Qatar Airways Reviews | Opinions of Qatar Airways shared by travelers

Please let me start by stating that historically, I have always been impressed with the overall level of service and amenities that Qatar Airways provides. This is the second year that I have used them to book my family winter holiday trip. We again booked the trip in Business/First class for the entire family of four. In December 2012, my family flew from DXB-DOH-PEK. This part of the journey was great, and the level of service met our expectations. On the return journey however, the trip became a frustrating disaster. One that I pray never happens again, and one that I hope no one else will ever have to endure.

We were scheduled to depart Beijing on flight QR899 to Doha at 01:30 on 25-Dec. We arrived at the airport on the 24th, checked in, and proceeded to the airport business class lounge. We went to the gate at the designated time, and boarded the flight. While in the lounge, my teenage son mentioned he had an upset stomach. We thought it might be related to something that he ate either at lunch, or during a Christmas party we had attended earlier that evening.

One of the flight attendants noticed my son holding the airsickness bag (he never once tried to use it), and asked my wife what was wrong. She explained his stomach was upset, and that we thought it was something he might have recently eaten. At this point, most of the flight staff went crazy. They took his blood pressure and temperature (both registered normal), and asked over the intercom if there was a doctor on the plane. There was, he came up, and stated it could be food poisoning. At the same time, I was told by the cabin crew that captain had contacted a medical doctor in the United States, and that based on his assessment, our entire family needed to be offloaded from the aircraft. We spoke directly with the captain, stating that it was probably something our son ate, and confirmed that his blood pressure was normal and he had no fever. The captain blamed the decision on the US doctor, and we were forced to deplane. Merry Christmas to us!

We were offloaded from the plane, asked to provide our boarding passes, and told to wait in the boarding area. We stood here for about 20 minutes with nobody talking to us. We could see out the window that our luggage was being offloaded from the aircraft. Afterwards, we were accompanied by 7 individuals as we were escorted through the airport. I asked what would happen, and was told we would have to rebook our flight for another day, and that we would need to collect our luggage and leave the airport (into the -15c cold). I asked how we could do this since my family and I were visiting China on single entry tourist visas, and we had already passed immigration. I was told not to worry about that. We handed over our passports a couple of different times, and immigration officers took care of everything. By the time we made it to our luggage (over an hour after we deplaned), one of our checked pieces of luggage had the handle ripped off. I expressed my frustration about this, and was told if we wanted, they could take us to the lost and found area where we could pick out a replacement piece of luggage. At this point, it was nearly 03:00 and my family was tired, and our 7 person entourage had reduced to one.

I asked where I was supposed to stay, and how I was to rebook my tickets since we were wrongfully ejected from the flight. We were dropped off at a desk, and told that we could book a hotel through the airport service, and given 4 telephone numbers to try to rebook the flight. At this point, our remaining Qatar Airways person left us alone to fend for ourselves. Since we were allegedly kicked off the plane for having a sick child (who had no fever, and had been looked at by a Chinese doctor on the plane who agreed he wasn’t sick), why did Qatar Airways not try to assist us in getting medical attention for our child? Why did they not do more to help us find accommodations? Why did they not assist in getting tickets rebooked?

Anyway, we made it to our hotel at about 03:30. At 09:00, I attempted to contact the following numbers I was given (+861059235100, 112, 113, 115) to rebook the flight (again, since my son wasn’t sick), but could not get anyone to answer the phone. I thought it was fortunate that people worked on Christmas Day, but it’s only fortunate when they actually answer the call. I then called the Dubai contact number on the Qatar Airways information I had brought (+97142292229). I was told the Dubai/Oman call center could not do anything for me, and was give two other numbers to try on two separate occasions (+861064598041, +862038143000). Again, I could not get anyone to answer the phone. I called back to the Dubai number. They said they would try to contact the China numbers. Evidently, they couldn’t get through. They said they would try to help me. In the meantime, I continued to try to call the many China telephone numbers I was given. After spending hours trying to get someone to rebook my family’s flight, I finally was able at 13:15 to get someone in China to answer the phone, and between the two offices, was able to get the departure rebooked.

While I was told that they could book me on the same class of tickets, I was also informed I would need to pay re-ticketing fees of AED 2630 (USD 717). This is in addition to the amount I had to pay for the hotel. Further, I it was explained that I would not arrive until 19:10 on 26-Dec. My family could travel on the DOH-DXB flight leaving at 08:00 and arriving at 10:10, but we would have to pay extra for the economy class seats with the total charge being nearly AED 5000 (USD 1362). I was shocked the airline would want us to pay that much extra for economy, since our original booking had us in first class. I understand paying for an upgrade, but not a downgrade in class.

At any rate, we went with the later flight in the same class of service. We arrived once again at the Beijing airport on 25-Dec where we spent 12 hours of our Christmas Day. We finally boarded QR899 at around 01:00 on 26-Dec, and arrived in DOH where we spent nearly 13 hours in the airport lounge before finally making it back home to Dubai later that evening.

