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Qatar Airways opens new lounges in Doha for British Airways Gold and Silver cardholders

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Qatar Airways has, out of the blue, announced the addition of three new lounges at Hamad International Airport in Doha.

This follows the opening of the new Qatar Airways frequent flyer lounge at Heathrow Terminal 4 which opened in June 2022.

It is a new strategy for Qatar Airways, which up until a year or two ago was happy to allow status passengers without a business class ticket into its main ‘Al Mourjan’ business class lounge at Doha. It then moved to the unbundling of some business class fares which no longer included lounge access of any sort, and began sending status travellers in Economy to the very average Oryx lounge.

The good news is that Qatar’s new status lounges look smart:

Qatar Airways Doha Platinum lounge 3

Not one, not two, but three new lounges ….

There are three new lounges for frequent flyers at Doha. This may seem excessive but may simply be down to the fact that a larger, single space was unavailable – the capacity numbers are not huge compared to the scale of the airport:

  • Qatar Airways Platinum Lounge can accommodate up to 140 passengers
  • Qatar Airways Gold Lounge can accommodate up to 85 passengers
  • Qatar Airways Silver Lounge can accommodate up to 195 passengers

In total, Qatar’s new lounges can accommodate up to 420 additional passengers.

The Platinum Lounge is open to oneworld Emerald passengers including British Airways Gold members, whilst the Gold lounge is open to oneworld Sapphire and above – equivalent to BA Silver.

Interestingly, Qatar has also opened a Silver Lounge which appears to be for Qatar Airways Privilege Club Silver cardholders only. The oneworld alliance doesn’t mandate lounge access for Ruby status holders (ie. BA Bronze). Whilst Qatar Airways is opening this lounge for its own Privilege Club Silver (oneworld Ruby) members – you cannot get access with a British Airways Executive Club Bronze card.

All the lounges are open 24 hours a day. oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members can guest one additional person to other lounge.

Qatar Airways Doha Platinum lounge

What’s the difference between Qatar’s three new lounges?

The lounges look smart, although so far only a handful of images have been revealed which we’ve included throughout this article. It’s not entirely clear if the Platinum and Silver lounges are differently furnished, for example.

What we do know is that all lounges will feature Diptyque amenities, presumably the same ones that are used in the Al Mourjan lounge and in Qatar’s business class cabin, and that all have “stunning floor-to-ceiling tarmac views”.

Some of the facilities also vary from lounge to lounge:

Qatar Airways Platinum Lounge

The Platinum Lounge is located in Concourse A of Hamad International Airport and features a quiet area, prayer room, bar, restaurant and showers. This lounge is the only one of the three to offer a la carte dining in addition to a buffet service.

Qatar Airways Gold Lounge

One step down is the Gold Lounge, again located in Concourse A. This lounge features family seating, a bar, a dining area, a full buffet dining experience and showers.

Qatar Airways Silver Lounge

Finally, Qatar’s lowest-ranking lounge is the Silver Lounge, located in Concourse B. This lounge has meeting rooms, a family area, a quiet area, buffet dining and baggage storage facilities. If you want a shower, you’re out of luck – you’ll need access to the Gold or Platinum lounges for that.

Qatar Airways Doha Platinum lounge 2

What are the entry rules for all five of Qatar’s lounges in Doha?

The addition of these frequent flyers means there are now five Qatar Airways-operated lounges in Doha, as well as a number of third party lounges. As a quick recap, here are the entry rules to Qatar’s five lounges:

Qatar Airways Al Safwa Lounge

The Al Safwa is Qatar Aiways’ most premium lounge. Access is only to Qatar Airways and oneworld First Class ticketed customers. Guests are not permitted. Our latest review of the Al Safwa lounge is here.

Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Lounge

Next-best is the Al Mourjan business class lounge. This is available to Qatar Airways customers travelling on Elite/Comfort/Classic business class tickets or oneworld business class customers and above. Our latest review of the Al Mourjan lounge is here. You can buy access to this lounge.

