DOH Lounge Access? [J to Europe, transit]

[garybatz]

Hi, in June I'm flying with QR in J to Europe, with a 2:50 transit time in DOH. Flights are BNE-DOH, then DOH-BCN. I'm QF Platinum and I booked them as award flights using AA points. Can anyone tell me which lounges I "should" have access to and which ones are recommended? I looked on the Oneworld website and it's nothing but confusing. Thanks.

 

[bernardblack]

J awards booked through AA should not be "lite", so you should have access to Al-Mourjan (both the original one and the new Garden one) by cabin and the Platinum lounges by status. I haven't been there since 2015 and have only used Al-Mourjan (Classic), but the consensus seems to be that both Al-Mourjans are better than anything by status.

 

[andye]

You should have access to Al-Mourjan by virtue of QR J ticket and the Platinum lounge via QF OWE.
You need J+QR Plat or an F ticket (inbound or out) to get into the Al-Safwa

 

[Princess Fiona]

I have been through DOH a couple of times in the past few weeks.
I rate the AM lounge near the Orchard as the best of the J ones.

 

[garybatz]

Thanks Everyone, much appreciated

 

[Clayton]

I'd just like to share a data point regarding lounge access privileges for QR J redemptions.
1st example is J redemption booked on Qatar Privilege club departing OSL. On arriving at the OSL lounge we were denied access after the attendant scanned the boarding passes. I queried and the answer was effectively "computer says NO". After ensconcing in a nice bar for the wait, I went on chat to QR support, and the answer they gave was, J redemptions only have Doha lounge access. I then asked why is it that the several flights from ADL, CDG, PER, FCO have always permitted lounge access. Answer was that may have been the case, but some lounge operators only provide access depending on availability ??? Whatever that entails. As it turns out reviews of OSL lounge are very dismissive, so we don't feel we missed out or anything.
2nd example was 6 weeks at DOH Al Mourjain lounge. The attendant at the bottom of the escalators scanned the boarding pass and allowed access. At the top of the escalators the desk of attendants who had previously done nothing except answer the occasional question were examining everyone's BP before permitting access. I had booked Mrs Clayton through QR and this was fine but I had booked mine through AA and this resulted in 15 minutes of typing, frowns, calling other attendants over to assist before finally granting me access. And this wasn't an isolated instance while waiting I observed a number of other passengers having to wait for several minutes while the lounge attendants authorised access.

Does anyone know what has changed with Lounge privileges for J redemptions, and whether this is perhaps just a small change in procedures that is having unanticipated repercussions?

 

[bernardblack]

QR has a "business lite" fare bucket (P, I think) which doesn't include lounge access. But I think it's pretty well established that all J awards, either through QRPC or partners like AA (or VA), include lounge access generally, and specifically Al-Mourjan at DOH.

So I think the OSL denial was wrong, and the eventual access to Al-Mourjan was correct, but shouldn't be that hard.

The online consensus also seems to be that:

• a lot of QR policies aren't actually documented somewhere that you can point to for staff
• QR contact staff have a very tenuous hold on the rules, and limited authority to make sensible determinations absent the specific rules that aren't written down
• QR ground staff are only slightly better

I have some QR stuff booked, but the last times I actually flew QR:

• 2023 ADL-AKL vv, J (CX award one-way, cash fare other way):
  • ADL: invited to and accepted in domestic-side VA lounge; should have been allowed in domestic-side QF lounge per Oneworld rules but QF lounge dragon refused; no intl lounges open at the time
  • AKL: invited and accepted to contract lounge, and also granted access to QF lounge on request
• 2015 MEL-xDOH-LHR vv, J (full bundled cash fare, before "business lite" offered):
  • MEL: definitely invited somewhere but can't recall; used CX lounge if I remember correctly
  • DOH: no trouble getting into Al-Mourjan
  • LHR: invited and accepted to QR lounge

 

[RooFlyer]

@Clayton , was it a QR lounge at OSL, or someone else's? Was it a hand-held scanner or a table one (just out of interest)?

I haven't been into a QR lounge except at DOH for a long time and was interested to read your experience of BP scanning there. I wonder how central or uniform the scanning software ('yes'/'no') is?

I've had a QR PC J award not long ago and had no issues being admitted into Al-Mourjan, FWTW.

 

[Clayton]

@Clayton , was it a QR lounge at OSL, or someone else's? Was it a hand-held scanner or a table one (just out of interest)?

I haven't been into a QR lounge except at DOH for a long time and was interested to read your experience of BP scanning there. I wonder how central or uniform the scanning software ('yes'/'no') is?

I've had a QR PC J award not long ago and had no issues being admitted into Al-Mourjan, FWTW.