The return trip on Qatar Airways was a disaster. Honestly, I don’t know why I or anyone should ever fly this airline again. I travel quite a bit for business, and have never experienced the low levels of customer care like those just experienced with Qatar Airways on the PEK-DOH-DXB trip. My family and I were wrongfully ejected from the plane. When requesting an explanation and making an appeal to the captain, he was told he had to follow the decision of the US doctor who was thousands of miles away, had never examined my son, and whose blood pressure and body temperature readings were ‘normal’ per the test conducted by the flight crew. Additionally, Qatar Airways staff never tried to help us seek medical care (If this had been a real and legitimate medical situation, I’m concerned it would have been handled in the same poor manner). We were never assisted with finding a place to stay, or with rebooking our tickets. In the US, if a sick traveler is turned away, federal regulations stipulate that the carrier permit the passenger to travel later – up to 90 days after the original illness, at the original fare. Instead, I had to pay extra for being wrongfully ejected from the aircraft.

I respectfully request that Qatar Airways put in place more formal procedures for determining when to eject passengers for illness. Additionally, procedures and training need to be put in place for Qatar ground staff on how to handle the situation, including assisting with finding medical care, accommodations and ticket rebooking. If telephone numbers are to be provided, it should be one number, not seven. It also shouldn’t take 4 hours to get Qatar personnel to answer the calls. If procedures already exist, then employees need to be re-trained. Finally, like in other world areas, there should be no penalty fees for re-ticketing. If Qatar Airways really wants to be perceived as a 5-Star airline, these issues need to be immediately addressed.

i've so many things to complain and i dont know where to start, but i'll to write it as simple as possible.

1. Priority boarding when you travel with young children is bullshit in Doha
As written in this link: http://www.qatarairways.com/qa/en/travelling-with-children.page passengers travelling with young children or infant get the priority boarding. But what I experienced in Doha is far from that.
On June 24, I travelled from Doha to Jakarta with my 1,5 old baby. I didn’t ask for a priority boarding because on 25 Sept, 2011 (Doha-Jakarta trip), I asked for a priority boarding since I was carrying a sleeping infant, but the crew looked at me as if I was an irritating client who asked for a huge favor. she then asked other passengers if they didn’t mind.

Not wanting the same thing to be happened, that time I chose to queue. The female crew which was on duty noticed my presence but didn’t offer me a priority…She, instead gave a priority to an Arabian family (a father, a mother, and 3 kids age 10, 6 and 3) saying “we have a family here, let them pass…let them pass!”. I looked at her, puzzled. How could she only gave the priority to that family, and ignore a mother (without the husband) travelling alone, carrying a 1,5 yr old baby and a big backpack? (My journey lasted 23 hours in total so I had lots of diapers, baby clothes, baby foods and some toys in my backpack). Is it because I’m not an Arabian? From my experience being 4 times in Doha, I noticed the Qatar ground crews were nicer and more friendly to Arabian passengers.

On August 29 (QR 81), I flew from Doha to Rome, and this time I was with my husband. When it was time for boarding, my baby was crying because he wanted to have some breast milk. My husband asked the crew if we could have the priority boarding so we could get into the plane immediately to breastfeed my baby. Guess what…he didn’t allow us to! He said we should get a line just like others. Frankly speaking, I really wanted to punch him on the face for his refusal. I ALWAYS got the priority boarding EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD, but in Doha! So there we were…my husband did the queue for about 30 minutes and I did my best to calm my crying baby.

Bassinet seat problem
On August 28, we departed from Jakarta to Rome (QR 673) and we had a seat issue for Doha-Rome trip. The ground crew in Jakarta told me he couldn’t give me the bassinet seat for the Doha-Rome trip using the computer system in Jakarta. But later in Doha, I could ask the ground crew to get my seat changed. Soon after we arrived in Doha, I went to the information center and they told me to get my seat changed on my gate. Since the gate was closed, we waited for about half an hour and when it opened (for another flight, not for ours) we asked them to change our seat but they said they couldn’t do that since the flight was full. However, they said we could go to the transfer desk and ask them to change the seat.
Not wanting to give up, we went to the transfer desk. It was so full of people, and after 40 minutes standing in the line, we finally got our turn. The lady who was working on the extreme right desk that night (it was past midnight, and I feel so stupid for not remembering her name) told us there was nothing she could do since the flight was full. It was unbelievable… That lady was a big fat liar, I should write down our conversation to make it clear how bad the Qatar Airways ground crew in Doha.
Me: But how come you didn’t give me the bassinet seat though it was requested months before?
The big fat liar: because this flight is full, mam
Me: full with what? With adults? Or with infants?
The big fat liar: the bassinet seats are full with infants, mam (bullshit #1)
Me: ah ok, (I felt somewhat upset)
The big fat liar: But the seat you have now is also a bassinet seat, mam (bullshit #2)
Me: Really? But my seat is seat #43, the bassinet seats are in #10
The big fat liar: we also have bassinet seats in the back part of the plane…(bullshit #3) and that is yours, mam
Me: (overwhelmed) thank you so much.

