Qatar Y as a QF Gold, experiences?

[YSSY]

Just wondering if anyone has travelled in Qatar Y recently with QF status, is the status recognised? Hows the one world lounges in Doha? Are the showers easy to get and available?
First time on Qatar, from the few pieces of read online suggests that Oneworld status is pretty much meaningless with next to no benefits on Qatar airways and the lounges in Doha are a waste of time. Any tips and advice welcome. Flying LHR-DOH-SYD

 

[cmon0005]

I have never flown Y with QR only J and F, but essentially in DOH there are 4x QR lounges.
1: Qatar Business lounge Sapphire flying in Y.
2: Qatar first lounge emerald flying Y.
3: Al Mourjan Business lounge for actual business class passengers only. Very nice lounge with good food options.
4: Al Safwa First lounge for actual first passengers only. One of the most luxurious lounges I have ever been in, excellent fine dining, sleeping rooms. Etc.

In your case you will have access to no. 1, i briefly had a look in the business lounge once it is ok, does have a shower if I remember correctly, however it's pretty low key especially compared to Al Mourjan and Al Safwa.

Enjoy! let us know your experience.

 

[Limewood]

Pity going Y as the Al Mourjan Business lounge as a J is excellent, we spend an hour or so there, its large and food was pretty good.

 

[Daver6]

Not a recent experience. Actually more like two years ago. Obviously could use the J check-in in PER. Not quite sure how or why, but I had no issue accessing the Al Mourjan Business lounge. Perhaps the other lounge wasn't available yet.

From memory, they actually serve real champagne in Y. Just had to ask.

In summary, I felt I received all SG benefits. Main ones being lounge access and priority check-in/bags.

 

[YSSY]

Thanks for the replies, will take some photos and come back with my experiences. Just wanted to try Qatar instead of the usual Qantas/Emirates routing and hoping I won't be too disappointed.

 

[blu]

I've had two morning visits to a Doha lounge when QF SG. Was difficult to find a seat (stand and short wait). Queue to wait for showers (didn't use them). Food was minimal. Queue for the coffee machine which rans out of coffee/milk stock regularly. For us, wasn't worth leaving the transit hotel early for. May be less crowded later in the day. I think it was the Silver lounge. QRPC Silver status gets lounge access.

 

[blu]

Have you seen the free Doha city tour for transit passengers? We did not do the tour but did take a taxi to the Museum of Islamic Art.
https://www.qatarairways.com/en/offers/doha-city-tour.html

 

[YSSY]

Heathrow - Experiences

After inputting my QFF number I was able to select the upper deck economy cabin seats on the Qatar website. Selecting a window seat which has the extra storage space. At online check in the emergency exit seats became available to select.

At Heathrow check-in, I was welcomed at the Business/First class check in, although queues across all the desks were light. Bags were tagged business class and rapid transit, I was provided a invite for the 'SkyTeam' lounge as frequent flyers are not permitted in the Qatar Lounge.

I used the fast track security, I am not sure whether this is a benefit or not, but it didn't seem to be an issue.

The sky team lounge is okay, but is at the opposite end of the terminal. Plenty of seating, showers and a good selection or food and drinks.

Alternatively the Malaysian Airline lounge is an option, personally I found this lounge much much better. It is located near to the A380 gates and opposite the Qatar Airways lounge, so would recommend using that one. There is also the Gulf Air Falcon Lounge which can be access using the ANZ Frequent Flyer Black Credit Cards.

Boarding, there is a seperate queue for frequent flyers, but this filters in with the rest of economy in the jetway.Access to the upper deck is via main deck economy, walking to the rear and upstairs.

The seat next to me was empty, not sure if this was blocked as a FF benefit? No recognition onboard. Service however is good, food absolutely fine.

 

[YSSY]

Doha

Disembarking from the A380 upper deck economy required a 5 minute wait before disembarking behind the business/first class pax.
Arrival in Doha was straight into the terminal, I proceeded to the Business Class lounge which was better than expected. I'd probaby compare the lounge as being similar to the KLM Crown Lounge in Amsterdam. A selection of sandwiches, pastries, salads and soups. Plenty of drinks. Seating was okay, nothing special. Appeared to be around 6 showers, with attendants. The showers were busy, but I was told to grab a drink and they'd fetch me, which they did 5 minutes later. Showers were good, clean and with toiletries etc as needed.
For boarding, there were to separate boarding 'pens' one for Business/First and the other for Economy. The economy pen had a priority lane into the pen itself and once boarding started there was a kind of mildly enforced process, but was more of a free for all to be honest. Boarding was late and the pen didn't have sufficient capacity for an A380 so they turned people away until boarding had started.

Overall, the experience was absolutely fine, but I'd still prefer to fly Qantas/Emirates in future.

 

[WLGFlyer]

Re: Doha

Did a similar trip in Y last week and wasn't too impressed. Disembarking takes extra long because of F and C going first. Had a bus gate in DOH which added additional 15mins. Transfer security was busy but got to use the empty priority lane. Lounge was very crowded, there was a line in the bathroom (!). Showers where busy first go around and I was simply told to come back later. Luckily managed to snag one a few mins after.

Anyhow, was a last minute trip and $1500 cheaper then any other Oneworld alternative so still decent value in my book.