plunet

That goes directly against their published policy to check through passengers with self-connecting journeys on a OW carrier; QR is obviously OW. Its a poor show that a significant outstation like BKK made this mistake. I would at least ping them an email to let them know.

I am also surprised that you were not able to salvage the situation at a transfer desk in Doha and had to go through immigration, usually they can redirect the bags in the Doha baggage system.

But the principal of making sure you have the right to enter the country and the time to do so for any self-connect is well made and important for anyone who wishes to try this.

wanderlust4life

I didn’t know about that special policy QR has about thru checking on their website regarding even being on separate tickets or I would’ve shown them that at BKK. I assumed they were like BA which is so strict about no thru checking even when you go BA to BA. Qantas made a similar move by not thru checking from QF to other one world on separate tickets but they still do QF to QF even on different tickets.

The BKK agents were not nice at all though. I arrived earlier from Sydney on Qantas and so I went to a hotel nearby to rest but came back earlier to airport to enjoy any lounge meals etc because my flight left at 230am. BKK doesn’t allow mobile boarding passes unlike so many other places so I thought I’d go check in with the crowd that is there for the 830pm flight to DOH. I was flying First so I would’ve taken the 830 if it was an A380. Anyways, they wouldn’t check me in because they are so strict about the 3 hour check in window prior to flight departure. I didn’t see the point when it’s all the same flights going to DOH so I came back later and finally checked in.

I also had only hand baggage. They gave me a boarding pass just to DOH and they refused to help me with my next flight after showing the itinerary. They were more focused on verifying that I met the requirements to enter DOH. When I got to DOH, I tried to mobile check in for the USA flight as it was now within 24 hours but I couldn’t generate an official boarding pass. I went to the transfer people and they said sorry separate booking. I also have to say that this second booking was made on Alaska airlines ticket stock as an award for Qatar marketed and operated flight. Maybe that was the issue. Or maybe not. All I know is that the outstations in these other countries are not like the agents in Seattle who at the start of my trip said, you’ll have no problem especially by carrying on your luggage too.

YMMV

anchtiger

wanderlust4life are you saying that at the transit desk in Doha..the agent wouldn't let you print out tickets even though you had proper documentation?

SilverChris

I noticed the wording states "connections onto other oneworld carriers". Technically, an unhelpful check-in agent/supervisor could take this at face value, as absurd as it seems. Is there a separate published policy that explicitly addresses QR-QR?

plunet

Experience on here is QR self-connect onto QR to be checked through is usually a non-issue. Occasionally you get a wobble on a check through onto other OW carriers but that is usually resolved by sharing QRs own policy with the check in staff and maybe a 'Can you check with your supervisor' nudge.

The fact that the connection was plated on an AS ticket should not have impacted things, it's the operating carrier that counts on the check-through rule. And in any case AS is now also OW.

Nyc1623

do you know if this is true for one award ticket connecting to a paid ticket (QR-QR)? Or should that not change anything?

I had booked JFK-BKK for my mother through Doha on Qatar Airways using Avios miles. After 3 flight timing changes, she now has a 14 hour layover and I would rather just buy the earlier flight from DOH-BKK (leaving the JFK-DOH on miles). But I’m not sure if by doing this she would have to re-check her bags (and then require a PCR test).

Basanez

Wow I was going to ask this exact question and it seems it’s a frequent occurrence for a thread to exist, which is great.

Got two separate award tickets GYD-DOH and DOH-ARN with about 3 hours connection time in DOH. All flights in QR. There’s only one QR flight per day from GYD so that’s why the not so great connection time. Not checking any luggage, and after reading this thread I’m hoping the GYD agents are willing and able to check us through ARN. Don’t want to waste time in DOH trying to get the transit desk to check us in, nor go through immigration twice and waste space on my passport. Downside is that now I need to get a PCR in Baku.

ffman999

I am doing this in a month and will report back. I think technically my vaccine is “out of date” for what Qatar considers valid, so I will likely get Covid tested too just in case they force me to go through immigration.

ElginH

I am hoping the QR staff at the MLE outstation are more reasonable and accommodating than the QR staff at the BKK outstation.

ElginH

So, did you fill out the Qatar government Ehteraz forms online at BKK, or had you already done that in advance, just in case? I guess you had completed a PCR test in Bangkok within 48 hours of departure also? Where did you buy the travel insurance from? And which hotel did you book and cancel to get past the administrative hurdles they unnecessarily set for you?

ElginH

Has anyone flown QR F or J MLE-DOH and DOH-BKK on two separate tickets (PNRs) WITHOUT having to go through immigration at DOH within the past month or so? I am concerned about the reliability of the Ehteraz online platform (i.e., getting cleared to enter Doha) so that I am not denied boarding. I am fully vaccinated, boosted very recently. I should be able to get a PCR test within 48 hours of departure from MLE (at the resort).

I had to buy two separate award tickets (one with BA Avios, the other with AA miles) because I did not have enough in one airline currency to purchase both legs of the trip under a single PNR issued by either BA or AA.

My hope is that from MLE the local QR staff will issue my onward ticket for DOH-BKK and let me board and self-connect/transit in DOH without the frictions I’ve been reading about here.

plunet

There are two issues here...

It should not make any difference that tickets are revenue or redemption, or indeed who issued the tickets. Provided that they are operated by Qatar and correctly issued, then getting check in staff to check you through at your origin should not be an issue, as per policy.

However, holding two tickets for the same itinerary within a short period of time is an issue. Qatar have a process that looks for evidence of the same passenger doing impossible journeys and will cancel one of them, presumably for revenue protection purposes and eliminating hidden city ticketing. From reports, which one gets cancelled is a bit of a lottery. The matching process is not immediate and happens seemingly randomly.

So if you buy a second ticket for the onward sector you would need to cancel the original second sector promptly to avoid a random cancellation of one of the tickets.

plunet

I would suggest that being able to remind check in staff of the existence of the policy and asking them to check with their supervisor if they are unsure would usually yield the right result.

Remember that the check in staff for QR at outstations are all contractors and move between check-in for various airlines, and whilst you might hope they can remember all the nuances of policy for all their airlines, often they cannot, especially those policies that they don't encounter on a regular basis.

However by asking for the supervisor should yield the Qatar station manager getting involved, they are a Qatar employee, should know the policy, and have a phone-a-friend option to Doha if they have any doubts on what and how to do something.

ffman999

Are station managers always there though? I am doing separate tickets in July, starting in Abu Dhabi. I am concerned that person might not be there. I am going to print out the page on Qatar’s website where it says you can do this and then fight like hell if I need to do so they do.

plunet

The station manager would usually be in attendance at check in. They may disappear for a few minutes if there is a problem with the landing or preparation of the aircraft. But the station manager is ultimately responsible to Doha to corral the various airport and contracted resources to get planes landed, unloaded, prepared and returned to Doha in a timely manner, and being on hand at check in and then at the gate is a key part of their job.