The staff was great and probably that's the single most thing that distinguished this particular Qatar flight from my average typical experience. They genuinely wanted to please you and do their best.
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.
I was unable to pre purchase sear upgrades or internet. Their online site is not user friendly and poor. I felt singled out in customs. Seats are very small even for a small person.
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.
I was denied lounge facility at airport. Explanation was not satisfactory.
My experience with Qatar airway was very unsatisfactory. They lost my child’s stroller and I was told they found it and will send it to the hotel which was a lie. I had to go back to the airport baggage claim and pick up myself after trying to contact them many times!. There was a lack professional and communication. I am very disappointed in Qatar airway and will not be recommending them to friends and family nor will I be flying with them in the future.
riding in first class, you don't expect every time you order your dinner or breakfast that the first thing the stewardess says is Let me see if we have any left. Also, the food selection was not great: 3 of 4 entrees had mushrooms and I dont eat mushrooms, the 4th item was 'let me see if we have any left' and this was within 30 mins of entering the flight! Same experience level, it didn't feel first class this round.
Moved seats, didn't accommodate requests to change seats even though other seats were available.
The rows of seats in economy class are seriously close to one another making eating and resting just about impossible - there is hardly any legroom. Anyone larger than average size would have an incredibly uncomfortable flight. I had to basically share my seat with the lady passenger next to me as she was too big to fit into her allotted seat.
Staff was very friendly. There is no on board entertainment, but it’s such a short flight that it doesn’t matter. We also got a meal which was nice and unexpected due to the length of the flight.
