CW Room

I feel like Qatar Airways may be starting to slip a little. I’ve taken a Qatar Airways flight at least once a year for… Honestly I’ve lost count. It has to be over 7 years. This is the airline that was teetering on the top 1st airline in the world for years. This is the airline that has ridiculously comfortable First and Business Class seating.

Anyhow, on the 30th of July, I had a flight with Qatar Airways going from London to Doha. We had checked in online and thought we would be able to drop off our one check-in bag as usual at the web check-in counter.

Instead, there was a long line of passengers at check-in that we were required to join even though we’d already checked in online. The entire plane was at this line. No exaggeration. It was a requirement regardless of your online check-in status.

What was the point of checking in online?

To make matters worse, this line was not making any advances towards getting shorter. Nobody was allowed to the check-in machines, the line was stagnant and for half an hour, tempers were fraying and the flight time was nearing.

Keep in mind that you’re supposed to arrive at the airport 2-3 hours before your flight. Check-in desks only open 3 hours before the flight. Half an hour is quite a long time for the entire plane to be stuck in the first line, unchecked and unaccounted for for anywhere near 30 minutes.

After asking the crew what the hold up was, we discovered that the next line, baggage check-in was full, the systems were down and they couldn’t let anyone through yet.

The line couldn’t advance because the system of the airline we were flying with was down…

I want to be clear that I’ve always been a Qatar Airways fangirl. They’ve always been a comfortable, efficient, advanced airline. That said, when the line debacle was over and we were checking in bags, we were told to remove laptops from checked luggage for battery reasons. I’d never seen that before in all my years of travel.

The inconvenience of that alone has caused me to question Qatar Airways. I don’t see what other airline out there could possibly beat QA, but I’m not amused.

That said, security was a breeze. We, along with everyone else, were late for boarding (of course) and we got to our seats.

The seats we got were aisle in the very back of the plane – 83G! As comfortable as the seats are, and as convenient as it was to have 2 lavatories just behind me, the seats were in direct line of some form of the world’s strongest air conditioning. My arch nemeses are my sinuses, so this caused me a bit of a sniffle and a small headache.

I did also hear that the constant flushing of the lavatories was slightly inconvenient, but I had headphones on so I cannot confirm or deny.

All in all, if you run hot, love air conditioning and carry headphones, this could be a life hack for you! Sitting right in the back of the plane might be incredibly convenient for you.

They served the usual full airplane lunch and a later snack. Lunch was soft red beef almost falling apart, pees, carrots and potato wedges with gravy. The snack was a choice between chicken and veggie sandwiches of which I chose veggie because I like to have them as a pre-sleep snack when I’m home. Drinks were various options that I’m sure you’d be hard pressed to stump as long as you’re not ordering a mojito or any mixed drink – not in economy class anyway.

That’s all. We made it to Doha in one piece. Flight was comfortable, checking in was not. Qatar Airways remains the best airline I’ve flown on as of yet, and if you don’t mind a strong cold breeze, sit in the back!

Thanks for reading! 🙂