Sometimes it is wise not to draw attention to a particularly cheap fare an airline has decided to honor.
You can accuse me of being greedy, but I stopped at the transit desk after arriving into Doha and asked if I might convert my pre-issued my hotel voucher to a stay in the airport’s transit hotel.
The agent, at first, was quite open to the idea and began typing. Suddenly, she stopped and a look of confusion spread across her face.
She signaled for her supervisor to come over and they both were pointing to something on their screen and shaking their head. They were speaking Arabic, but it was clear they were talking about the price of my ticket.
I couldn’t help myself. “Good price, isn’t it?” I said, “Golden Ticket!” I was referring to the Golden Ticket sale…Qatar Airways never confirmed whether this was a legitimate sale or mistake fare, but honored all tickets issued.
> Read More: Cheap Qatar Airways Business Class Fare: Mistake or Not?
The supervisor called over his supervisor and the three of them had a conversation that I could not understand, but there was plenty of hand waiving.
Clutching my boarding pass, the supervisor said, “I need to examine your ticket. There is something wrong with it. It’s too cheap.”
Uh oh…
He invited me to sit down and then disappeared.
You Can Fly, But Forget the Hotel
About 10 minutes later, he returned and handed me back my boarding pass. You could see it in his face: he did not like the price of my ticket, stating that because of the “special price” of my ticket, Qatar could not offer me a complimentary hotel. He suggested I use the Al-Mourjan lounge and offered to escort me to the security checkpoint (which was only a few paces away).
I had a choice to make. Just use the layover to work in the lounge or enter the country and try to use the hotel voucher I already had.
> Read More: Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge Doha (DOH) Review
The Qsuite flight had no internet onboard, so I was already behind in work and had blog posts to write. Thus, I decided not to test my luck any further and simply proceeded through security and to the lounge.
But, Qatar Airways nowhere limits its complimentary transit hotel program to tickets exceeding a certain dollar amount or booked in a certain fare class. One rule: the layover must be 12 hours or longer. This was all the arbitrary decision of a supervisor or his supervisor.
CONCLUSION
I had a productive layover in the lounge and will soon fly to Ho Chi Minh City. It wasn’t the layover I was expecting, but at least I did not get stranded in Doha or downgraded to economy class.
My advice: if you are traveling on one of these tickets, don’t talk to an agent about it.
Serves you right for being greedy!
At what point were you on the verge of actually being denied boarding? All I read here is that you just didn’t get access to the hotel. Misleading! Clickbait!
When he snatched my boarding pass and said there was a problem with my ticket.
That’s a far cry from being denied boarding.
I never said I was denied boarding.
You’re grasping at straws here with this comment and the title of this story. This reflects poorly on you.
Matthew seems desperate for clicks
Just happy to share my story. Thanks for reading.
Err the title’s a clickbait. The agent didn’t try to deny you boarding, though he did deny you the free hotel.
everything on boardingarea is clickbait. gotta fund all these travels somehow haha.
So where did the agent try to deny you boarding as per the headline?
Unless I’m missing something they just didn’t give you a complimentary hotel on a cheap ticket?
I don’t see where they tried to deny you boarding.
Sue them!!!
Once you finish your trip, you should then file a complaint with DOT and OneWorld. Then follow up with a lawsuit for breach of contract. They could have chosen to refund your ticket as a mistake fare. But since they honored the ticket, they should honor everything that your ticket is entitled to.
Face / nose / spite.
Why would one want to increase the cost of honoring a mistake fare?
Denied boarding? Uh, no.
I’ve always just booked my own hotel when transiting through Doha. For me I always want to be accountable for my own accommodations in a foreign country.
Cmon you ppl… This guy, even though he has flown millions of miles and is a lawyer (a profession that is a stickler for terminology), does not know what ‘denied boarding’ means… Or maybe he does and ‘we’ don’t…
(sarcasm)
When five other people have made a comment before you and you go to type in the exact same comment, do you somehow feel as though you are helping or adding to the conversation in any way?
There is something wrong with your post’s title. It’s too misleading.
You just invite trouble where ever you travel
That is 3 incidents in as just as many months
http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2018/01/18/qatar-airways-denied-boarding/
Qatar airways denied boarding.
No they didnt. Clickbait.
Come on, it a single post….at least this isn’t a multi-post saga like the Ethiopian episode (at least not yet)
Well, shoot… Matthew, apparently I’m the only person who finds this bit of information interesting and useful.
If I’m ever lucky enough to snag a long flight in J on QR for under USD 1.000, I’ll not bother with the free hotel in Doha. I agree, probably isn’t worth the risk, and in many cases, I’d rather spend an evening in the Al-Mourjan anyway.