[NTarrant]

No screening on arriving from Heathrow on Saturday morning. Transfers directed through to the departure area.

[Frequent Traveller]

The only thing I complain in DOHA stopover is as follows:
– The cold water inside the lounge bathroom is already hot shower.
– The hot water inside the lounge bathroom is not hot water, but an extremely hot shower.
– I really do not understand why it happen.

[esselle]

Arrived from Dubai and straight into the terminal for connection to Melbourne. Previously arriving from Dubai to connect I have been screened.

As far as I am concerned, when it comes to security screening randomness is a good thing.

[Iceman2013]

I agree with the initial post – had a delay In march landing gear was a problem – on the 787 to HKG from Doha – 2 hour lay over became 5 – was bored, luckily wifi was great so surfing kept my wits together

[bluemooner]

My daughters were travelling from Cape Town to Manchester last week and had a 8 hour layover.
There was a Vitality spa in the airport and £30 was the cost of using the facilities without treatments. They said they enjoyed a relaxing few hours.

[Cloud-9]

Slightly OT.

Travelled QR from HEL to AUH with a 23.5 hour transit layover in DOH.

I booked a hotel in town with the intention of getting a visa on arrival and doing a bit of sightseeing.

When checking in at HEL we were told our checked bags would need to go all the way to AUH! Leaving us with just our hand luggage: or asking AUH baggage chiefs if we could retrieve our bags.

We decided on the former and once in Doha did a bit of shopping for warm weather clothing.

It was pleasingly cathartic to leave an airport unencumbered by luggage.

Just hoping they make the AUH flight later today…!

[HighlandTraveller]

Does anyone know of any Doha hotels that operate 24 hour check in? I have a 20 hour layover (0500-0100) and I want to try to avoid paying for two nights hotel costs?

Any hotel recommendations welcome too

Many thanks

[Cloud-9]

Are you not entitled to the airport hotel by virtue of your QR flight (if indeed you are on QR)?

That hotel does operate on hours but is pretty expensive

[Iceman2013]

I thought the hotel would be “free” to QR passengers on long transit. Just my thoughts correct me if i am wrong.

[KSHaggag]

Hi Sang Fung,

There is nothing less inspiring than transitting DOH airport ! I wonder how many people sing praises of this horrible ,dark airport .It feels like a big jail .The QR lounge is as you correctly described SOULLESS and uncomfortable .The food offer is poor ( nothing to compare to the great former Premium Terminal at the old airport ) .What makes me laugh is that a lot of people keep repeating : The AWARD WINNING AIRPORT !!!! what awards ?? what for ?? who says that ??? !! Akbar Al Baker or his government ????!
QR is claiming to be a five star airline …ok ,i will go with the flow and believe it ,but if you have a five star product why on Earth would you discount it so heavily and sell on price ???? they are getting the business ( whenever they do ) from the competition just because they are undercutting the fares of CX,BA,LH,SQ ,etc…….
Sang Fung : look at other options within OW e.g. CX which offers THE BEST LOUNGES THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN …

[KSHaggag]

JamesBond007,

Concerning hot/boiling water ,this is a GENERAL issue across Qatar :not only at the airport but overall in most households .
The temperature there is so high that the pipelines get hot and unless a specific equipment /cooler is used to cool the pipes ,you get burnt every time you attempt to wash your hands ,let alone have a shower !
Who cares ??

[JohnHarper]

KSHaggag, you sum up DOH so well when you describe it as soulless and uncomfortable. The lounges are nothing spectacular and the food offerings are poor. They only seem exclusive because of the policy QR adopts to allowing only their own premium class passengers in. Once you’ve been in you know they are nothing special at all and if you are used to the lounge in LHR T4 then when you transit DOH you need to lower your expectations hugely.

Fortunatly I now have no reason to go there and I hope I never do again.

[Krsnp]

@HighlandTraveller: Upscale hotels in the GCC would normally allow guests to check in early if you let them know well in advance and they have plenty of available rooms upon your arrival. And even if they can’t, they will allow you to use their leisure facilities (e.g.: health club, pools, steam/sauna, relaxation lounge, etc.) while waiting. That said, 5 AM arrival would be way too early to ask for an early check-in, so I suggest you spend a few hours in the Business/First Class lounge and have a light breakfast and leave the airport by around 8 or 9 AM to have a bigger chance for an early check-in. I found Al Mourjan Lounge’s quiet area’s cubicles to be reasonably comfortable for a quick nap (remove the cushions and the sofa will be almost as big as a roll away bed).

@Iceman2013: AFAIK, QR does offer free accommodation (with flexible check-in/out timings) if you’re on a long transit (>8 hours?) and there are no shorter connections available. Pretty sure it would be a hotel in the city, and not the one at the airport, though. Stand to be corrected.

PS: I recently wrote about my 11-hour stopover in DOH (did it by choice as I had never been to Qatar before). Would definitely recommend taking a peek at the Museum of Islamic Arts (MIA) and Souq Waqif. You can read my post here: http://middleclasstraveller.weebly.com/blog/my-11-hours-in-doha-qatar

[Cloud-9]

@highlandtraveller
Try and take a free tour of Doha courtesy of QR..a nice way to while away a few hours. The best one IMHO is the evening (8pm?) departure as it is less hot.

[alainboy56]

@cloud 9 – i would not recommend that timing now, as its not only less hot, its pretty damn cold!

[Author]

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