http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111 http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111 http://ie2.trivago.com/images/layoutimages/logos/default.png http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/picture-i10718854 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:30:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/picture-i10718852 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:30:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/picture-i10718850 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:30:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/picture-i10718848 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:30:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/picture-i10718846 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:30:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/picture-i10676410 Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:07:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/picture-i10676408 Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:07:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/picture-i10676402 Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:07:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/picture-i10676394 Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:07:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/picture-i10656840 Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:02:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/picture-i10656836 Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:02:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/picture-i10656834 Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:02:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/review-o131661 Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:47:00 +0100 When we arrived at Doha airport, we were taken by a shuttle bus to the main airport building. As you enter the airport, you will notice that there are two directions you can take which are well signposted. One path takes you to the main part of Doha airport and the second route takes you to any other connecting fights.

Facilities
There is a small food court in the departure lounge at Doha airport. Here you can choose from roll, sandwiches etc to the normal fast food such as burgers and chips. There is also a little shop which sells ice cream and drinks. The prices were very reasonable and no where near as expensive as we expected it to be. There was also a coffee shop.

There are lots of toilet facilities including disabled toilets and mother and baby changing rooms.

There are prayer rooms located in pretty much all areas of the airport.

There are several sections to the departure area. There are rows of seats which are pretty standard in every airport but there were also smaller lounges which had been sectioned off by a glass screen. Inside these lounges were chairs which fully reclined and the rooms are darkened to enable to people to have a sleep if you have to wait a while for your connecting flight. I thought this was a really nice idea but we were too worried about falling asleep and not being able to keen an eye on the luggage to take advantage of this lounge. I found that there was certainly ample seating at Doha airport and the seats were fairly soft and comfortable.

The duty free shop is a fairly large size and sells all the usual items such as cigarettes, perfumes and alcohol. We bought items here and found that we queued for ages and the shop was really busy. We were at the airport at around 3am so we were not expecting it to be so busy.
There is also an electronic duty free area where you can look at mobile phones, camera and video cameras.

There are several smoking rooms at Doha airport and you are only allowed to smoke inside one of these. As you can imagine, they are pretty full, pretty smoky and not very well ventilated.

Luggage
When we checked onto our outbound flight from Gatwick, we were told by the check in girl that we would not need to collect our luggage at Doha airport as it would be flown directly to Bangkok and we had to pick it up there. This was actually a really useful idea because this meant that we could walk around Doha airport without having to drag all our luggage with us. Needless to say our luggage arrive safely at the other end.

Overall
Overall I enjoyed my experience of travelling through Doha airport. Although the airport was busy, I felt that the airport was large enough and modern enough to cope with all the passengers. I really liked the relaxed lounge and felt that more airports should provide these. There were plenty of information boards all around the airport so you are easily able to check for any flight information and there are also information desks if you have any other queries. Check it was efficient and both our flights left on time.

]]> http://www.trivago.co.uk/doha-85212/airport/doha-international-airport-182111/review-o102566 Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:27:00 +0100
We flew with Qatar airways whcih is why we had to go via Doha airport as this is the airlines hub or 'base'.

When we checked in at Gatwick our luggage was checke in on the understanding that we wouldn't see it again until Bangkok and To say I was slightly concerned would be correct as our connection time was a short 40 minutes.

As we landed in Doha, we were met by the shuttle bus to take us to the Terminal building. I noticed that all the planes were just lined up in one long row hence the need for the shuttle bus back to the main doors from the tarmac. When I was there, the airport only had the one terminal building, however they were building a second and interestingly enough I found out that Doha airport was one of the first to start building a whole new terminal that is equipped to handle the new A380 superjumbo.

Anyway as we arrived at the doors we entered through and noticed that there are two lanes you can take - one to come through into Doha or one to carry on to connecting flights.As we were going onto Bangkok we entered through the second passage. This brought us out into the departures lounge which back then (I imagine there is more space now!) was relatively small for an International Airport. As you come through you are located on the ground floor right afacing the duty free shop. To the right are some information desks and toilets and to the left is the smallest smoking room i had ever seen in my life!! On the other side of the shop is a small cafe and if you go upstairs this will ake you to the gates. Now when we were travelling on the way out the airport wasn't very busy at all so it was actually quite nice to walk around and as we had such a short connection time we were literally boarding another aircraft within minutes of coming through into here. I remember literally walking throught the shop and straight back out and then up the stairs to the gate. No waiting around which was ace and made the connection very smooth. At this point I thought how the hell are they going to get all that luggage off and transport all the connecting luggage fast enough onto the new aircraft?

Well I needn't have worried - on our arrival into Bangkok the luggage was there on the carousel for us so I give full praise to the Baggage handlers of Doha airport. Myabe this is something to do with the fact that it is all one terminal and rather than going back and forth between them it is relatively easy to transfers luggage? However they did it they did a good job!!

So after a great outbound experience I was looking forward to passing through the Airport again on my way home. Now as I mentioned I actually went into Doha on the way home for a day trip as our inbound flight was connecting from the morning arrival at 11.30 and wasn't departing again until that evening at 10pm due to availability of the flights so it had been planned to go into Doha and and then go to a hotel too.

As we came in this time we obviously had to go throught the channel for arrivals rather than connections and as we came through here we had to pay our visa fee which can ONLY be paid in cash or card. It is worth noting this as their is nowhere to change money once you are through here. The visa when I went thrugh was just under £17 per person. After you pay this you make your way through to the the security area where you show them your visa and passport and get your stamp in your passport. This took quite some time and their security is very good here - It is also worth noting here that you cannot bring alcohol into the country and so if you have any that you bought from whichever airport you have travlled from you will have it consficated until you are leaving the country. This happened to one of our group so just to make it easier, save any duty free shopping until you are leaving!

After getting through her you come out into main arrivals - this area is also pretty small for an international airport but it does make it easy to get out and be on your way. The outside area of the airport is very clean and spacious and as soon as you come out of the airport car park area there is a huge Carrefour complex. Handy if you need it.

So after spending the day in Doha we had to head back to check in - now this area agina wasn't overly huge and so check in was pretty quick and pain free. (The girl in our party was able to claim back her vodka just in case you're wondering!).
After going through passport control and arriving back into the small departures lounge they have. This time was quite different- the place was rammed!!!
We noticed there wasn't enough seats for everyone so people were just everywhere!
As we had some time to kill this time around I had a good look in the shop - for anyone who doesn't know Doha Airport is tax and duty free so prices are very very good! I bought a bottle of Smirnoff vodka for just over £5 tht back home is worth £15 - what a bargain!! electricals and other stuff are mega cheap too but unfortunately my funds weren't up to these so this is worth remembering for going through here to have money for bargains!

The airport did have a lounge for businees and first class customers and I this would be highly useul to them passengers as they could escape the insanity that was the main lounge. However as soon as a couple of flights boarded the airport became clear again!!
Boarding for this flight was quick and smooth the same as it had been on the outbound leg and to not our luggage had stayed in the airport all day whilst been been in Doha as technically this was a connecting flight booked as one inbound trip. I was worried it might get lost being left that long but no again on arrival back into the UK there was the luggage safe and sound!!

Overall Doha airport when I was here was small and cramped on some occasions however it is woth knowing that it was also very clean and modern and the new terminal they were building looked big. I imagine nowadays there is a lot more space and flying through this airport as long as the levles of the staff is still the same, should be an excellent experience!]]>