This review is in two halves.

The first reflects the outstanding treatment we received on our journeys to Nepal and Myanmar.

The second is an added update, a copy of a letter that I am sending to Qatar Airways, and reflects our appalling experiences on three out of four legs of our March 2008 flight to Sri Lanka.

THE GOOD
I cannot believe that I am the first on Epinions to write a review of Quatar Airways, projected as the rising star of Middle East airlines. Perhaps it is that their New York to Europe route is only just about to go into operation, so maybe all those who live in the USA have never heard of them? We have flown with them a couple of times now, so I feel qualified to comment about their up and coming service. They have recently won accolades for their frequent flier program at the Freddie Awards, named after Sir Freddie Laker who died in February this year.


Though the colourful Sir Freddie is, alas, no more his spirit inspires the travel industry in the form of the Freddie Awards. Qatar Airways Privilege Club gained third place in the customer reward category “for its wealth of elite perks”.Tony and I have been lucky enough to have sampled some of these perks already. I think that the thing that impressed me most was the fact that on at least one leg of each journey, as members of Quatar Airways flight club, we have been upgraded to Business Class. This happened even on the return journey from our very first round trip to Nepal with this airline, which was very welcome and unexpected. According to customer comments, upgrades happen quite frequently. On our flight I believe that all Business Class passengers had been upgraded to First Class making for some very happy customers. It proved a very good marketing ploy as this is one of the reasons that I would definitely fly with them again.


Qatar Airways has a fleet of 47 all-Airbus aircraft currently flying to 70 destinations from its hub in Doha, capital of the State of Qatar. In March the airline launched daily flights between Doha and Hong Kong. Doha, an expanding airport, is still small by International standards. However, a new terminal with Business Class lounges and priority check in including the world’s only dedicated First and Business Class terminal has just been opened (December 2006). The $90 million facility will have a spa, Jacuzzi and restaurants, together with duty-free and exclusive check-in for premium passengers flying with Qatar Airways. At Doha there are signs of much building work in progress but the main terminal remained relatively calm, clean and well organised.


For a fare of 470 GBP per person ($908) we had return flights from London Heathrow to Yangon, via Doha, saving several hundreds of pounds when compared to rival airlines.


Quatar Airways boasts the newest fleet of aircraft but the most modern and updated versions with on board interactive entertainment systems seem to be used at present only on the main routes such as Heathrow to Doha but not on the onward flights to less popular destinations. New aircraft have award-winning Audio Video On Demand interactive entertainment systems featuring international new release films and TV, CD and radio channels.2007 will see the addition of several new routes, including flights to New York, Vietnam (HCMN) and Bali (all places we intend to visit or re-visit in the next few years).


Originally owned by members of the state’s royal family, the airline started operating in1994. In April 1997 a new management team headed by Akbar Al Baker (Chief Executive) re-launched the airline now owned by the government of Qatar (50%) and private investors (50%). The fleet was repainted for the 15th Asian Games which was hosted by Doha in December 2006. Their new Australian designed livery is burgundy and grey and their logo is an elegant Oryx (a type of antelope and the national emblem of Qatar).

As our first leg was an overnight flight in economy class, every passenger received a small, but handy, burgundy and grey overnight bag containing socks, earplugs, headphones toothbrush, toothpaste and a night mask. My sunglasses fitted inside rather well and I shall put it in my growing collection of useful items to take abroad, kept permanently packed and ready to go. In the washrooms I found cologne and body lotion which was great as at the time of flying Heathrow was operating restrictions on liquids taken on board.

Qatar airways also have an interesting flight magazine “Oryx” with an introduction by their high profile Chief Executive Officer. Again, the magazine features that famous antelope known as “Ollie”.

The burgundy and grey seating was comfortable and featured the 2/4/2 seating configuration that I prefer as I like a window seat and only have to inconvenience Tony in order to get out. I had ample room when in economy class but our upgrade to business class on the second leg meant sleeping in seats that lay fairly flat. I think that I spent more time playing with the rather speedy controls than anything else when awake. When asleep I was nicely reclined.

http://www.airlinequality.com/Product/qr-cabin-3.htm

The meals on board were good. For example, in economy class I ordered a cool Chardonnay to accompany a julienne of marinated chicken on a tomato and cucumber salad, fish curry with sauteed spinach, buttered carrots and coconut rice with mango mousse cake for dessert, followed by coffee and a chocolate. Hot and cold beverages were available. Wines, spirits and non alcoholic drinks were all provided free of charge.

Service was efficient and there were plenty of hot towels and refreshing wipes coming round at regular intervals. For sleeping there was a pillow and a soft burgundy blanket.
My only criticisms were that:
a) the small bins on the long flights seemed to get quickly clogged up with paper towels and tissues, so that even in business class the washrooms looked really messy and less than inviting
and
b) on the less frequented legs of our journey there were only small, general overhead TV screens and none of those individual ICE interactive seat back screens that I really like and which were available on the more popular legs of our journey.Don’t forget to take a book to read if you don’t like the film.


