nfltraveller

I went through DOH yesterday (1st March) in J, and we had a business class bus.

ph-ndr

Been through 8-10 times the last year, and never had that.

Just ot be clear. There is a seperate call for J pax to remain and there is a seperate bus they wish to put J pax in. What I'm getting at is that this bus is never exclusive to J pax, it always gets rammed full of Y pax showing up late to the gate, i.e. not a very "exclusive" boarding experience for J pax.

-A

SAWorldVoyager

I just experienced the opposite of this, we were boarding DOH-JNB and boarding began at 55mins to take off, once our boarding cards were scanned, all J pax were asked to wait outside for a J bus, eventually 6 loads of Y pax were sent to the plane before the second of the J load was transported. It turns out only one J bus was allocated and had to do a 25min round trip to a far stand (its marked 517 on google maps).

Eventually the thrid bus departed the terminal 15 mins before the scheduled departed arriving just before scheduled departure time. The crew tried to scold the pax for being late.... I was feeing particularly grumpy, it wasnt their best strategy.

Given the current state of Hamad, they need more busses, and they need to commit to timelines for the D/E gates opening - its easier to be sympathetic when there is a horizon. They also need to also start publicising plans and timelines for the western concourse.

N1Rotate

The extension is due to open by late 2025, there were announcements by the former CEO on the timelines. The construction is also affecting some previously operational contact stands, these start coming back early 2025. There are also notices about some other temporary closures, such as the contact stands on the north side of the Orchard being out of use until mid-March.

Once the extension opens, that is about a 50% increase in available passenger loading bridges.

Right now the existing gates are not used efficiently. Many flights in the afternoon and early evening banks depart from remote stands even though passenger loading bridges are available. Prior to COVID QR was spreading out their schedules in the two main banks and building up the other two smaller connection banks. As an example, many flights to Europe departed between 0600 and 0700, some arrivals from the same direction (Europe and North America) arrived after these flights departed, this allowed the use of the same stand in the same bank without towing. Once COVID hit and flights were reduced, QR had to compact the schedules to keep connections viable. After the recovery and as flights increased they piled on a lot at the two main connection banks in a shorter window compared to the pre-COVID schedules.

QR could also use aircraft towing more to utilize the gates better, there are cons to increasing the use of aircraft towing such as increased wear and tear (towing is stressful to the landing gear) and the need for more skilled staff (qualified technicians). I think QR should re-asses those cons now, increasing the use of the contact gates and spreading out the schedules will not only improve the passenger experience and reduce mis-connects/delays but also increase duty free revenues.

SAWorldVoyager

Given the vast resources of the state of Qatar that is almost unacceptable. I am starting to think about connecting in other countries to avoid DOH, despite thinking QR onboard is better than anyone else

lost_in_translation

A great and informative post, thanks. It's not just bus gates but you can also see in just how busy the lounges, concourse etc. are at the two peak transfer banks now that more flights have been condensed into less time. DOH was probably a contender for world's best airport to connect in pre-COVID, but that crown is definitely gone for now.

N1Rotate

Construction started January 2023, nominally should open September 2025. That is about 2.5 years, which is pretty fast for this type of construction and the systems that will have to be integrated.

I agree thought that if you have better options its a good time to use them for the next couple years and wait out the construction and the vast number of aircraft with older or non-QR seating.

Desert_life

I really don't mind to use the economy class bus as long as they board J passengers first. Had really bad experience back in Dec, arrived DOH from a GCC flight, so that was almost half hour bus ride to A gates already. The connecting flight was boarded at gate C90. Bear in mind that C90 gate area used to just board A320 pax before the pandemic, but now they boarded A350 pax. So the boarding area was like a zoo after midnight, with confused pax everywhere trying to find their queue. I struggled to find the business class queue as there was no clear guided lines in the cramped area at all. Eventually I was told by the fellow J pax that we had to wait for the J bus as they were short of them... So we waited while letting all the economy class pax boarding the bus. There were arguments among J pax and gate agents. After almost 30 min wait, all the J pax in our queue demanded to board with economy pax. The gate agent had to give in to let us board the economy bus. If there was any sitting area to wait for the J bus, I wouldn't mind to wait. But there was no seats at the gate at all. And one J pax already complained with back pain due to an injury. So, to me, that was the worst airport experience I've ever had.

With the horrible airport experience and the dropping quality onboard service, I don't see myself a frequent QR flyer anymore...

IAN-UK

Pretty intensive towing operations involving some long and complex routes would be needed rationalise demand for contact gates. We get a similar dilemma at airports with mixes of domestic//international arrivals/departures .... most are happy to shove the inconvenience towards passengers and buses where a domestic inbound becomes an international departure, rather than take on the significant costs of towing between gates or between remote stands and gates.

Neither airports nor airlines would welcome towing where it's not an operational necessity.

I was seated next to a somewhat peed-off official from a ministry not directly involved with QR or HIA. I think he got a very special bus to the aircraft, but nonetheless he'd clearly got a bee in his bonnet about the airport expansion. In our conversation he expressed concern about the billions being invested in airline and airport with a very unclear return on that investment and the benefits that might accrue to Qatar. It seems unlikely that's a unique view.

seanp7

QR95 DOH-ZRH today, dedicated business bus; no economy cramming as suggested in this thread.

I do agree, however, that waiting to board as a J passenger can be a bit stressful if you don’t know the drill. Lots of (what appeared to be American & Canadian) J pax trying to board at all times of the bus gate process, but then told to hold while economy boards in an area that then became a zoo of economy pax for the gate next door.

Simple, clear announcements would fix this.

QatarA340

I agree.

I also think pilots park in remote stands to reduce their working hours (along with Cabin crew) since they can just literally park 20 seconds after landing and then that's it. Getting towed to a gate and then going back to the parking bay will increase their working hours. Perhaps that could be a reason why they are using this much.

ph-ndr

Pilots don't choose parking like when you drive into a parking lot. This is all decided by staff that deals with the ground operations.

-A

IAN-UK

Although I rather like the idea of pilots cruising round the terminal looking for the best parking spot, that's not how it happens.

And given the competitive parking i see around town, i reckon its a good idea the whole thing is controlled by the airport

IntrepidAfrican2

”I see one! That b****y BA guy is about to take it! More thrust! More thrust!”

florin

I like to think that logistically, they've thought about the jetbridge / remote parking and have decided to make best use of their infrastructure. (I'm not convinced, but have no info / data to support it.)

The idea of a separate J bus is just a nightmare and I disliked it the few times I've used it as a J pax - I would have preferred to board and have a drink instead of waiting in the terminal. That is just an unnecessary complication. Do away with the premium buses and maybe manage the bus traffic better to (a) minimise the time pax spend waiting for a bus, (b) minimise the bus travel time, and (c) eliminate the confusion around boarding the actual bus (bus doors open / not, wait by the terminal door, now go, but wait, not yet... all that dance)