When we got in the plane, we found out the seat #43 is a regular seat. I asked one of the cabin crews if I could move to the bassinet seat. I also told her if the bassinet seats were all occupied with infants then it was not a problem, but if there were adults sitting there, then the seat should be mine.
To make the long story short, several cabin crews were involved, trying to convince us to stay where we were because there was nothing they could do, but how could we sit in a regular seat with an infant on our lap? For a 6 hours flight??? We could barely move! And what the use of requesting bassinet seat months before?? I was so pissed off! That was the worst flying experience ever!

I got fooled by a big-fat-liar-ground-crew after doing a 40 minutes queue, then I got refused for a priority boarding so I had to queue for another 30 minutes with a crying infant, and in the end, i didnt get my bassinet seat and the cabin crew didn’t do anything to help. So I told them to just fu*k off because I was sick of them. It worked! After seeing me mad, a cabin crew named Mr.Ashroush (I suppose he was the head of the cabin crew) tried to calm me down and asked the passengers who were sitting in the bassinet seats to switch place. They were unhappy, of course, but we thanked them anyway.
And surprise…surprise…..all the bassinet seats (there are 4 bassinets in total) were occupied with ADULTS! My baby was the only infant on board, yet they gave the bassinet seats to adults instead. Requesting the seat was useless, asking them to change the seat politely was useless, you have to show them your anger in order to be respected, what a shame!

I also have other things to complain, but i'll write again next time.

Qatar is the first middle eastern airline I have travelled and we flew from MEL to LHR via DOHA which was because the flight to CDG was cancelled. On the return we flew ATH to MEL via DOHA. On every sector the service left a lot to be desired. Between meals you press the call button and ask for a drink and the response is to help yourself to whats in the crew galley. About 20 people at all times congregate in the galley going through the trolleys for drinks and snacks. looking at sandwiches that were unlabled and passengers opening up the cling wrap and looking in side dirty fingers and all to decide it really wasn't what they want to then re wrap and put back into the trolley for the next person. Furthermore every sector was at 100 per cent capacity and the seats recline so much that your nose is in the persons hair in front of you. In comparison other airlines really do offer a better product.

I recently flew Business Class with Qatar Airways from London Heathrow to Chennai via Doha on QR18 and QR276 on Sunday 1st April for a business trip to visit a major supplier.

Upon arrival in Chennai I reported to the only member of Qatar staff about that my suitcase had not arrived, he promptly in Indian (not English) passed my baggage receipt onto the Chennai airport crew to deal with my missing bag. There was no apology from him or the staff acting on your behalf. This is purely unacceptable.
Given it was 3:30am and I had been awake now for nearly 20 hours it was frustrating as was the fact by the time this was all sorted it was 05:30am before we were able to leave the airport.

Upon filling in all the paperwork, I was informed that I had to call the baggage desk when it opened at 09:30am local time, So I called and was told my bag had been found, which was good news, but still no apology. I was told by the lady that my bag would be delivered first thing in the morning to my hotel. Why could you not have called me to tell me you have located my bags?
This morning came and no contact from Qatar. This means I am now day 4 in the same set of clothes that I left the UK in. Luckily upon arrival here on Monday the hotel did a great job in turning my laundry around in a few hours and are doing the same as I type this .

I called the baggage office again, who advised they tried to call me on the number I had left, well they had not because I had given my uk number as contact and my phone was on all night with no attempt made. Again still no apology or compensation offer from Qatar. I was then told my luggage would be cleared and sent this morning local time and they would call my mobile to let me know so I could meet the delivery at the hotel.
Following this call, I attempted to make a complaint through the local Qatar office here in chennai but was told the number I had called was for sales and could not help me, again no apology. I was then given two other numbers here in Chennai to try and both failed to connect.

No call came from the baggage team, so again I called the baggage desk around 12:00pm local time and was told its only now going for clearance through customs, again no apologies for the delay just an excuse that they had a lot of bags to clear.

I then decided to call the uk for some help and spoke to another agent, who advised that as this happened outside of the UK I need to talk to the local offices well as I have pointed out, tried that and they failed. She however able to give a customer relations email address.

Email sent to this address only for them to them (Customer Relations) to pass the buck to the team at Heathrow.....and what do you know, still no response from them either.

So now its 48 hours since I landed in India, Myself, The hotel and my travel agent have spoken to close to half a dozen employees of Qatar, and received not a single sorry or offer of compensation. Now as a Business class passenger and a Star Alliance Silver member this is completely unacceptable. At this stage I have no idea on what time my bag will be delivered today, if at all and frankly your five star service is not looking good at present.