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.
Qatar Airways did a very good job. Flights were slightly delayed with boarding but pilots made up time by arrival. The food was OK, no better or worse than other airlines. Although it would be nice to have three meals during 16 hours flight instead of two.
I was denied lounge facility at airport. Explanation was not satisfactory.
Seating is terrible, having seats so crammed is unacceptable for a 15-hour journey. I cannot stress enough how uncomfortable it is to sit in such an aircraft. Leg space is roomier in a domestic aircraft. I have not experienced this kind of crammy seating in domestic flights either in the US or other international airlines overseas.
There was frequent beverage ,meal and snack service. The crew was very hospitable and professional.
Doha airport is huge , takes long time to reach gate .
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.
My carry on bag was taken by Alaska Air as we boarded in LAX! She said there was not room. There was plenty of room. I told her that my meds and personal items were in it. She did not care. She said it would be sent to my final destination, Nairobi. Well it got to Nairobi the day I was to fly home. The handle of my bag was crushed so could not retract. So I had to remove it. I had to buy converters, malaria medication. personal items. I filled out the missing form at the Nairobi airport. I asked that it be shipped to the Kisumu airport. When it was obviously not going to make it for my time in Kenya. I asked that it be sent to John Wayne Airport. NONE of that happened. I only knew it was at Nairobi because my air tag indicated it was finally in Nairobi the day I was leaving Kenya! Now I need to purchase a new carry on bag!!!
Flight was fine overall. What you would expect from economy seats. I did appreciate the amenities (eyemask, earplugs, small toothbrush and toothpaste, thin socks).
Food was good, attendants were friendly. Seats were not comfortable. Did not receive any amenities such as eyemask or earplugs that would have helped sleep. Additionally a large group of passengers boarded very late into boarding and were a disruption for almost the whole flight. Flight attendants did their best but the kids were making so much noise, kicking seats, and half the time no adult was sat with them so they weren’t being managed.
The flight was delayed by an hour. Made the connection uncomfortably tight.
When we went to the lounge they told us to go into the main lounge and not the full business class section, later they told me that Lufthansa wont pay the full fee to alloq the business class passengers entry to the nicer sectikn where all the other airlines nusiness class passengers go into. Very poor arrangement.
I got an email in the morning of the flight 1/7, from Kayak, that I was rebooked from UA 906 to LH 430. Nobody at Lufthansa ot United knew about this. I went to both counters. at the airport. Also, Cheap Flights, who I booked the ticket through, did not know. I ended up staying on the United flight. But this was very disturbing, since I got a very late notice that I was rebooked to an earlier flight, I hurried to the airport to find out after a lot of inquiring that this was a mistake. Not a good Kayak experience.
The boarding process was really slow. The air crew was amazing and the food options and the entertainment were also really great.
Not what I expected for the last leg of a $5100 business class experience. Boarding was a nightmare. The flight was delayed and I had to keep checking my email to ensure I was at the right gate since the airline or the terminal had no clue until 15 mins prior to boarding. Food was gross, limited drink options.
Flights scheduled with impossible connections - Lufthansa apparently believes it takes 7mins to change terminals, go through passport control, re-clear security and walk 1.8kms…..and everything will work perfectly (which it never does at Frankfurt). No staff on hand to assist with transfers on delayed flights. No transfer guidance provided by app. No compensation offered for 6hr delay to connecting flight.
This was the best carrier, comfort, service, good food, on time experience on a long haul flight. New, clean, quiet, smooth aircraft!!!
They offered water and chocolate I would have preferred a sandwich.
Crew were friendly and very helpful Plane was clean and the legroom is standard. Overall a good flight, no complaints.
Other than the delay of flight, this crew tried to make the best of bad situation.
