Monday 28 July 2008

Qatar Airways - Your Zero Stars Service



Qatar Airways – Your 5 Stars Airline a Misleading Slogan


ETKT: 157 2304613934-35
FQTV: QR 402426255

You only know how many stars a services has when things go wrong and you experience its answer to the incident. That is the real test!

The facts:

I bought the Business Class ticket above and in its last legs Heathrow – Doha – Bangkok things did not went well.

I arrive in LHR Terminal 3 around 6.30 pm to check both for my seat and luggage.

I was given both boarding passes for flight QR 008 and QR 610, the first from LHR to Doha and the second from Doha to Bangkok. The first plane was expected to arrive in Doha at 7.25 am and the second to leave the same airport at 8.00 am which is 35 minutes difference.

No one told me about the possible difficulties on the transfer and I had made it one time before so I was confident of making it. Nevertheless there is another plane leaving LHR one hour earlier (this was 3 hours after I presented myself at check in counter) QR 002, and if the company had any suspicious about the transfer time difficulties they could have put me on that plane.

No, they sold me that ticket, checked me through and did not inform about any problem.

We left LHR around 30 minutes later but the pilot made time on the flight and touched down in Doha exactly at 7.29 am on July 26, which is 4 minutes delay.

When I was coming down the stairs of the plane, and I was the first one to do that, there were staff asking about where we were and I noticed that my next flight was departing at 8.00.

The answer was “no problem” while some other persons were taken away in limousines.

Stay around 10 minutes on the bus in the runway till I arrive at the Premier Terminal where I was told that I was rerouted to another plane that would take off at 20.45 meaning that I would only arrive at my destination the next day with all the distress and cost that this mismanagement caused me.

I was told that they got a text message from LHR saying that I would miss the connection and that they had told me that.

Totally false, totally untrue.

So I was put into a hotel in Doha where I arrive only at 9.50, this is almost 2.30 hours after I land in the airport because of all the paper work they had to do for it.

I did ask the staff what I have done wrong. Why did they not take me from the plane to the other one? Why in LHR they did not put me in QR 002. Why they did not try to find an alternative (they did it in front of me at my request only).

The answer was “We are sorry Sir”.

Those are the facts of a total mess made by Qatar Staff. Anyone can understand this to happen if the plane is 20, 30 or more minutes later but this one was 4 minutes!!!! For sure Qatar Airways can check that on the flight registration.

Who is responsible for all the damages that I and my relatives suffered, from phone calls that I hade to make and receive in Doha on my mobile to alert people that I was not arriving in Bangkok on time, to the time that I lost and that prevent me to be in time at my destination, to the less rest I will have when I will start working on Monday, to the stress that I suffered with the unexpected. Who?

To say sorry is not enough. Who should say sorry is me to the uncountable people that I told about the good service of Qatar Airways.

There is one thing I am 100% sure. I did nothing wrong. Only follow what was said and request by Qatar Airways. But the only one to suffer from all the stress and discomfort was me, not Qatar and its staff.

I will publish this comment on the internet so everyone has the possibility to make their judgment about the 5 Star Company that become the Zero Stars Service Provider.

And my trip to Bangkok tonight will be the last one with Qatar.

And what a trip it was!!!!!!!

We were supposed to leave Doha at 20.45 but at 20.44 32 passengers were boarding the plane and at 20.52 another bus full of passengers arrive. Does it means that Qatar Airways can wait for passengers, or am I wrong?

Around 21.00 we taxi out and take off to Bangkok but to the surprise of everyone we were complimented with a dramatic and panicked landing in Karachi in the middle of the night. And that happens because a drunken passenger was threatening people in the plane.

Very well! Passengers safety first. We all applaud. But how can a drunken passenger be in the plane?

Was he drunk already at time of boarding and they let him in? Was he served too much alcohol during the flight?

I have never seen anyone to get drunk to a point of becoming wild in a whisker so crew or ground staff should know how to deal with these incidents on a preventive manner not after they occur specially on board. The landing was panicked because the crew was unsuccessful in seating the passengers that were running and screaming all over the plane.

