[KSHaggag]

The impact of the LHR/DOH route is just minimal ;the big lot is the transatlantic where BA is reluctant to let QR in .I have not seen real OW synergies being leveraged btw BA and QR since the latter adhered to OW .Let alone with any other carrier ;the only exception being AA for which things are seen differently since the Middle East and Europe are not their core business .How much incremental business has BA got from QR since they joined OW ?is QR feeding the BA european routes via LHR ? I doubt .
I understand joining an alliance is a matter of benefiting and bringing benefits to others otherwise why would existing members honor a new entrant ?
How much revenue has BA cashed in from QR being a OW fellow member ?I expect that BA were not forced to accept QR in OW .

[KSHaggag]

Hi AleRomUY ,

If you are Platinum and flying Eco with QR you will still be denied access to their AlMourjan ;so it is not a matter of honoring and acknowledging your loyalty ;a passenger flying biz class once a year on QR will be allowed while you Platinum Gentleman flying a dozen times a year ,the one time you will fly Economy will not grant you the access still and you will be diverted to that collective lounge .
As stated before ,I would have been really concerned and sad to miss a lounge like CX The Wing or other but not the Al Mourjan .

[nigelbrinklow]

I said that the frequent flier lounge ran out of everything for 6 hours. Not the Al Mourjan lounge.
Surely the point of a OW alliance is that as a card holder (gold, silver, platinum or whatever) you can expect a certain level of service. My experience as a OW cardholder was that I feel I was treated poorly by Qatar in comparison with other OW member airlines. That’s fine. Now I know, I’ll just avoid them.

[NTarrant]

KSHaggag – what is it that you seem to dislike about QR? I can understand you been aggreaved at not being allowed in the Al Mourjan lounge when travelling in Y as a gold/silver OW, but as SimonS1 has pointed out on at least two occasions the Al Mourjan lounge is for those travelling F and J.

For me I wouldn’t say they are five star, but the level of on board service is exceptionally good. They are not always cheapest. HIA is massive and some long walks, but it is obvious they have built it for growth and the signage is not that good.

As for the Al Mourjan lounge, I find it relaxing and the left side as you come up the escalator is bright as is the sandwich bar area and a view is available down to the main concourse. I would agree the right side is a little dark. Certainly the food is good and the staff pleasant, in my experience. I visited the Pier in HKG last month, but I can’t say I was that overwhelmed by the decor, but the service made up for it.

[TheRealBabushka]

+1 nigelbrinklow

Talk is cheap. Vote with your feet 🙂

[Wolfman]

Interesting posts all with the same tone regarding HIA and the Qatar Lounges. AleRom above I totally agree with your sentiment re the ‘yellow taggers’ sums the whole QR operation up at HIA that they have to treat customers like school trips. Anyway, I am flying QR to Madrid tomorrow evening so will report back on my latest ‘Lounge Experiences’ as soon as I return. There is no way in creation I am going back to that new OW lounge think I may suffer the Oryx Lounge or may even just go to the gate and contemplate my navel………………..

[AleRomUY]

Dear Wolfman, all the best tomorrow!
I look forward to reading your comments.

[NTarrant]

The different colour tags have been around before HIA opened. Enjoy your trip Wolfman. Perhaps you could try all the lounges, as far as possible!

[Wolfman]

Thanks Guys/Girls

NT – well i know 1 that i will not be allowed into and 1 i will never darken its doors again but, yes, that could be a good 90 minute game – try the lounges at HIA. Also being relatively new to Doha I only went through the old airport about 4 times and to be honest it was such a heaving mass of humanity I never spotted any yellow tags.

Finally from me for a few days – can we now discuss how I can QR from EDI to PER transiting DOH for about £150/200 LESS than a direct EDI-DOH QR flight. Those helping Qatar develop and build their country are getting well penalised when they terminate in DOH. Someone suggested booking a second and through leg, just taking hand luggage on and bailing at DOH but I am not sure that would be acceptable practice.

[NTarrant]

Wolfman – you could try booking through to say Bahrain or Doha but arrange the dates so that you use the DOH-BAH/DXB as a weekend away.

[Carajillo2Sugar]

NTarrant/Wolfman –

You cannot use a ticket out of sequence. When you ‘no-show’ on the DOH-BAH (and/or BAH-DOH) sectors, the QR reservations system will automatically cancel your DOH-EDI booking, leaving you with the problem of getting home!

Even if you cancel the ‘unwanted’ sectors before you are due to fly them, QR will almost certainly re-assess the cost of your ticket for the journey actually being flown and insist you pay the difference before being allowed to fly the DOH-EDI sector.

Forewarned is forearmed……

[NTarrant]

Carajillo2sugar – I was not suggesting Wolfman uses any tickets out of sequence for the very reasons you say, or indeed not use them.

What I was suggesting was if the fare EDI to BAH via DOH including a stopover was much cheaper than EDI – DOH then use the DOH-BAH for a weekend trip.

Example: Wolfman flies EDI-DOH 05 Sep, the on 01 Oct flies DOH-BAH and returns to DOH on 03 Oct then flies to EDI on 30 Oct.

Might not work out cheaper but worth looking at, if you want a weekend in BAH

[AMcWhirter]

Wolfman –

Why does QR charge less for EDI-DOH-PER than it does for EDI-DOH ?

Often a hub airline will charge less for a beyond destination than it does to its hub alone. It’s all to do with matching market prices and building market share. Price comparisons vary depending on where the ticket is purchased, the route, class of travel, dates of travel and so on.

For example, some business class tickets routed DXB -LHR-JFK will undercut the LHR-JFK price.

[Carajillo2Sugar]

NTarrant – ah, now that may work!

That said, they only appear to allow a stop-over in DOH either on the way out or on the way in (so, not both). It may, therefore, have to be something like:

EDI-DOH
stopover
DOH-BAH
stopover
BAH-DOH-EDI on connecting flights.

It seems QR are determined to protect their margins on Doha traffic!

[SimonS1]

Indeed Alex. Same reason that many people travelling on BA are using ‘ex-EU’ flights these days.

Tickets are substantially cheaper if you start ex-Oslo, Dublin, Amsterdam etc etc. AnthonyDunn put a good example on here the other day of a business class return to HK for a grand if you start in Germany. Major savings even with positioning flights (although it doesn’t do much for climate change).

Plenty of stories of people ditching the last leg as well and jumping off in London. Despite all the comment I have never yet seen an example of a ticket being repriced as a result.

[Author]

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