Qatar Airways

I flew economy Melb to Doha, Doha to Vienna then Heathrow to Doha then to Sydney in April 2018. I highly recommend this carrier. It was my first long haul flight and I wasn’t sure what to expect but I am the queen of domestic flights. I was dreading these flights thinking that it would be a similar experience but I was wrong. I enjoyed all four trips! The staff were fabulous and couldn’t help me enough. They were polite even though I pestered them a little due to lack of knowledge. I had plenty of seat room, the food was good, the entertainment was really good – plenty to watch and play, and I was comfortable the whole trip. None of the trips were heavily booked so I had at least a single seat free next to me on each trip. I enjoyed it so much that I have booked four more trips this coming April. The trip from Doha to Austria was in an older plane and I admit i was concerned about that but again, the food, the service, comfort was all as it was in the 380 i travelled on the previous flight. After speaking with many people who favoured other airlines, one in particular, I think I fared better than they did.

On 14 and 16 December 2018, Qatar Airways (QR) acted in breach of its representations and failed to deliver the product purchased by its consumer. I just completed business class flights QR817 and QR816 between Hong Kong and Doha. I booked Qsuite for both flights. My booking was confirmed by QR’s ticketing office and QR’s online seating plan gave the same indication. However, I eventually was “downgraded” and got a normal business class seat without adequate prior notice. QR claims to have the world’s best business class but my experience does not support that claim. The company engages in a practice of changing planes at last minute. It takes consumers’ money and delivers an inferior product. This happened to me on repeated occasions on 14 and 16 December 2018. I paid around US$5,300 to book Qsuite for both flights but got a 2-2-2 configuration business class seat with less privacy, less space and different seat structure. On both instances, QR unilaterally changed the plane without adequate prior notice. On 14 Dec, I was informed of the plane change at the check-in counter with no apologies. On 16 Dec, I only found out when I boarded the plane. As a result, the menu was inaccurate and some food items on the menu were not available. There were complaints from numerous passengers in the cabin. This practice of switching products at last minute is highly inappropriate, unprofessional and not acceptable. If QR had to change planes, they should have changed to a plane with seats that are identical to the one being replaced (i.e. Qsuite to Qsuite). Advertising a particular type of seat to the public, taking customers’ money and then failing to deliver what was on offer without adequate notice seriously violate customers’ rights and interests. This should not be the experience from an airline that received the 2018 Skytrax Award for the World’s Best Business Class. I did not get the “best business class” experience on both flights. The money I spent should not be subject to the airline’s sole discretion to change products. Consumers should be given proper notice of any such change and been given an opportunity to decide whether to proceed with the flight. QR’s behavior leaves passengers with no choice but to board the plane they allocate at last minute. This is outrageous and appalling. I have not experienced this with any other airlines. While my intended first Qsuite experience, together with my money, was taken away by QR, I think readers of this post and any future passengers of QR should be aware of these incidents and QR’s repeated failure to deliver the products it offered through its website and staff. The simple rule is that consumers should get the product they paid for. If QR is not able to recognise and follow this basic rule, consumers should be aware of that and make an informed choice as to whether to take the airline again.

It’s a very nice airline. It is the best airline I have flown yet.

I had yet another bland special meal of chicken served on board your flight QR202 on the 21 October 2018 from Budapest to Doha. On this flight the Chicken was dry and contained 2 small bones. The iceberg lettuce was old with brown color already appearing around the edges. Luckily, I found the small bones but it could have caused major problems for another person as they were small enough to lodge in a person’s throat. So I raised this to the attention of the airline when I returned home. Four emails later responding to standard well worded emails from Qatar (including a photo of the bones and brown lettuce) and an offer of a hollow goodwill gesture of joining the Privilege Club – already free to anyone, nothing has been resolved. Disappointingly, this airline DOES NOT consider customer service or customer complaints a high priority and clearly does not see small chicken bones in chicken of any concern at all. Also low fat meals consists of steamed chicken every meal which you also need to ask the cabin staff for !. There are other airlines to choose from. A premium airline has a lot to be desired. .

Don’t be fooled by thinking that buying an upgrade at the airport is going to be much cheaper. The cost is only slightly less than purchasing a business class ticket from the start. An upgrade at the airport only upgrades part of the route, not the whole route to your final destination. Also exchange rates affect the cost. Sitting towards the back of the business class area, there was a crying infant in the economy section directly behind me. Qatar should not allow passengers with infants to occupy the front seats in economy class directly behind business class seating. They should be allocated further away in the next section. The main meal that I had ordered was forgotten about. I had waited too long and when it was delivered, it was cold and dry. The airline attendant did not respond to my call quickly enough on this occasion. I could order another meal but again it meant waiting. The attendant seemed bored and quite unsuited for the role of a steward. He didn’t even bother to take off the quilted ‘mattress’ after sleeping. Said it was OK for me to sit on. The side hand rest needed to be fixed. The cost involved for an upgrade to business class was really not worth it. Crying infant, unsatisfactory eating scenario, broken hand rest, and lack of care. I will not travel with Qatar again.