Doha Airport

Transited 2 times this month at DOH airport. Crowded but fast security checks. Nice and efficient personnel at transit desk information and gates. The negative aspect is the dirty toilets!

Writing this from the Oryx lounge in Doha. Can't say much about the main terminal but as far as I could see it was packed. Oryx lounge good (costs $40 USD per person) not much food option but got good shower with towel you can borrow. Toilets and shower are cleaned every so often and were in excellent condition. Computers and WIFI internet provided free of charge even the printer is free to use! As for the food for about 18 hours I was living off Pepsi bread and butter and a mushroom soup but the staff are friendly. Oryx lounge is recommended if you got a long layover but not if your layover is under 2 hrs to 2.5 hrs.

Transiting to/from LHR and HKG. The airport is clearly in transition as the opening of NDIA approaches. The terminal is still massively overcrowded even at 0300 but it's quite easy to find a seat as seats are everywhere. The new colour-coded transfer card system works well and clearing security only takes a few minutes even when several wide-body aircraft arrive at the same time. Staff are friendly and helpful with no hassle at security. Toilets rarely stay clean for long – the cleaners work very hard but they simply can't cope with the huge volume of pax. Shops are still cheap compared to other airports especially for bottled water. The biggest issue is probably the bus ride to/from the aircraft – this must surely now be the world's longest aircraft-to-terminal bus ride – the distances are huge! Announcements are infrequent which must lead to many missed connections. Unlike some I quite like transiting here but the new airport is eagerly awaited.

We had about an hour between flights at Doha (RGN-DOH-LHR). On arrival we spent many minutes cruising round the edge of the airport in a transfer bus eventually got to the transfer gate the fast transfer lanes were closed but no queue at all at normal-speed lanes so no problem. Arrived at departure gate as it was due to open admired once again the confusing way a flight disappears from the gates display screen list as soon as the gate is opened. Our flight was delayed so we hung around for half an hour. They don't make announcements about delays over the PA because it is a 'quiet airport' (no-one told the lady who was using the PA to tell us not to smoke). Suddenly the gate was open we moved forward but great efforts were made to persuade us to sit down again to avoid an unsightly queue but we resolutely kept standing and submitted ourselves to the first of 3 back to back ID checks. Got to the gate itself (check number two) and down an escalator to a tatty ground floor area waiting for access to the transit bus two of which were parked by the doors. The escalator continued to bring more and more people down from upstairs. Still no exit was allowed to the bus. A man struggled through the crowd with a key. It didn't fit the door lock. The escalator had been turned off by now to stop people tripping over each other at the bottom. The man tried the other door. An ironic cheer went up as the door opened. Time for our third ID check and on to the bus which then didn't leave for a few minutes even though it was obvious more the one bus would be needed. We set off on another extended tour of the airport perimeter and arrived at the foot of the aircraft's steps. Naturally only the rear door was available to us Economy class passengers so boarding was slow. All in all not a brilliant experience. Hope the new terminal opens soon and is better than the current one.

Not satisfied at Doha transfer desk section service is poor. They don't have enough staff at the counter desks there were 9 counters but only 3 staff members assisting the long queue of passengers. No special/fast track counter desk for transfer passengers with only an hour allowance and who have to be assisted very quickly for an immediate transfer. As a result passengers asking for a quick assistance seem like they are begging for service with transfer desk staffs and fighting with a fellow passengers at queue jump to avoid missing the flights. Please improve your service hoping to have a very fast and smooth transfer on our next flight.

We just transited through here on our way to Amman and found the experience much less stressful than we had expected. By the time we disembarked from our first flight our next flight was already boarding but the flight attendants assured us it would be fine. The longest part was the bus ride as we flew J class to Doha and then were flying Economy to Amman so the bus first dropped the continuing J class passengers at the Premium Terminal before going to Arrivals and finally to the Transfer terminal. Once inside I was pleasantly surprised. The security check lines were moving very quickly and in about 10 minutes we were at the gate ready to board the bus.

Great airline but what a shambles at Doha it is not a pleasant experience. Flew MAN-DOH-KUL with 1.5 hrs change time outbound and 1hr 45mins return. All transfers appear to be by bus but this is very poor. The ground staff have a completely lackadaisical attitude it is 15 minutes before you can disembark then a wait on the bus while the driver chats with his mates. Elementary things like vans being parked on the bus ways delay you even further on what feels like several km from plane to terminal. We only went through security on the return journey for some reason and there were long snaking queues but the actually processing was OK. When you get to the departure hall it is not too bad with some nice outlets like Costa that take cards for small amounts for no surcharge. Not that you will get time to use them as they are calling flights for ‘immediate boarding’ 50 mins before time. None of this was in any way relaxing given the ridiculously short transfer times booked by Qatar Airlines; one party we met had been allowed 31 minutes. I think there is a ‘new airport’ under construction. Until then I would recommend that nobody accepts itineraries that have less than say three hours for transfer or avoid the place altogether.

I transited at Doha Airport. I understand that the airport is in flux with new terminal about to be opened. What appears to be confusing at first turned out to be just fine. I had a 6 hour layover and took advantage of the quiet in Oryx Lounge for $39. For me it was a good value as I was able to take a shower have a snack at the buffet and a short nap. Waiting in the general transit terminal would haven crowded noisy and services would have been few. On my way home I had only 30 minutes to transit because my first flight arrived late. I managed to get though to layers of security with ease and board my flight on time.

The airport is small. That's what you'll notice first. Duty Free Selection is excellent. Duty Free staff are very helpful too. The eating out choices are mediocre two or three fast food joint upstairs. According to me the maximum lay over time you can spend here is 2 hrs. Unless of course you have lounge access.

Transited through twice in last week. Airport is of ok quality quite compact lots of seating but generally had over crowded feel which let down the experience. Lack of food outlets and ones available seemed full / lots of rubbish about. Main ground floor is mostly filled by large duty free shop. Problem with airport is buses from planes to/from terminal does give it the feel and look of a fancy bus station. Going to far side of runway from / to terminal takes ages (15 mins) on the bus and can stand on the bus waiting another 15 mins waiting for buses in front to let people board the plane before allowed off. Will wait to the New Doha Airport opens before every go through again.