We did have a few problems regarding our Privilege Club miles for the return journeys, even though we were told that our numbers had already been entered in order for points to be added to our accounts. We now have to send in scanned copies of our tickets and boarding passes to get our accounts credited with our points—so don’t go throwing your old tickets and boarding passes into the bin as soon as you get home. Even though the mistake was not ours, we still have to provide the proof that we flew with them (I don’t know how else we would have got back on a return flight!) However, that is their system for rectifying the situation so it is well to be aware of it.


Overall, I thought that Qatar Airways gave very good value for money and I would definitely use them again. Service was good, but having flown with all the top airlines servicing the Far East, I think that they have some way to go before they start scooping prizes for best service and best aircraft although they did scoop some awards in this category. It is more a matter of style than anything else. Their emphasis is on practicality and efficiency rather than glamour and glitz, though I have to say that the stewards and stewardesses were all very helpful and pleasant.


I understand that their fleet will be completely upgraded by 2012 with new routes opening all the time. They have many new aircraft on order and hope to more than double their present number by 2015. If those missing points are credited to our account we will have already accumulated enough frequent flier miles to upgrade to Business Class on one leg of our next flight with them. I look forward to flying into the new Doha airport in the near future and using the improved airport lounges and facilities. As I said at the beginning of this review, Qatar Airways is very much a rising star. Watch this space.


Our missing points have now been added.




THE BAD AND THE UGLY

My letter to Qatar Airways Customer Complaints;

Dear Sir,

We have flown with Qatar Airways to Nepal and Myanmar and have received excellent service, so much so that I wrote a very complimentary review on your airline for Epinions, a consumer website.

It was without hesitation that we chose Qatar Airways for our flight to Sri Lanka. I was disappointed to find that our privilege points had been removed even though it only seemed like a short time since we last flew with you. As I said in my review, I was looking forward to upgrading one leg of our journey to business class so that I could review your new 5* terminal dedicated to First Class and Business Class travellers. Alas, that did not happen.

It was also very unfortunate that you chose to downgrade the Tier Level on our Privilege membership with spectacularly bad timing. Our downgraded membership cards arrived the day before departure.

The first leg of our flight was extremely full, demonstrating your success in marketing. However, a full economy class cabin puts your flight attendants under stress and it showed.

The in flight meal seemed to be served in two halves. Perhaps there was a problem with heating some of the meals? The passengers immediately in front of us were served but we were not. This meant that they had finished their meal quite a long time before we were served and reclined their chairs so that they could sleep.

Our meal was served late and we had no choice of the items described on your menu. We had to accept what was left. I asked the flight attendant to politely request if the passengers in front of us could raise their seats to the upright position so that we could eat in comfort. The flight attendant refused as she said that they were sleeping (in fact they were only resting). As a result, we had to eat our meals in an extremely cramped position. We are World Travellers and fly at least three times a year. This has NEVER happened to us on a flight before.

The second leg of our flight to Sri Lanka was no better. The flight attendants were clearly experiencing problems. They looked anxious and stressed.

As we had had only good experiences with you on previous flights I was prepared to write these two legs off as a bad experience not typical of Qatar Airways. However, the third leg of our flight was the worst that we have ever experienced and left us exhausted. Firstly, we stood for approximately an hour and a half in the queue for check in.

The representative for Qatar Airways who checked us in at Colombo Bandaranaike Airport, Sri Lanka made no eye contact with us, did not greet us or smile. In fact he was extremely surly. He curtly acknowledged the fact that we specifically asked NOT to be seated near the wing.

We hold Priority Pass cards which give us access to the executive lounges in most airports. As a result of the chaotic check in procedure we had very little time to relax, drink some much needed fruit juice and use the rest rooms before our flight boarded.

I was unable to finish my bottle of mineral water and was forced to discard it even though it had been purchased inside the airport. This is unusual as liquids purchased within the airport are generally permitted on board. We were so relieved when a cheerful check in attendant noticed that we were Privilege members and said she would upgrade us to Business Class. We did not expect to be upgraded but was such a lovely feeling when this happened and it would have gone a long way to mitigate the awful treatment that we had received so far. Imagine our surprise when her supervisor, an arrogant young man in his twenties, refused permission.

To add insult to injury, when we boarded, we saw that the Business Class cabin was virtually empty. To add even further insult, when we reached our allocated seats, we found ourselves seated right over the wing. Was this the surly member of the check-in staff’s idea of a joke?

We had a further four hours wait at Doha before our final flight to London. Fortunately our final flight was not crowded and we were finally greeted as Privilege Club members and given a choice of newspaper. I cannot fault this flight. It was so different to our earlier experiences and so much more like the flights and service that we had experienced when we first started flying with your airline.

In your current advertising campaign you describe yourself as a five star airline.This was definitely not our experience.

We are thinking of flying on holiday to South Africa this summer. Whether we fly with Qatar Airways ever again will depend very much on your response to this letter.







Recommended: No