Qatar Airways Delay from Doha to Adelaide

Ljackwilk on 16/05/2022 - 13:06

Hi, I flew recently from Europe to Adelaide via Doha on Qatar Airways.

My Australian flight was delayed in Doha by 12 hours due to technical issues.
At the Doha airport, we received food court vouchers for 30 AUD equivalents, covering pretty much coffee, water and a sandwich.
Passengers with a current PCR test were sent to a city based hotel at the airline cost.
Rest of the passengers including myself were left wandering around the airport. No access to the Qatar lounge and no access to the airport hotel.
No other help whatsoever.
I arrived home 12 hours late, very tired and very upset.

The delay was clearly at the airlines fault and the poor communication and appalling treatment of passengers was just disgraceful, not what you expect from one of the world's best airlines. I understand that technical issues do happen, but I expected airport hotel accommodation, or at least access to the Qatar lounge.

Just wondering if anyone was in a similar situation and what are my options for any compensation, if any.
Can I approach Qatar directly, or go straight for sites like sky refund.

Thanks in advance

Travel

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Comments

  • Hybroid on 16/05/2022 - 13:11
    +2

    If you started journey in AU: https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/health-home-travel/flight-…

    If it's a one-way from EU: https://www.qatarairways.com/en-au/legal/eu-air-passenger-ri…

    Really should read your ticket T&Cs.

    • jackwilk on 16/05/2022 - 13:16

      Hi, thanks for quick reply. It was a return trip AU-EU via Doha, and back. Booked and paid here.

      • Hybroid on 16/05/2022 - 13:21
        +2

        Hmm, I think you might be SOL then.

        All passengers on a flight departing from a European airport are covered by EC 261. However, as Qatar Airways is not a European airline, they do not need to pay EC 261 compensation when they are flying outside of Europe, or even on flights to Europe if the departure airport is outside the EU.

        I would still lodge a claim though and see what happens, could potentially get EUR 600, although expect it to be rejected.

        Alternatively, there's fair few third party sites that will do the application for you and then keep a 30-50% cut if successful.

      • Drakesy on 16/05/2022 - 13:23
        +4

        Sounds like you could be eligible for a hefty refund given it falls under the EU jurisdiction.

        Compensation (delays) - Between an EU airport and a non-EU airport
        Delay at arrival Flight distance Compensation
        More than 2 hours 1,500 km or less EUR 250
        4 hours or more 1,500 km to 3,500 km EUR 400
        4 hours or more Over 3,500 km EUR 600

        Maybe Qatar choose not to follow it up because they'll get shafted by every passenger.

  • jackwilk on 16/05/2022 - 13:32
    +1

    Thanks for your comments. I keep looking for a Qatar direct link, but can't find it, aside from the feedback. I might need to call them and be very persistent :)

  • Muzeeb on 16/05/2022 - 13:41
    +5

    An aircraft technical issue is always best experienced on the ground rather than airborne. Shit happens. Things break. Stuff goes wrong. Aviation is one of the most dynamic industries.

  • AirbusA389 on 16/05/2022 - 14:04
    +1

    were you able to pay to access to their lounge? i paid USD 50 to access the lounge back in 2015-16. I had never appreciated such paid privileges until covid hit.

    i guess we still need PCR tests prior to flying. what a pain

    • jackwilk on 16/05/2022 - 14:34

      Qatar lounge didn't accept paying customers, it's either members or special stamp from the transfer desk.

    • 88mph on 16/05/2022 - 16:45

      Whilst I applaud your username, you do know there is no A389, nor a A380-900 variant 😁

      Typo perhaps, change to A388 (aka A380-800 variant) is well and in service…

      • AirbusA389 on 16/05/2022 - 16:50
        +1

        i always want things that i can't have…….

        i'll change my userid to A350-800 then.

  • Donaldhump on 16/05/2022 - 14:08

    compensation? how much money did you lose?
    other than boring as shit is it a big deal.

    • jackwilk on 16/05/2022 - 14:42
      -1

      Good point, but on the other hand don't airlines have responsibility to take care of their passengers if your flight is delayed by 12 hours due to technical / operational fault on their side? Its not 1 or 2 hours.

      • Tony-Abbott on 16/05/2022 - 16:14

        No.

      • MrHyde on 16/05/2022 - 16:30

        No. Airlines only responsibility (as per the T&Cs) is to get you from Point A to Point B. There is no guarantee of food, service, timeframe, or anything else you can think of.

      • Donaldhump on 16/05/2022 - 22:24

        12 hours isn’t the end of the world, take a bus and do a day tour of Doha.not like your stuck in the middle of a war torn country being bombed to shit

        It’s not great but hardly a huge issue, wanting to milk it for more than food money I think is taking the piss.

