The Achilles heel of the experience with Qatar Airways is the Doha Airport, especially for travellers arriving into Doha and not transiting. This airport suffers from being ambitiously big and the immigration into Qatar being overly time taking. At the end of my particular flight in which my travel was ending in Doha, the plane parked at a very remote terminal, from where it took me 30 minutes to arrive just at the immigration counter, with fast paced walking and the time on a train inside the airport. Then, at the immigration counter it takes up to a minute or more to process each tourist visitor,due to time taking face and finger scanning processes and langugage barriers if there are questions or information to be exchanged verbally with the officers. If several planes have landed at the same time, it is not unusual that one has to wait 45 to 60 minutes in the immigration queue. In short, the frustration of arriving at Doha takes away all positive vibe of the airline, as the airline and the airport are heavily intertwined and are marketed together.
10.0 ExcellentAnonymous, Apr 2025IST - DOH
The Achilles heel of the experience with Qatar Airways is the Doha Airport, especially for travellers arriving into Doha and not transiting. This airport suffers from being ambitiously big and the immigration into Qatar being overly time taking. At the end of my particular flight in which my travel was ending in Doha, the plane parked at a very remote terminal, from where it took me 30 minutes to arrive just at the immigration counter, with fast paced walking and the time on a train inside the airport. Then, at the immigration counter it takes up to a minute or more to process each tourist visitor,due to time taking face and finger scanning processes and langugage barriers if there are questions or information to be exchanged verbally with the officers. If several planes have landed at the same time, it is not unusual that one has to wait 45 to 60 minutes in the immigration queue. In short, the frustration of arriving at Doha takes away all positive vibe of the airline, as the airline and the airport are heavily intertwined and are marketed together.
All the crew members were too slow and rude. Most of the times the registers were empty, while hundreds of customers were waiting in line, and it was impossible to get a supervisor. Despite being in line on time, I missed my freight, plus a some customers who were ahead and behind me.
They didn't board by zones and it was a free for all. The 16 hour flight was the most excruciating experience of my life and the seats were TINY... with no leg space and my feet were swollen immediately. The food was so bad it was inedible.
Did not like anything. Seats were crammed, leg space was minimal and food was terrible. This was the first time traveling overseas in American Airlines and was the worst experience ever. Have learned a lesson to never travel in American Airlines.
Our male flight attendant was top notch - wish I could remember his name. Boarding is never fun when I have to ride the shuttle to the middle of the tarmac and pull my carry on bags up the stairs to my seat. My knees are banged up and my shoulders give me pain, so the flight started off poorly. The seat leg rests don’t recline completely so that makes is difficult if not dangerous to get in and out of the middle seats. The entertainment system touch screens prevented one from seeing the options. They are old and the software needs to be updated. I was on six planes in the last two weeks and able to see the flight progress without any stress. Couldn’t watch anything else. I do like Qatar Airways, just not a fan of a few things.
Qatar Airways in-flight first/business class service is superior to any US airline; excellent meals are served on short haul flights such as between DXB and DOH.
Moved seats, didn't accommodate requests to change seats even though other seats were available.
Fly Qatar Airways is always amazing. Their service and care for details is really very good.
As gold member there is no priority checkin. Meaning you either have to board with your zone or last with business class pax. As economy pax all the baggage bays are filled by the time you arrive
Flight was fine overall. What you would expect from economy seats. I did appreciate the amenities (eyemask, earplugs, small toothbrush and toothpaste, thin socks).
My experience was good overall, the quality of the food really decreased! There used to be a choice between meat and fish now it’s between chicken and pasta! In the choices of entertainment meditation has been added which is very good. Soft chair workout to improve blood circulation and avoid phlebitis should be added.
The only reason the overall rating wasn't "excellent" was due to problems in claiming luggage. The bags are delivered to the main area (Cinta 35) for domestic passengers, but to a DIFFERENT ROOM for international arrivees. After waiting 30 minutes, someone (who didn't appear to be from Air France or the airport) told us to go to another area. There we found our bags, which appeared to have been awaiting us for a while. We had to go through a bag check before leaving the airport. If we had been alerted to this possibility, or better yet, been to go directly to Cinta 34, we could have eliminated quite a bit of waiting.
Much better than the major US Carriers especially in Biz Class.
I wish that the meal included a vegetable or even a salad instead of couscous! Why serve chicken with rice AND couscous? Service was good overall though a bit lacking in friendliness. Usually on air france I've been offered a glass of champagne before dinner, wine with dinner, and a digestif after dinner. We were only offered wine this time!
It was not Air France but Air Europa. But confusion over our checked luggage. Whether it was checked all the way to Tenerife or not. It was not. Had to line up again in Departures. At least our Sky Priority was honoured. Flight was fine.
My wife and I had a row to ourselves after moving seats. There were no TVs and you had to buy food. So we did nothing but had a quick nap. Flight was fine.
The male attended that served are section was a snob. He did not answer my call light when my wine spilled all over the floor. I did not push it again or drew his attention to it. He just ignored the call light when he came to give us our meal, serving the people behind us first. I did not push it again or drew his attention to it to see his reaction. It was so obvious that he was ignoring us. We were in premium economy!
The plane was old Only 3 bathrooms available for economy The entertainment was old and the selection was poor
Georgian Airways check in staff initially denied us, because they thought passengers required transit visas to transfer on connecting flights. This required 70 minutes for them to call multiple people to confirm how transfers worked. They did not apologize once accepting our check in. Onboard, the four hour flight gave stale bread with spam slices as lunch. The only included drinks were still or sparkling water.
I did not get my baggage at my final destination..poor coordination with connecting flights with partner airlines (Saudi airways). Also the food was very mediocre.
