Qatar Airways – Doha connection

[BSI1978]

Might seem a ridiculous question to ask, but I’m looking at QR options to DXB as opposed to BA, and am just wondering if anyone has any prior/regular experience of this service.

The stopovers for many of the flights are under an hour; I assume if you’re continuing on then you remain on the flight as opposed to disembarking….?

Or is that a silly assumption to make?

[SamG]

No you have to change. Usually UK flights disembark directly into departures so you just go to the next gate and board. Not sure in the other direction but I’d have thought similar. However it’s still very tight as Qatar are quite a fan of using buses. But if you miss it then they’ll put you on the next flight so depends how risk adverse you are, worth researching when the next flight would be (e.g. if going regional UK then 24hr-36hr wait could be possible, would want a longer connection there!)

[NorthernLass]

There are a few flights per day, even though it’s a very short trip, I think because there are a lot of workers who commute between the two.

We flew DXB-DOH last December, one way, so I can’t say what it would be like the other way. Flight was an hour but then it took longer than that to get everyone on to buses and over to the terminal (it seemed like we’d landed MILES away!) Of course it was slower for us in economy as they get all the J pax off first, but it didn’t seem worth booking J for such a short flight.

We were doing a 2-centre holiday and returning direct to MAN on QR from DOH so it worked for us but it was a lot of messing around late at night so might not suit if you were tired and/or had kids with you.

[BSI1978]

Thanks both for the replies.

I ran these searches earlier and QR returned options where the connection was 45/55 minutes so as above, assumed they wouldn’t include it if it were so tight. Clearly too many assumptions on my part!

Been a while since I’ve done Doha but will be looking for a window with slightly more headroom than that.

[Man of Kent]

We are due to transit through Doha from LHR on Friday morning with an 85 minute connection on our way to Muscat so I can report back on how it went if you are interested?

[MrWhite]

I’ve not transited to DXB from DOH, but have gone on to other destinations before. Turnaround time has sometimes been around the 1hr mark. It’s not been an issue assuming your flight lands on time, but if you’re on the same ticket, flights may be held for a while! DOH is big, so can be a long walk from one “spoke” to another.

It’s very unlikely the aircraft will be going onto your final destination (same as most of the passengers), so you’ll definitely be getting off.

[phantomchickenz]

I had a 45 minute transfer (en route to Melbourne) last Christmas. Tight (as we were slightly delayed leaving LHR), but being in J and having no buses involved helped. Not sure we would have made it otherwise, but if not it’s on the airline to sort you out.

[Aston100]

MCT at Hamad is 45 minutes.

[runnerbean]

Man of Kent wrote:

We are due to transit through Doha from LHR on Friday morning with an 85 minute connection on our way to Muscat so I can report back on how it went if you are interested?

I’d be interested in your experience of the transfer and Muscat.

[pdw8]

Flew AUH – DOH last month the DOH – LHR, I think it was listed as 70 minutes between flights.
On landing at DOH we ended up at a very remote stand and had to wait a few minutes for buses. The Biz class pax had a dedicated bus and we had to wait for them to disembark first. Bus took about 20 mins to the terminal entrance and by this time it was something like 40m mins before LHR flight left. Shock horror had to go through scanners to get into the main terminal and another 10 min delay. Luckily the BA gate was literally next to this entrance and the pre-boarding was well underway but I made the flight fine but I would not want to take that risk again though.

[NorthernLass]

That sounds like our experience – QR crew stood blocking the exit so no economy pax could leave until all the business pax were on their special bus!

[JDB]

NorthernLass wrote:

That sounds like our experience – QR crew stood blocking the exit so no economy pax could leave until all the business pax were on their special bus!

Quite right too! QR is usually very strict on curtain crossing to use business or first loos as well. The Chinese airlines are also good at this plus ensuring premium luggage does actually come out first heralded by a sign going round the carousel. BA lost all sense of decorum some years ago.

[Ranger43]

We have flown EDU-DOH-DXB 4 times and once EDI-DOH-AUH in the last 14 months, it has always been quite tight, when arriving in Doha from Edinburgh you have to go through transit security, don,t know about other UK airports, (it can be busy if the is a few planes at the same time) on the positive side we have always made it.

[Man of Kent]

runnerbean wrote:

Man of Kent wrote:

We are due to transit through Doha from LHR on Friday morning with an 85 minute connection on our way to Muscat so I can report back on how it went if you are interested?

I’d be interested in your experience of the transfer and Muscat.

Arrived in Muscat this morning after an uneventful flight from LHR. I’m aiming to do a trip report when we’re back but on the Doha transfer it all worked seamlessly. We were on the 9.30pm flight travelling in Business and arrived in Doha a few minutes early, disembarked first through a jet bridge at the C gates. On the flight I was able to check on the departure gate for the Doha to Muscat flight which fortunately was going to be from the C gates also so no panic and made the 85 minute connection with ease. Departure to Muscat was from a remote stand so got the First Class bus (QR market their regional Business Class flights as First) so the bus only has about a dozen seats which are like armchairs. We were called last to board so no sitting there as everyone else files past bumping into you. Arrival in Muscat we were off the aircraft first and through fast track arrivals immigration and our luggage was already on the belt. QR just seemed to get everything right.

[runnerbean]

Man of Kent wrote:

runnerbean wrote:

Man of Kent wrote:

We are due to transit through Doha from LHR on Friday morning with an 85 minute connection on our way to Muscat so I can report back on how it went if you are interested?

I’d be interested in your experience of the transfer and Muscat.

Arrived in Muscat this morning after an uneventful flight from LHR. I’m aiming to do a trip report when we’re back but on the Doha transfer it all worked seamlessly. We were on the 9.30pm flight travelling in Business and arrived in Doha a few minutes early, disembarked first through a jet bridge at the C gates. On the flight I was able to check on the departure gate for the Doha to Muscat flight which fortunately was going to be from the C gates also so no panic and made the 85 minute connection with ease. Departure to Muscat was from a remote stand so got the First Class bus (QR market their regional Business Class flights as First) so the bus only has about a dozen seats which are like armchairs. We were called last to board so no sitting there as everyone else files past bumping into you. Arrival in Muscat we were off the aircraft first and through fast track arrivals immigration and our luggage was already on the belt. QR just seemed to get everything right.

Thanks @Man of Kent. Hope you have a fabulous time and look forward to your reflections

[PaulR]

I would never book a connection of an hour if travelling from the UK. I have missed connections of 2 hours due to the awful airport that is Manchester. Anything less than two hours if it involves Manchester gets my stress levels right up.