[Anonymous]

[Gold-2K]

Can anyone tell what are the Qatar Lounge facilities at T4. Connecting through T4 this week en route to Doha. Hoping to get a shower and dinner before boarding but not sure what the lounge is like at Heathrow. Cant find any information on the airline website.

Any information appreciated. thanks

[BusinessTraveller]

Hi Gold-2K,

You may find the following forum string useful for this query. Qatar currently uses the Skyteam lounge at Heathrow, but has plans to open its own lounge at the terminal:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/discussion/topic/Qatar-Airways-move-to-T4

And here are more details on the Skyteam lounge:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/skyteam-to-open-t4-lounge

[BusinessTraveller]

Qatar Airways’ CEO Akbar Al Baker has now confirmed that the carrier’s Heathrow T4 lounge will open on January 23, 2012:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/qatar-airways-to-open-dedicated-lounge-at-heath

[DNAdams]

I will be using this new lounge on 25th January which is two days after the official opening on 23rd January 2012. If all goes well and it opens on schedule I will then be able give BT and update on the facilities etc soon after or during my visit.

[BusinessTraveller]

Qatar Airways has now released details of the new lounge, which is set to open this week.

Business Traveller will be attending a launch event this Thursday evening (January 26), but ahead of this images can be seen here:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/the-big-picture-qatar-airways-unveils-lounge-at

[DNAdams]

Can’t say I’m not disappointed as I was hoping that this new lounge would be open in time for my flight to DOH tomorrow.

[BusinessTraveller]

DNAdams – it may be worth you enquiring when you get to Heathrow just in case the lounge is having a soft opening ahead of the official launch on Thursday.

The press release from Qatar Airways says that the lounge will be opening “this week” but does not give a specific opening date for passengers.

[stevescoots]

I will be using it in a couple of weeks, looking foward to it!

[stevescoots]

I used the lounge a couple of weeks back, massive diffrence over the skyteam lounge. full table service, full flight call as well, they will come and find you at boarding time. food and drink was excellent. Only potential downsides i saw as not many toilets, possibilities of waiting. They have a full table eating area complete with full table service, but the tables in the lounge area are a wee bit small so if you prefer the relaxed seats with a plate of somethinga nd your laptop the grap 2 tables!

[Shanwick1249]

I too was in the new lounge a few weeks ago and it is, no question, a huge improvement over what QR had before. There are many nice touches – Bose speakers in the bathrooms and some fine decoration, but some of the basic design choices struck me as wrong.

In the main seating area pretty much all of the seats are in blocks of four over by the (floor-to-ceiling) windows. Even in the depths of winter with the sun shining in it was too hot and the glare from the sun makes it impossible to see computers or iPads or whatever.

All of the comfy seats are jammed in together and when the lounge fills up there is nowhere to sit with any privacy. You are also at the mercy of idiots shouting on their phones, with nowhere to escape to. There is a big area of floor space which has a lovely fountain and a few not-comfy chairs and some other seats around a TV but a VAST amount of space is given to dining tables and this seems wasted. There are even separate dining rooms at the back of the lounge (all empty), which stuck me as a very poor use of space indeed.

The drinks service (apart from one well hidden fridge with soft drinks) is waitered so you have to line up, ask for a drink, wait for it and do the same when you want another. There is not even a coffee machine that you can get to without asking someone to do it for you. This is a massive pain. QR has said it wants the lounge to feel like a club, but I think passengers just want a lounge where they can do their own thing at the time of their choosing.

There is a similar problem with the food. It is all arranged, prepared and served at one place, by one guy. This one chap does a good job of making everything just how you want it – but that all takes time and you end up standing there cursing the people in front of you while they make you wait for a sandwich. That’s not how it should be. Oh, and the selection of food is not great at all.

There are other stupid things like, why do you have to log in and provide ID details to use the wifi – why doesn’t it just work? And there are probably not enough toilets for when it gets really busy – why does every new lounge still make this mistake?.

So, the new QR lounge is miles ahead of the previous facility but still a disappointment for something that so much time and effort was spent on.

[donkeyasia]

Shanwick 1249. you were probably in the lounge in its first couple of weeks of operation in late January. From mid February it has improved enormously, in all respects to you observations.

[macaulay]

I agree with Shanwick.
On 6th March everything apart from the club look and nearness to the gate was rather dull.
The so called “top hotel staff” we’re not apparent.
The food (seafood salad mostly) and drink service slow and the eating area tables being used as a business centre by several people.
Sent a glass of wine back as corked or stale, which staff seemed unable to cope with.

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