search.noResults

search.searching

dataCollection.invalidEmail
note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
INB O X YOUR LE T T E R S Star letter V I S A I S SUE S


I am a Oneworld Diamond and Emerald member of both Cathay Pacific and Qantas. The recent award- winning business class seat on Qatar Airways has prompted me to travel with Qatar to Europe and India from Australia. T e business service was indeed fantastic and the Qatar staff on board were very professional. But my experience with the ground staff from Qatar at London Gatwick and Chennai airports left a little to be desired.


16


On September 26, I travelled from London Gatwick to Chennai via Doha. The lone first class check-in counter had a longer waiting time than the economy check-in counter. After a long time waiting, I asked a female staff member why it was so slow to check in and discussed if she should channel some first class travellers to other counters. Once I finally reached the counter, the staff member asked if I had a visa for my travel to India. I explained that I hold an APEC card and this must cover India, as indicated by “IND”. The staff accepted my explanation and issued my boarding pass to Chennai. On my arrival at 0230 on September 27, the Indian Immigration Office informed me that I did not have a visa, and that the “IND” on my APEC card referred to Indonesia. I was astounded that the Qatar staff in Heathrow were not aware of this and had proceeded with issuing my boarding pass. The Indian Immigration Office informed Qatar staff immediately and advised me to board a flight back to Doha. I waited for two hours before ground staff from Qatar arrived to inform me that the flight had already departed at 0330. I was also told that I had to book a next-day flight at my own cost. For the next three hours,


STAR L E T TER PR I Z E


This month’s Star Letter winner will receive one of


the new Business Traveller-branded cabin-size


suitcases from Timothy Travel Essentials


(timothytravel


essentials.co.uk). For your chance to win the


Star Letter, email us at editorial@ businesstraveller asia.com and include your full postal address and daytime telephone


number. We


reserve the right to edit letters.


I attempted to make these arrangements on a travel agent’s website using their staff phone, including flights to Singapore, Hong Kong and all cities in Australia without success, mainly due to unavailable flights or unusual routes. In the end, I decided to book one of two business class seats that were available from Chennai to London via Doha, but this failed due to my credit card being rejected. Finally, at 0630 (Perth time 0830), I was able to contact my travel agent in Australia. They advised me to postpone my own booking and they would negotiate a booking with Qatar Airlines’ head office. They later came back to me with the unfortunate news that Qatar staff had refused to book a flight at their cost. My travel agent began to assist me in arranging a flight back to London at my own expense. At 0800, four Qatar staff at Chennai airport came to meet me in the immigration hall, where I had been held for the past five hours. While two staff still advised me to book flights back to Australia at my own cost, one of them took me aside, and much to my delight said that they could book a flight for me to London at the airline’s cost. I immediately informed my travel agent so as to avoid a double-booking. At 0900, I received a booking confirmation to fly back to London the next day at 0330 (September 28) in economy class, not the original business class. I finally left the immigration hall and was directed to the local Qatar lounge, the Travel Club. I was told by staff at the Travel Club that they could only allow me to stay for four hours. If I wanted to stay until my departure time (in 13 hours), I would have to pay an additional cost of US$266. The Travel Club itself is quite basic, with few facilities but relatively comfortable chairs in the room.


T E LL US ABOU T YOUR T R A VE L S AT EDIT ORIAL@B U S INE S S T R A VE L L E R A S IA . C OM


DE C EMB E R 20 19


bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68