Flights

[Red Leg]

Very interesting, current thread. I'm looking to go back to Africa, not for work but this time for hunting. 25 years ago the airlines were different, in ownership, and service. BA was my go to but not anymore. I have been reading reviews about Quatar Airways, and they sound like what Emirates was 25 years ago. Looking at flying out of Houston Intercontinental on a non stop to JNB.

Not non-stop out of Houston on Qatar. Houston/ Doha/ JNB.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Some of the Philly flights on QATAR are now stopping in Boston before going on to Doha.

 

[Rare Breed]

A year ago April on Qatar and 5 years ago with Emirates.

Wow. A year ago July took Qatar and great experience.

 

[Areaonereal]

Houston to Joberg…Run out of fuel non stop…

 

[JimP]

I'm sitting in South Africa right now. We got here from Denver on AA with our bags checked through to Joberg including rifles but Dallas was a cluster fk with Qatar. Last year the gate agent handled the surrender permit this year we had to go to the main check in to do it, we.we never did pick up our rifles.

It.It was.was bad enough that some of us in economy came close to missing our flight.

As for Qatar economy seating I won't say that it is any better than the others but it's no worse.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

I flew Qatar RT last June from Houston to Doha to Johannesburg and it was one of the best flight experiences I've had (and I fly a lot with work). Everything was pretty smooth and easy starting with Check-in at IAH. The ticketing agent and I actually talked a bunch about my bow since her daughter was interested in Archery and was wondering where to go in order to get her into it.

This summer I'm flying Dallas to Atlanta to Johannesburg via Delta for the first part of my hunt. Then flying Johannesburg to Windhoek for the second part of my hunt and Windhoek to Doha to Dallas home via Qatar.

 

[Jaegger]

@buckshot85 …

I‘ve flown Qatar x 3, 2018 to Namibia & 2020 + 2021 to S. Africa without issue on: schedule, departure times, seating, etc. spot-on. They fly modern aircraft, courtesy counter & onboard staff/service, Economy Plus has a standard 2/luggage limit & if your rifle breaks down to a small case it can be counted as 2nd bag, free!

I will keep it real … I only fly Lufthansa from Germany to US, but I‘m sure American International carriers had a better reliability & customer service record pre-COVID BUT today … in real-time, some US carriers are seriously “blowing oil” on reliablity, scheduling, & customer care. I’m not a gambling man …

Happy Trails

 

[Ivorygrip]

I'm sitting in South Africa right now. We got here from Denver on AA with our bags checked through to Joberg including rifles but Dallas was a cluster fk with Qatar. Last year the gate agent handled the surrender permit this year we had to go to the main check in to do it, we.we never did pick up our rifles.

It.It was.was bad enough that some of us in economy came close to missing our flight.

As for Qatar economy seating I won't say that it is any better than the others but it's no worse.

That is not fun, but seems to be the biggest hang up with Qatar. Will you have to claim your guns in Dallas and have to go thru main Qatar checkin or will you not and give the surrender forum to the gate agent and sign it with them??? We are scheduled for June 30th TUS-DFW-DOH-HRE.
I have done the notification with Qatar for flying with guns.
has anyone else experienced what @JimP had to do with rechecking the guns or do you give it to the gate agent and relax?
we have 5hrs in DFW also So we “should” have lots of time.

 

[JimP]

Qatar is even worse coming home.

After we collected our rifles in Joberg we headed to the Qatar counter. After close to 4 hours in line the last of 11 of us had the surrender permit done and are waiting for our flight to Doha.

They had a single agent working with us to get the permits handed in.

For Dallas I would go straight upstairs and deal with the ticket agent they handled us alright even with our rifles checked all the way through

 

[Ivorygrip]

Qatar is even worse coming home.

After we collected our rifles in Joberg we headed to the Qatar counter. After close to 4 hours in line the last of 11 of us had the surrender permit done and are waiting for our flight to Doha.

They had a single agent working with us to get the permits handed in.

For Dallas I would go straight upstairs and deal with the ticket agent they handled us alright even with our rifles checked all the way through

Ok thankfully we aren’t going thru JNB.

 

[Hunt anything]

Qatar is even worse coming home.

After we collected our rifles in Joberg we headed to the Qatar counter. After close to 4 hours in line the last of 11 of us had the surrender permit done and are waiting for our flight to Doha.

They had a single agent working with us to get the permits handed in.

For Dallas I would go straight upstairs and deal with the ticket agent they handled us alright even with our rifles checked all the way through

On our departure out of Johannesburg the Qatar desk was handled by South Africans, typical hurry up and wait fiasco, after saying one of our tickets was invalid and they kept asking who paid for the tickets And where they were bought I finally had to shut up and let my wife handle it. We were the last ones to board as they were closing the doors and when we arrived in Doha had to go through security again and then again prior to boarding.