Hamad Doha Airport

✅ Trip Verified | Doha Airport has gone from ok to unacceptable since it’s opening in 2014. While bus gate arrivals/departures were the exception then, it has become too frequent in recent years. I am flying through Doha about 6 times a year, more than half of my flights in 2023 were remote bus transfers. The departures via bus gate are particularly stressful with very limited seating, unorganized boarding and stressed gate agents. The picture shows my latest bus gate departure with crowded areas and inadequate seating.

✅ Trip Verified | Transit in this airport both inbound and outbound. The transit time of 3 hours was not enough to experience this enormous-sized airport with a lot of offerings and facilities such shopping mall, indoor gardens, etc. Not the best airport if one is just transferring from one flight to another because it takes time and energy to find toilets, prayer rooms, and gates. But the best for long transit as you will not get bored. This airport lacks free shower facilities.

✅ Trip Verified | Airport is lovely but extremely poorly organized. Traveling from Nairobi to Dallas. Nairobi to Qatar leg was a Boeing 777 jet/300 with 300+ passengers. Had a two-hour layover but barely made our flight. Plane stopped on tarmac and made us wait 20 minutes to pull up a staircase and arrange buses. Bus loading was chaotic. Bus drove five minutes to offload site. When we got into the terminal, there were several rows of carryon luggage scanners, each marked with a specific gate for the B terminal. We needed to go to the C terminal so we asked a staffer who directed us to pass these scanners. When we followed that direction, a different staffer directed us back to the B terminal scanners. Waited 30 minutes in the scanner line. They scanned our carryon and said we were okay to proceed. Next, we went into the main terminal where there were two signs giving different directions to the C terminal. One was up an escalator; one continued on the floor. When we finally found our gate, there was a long line for a second scanner for our carryon luggage. My wife had bought water in the terminal, which they forced her to discard. We had also brought ugali flour for a Kenyan friend, which they took from us, though it had passed the scanner at the airport earlier and twice in Nairobi. We did not have time to use the restroom even during our two-hour layover. They also checked out passport and boarding pass four times in the process. The scanning should be once. The passport check should be no more than twice. Signage should be accurate.

✅ Trip Verified |   HIA never disappoints you in arrival and departure; one of the best, cleanest and most family-friendly airports in the world. Process is very smooth at arrival and departure with special lanes for residents and with plenty of counters and e-gates as well as lounges and shopping options. Always great to see the bear on the way out and when back to Doha

Not Verified | Impressive architecturally and if you like high end shops but the immigration facilities and staff were poor. Very long queues without enough staff to process the tourist immigration. Lots of booths but few occupied. Abrupt staff, and very slow processing leading to a 1.5 hour wait.

✅ Trip Verified | Outstanding, clean, organized, well-managed airport with large open spaces and it’s meticulously cleaned. Airport staff is plentiful and helpful. Gate areas are large with lots of comfortable seating.

✅ Trip Verified | I want to thank Hamad airport's staff for taking good care of me, when after my flight I needed to be escorted to the clinic. The whole staff did their best so I could feel comfortable during my transit hours in Doha. I had the best airport experience in my life. Thank you again and again. Special thanks to clinic's doctor, nurses, for the help and the support I got from them.

✅ Trip Verified | Security was the main problem. I had to go back to the airline and get a letter saying I was allowed to take co2 through but the people at the counter were initially great the one i dealt with left for a dinner break and her colleague forgot to send the email until I reminded them 60mins later. She then realised it was easier to escort me through the security which only took 5mins. I had booked a lounge which was not what I thought it was as needed to sleep. Signs and arrows point the wrong way. I was denied access to the lounge I paid for and they made me go to the other lounge which denied me so had to go back. When I finally convinced someone that I had pre paid for the lounge I went up and it wasn’t what I expected. Nice food but there is no way you can get rest or sleep. I’ll try to avoid flying through this airport in the future.

Not Verified | I landed in Doha on the night of June 30th on a Qatar Airways flight for a short layover (~07hours) where I had planned to sleep for a few hours in a hotel close to the airport. To my surprise, I spent a very long time in line at immigration control. Many of the counters were closed and impacted the waiting time. An airport that was named the best in the world cannot have these serious flaws.

✅ Trip Verified | I have had 3 flights in/out of Doha airport in the last week, and all have involved long bus transfers and all flights were late arrivals / departures. It is chaotic and annoying, with one business transfer taking 25mins. Another surprise is that some Qatar Airways business class tickets do not necessarily give you lounge access. This must be purchased separately. The queue to the restaurant in the business class lounge was very long and the access management was disorganised. The airport itself is quite monumental, but is more shopping centre than airport. it is no longer a good transit hub, and doesn’t really deserve its high ratings. Qatar Airways is great in the air, but the ground experience really detracts from the overall product quality.