        Oh wait you wouldn’t do a pcr test, your choice

  • newjerseydamo on 16/05/2022 - 14:32
    +2

    You said those with a PCR test were sent to the hotel.
    So they in fact did provide that to customers, just not you, because obviously you didn't have a PCR test. That's not the airline's fault.

    • jackwilk on 16/05/2022 - 14:39

      Yes, but should't they have a fall back position for customers without a valid PCR test?
      PCR isn't required to enter Australia.

      • Trance N Dance on 16/05/2022 - 15:34
        +11

        But it's required to enter Qatar, and that's why you weren't provided a city hotel because you couldn't enter Qatar. The fallback is to give you a food and drink voucher and let you wait in the airport terminal.

  • [Deactivated] on 16/05/2022 - 14:38
    +4

    now the vaccinated are winging, be happy you were allowed to leave comaustralia

    • jackwilk on 16/05/2022 - 14:42

      true :)

  • payless69 on 16/05/2022 - 14:43

    Emirates is no better at all!

  • jackwilk on 16/05/2022 - 15:13

    I guess in all honesty, I was never in this situation before and I don't know what to expect. Looking at your comments, maybe I'm expecting too much from the airlines.
    Maybe in the post pandemic travel we should be happy we are allowed to travel…
    Thanks for all your comments, much appreciated.

  • Trance N Dance on 16/05/2022 - 15:36
    -1

    Considering the flight was exEurope, claim EU261 compensation. You're entitled to EU600 in compensation.
    As mentioned by Hybroid - https://www.qatarairways.com/en-au/legal/eu-air-passenger-ri…

    • Tony-Abbott on 16/05/2022 - 16:15
      +1

      The flight that was delayed was not ex the EU, unless Doha is part of the EU. Stop making up rubbish.
      The first flight was EU, that flight was NOT delayed.

      The only Airline that can claim going into Australia (as per the EU) is Qantas going LHR-DRW/PER direct and soon FCO-PER.

      • Stewardo on 16/05/2022 - 17:07

        LHR isn’t in the EU

        • Tony-Abbott on 16/05/2022 - 17:56

          In relation to the EU airline passenger compensation it is.

          • Stewardo on 17/05/2022 - 09:40
            +1

            @Tony-Abbott: It’s not, LHR is now covered by UK261 an independent set of regulations, albeit very similar.

      • itx on 16/05/2022 - 18:08
        +1

        That's not quite right. There's case law in the European Court of Justice saying that connecting flights on the same itinerary are considered as a single journey for the purposes of EU261 - see, for example: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A… (in that case, the passenger was flying Germany to Morocco then domestically within Morocco, and the second flight was delayed)

        So I think EU261 is entirely possible technically (though good luck trying to explain that to overworked staff at a non-EU airline)

        • Tony-Abbott on 16/05/2022 - 18:11

          But back to reality, there is close to zero chance of it even being looked at.

      • Trance N Dance on 16/05/2022 - 19:35
        +2

        For EU261 compensation it's not the delay on only the first flight out of europe that's counted but it's for the entire journey from start to end in which case this is exEurope all the way to Adelaide and the journey was delayed.

  • dahax77 on 16/05/2022 - 16:26
    +1

    Did you have travel insurance??

    If yes you probably should have looked into it at the time to see if it covered delays - I know my Amex Platinum insurance pays out $700 per person for any flight delay over 4 hours for accomodation, food etc.

    If yes you could have paid for the airside hotel etc and claimed the money back - just something to be aware of in the future.

  • Mechz on 16/05/2022 - 17:57
    +3

    I guess don't support terrible countries national airlines then?

  • Sauvignon on 17/05/2022 - 08:48
    +4

    OK - Same thing happened to me back in 2019

    Brussels to Melbourne via DOHA - my DOHA >MEL flight got delayed I think from memory was 6 hours. There are EU laws surrounding delays even if its a connecting flight from a non EU country as long as all flights were on the one ticket.

    You can deal with them on your own but I used Airhelp (https://www.airhelp.com/en/) filled out a simple form and 13 months (yes it was a long time) got compensated. Depending on how much Airhelp needs to fight for you (in my case they took legal action because the airline decline their claim) they'll take a % of the compensation. In my case it was about 50%

    Proof: https://imgur.com/a/1s3DlzM

    Not associated - not even going to share my referral link - just sharing a simple way of dealing with this kinda stuff.

    • jackwilk on 17/05/2022 - 08:59

      Thanks for sharing, cheers

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