Qatar’s 5-Star Experience: Flying with Qatar Airways and Transiting at Hamad International Airport
“Sir, would you care for a glass of Champagne?” the endearing flight attendant of Qatar Airways asked. Would I what? After almost two full years of not being able to fly and travel, trying to survive the pandemic through multiple community quarantine shifts and feeling trapped in the Queen City of the South in what feels like forever, the offer could mean that I deserve to have a little celebration. Well yeah, positive, a glass of Champagne is all I need right now! “Salamat.” But in my mind, “Is it for free?” Silly me! LOL.
Truth be told, I had not the slightest expectation whatsoever of flying with Qatar Airways bound for my new workplace for my first and last international flight for the year. All the more, my first ever transit experience at Hamad International Airport. Here’s why:
Well, for one, I have not tried any other airlines for all my international travels as I only booked budget tickets from a low-cost airline during seat sales. Second, the ticket is shouldered by the company locally based in the Maldives so I just played around with my route regardless of the airline. Third, I’m just too excited to fly and make my dreams come true abroad that I wasn’t anticipating that I was in for a big surprise!
And so, to cut the story short, I booked a flight to Malé, Maldives from Manila, Philippines via Qatar Airways for the first time. As there is no direct flight to Malé, a stopover at Doha, Qatar was a perfect flight arrangement.
Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways is the country’s state-owned air carrier. The airline, which is headquartered at Doha’s Qatar Airways Tower, maintains a hub-and-spoke network, operating to over 150 foreign destinations spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania from its main hub at Hamad International Airport with a fleet of more than 200 planes. To top it all, Qatar Airways is also named the World’s Best Airline for the sixth time at the 2021 World Airline Awards by Skytrax.
According to the Wikipedia: Qatar Airways economy class was named best in the world in the 2009 and 2010 Skytrax Awards and best business class in 2021. Qatar Airways offers economy class passengers a seat pitch of up to 34 inches. Economy class passengers on A330 aircraft are offered individual seat-back TV screens. Passengers on Airbus A350, A380, Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft are offered touch-screen IFE monitors.
On top of that, I believe that Qatar Airways has led the industry during these challenging times accumulating unrivalled experience in carrying passengers safely and reliably. Onboard, all Qatar Airways passengers are provided with a complimentary protective kit aside from blankets, headphones, comfortable in-flight items. Inside a Ziplock pouch they will find a single-use surgical face mask, large disposable powder-free gloves and an alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel.
Qatar Airways’ in-flight entertainment system is called Oryx One. I enjoyed watching the movies and other info-tainment features of what’s in front of me. And oh, don’t get me started with the in-flight meals. The best experience so far. My fifteen-hour flight (total) was really convenient because of all these perks. I was even given a glass of champagne ‘coz I just feel like wanting to drink one. Guess what, it’s absolutely free!
Qatar Airways also offers Onboard Connectivity Wi-Fi, which allows passengers to send SMS and MMS, access email, and browse the internet. I was just amazed that I was able to connect to the internet even when we are in the middle of nowhere! No wonder Qatar Airways’ flight experience is rated 5 stars.
Hamad International Airport
Qatar could have been the latest one to be ticked off my list of visited countries. However, having a stop over in an airport in a different country doesn’t equate to visiting it officially because there was no entry stamped on the passport by the immigration.
In aviation, transit passengers are defined as passengers who use other airports for less than 24 hours to get to their destination to complete their journey. Well, transiting at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar is only temporary so it makes sense that you really haven’t set foot in said country as a tourist, for example. You’re just a mere passerby. You’re in Qatar physically but you are not considered an official visitor in their county. Too close yet so far.
Doha’s Hamad International Airport is a stunning piece of architecture. In fact, Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar is also named the Best Airport in the World at the 2021 World Airport Awards by Skytrax. According to the Wikipedia: Hamad International Airport is the sole international airport in the state of Qatar, and the home of Qatar’s flag carrier airline, Qatar Airways. Located south of its capital, Doha, it replaced the nearby Doha International Airport as Qatar’s principal airport. The airport is named after the previous Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
The most popular figure inside the airport’s vicinity is a giant bronze statue of a teddy bear with its head in a lamp. The untitled sculpture, often known as “Lamp Bear”, is one of three creations by Swiss artist Urs Fischer and is on display at the grand foyer of the airport’s duty-free shopping hall. Standing at seven meters tall and weighing approximately 18-20 tons, the statue was previously displayed at a plaza in NYC before being purchased by a member of the Qatari royal family at an auction for almost 7M USD. In 2018, a new sculpture called Small Lie by American artist Kaws was added the airport’s terminal.
There is also a spot at Hamad International Airport that caters to family and looks like apple store. The apple products can be used for free by guests arriving to, transiting through, or departing from Hamad International Airport. If you happen to have a pit stop at Qatar’s cool airport, make sure to drop by this grand area.
If you happen to shop at Qatar Duty Free, then you have the chance to win to win One million dollars, some of the best luxury cars or the finest motorbikes lined up for the raffle draws. Raffle tickets are available for purchase for every passenger departing, arriving or transiting through Hamad International Airport Customers can also purchase the tickets for the Raffle draw of their choice through Qatar Duty free Raffle pages.
In conclusion, I enjoyed my less than 5 hours transit at Hamad International Airport. Plus, I couldn’t imagine a better flight. Having over 10 international flights over the last two years, flying with Qatar Airways was the best, overtaking my Japan flight and Narita International Airport experience in 2019 and Singapore trip via Changi Airport in 2020. It was a memorable 5-star experience travel so I couldn’t be more thankful with Qatar in general.
Travel via Qatar Airline is somewhat OK but Hammad Airport is not at all absorbing. Staff is not cooperative as well as no good comfortable arrangements for transit passengers. Probably, Most expensive duty free shop in the world. People wishing to shop from duty free shops would probably be highly disappointed. Moreover, Qatar line is also not that concerned about the comfort of their transit passengers especially once the transit period is prolonged due to airline fault.