Qatar Healthcare Insurance quietly dropped ?

[WaynedP]

Arrived Doha last night with downtown hotel booking for comfortable 18 hour layover (Four Points by Sheraton).

Didn’t pre purchase any medical health insurance and came armed instead with printouts of existing travel insurance (Amex Plat and NatWest Platinum) but wasn’t 100% sure if either policy met Qatari Ministry of Public Health requirements.

Had enough cash to purchase on-the-spot insurance at Hamad International if push came to shove.

Very civilised and rapid transit through Al Mourjan Business Immigration lounge (bypassing the queue of death at 12.30 am for the less fortunate hoi polloi).

Enormous QR code on the counter marked Qatari Ministry of Public Health but absolutely no mention whatsoever of health insurance, so we passed out into Doha as if the whole thing had never existed in the first place.

[NorthernLass]

Interesting – hopefully it will be officially dropped before our December visit.
Who gets to use the Business Immigration Lounge, is it just from cabin class? We are hopping over from DXB in economy on QR at 11 pm, will we be in a queue of death on arrival?!

[WaynedP]

Upon enquiring of the gentleman gatekeeper to the “queue of death”, we were told “full fare QR business class” so there may be some exclusions for “business-lite” fares.

But it was dead quiet, only my wife and I with one single traveller ahead of us, so I would smile politely at the immigration lounge check-in person and chance it with any sort of OW status even if flying Y.

After superb service on the OSL-DOH QR 787-9 and two out of two hotel upgrades (including at MOXY Oslo X, which I didn’t even think was possible) my wife is showing renewed appreciation for “that travel forum that you spend so much time on”. (I don’t really, it’s all relative)

[NorthernLass]

Thanks – if it look really bad I will humbly enquire whether my BA Silver status will cut any ice. When I picked this itinerary it sort of didn’t compute that the 200 mile hop to DOH is actually an international flight. D’OH, indeed 🤦‍♀️😂.

[YC]

I recently got stuck in DOH after immigration would not let me through to explore Doha with a remaining transit time of less than 8hrs (compared to boarding time). First time I have encountered such a rule.

[WaynedP]

Bad luck, especially if you’ve stood in the queue of death for any length of time to discover that.

I don’t recall reading that policy anywhere. Was it perhaps something implemented around the World Cup ? I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole Ministry-sanctioned healthcare insurance complication was related to World Cup and liable to be officially abandoned as normal tourist patterns return.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

Just checking – does this or did it ever apply to connecting passengers kerely passing through DOH?

[Bill_B]

Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

Just checking – does this or did it ever apply to connecting passengers kerely passing through DOH?

The HfP article says: “Anyone travelling on Qatar Airways in recent months will have noticed that the airline requires you to present travel insurance documents at check in, even if connecting.”

https://www.headforpoints.com/2023/02/03/qatar-brings-in-new-insurance-rules-for-travel-to-doha/

Hopefully someone can confirm if the requirement has been dropped.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

Bill_B wrote:

Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

Just checking – does this or did it ever apply to connecting passengers kerely passing through DOH?

The HfP article says: “Anyone travelling on Qatar Airways in recent months will have noticed that the airline requires you to present travel insurance documents at check in, even if connecting.”

https://www.headforpoints.com/2023/02/03/qatar-brings-in-new-insurance-rules-for-travel-to-doha/

Hopefully someone can confirm if the requirement has been dropped.

Thanks, I thought the article had said that when read months ago but didn’t spot it tonight. May need to check the dreaded FT forums for up to date info.

[WaynedP]

I’d check gov.uk for travel to Qatar. It provides the Qatari Ministry of Public Health website link which is also on Qatar Airways website.

That’s your definitive source. If that says that insurance is still required for connecting passengers, then I would have my insurance policy document printed for inspection (as I did) or be prepared to pay 50 Riyal on the spot for “compliant insurance” (as I was) if challenged, which I wasn’t.

The recent Qatari concession (or relaxing of previous requirements) for travellers involved widening the scope of “compliant insurance policies” beyond the original dozen or so exclusively Qatari-based insurance company providers.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

WaynedP wrote:

I’d check gov.uk for travel to Qatar. It provides the Qatari Ministry of Public Health website link which is also on Qatar Airways website.

That’s your definitive source. If that says that insurance is still required for connecting passengers, then I would have my insurance policy document printed for inspection (as I did) or be prepared to pay 50 Riyal on the spot for “compliant insurance” (as I was) if challenged, which I wasn’t.

The recent Qatari concession (or relaxing of previous requirements) for travellers involved widening the scope of “compliant insurance policies” beyond the original dozen or so exclusively Qatari-based insurance company providers.

Thanks. I have Amex Plat and the insurance on that. The odd part was the insistence that the health claims were not subject to any excess. Trivial excess amounts are the norm on UK policies.

[George K]

I thought the insurance requirement was dropped for all passengers visiting Qatar for less than 30 days. At least that was the case last month.

[WaynedP]

To clarify, I flew to BNE via DOH last month.

Transit times in DOH were 18 hrs outbound (for which I chose to stay overnight in a downtown Doha hotel) and 2 hrs return (for which obviously I was merely a transit passenger).

Qatar Airways did not require me to upload any insurance documents whatsoever pre flight for either leg.

Nor could they have known whether or not I was intending to spend all 18 hours outbound transit time within Hamad International Airport or not.

Other than having my insurance policy docs printed beforehand and ready to show on demand, my actual experience was as if the entire new insurance requirement had never existed.

[NorthernLass]

Didn’t someone say back when it was first introduced that it was really intended to cover temporary workers and their families? This would explain why they don’t seem too bothered about visitors.