[David]

Well, I’ll find out what it’s like myself in just over a week. I managed to get the lunchtime flight in both directions so the timings are very convenient. It will also be more or less straight from one plane to the next in Doha so I doubt I’ll use the lounge there. The Qatar Biz lounge at Cardiff was pretty basic so won’t expect too much thiugh it would be nice if it wasn’t too busy. Qatar usually excellent on board.

Bottom line, at about £1000 cheaper than Heathrow I’m happy with the option.

[AlanOrton1]

If you do get the opportunity, the main J lounge at DOH is very good.
In the manage your booking section of the website it will let you know which ones are open to you.
That said if you have a tight connection I hope all works out as on my recent trip, 3 out of 4 were bus transfers. Separate bus for J pax, which does speed things up a bit plus there is a J lane for the x ray check in the terminal.

They were excellent onboard – top notch service, food, wine and AVOD.

Enjoy your trip!

1 user thanked author for this post.

David

[David]

Thanks. Yes, I’m expecting a bus transfer on the outward flight. They seem to do them a lot with Dreamliners. I have just over 2 hours to connect in each direction which is comfortable enough BUT I am very slow indeed getting through airports as I have some mobility issues. I’d rather make my way slowly to the next gate than go to a lounge for a rushed snack and then going on to the gate. I can’t see anything about lounges in Manage my Booking.

[stevescoots]

using it myself with QR on the 15th, BHX-DOH-SIN. having used BHX many times i know what to expect but pretty sure this is the first time on QR ex BHX since before Covid

[David]

I’m sat in the Clubroom Lounge and have started a full review of my journey for another forum so I thought I’d post my impressions of Birmingham here:

Qatar Airways BHX-BKK November 2023

Although it’s 25 miles closer to me than Heathrow this was the first time I’d flown from Birmingham.

Taxi arrived 7.20am but with Monday morning traffic and lots of roadworks it was a very stop start journey. It took three and a half hours to get to the airport including a short comfort break.

I went to get a trolley to find you have to pay! Not clear exactly how it works as its card only. Anyway, I just continued without one.

There’s construction going on at the terminal and it wasn’t at all clear where I was meant to go. It looks as if construction is badly needed as the terminal looks old, shabby and is quite shambolic.. I went in through a door marked Arrivals and then I could see signs to departures. I think the outside route is blocked by the construction. The sign outside says Qatar used check in area D but when I got further down the electronic board said C.

Check in was open and fairly quiet. Swissport operate it on behalf of Qatar and the member of staff was rather brusque and gave the impression she had better things to do.

To get to security I had to go back towards arrivals and then upstairs. Airport staff at the entrance were disinterested and unhelpful. The security staff were without doubt the rudest I’ve come across in a very long time. People kept waiting around, staff going off to do other things and leaving belongings in a real mess when they searched bags. Despite it being fairly quiet it probably took about 25 minutes because of the staff.

It’s not a big airport so it didn’t take me long to get to the lounge. Qatar use Clubroom which is a lounge that any passenger can walk in and pay to use. It was fairly busy but no problem finding a seat. Later on it did get pretty full.

There’s water, juice etc available and pastries. Tea, coffee and the bar items are ordered from the staff and they bring it to your table. Food is ordered from a menu and brought to the table.

The staff were good and lunch was ok.

I’m hoping boarding will be smooth and the flight good but not the best start to the journey tbh.

[Author]

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