Miss GO and I recently ran the gauntlet from FCO-xDOH-SYD on the 16th April.
This was an Avios flight that had been booked back in 2025, cancelled, and then re-booked with QR in J class for both legs.
Pre-flight stuff was a little annoying. QR changed the time of the FCO-DOH leg by an hour (perfectly fine) and then kept bombarding me with messages saying that I needed to review and approve the changes. It was impossible to do this on-line or via the QR app. I checked everyday for a week, couldn't do it, but also saw that they hadn't cancelled the flight on us either. Rather than spend hours on the phone line, my plan was just to get to the airport early and holler EU 261 if it all went to custard...
Pleasingly, our experience at FCO airport was very smooth. No issues checking in, no mention of the schedule change, and our bags were checked straight through to SYD, with both sets of boarding passes given at the time. The only hiccup here was that no lounge access was to be granted due to these flights being Avios redemptions. That was resolved once I whipped out the QF WP card... oooh, OWE - that makes all the difference! No issue that I had booked the flight using QR Avios but was now claiming lounge access as OWE ex-QR.
I ran into a small snag here also - QR uses full passenger names but QFF just gives the middle initial... and their systems won't talk to one another. Mr Growing R Older cannot identify as Mr Growing Rxx_xx_ Older. The FF numbers cannot be substituted in such circumstances - OK for me, as the flight was on Avios and not eligible for FF points or SC - but one to beware! The check-in agent wrote my QFF number and OWE status on the boarding passes and that was enough to gain lounge access in both FCO and DOH.
Lounge access at FCO was very comfortable, for the small time that we were there. Then boarding time, with plenty of QR agents in FCO to shepherd us through the gates, onto the buses, and then the plane.
FCO-DOH on QR 116 was everything that I expect in J class. Individual attention from the attendants, being addressed by name, pre-flight beverage, pyjamas. The menu was great for a 5-1/2 hour flight - I went for the lobster and the beef (both superb).
This was the first of 2 FCO-DOH flights per day and the J cabin was perhaps two-thirds full. Service was impeccable - my champagne glass was never empty, chocolates were offered periodically, and the attendants were always close by if you needed anything. Without the backdrop of a shaky ceasefire, you would never have known that QR was in any way changed.
Arrival at DOH was very different. The place was a ghost-town! Staff were on hand every couple of hundred metres to direct arriving passengers towards a single transfer / security point, going completely against the direction that the pink signs were otherwise saying. The driverless trains were also running - without any passengers. And there were no airlines parked there apart from QR.
Transfer was seamless and once in the main area (with the giant bear), more passengers were milling around... but a fraction of my own past experiences here. When I got to the lounge, it was even starker - there were more staff and cleaners in the QR Platinum North lounge than guests (around 5pm local time). We had just a 3 hour transit and then a Q suites flight to SYD, so we didn't trouble anybody too much.
QR 908 boarded by group, with us J folk in Group 1. That didn't stop the hordes from descending upon check-in staff... there were 5 different families (of 5 pax each!) trying to push through first. Luckily the QR staff held their nerve, enforced the boarding policy, and we got onto our Q suite unscathed. There was better attendance in the J cabin here than for the Rome flight but then this was the only flight to SYD from wherever one came from in Europe. I'd estimate capacity at 75-80%.
Personalised greetings again, dinner and breakfast orders taken, new set of PJ's. The menu was a little less inviting than for my FCO-DOH flight strangely. I didn't photograph it but recall being underwhelmed in all categories. My Rome beef was much better than my Doha fish. And my lobster sandwich was an open-faced thing on rye bread... not quite what I was expecting. Nothing bad about the food but the comparison with a much shorter flight's offering was definitely felt.
The flight itself was smooth. It took around 2 hours to completely escape Middle Eastern air-space (off the east coast of Oman) and for us to breathe a comfortable sigh of relief. We arrived early into SYD. Tick!
So, in a very long answer to your question
@Princess Fiona - it was fine, safe and no different to my previous times flying QR in J class. DOH airport was definitely different - and a shorter transit time was a bonus - but QR offered exactly the same kind of service as I have always experienced from them.
Good luck!
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