I don't really need it.

I think you are making the right choice. You will already be arriving into DOH and once off the plane there is a ton of signage and staff that will guide you to security/transit area. Once you are past that point, your next question should be �which way to the Platinum Lounge.�.
Enjoy your travels

I think this wonderful service deserves at least one positive recommendation from me: you should try it! It was mentioned that it makes you feel special..yes..nothing wrong with this I think. I always liked to be met at the aircraft and greeted with my name sign and escorted by a charming lady. And depending on how many gin tonic you had on the plane it can really be quite helpful. They also always know shortcuts to the lounge which are not indicated by signs. And in a full airport (which of course is not the time right now) they will always channel you quickly through safety checks and lift the ropes for you. Last not least: in case you enjoyd yourself in the lounge too much and forget about time: they will pick you up and run with you to the plane, talking all the time to the station manager that you are coming and that they pls should wait Finally: it is also very recommended to use their special arrivals lounge in case you enter into Doha next time.

I booked for my trip (it was free) in March, and had to cancel, due to the virus situation. So no direct experience.

I did ask about it here, and there was a bit of diversity of opinion, but some comments that it could be very valuable if your connection time is tight.

My hope was that it would eliminate the bus ride if my aeroplane came in at a "remote stand", replacing it with some more humane form of transportation. But some of the answers indicated that this would not be the case, you still ride the bus.

Maybe the bus is not much in use these days? If traffic is way down, are all the flights able to arrive at regular gates instead of "remote" ones?

You would think so, but I read a report in the last day or two saying a bus was used from plane to terminal.

Yes I can confirm that - on our arrival in DOH coming from BKK on the 20th July, we had to take the bus to the terminal.

I can absolutely confirm the tight connection advantage. Even more, once i missed a connection and it was totally helpful to have them at my side in order to rearrange things.

it's not congestion that rules gate-stand or remote-stand. A lot depends on what's the next move for the aircraft: it might have a specific gate lined up for its next flight, not compatible with he arrival, or maybe is being taken out of service for a time for any reason.

First post here!

I'm flying with my family on 22nd December from London via DOH to MLE. First time on QR and first time in DOH. We are in Economy and on QR8 due to land at 00:45. The MLE flight leaves at 02:10. I'm a pretty savvy traveller but with 4 others in tow is it worth paying for the Al Maha Transit service to minimise risk of us missing flight (there is no other flight to MLE that day as far as I can see so not sure what they would do if we missed the connection) Its a 1hr and 25min connection which should be fine normally but QR8 hasn't had the most punctual service over recent days with delays of up to 60mins on some days - just wondering whether the transit service would help us in case the flight is late or a waste of �250 which is what it would cost for 5 of us.

Many thanks