Qatar Airlines?

[FlowerProwler]

Has anyone flown with Qatar?

We're just pricing up flights for our trip next year, and currently Qatar is coming up cheaper than Qantas/Virgin/United.

Our other option is possibly Emirates, which is a little more expensive than Qatar, but still cheaper than the others.

 

[losfp]

I suppose if you don't mind going via Doha then it might be an option to save a few bucks.

But if you're in Perth, I think it's going to take forever to get anywhere anyway! Haven't flown Qatar, but I have flown Emirates a couple of times, and they've been great each time. Didn't mind them at all.

 

[LisaAJ]

I've never flown Qatar but they were recommended to me by a few friends. Apparently their seat pitch is good! We would have booked them but they wouldn't let us books all our flights on the one ticket. Given that we are travelling in winter, I wasn't taking the chance of being snowed in and having to make my own arrangements.

 

[FlowerProwler]

I suppose if you don't mind going via Doha then it might be an option to save a few bucks.

But if you're in Perth, I think it's going to take forever to get anywhere anyway! Haven't flown Qatar, but I have flown Emirates a couple of times, and they've been great each time. Didn't mind them at all.

Yeah thats the thing! We're going to have to connect in Melb/Syd if we fly with Qantas or Virgin anyway.

 

[zanzibar138]

Qatar and Emirates are both regularly in the top few airlines around the world. If they're cheaper than our airlines, which regularly come in a few places behind, I say go for it DH and I are looking for an opportunity to fly Qatar, but from Melbourne it's not such a viable option.

 

[JessL]

Qatar are fine as long as nothing goes wrong! We had a huge problem with them and the customer service was non-existent.

Despite providing them with correct dates of birth and passports, they booked my son as a child instead of an adult. We discovered the day before our flight when we tried to check in online. Of course it was a Friday night and no Qatar offices were open. I had to ring the head office in Doha who said the only options I had were to buy a whole new ticket (at that day's prices - substantially more than we'd paid for our existing adult tickets) or wait until Monday (two days AFTER our scheduled flight) when the Melbourne office was open. This was despite them agreeing that it was completely Qatar's error and in no way ours.

We ended up having to buy the new ticket, with no promise of refund even for the original ticket we paid for because "they couldn't make that promise - only the Melbourne office could".

It took multiple emails and phone calls and almost three weeks before we got our money back. It was only after I told them I was reporting them to IATA that I saw any action. There was no real apology and absolutely no compensation whatsoever.

The more I read about Qatar, the more it seems like this is typical of the way they handle problems.

Apart from that, the seats were comfortable and the food was as good as you get on a plane. The cabin staff were unfriendly and unhelpful, but I can live with that.

I would be very hard pushed to ever book with Qatar again.

 

[FlowerProwler]

Qatar are fine as long as nothing goes wrong! We had a huge problem with them and the customer service was non-existent.

Despite providing them with correct dates of birth and passports, they booked my son as a child instead of an adult. We discovered the day before our flight when we tried to check in online. Of course it was a Friday night and no Qatar offices were open. I had to ring the head office in Doha who said the only options I had were to buy a whole new ticket (at that day's prices - substantially more than we'd paid for our existing adult tickets) or wait until Monday (two days AFTER our scheduled flight) when the Melbourne office was open. This was despite them agreeing that it was completely Qatar's error and in no way ours.

We ended up having to buy the new ticket, with no promise of refund even for the original ticket we paid for because "they couldn't make that promise - only the Melbourne office could".

It took multiple emails and phone calls and almost three weeks before we got our money back. It was only after I told them I was reporting them to IATA that I saw any action. There was no real apology and absolutely no compensation whatsoever.

The more I read about Qatar, the more it seems like this is typical of the way they handle problems.

Apart from that, the seats were comfortable and the food was as good as you get on a plane. The cabin staff were unfriendly and unhelpful, but I can live with that.

I would be very hard pushed to ever book with Qatar again.

Oh good to know, its so hard to judge when some reviews are absolutely glowing and then some are horrific.

 

[welley]

We flew Qatar to Europe a couple of years ago. I could not fault them.

On our flight home from Rome, my DH took ill. We landed in Doha and DH got worse. He ended up in hospital. We ended up having to get on the flight the following day. They took our luggage of the original flight, took DH to the hospital and helped me get a visa and get my way to the hospital.

The airline could not accomodate us enough. They collected us from the hospital, and put us up in a beautiful hotel, picked us up the next night to take us to the airport then had VIP treatment getting through customs and getting onto the plane.

I personally would recommend them. I thought they were great. All airline have their ups and downs.

 

[FlowerProwler]

We flew Qatar to Europe a couple of years ago. I could not fault them.

On our flight home from Rome, my DH took ill. We landed in Doha and DH got worse. He ended up in hospital. We ended up having to get on the flight the following day. They took our luggage of the original flight, took DH to the hospital and helped me get a visa and get my way to the hospital.

The airline could not accomodate us enough. They collected us from the hospital, and put us up in a beautiful hotel, picked us up the next night to take us to the airport then had VIP treatment getting through customs and getting onto the plane.

I personally would recommend them. I thought they were great. All airline have their ups and downs.

Wow that is really amazing service!

I think its going to come down to the flight times and conveniences for us, Qatar and Emirates are only going to be about $50 different