Believe me it is not a nice environment to land in a uncertain situation while people is running and screaming inside the plane.

After 3 hours at the Karachi Airport we took off to Bangkok where I arrive much later than expected.

If any one fancy a 31 hours journey from London Heathrow to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi please consider take Qatar Airways. They will deliver the service in the Zero Stars Airline.
If not better stay well far away from their counters.

5 comments:

adsensum said...

As I have been saying to all my friends that Qatar has a really nice service and now I found your blog... I just read your posts so I am concerned too.

Unknown said...

I would like to advise users of your website never to fly on Qatar Airways.

I originally booked a flight to Delhi and back, one part of which Qatar Airways simply dropped a few days before I was due to fly out. They never contacted me about this as I only learned about it when I phoned their Gatwick number to enquire about an unrelated issue about the flights.

As a replacement flight to the one they dropped (Doha to Gatwick), they put in place a flight that was supposed to fly out 11 hours later than the one originally scheduled. The result being that when I landed in Doha, I was denied a hotel room and had to contend with the dreadful food they give to passengers awaiting transfer in the Doha airport. The reason they gave for this is that the original booking I made never included a hotel room as the original transfer time in Doha was less that 8 hours. However, they, out-of-the-blue, canceled this flight and scheduled another one that was 19 hours after I landed in Doha, way over the 8 hours cut-off-point for a hotel. I tried enquiring about paying for a hotel out of my own pocket, but I was again even denied this information.

The upshot of all this is that I was forced to spend 19 hours staring like a mad thing at the floor of an airport terminal.

I had flown Qatar before this and thought their service was good. However, I, along with numerous friends, work colleagues and relatives to whom I have explained what happened to me, will not use this company ever again after the kind of appalling service I was subjected to. I hope you will agree and that your users should review any flight arrangements they have made now and in the future with this company based on my experience.

In short, stay well clear of this "airline".

*~Cute apple~* said...

The zero star service airline did not have any improvement at all until today.

I just had my bad experience back from london, gatwick to doha.

The ground staff at Gatwick airport bullied and distriminate me as i travelled alone. They insist that one passenger only able to carry one hand luggage wheareas i saw many passenger in the flight carry more than one hand luggage with them.

furthermore, they charge extremely expensive excess baggage fee without my knowledge and treat me as i m a criminal.

They claim that i have excess luggage fee as they say even lady passenger can only bring one hand luggage. All other airline enable their lady passenger to bring along a lady hand bag but not in Qatar airways!!

I have been discriminate and forced by the ground staff to pay for the excess baggage fee and if not, i will not allow to go on board. But in fact, i did not bring any of the excess baggage except a small lady handbag.

Moreover, they charge my credit card with the excess baggage of 4kgs which cost 166 pounds!!In fact, i did not bring such heavy luggage! The amount that they charged me is totally different with the amount that i have seen in my credit card statement!they are committing a fraud!

Lastlty, their ground staff is not caring at all as i accidently left something at their boarding gate and they did not remind their passenger(me) at all!the lost item cost me for about 200 pounds!

I realized i left out my items at the boarding gate once i step in the plane and immediately ask for the cabin crew's help. What answer i get from them is " I cant do anything much more!!" Without any effort they shown to me, and they just answer that nonsense thing to me!! wat the f**k!

I absolutely not recommended to take this zero service airline in the future and if u enjoy to being treat as a criminal, please do take qatar airways!!the "so called" worst airline in the world!

Unknown said...

Hi,Whether the companies with Business setup in Qatar are shareholding companies or limited liability companies.

Anonymous said...

Qatar Airways (and other Gulf airlines) routinely overbook their flights by 10% to 20%, as Heathrow check-in staff will freely confirm, as a result I have had to battle on three different occasions between 2004 and 2013 to get my seat. Fortunately, I had enough "wasta" (influence) to win but, of course, someone else got bumped off to get me a seat each time.
As far as I can make out the "five star airline" slogan is about being a member of something called the "five star alliance" of airlinse and has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of service. It's not a restaurant or hotel being judged by anybody other than itself (and, of course, all its "awards" are issued by clubs it pays to be a member of ... smoke and mirrors).