Qatar Airways Platinum Lounge

This lounge is for anyone with Qatar Airways Platinum status or oneworld Emerald (eg. BA Gold) who is not flying in business class or first class. You can bring up to one guest. The lounge is on Concourse A.

Qatar Airways Gold Lounge

This lounge is for anyone with Qatar Airways Gold status or oneworld Sapphire (eg. BA Silver) who is not flying in business class or first class. You can bring up to one guest. The lounge is on Concourse A.

Qatar Airways Silver Lounge

This lounge is for anyone with Qatar Airways Silver status or above who is not flying in business or first. It is not open to oneworld Ruby frequent flyers. Only Platinum or Gold members who choose to use this lounge can bring a guest. The lounge is on Concourse B.

I hope that’s clear ….

PS. There is actually another Qatar Airways lounge in Doha – the Mariner Lounge. This is open to ‘eligible seafarers & offshore workers’. It looks surprisingly decent given that it is open to passengers travelling in any class who can show ‘valid documentation’.


Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (December 2024)

Here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,500 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Eurostar, Lufthansa and Delta Air Lines lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here.

You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

Huge 80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £290 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A good package, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

Got a small business?

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum which has the same lounge benefits as the personal Platinum card:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

You should also consider the Capital on Tap Pro Visa credit card, which has a lower fee and also comes with Radison Rewards VIP status:

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.

Comments (34)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Chris says:

    I was guided to the ‘Silver’ lounge as a BA Silver around 10 days ago in Doha. It was a shambles: no seating, a constant queue of 10 people for the loos, and quite messy all around despite the staff doing their best. This was around midnight which presumably was a bit of a crunch point passenger wise.

    After a couple of tours trying to find a seat, I gave up and went back out into the terminal, which felt very busy too, albeit more peaceful than the lounge. Had a word with the lounge supervisor who acknowledged the capacity issues and took my details. Doha used to be a relaxing airport to spend time in, but definitely no more.

    • Lady London says:

      These are apparently very poor lounges considering most people using them are flying quite long segments.

      And with Qatar’s habit of having people have to spend pracically ovenight in lounges between flights entering at, say, 02.00am because Qatar switched flight timings long after the person booked forcing them into this kind of hellish layover, if the lounges are not up to acceptable quality for these passengers who really need them then I can see a lot of positive choice towards Qatar on future bookings evaporating.

  • Ls says:

    Shame. In the interim, you got business lounge access with BA gold. No more I fear. Hope the platinum lounge lives up to spec.

  • Steve says:

    You mention unbundling – if I book an award flight in business class, with no status, do I still get access to the Al Mourjan lounge, or has that now been removed?

  • John says:

    Yeah sounds like they’re always going to be full during the peak transit hours.

  • Flyoff says:

    I believe the lounges were opened over a period of weeks, with the silver lounge opened first. My daughter was in the Silver lounge and said it was a nice space. The only issue was the desk staff were unable to help with a connected flight issue and had to go back through security to a flight connections desk to seek advice and then go back through security to get into the lounge.

  • Froggee says:

    Please could any future articles on Qatar lounges have a pax to poo ratio. As already commented they don’t seem to get that people invariably need to do their business between connecting flights. Maybe there is a translation issue and by putting in meeting rooms they think they are facilitating people doing their business?

    • AJA says:

      Ahh the Versailles Palace solution, squat in the corner., behind the screen…..

  • Jane says:

    I hope they open a new lounge in Cape Town. They now use the Bidvest Premier Lounge which is nowhere near as nice as the Slow Lounge they used to use.

  • John T says:

    One world status passengers in economy were never allowed into the Al Mourjan lounge

    • Dev says:

      Yep, this was a temp covid induced measure … one of the few improvements!

    • Andrew J says:

      Been the case for over two years that they could, but now that numbers are up, these new lounges will accommodate them.

    • QFFlyer says:

      Yes they were, back in 2013/14 or so, I used it as an AA Plat flying Y several times, with a guest too.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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