Qatar Airways

[aviatorconcorde]

Reports on another forum QR flights are bookable up until end of March. Not for April but back on for May?

Im on the DOH-CWL tomorrow morning. I'll report back on how that goes.

 

[aviatorconcorde]

Reports on another forum QR flights are bookable up until end of March. Not for April but back on for May?

Im on the DOH-CWL tomorrow morning. I'll report back on how that goes.

 

[Jerry]

Must just be another glitch. Enjoy your flight!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Reports on another forum QR flights are bookable up until end of March. Not for April but back on for May?

Im on the DOH-CWL tomorrow morning. I'll report back on how that goes.

For clarification. I 'liked' your post not because of a possible glitch in the booking system but because you will post a report on your trip.

 

[aviatorconcorde]

For clarification. I 'liked' your post not because of a possible glitch in the booking system but because you will post a report on your trip.

Ahh No worries. The trip report will be out in a week or two!

154 on the DOH-CWL just now. As i boarded there was maybe 5-6 free seats in business and the rest in economy. A respectable load in my opinion.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Ahh No worries. The trip report will be out in a week or two!

154 on the DOH-CWL just now. As i boarded there was maybe 5-6 free seats in business and the rest in economy. A respectable load in my opinion.

That's pretty good in my book at this stage of the route's development - over 60% lf. I don't think Qatar enjoys quite as high lfs in the UK as, say, Emirates. As always of course, we don't know the yield but this does show people are prepared to use the route in decent numbers.

 

[Jerry]

It is good that they do seem to be getting good load factors in the business class cabin as well.

 

[aviatorconcorde]

That's pretty good in my book at this stage of the route's development - over 60% lf. I don't think Qatar enjoys quite as high lfs in the UK as, say, Emirates. As always of course, we don't know the yield but this does show people are prepared to use the route in decent numbers.

There was a Japanese Tour group aboard, as I was leaving the aircraft a woman came out with a flag. They also must of come from haneda as there was quite a few bags going around the carousel from there. Also a few frequent flyers aboard as I could see by tags on their bags.

Was quite amusing to be sitting in the gate area at DOH and hearing all the Welsh accents. Someone was talking about "Dai Griffiths who moved back to Nottage (Town near Powrthcawl) from Australia"

 

[Jerry]

I can't remember if it was on here or not but someone mentioned a Japanese tour party on a previous flight so hopefully it'll be a regular thing!

 

[Jerry]

It does sound like the Doha route might be popular with Japanese tourists as i saw a post online mentioning 2 groups on yesterdays flight. The poster also mentioned how using the Qatar flight was so much easier than using Heathrow.

With reference to long haul being talked about in the Bristol forum it would be great to know how many people from the South West are using the Qatar CWL flights!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It does sound like the Doha route might be popular with Japanese tourists as i saw a post online mentioning 2 groups on yesterdays flight. The poster also mentioned how using the Qatar flight was so much easier than using Heathrow.

With reference to long haul being talked about in the Bristol forum it would be great to know how many people from the South West are using the Qatar CWL flights!

Other than anecdotal comments we probably won't know for certain. If a lot of people from the West Country (the further South West might not be so productive because of distance) are using the service it makes a mockery of one of the many reasons the Qatar CEO gave for not using BRS in that he thought those in the BRS catchment would have other options besides BRS and cited BHX as one of them. Or perhaps he thinks Bristol area people would use CWL in greater numbers than they would have used BRS.

He is an interesting man. I note he has made a 'heartfelt apology' this week for making a remark that many people took to be sexist.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Further to my last post, our local (Bristol) grandson spoke to me last night to say he had booked a trip to Australia. He's 21 and is going with a mate from his cricket club for six months in October on a working visa - they have personal contacts in Oz through cricket. They went to a major long haul travel specialist in the city and were looking for a good deal.

They finished up with Etihad from Heathrow to Melbourne via Abu Dhabi. He knew nothing about the Qatar service from CWL - he has no interest in aviation and I never talk about the subject with him. I asked him if the travel agent mentioned CWL and Qatar. They didn't. Whether it was because any deal with Qatar from CWL would have been more expensive than Etihad from LHR I don't know.

 

[Aviador]

In the aviation world we kind of expect everyone to know about new routes like this but many people just don't know. Some people will just assume long haul flights will only be available from Heathrow.

Airline social media campaigns are becoming more and more important and it is probably the best way to spread the word about new routes like this as people are more likely to be glued to FB, Twitter,(or F4A) than watching regional news programmes.

 

[Bcn_boy]

Many agents used to work on commission and will plug the airline/operator to give them that. Not sure if it is still the same.

 

[kraktoa]

I regularly compare flight prices from CWL to Doha and then onwards to India as i have relatives in both those countries.

The flights out of LHR to India via Doha are usually cheaper by about £80 to £100

 

[Aviador]

I regularly compare flight prices from CWL to Doha and then onwards to India as i have relatives in both those countries.

The flights out of LHR to India via Doha are usually cheaper by about £80 to £100

Is it worth the hassle travelling to Heathrow when you can fly from an airport so much closer to home? Once you've paid for petrol and parking the savings won't be as impressive?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I regularly compare flight prices from CWL to Doha and then onwards to India as i have relatives in both those countries.

The flights out of LHR to India via Doha are usually cheaper by about £80 to £100

That would suggest the CWL flights are selling at least satisfactorily if the airline does not feel the need to reduce fares to attract passengers.

 

[superking]

Is there freight on every rotation,if so then pax numbers would not need to be full either way.

 

[Finger66]

There are so many things taken into account to determine fares available on any route. Some examples are below:
The availability of the specific flights/forward sales.
The potential market between two specific points. This may not just be to DOH. For example the Indian market from London maybe greater and they will do what they can to attract that market.
Sales and marketing support may be given to specific travel agents or group of agents.
As has been mentioned the freight/cargo "top up"
Two months into a new route is too early to be jumping to too many conclusions

 

[TheLocalYokel]

There are so many things taken into account to determine fares available on any route. Some examples are below:
The availability of the specific flights/forward sales.
The potential market between two specific points. This may not just be to DOH. For example the Indian market from London maybe greater and they will do what they can to attract that market.
Sales and marketing support may be given to specific travel agents or group of agents.
As has been mentioned the freight/cargo "top up"
Two months into a new route is too early to be jumping to too many conclusions

This discussion came about following my post above #692 which suggested that at one national long haul travel specialist in Bristol Qatar from CWL was not given as an option to passengers from Bristol booking to Australia who had no idea of the route's existence.