What a waste of (their) money, because no-one had the wherewithal to reverse the offload and get you on the flight!

 

a. I don't think the ground staff can; and/or
b. In general, QR staff are petrified about doing anything other than what the official dotted I and crossed T say they should do

 

The cabin may also have been full and the seats already given away to someone else? By that stage the gate crew can do nothing, your seat has already sailed.

It sucks but I can see how there needs to be a line somewhere when offload decisions are made. And it's probably 60+ minutes before departure if there are other passengers to accommodate.

 

Actually there was a similar case like the OP's years ago here in FT, where the passenger was able to get €600 + €600 = €1200 as part of denied boarding and delay in terms of arrival upon a delay out of the EU for a QR ticket. Since UK261 is similar to EU261, it might be worth pursuing GBP 520 for denied boarding, with clear evidence that you were at the gate, and GBP 520 for the delayed arrival. Plus, ask for any substantial losses such as the hotel that you couldn't use, etc... if that is the case.

 

IME this is absolutely correct, I’ve just experienced significant IROPS and delay and the lack of assistance and recovery has been woeful. I’m still mid trip but will report back once home, whenever that might be!

 

We had new flights arranged months ago (due to QR cancelling the original first leg) that had to be scheduled. BKK to DOH to LHR to BHD all in J.
The connection time is 1 hour 10 minutes (arriving 23:55) and I believe that the minimum connection time is 45 minutes. QR833 booked as BA6173.
Somewhere I read that if there is a risk of a missed connection there will be somebody escorting affected passengers from arrival to departure gate. Is this not the norm? I have been on a DOH to DUB flight that was held for about 45 minutes due to late connecting passengers.
The last week of flights have all arrived early!

 

The answer is - it depends...

Yes you will often see staff with various flight number boards stood by the gate to collect people arriving who have tight connections.

And yes the minimum connection time is 45 mins.

If your inbound flight is due to arrive late so that you will have less than 45 mins to connect, you should probably expect to have been offloaded from the connection and to be travelling later.

However, on routes where there may be a lot of passengers connecting from the inbound to the outbound, and where there may be scope to make up time en route, the flight may be held for a short while to avoid many people being offloaded. But this is not some automatic guarantee, and certainly not for major delays to the inbound. They try to run a schedule so won't be able to hold all flights for all delayed passengers

 

Even so, that is normally no defence to claim under UK/EC261 for denied boarding.

 

Of course! I was referring to whether gate staff had any flexibility once you had already been offloaded.

 

Can you explain what the Al Mourjan exit means? I have a trip booked from IAD-DOH-SIN (in one ticket). Do I have to go through immigration during my layover in DOH? If so, based on what you described, is there a separate lane for premium class passengers?

 

No, you don't need to clear immigration at all.
In this case the poster mentioned the Business class Arrivals Lounge which has nothing to do with transfers unless you would enter the State of Qatar on your own discretion.

 

Thank you

 

As ISTFlyer already mentioned, my post relates only to those passengers who are exiting the airport through immigration to head into Doha city, and does not apply if you are transferring within the airport - its confusing for people new to HIA but Al Safwa and Al Mourjan refer to *both* the transfer lounges for first/business class passengers, and if you are exiting the airport, the dedicated arrivals lounge (different from the transit lounge) with its own dedicated immigration lanes

The one thing you should be aware if this is your first time is - most ME airports require you to pass your hand baggage through scanners on arrival of your flight in the transfer area - you DO NOT need to take out laptops/electronic devices or remove shoes, and for this there are also dedicated lanes for premium passengers - look closely/ask someone once you get to the transfers area as the sign to premium transfer lanes is a bit hard to spot...

 

This is very helpful, much appreciated!!

 

When I have a tight connection in Doha I book the Al Maha service. On my last trip it meant I made an already tight connection when we arrived late at a remote gate and needed to get bussed to the terminal. The Al Maha rep was constantly in touch with the departure gate which they held open so we could board later than the usual cutoff time. Although last to board the flight still took off on time.