Thanks for your feedback RooFlyer. It wasn't a QR lounge at OSL, but the lounge we were directed to by the luggage check-in staff. The scanner was desk mounted, so I assume a centralised system and the attendant said that the airline said we weren't entitled to admission. Others were denied access also, including people with AMex cards that they stated always have access, so I came to the conclusion that this particular lounge plays hard-ball with passengers, and was happy enough to find a quiet bar to pay for our own drinks.

We had no issues at all at Al Mourjain, and once the queue at the Lounge Attendant's desks cleared ( there were 6 attendants working flat out processing access, which I had never seen until 2 months ago) I returned to ask the attendants about our OSL lounge experience. He checked their online resources and said we should have had access at the remote lounge, and then asked his supervisor to come over and confirm. She concurred with his information and then offered to call a higher level, she then spoke on the phone for a few minutes, on return she confirmed Qatar consider a redemption booking to be the same as a full revenue fare and that I shouldn't have had the problem. At the time I didn't want to drill in any further, so didn't ask about the delay in gaining access we experienced at their counter 6 weeks earlier due to us presenting one Avios redemption ticket (for Mrs) and one AAdvantage redemption ticket (for me).

 

[OZDUCK]

I can confirm that your missing the lounge QR use in Oslo was really no great loss based on our experience in 2019.

 

[Longtoo]

I will have about 12 h layover in DOH and want to come into the city. Can i leave my cabin luggage at the Al Mourjain lounge?

 

[ols]

2nd example was 6 weeks at DOH Al Mourjain lounge. The attendant at the bottom of the escalators scanned the boarding pass and allowed access. At the top of the escalators the desk of attendants who had previously done nothing except answer the occasional question were examining everyone's BP before permitting access. I had booked Mrs Clayton through QR and this was fine but I had booked mine through AA and this resulted in 15 minutes of typing, frowns, calling other attendants over to assist before finally granting me access. And this wasn't an isolated instance while waiting I observed a number of other passengers having to wait for several minutes while the lounge attendants authorised access.

Does anyone know what has changed with Lounge privileges for J redemptions, and whether this is perhaps just a small change in procedures that is having unanticipated repercussions?

Had the same thing at Al Mourjan last week.
Had to go through two supervisors and was queried that I was "Virgin Atlantic Platinum" on two occasions.
I said I am Virgin Australia Platinum and Qatar Silver.
More discussions followed and I eventually said "It;s a business class ticket, what are you doing?"
By then they were happy and waived us through.

 

[RooFlyer]

She concurred with his information and then offered to call a higher level, she then spoke on the phone for a few minutes, on return she confirmed Qatar consider a redemption booking to be the same as a full revenue fare and that I shouldn't have had the problem.

Good to have that re-confirmed, but if a lounge dragon in another port says no, its still no, unfortunately!

I will have about 12 h layover in DOH and want to come into the city. Can i leave my cabin luggage at the Al Mourjain lounge?

I've never noticed lockers there.

 

[Hunter4vr]

Good to have that re-confirmed, but if a lounge dragon in another port says no, its still no, unfortunately!



I've never noticed lockers there.

There are lockers in AM South, just to the right as you enter. Not sure about AM North as I haven’t tried leaving any bags there yet.

 

[fkcn]

Slightly off topic but flying Q-Suites for first time today from Mel - very exciting! Currently in Marhaba lounge however, far from exciting, very ordinary. Anyone know if other lounges can be accessed and preferable? Thanks.

 

[bernardblack]

Should be able to access QF J lounge. I can't comment on how it compares to Marhaba where I've never been though.

If you have Priority Pass I think the House is pretty nice.

 

[garybatz]

Just to report back, had no problems accessing the Al-Mourjan Garden Lounge. I thought it was a gorgeous space, though the breakfast buffet was a bit average. I’ve been in one of the Emirates lounges and the food blew me away, here it was nothing special. It was my first time in DOH, found it quite a confusing place to get around. So much visual clutter and noise, though there were plenty of staff around to help with directions. Was also my first time in J with Qatar, it was just superb, easily the best I’ve experienced. The hard and soft products were all top quality

 

[Princess Fiona]

Just to report back, had no problems accessing the Al-Mourjan Garden Lounge. I thought it was a gorgeous space, though the breakfast buffet was a bit average. I’ve been in one of the Emirates lounges and the food blew me away, here it was nothing special. It was my first time in DOH, found it quite a confusing place to get around. So much visual clutter and noise, though there were plenty of staff around to help with directions. Was also my first time in J with Qatar, it was just superb, easily the best I’ve experienced. The hard and soft products were all top quality

You can also order a la carte items using the QR code.

 

[Warragul]

I will be flying SIN-DOH-MUN in Business with SIN-DOH on an I class fare and DOH-MUN P class (one booking).
Any thoughts/experience on whether I can access the AL Mourjan lounge? I'm thinking in theory not as the next flight being P class fare does not grant access.

I'll be oneworld Sapphire then, so I won't be totally loungeless.