Flying Qatar Airlines

[Gerry Addison]

I'm going to SA in May and was wondering if anyone has flown Qatar Airlines lately and how are they about traveling with rifles?

 

[mdwest]

out of DFW I will only fly Qatar to SA... I have sworn off Delta, American, and United routes entirely...

Traveling with rifles is a little bit of a PIA.. but its easy to work through.. and everything else about the Qatar experience makes it well worth dealing with the rifle frustration..

 

[Hogpatrol]

Good airline albeit more expensive. Check-in with guns at Joburg is by committee that doesn't know what it's doing and can take a LOT of time. Layovers in Doha with guns while transiting can also be problematic. Using other airlines may shorten travel time. Economy after landing will look like the stands after an NFL game. Actually like Times Square after New Year's Eve.

 

[Paul G]

Anyone who knows anything about travel is going to try and Book Q. One of the very best airlines and top 2 airports on the planet. I would try to snag a flight with the Q-Suites bs standard biz class if you are going business. A layover in Doha a lot of the time is long and over night, but you can find some routing with a layover during the day. Doha is a cool place get out of the airport if you have time, if you do end up with a long overnight layover, get a room in the airport hotel, I think it's free in biz class.

Guns are no problem at all.

Paul

 

[Paul G]

Good airline albeit more expensive. Check-in with guns at Joburg is by committee that doesn't know what it's doing and can take a LOT of time. Layovers in Doha with guns while transiting can also be problematic. Using other airlines may shorten travel time. Economy after landing will look like the stands after an NFL game. Actually like Times Square after New Year's Eve.

Guns are only an issue over 12 hrs and no real 12 hr layovers in Doha to JNB that I have ever had to take. Been there there a dozen times over the last decade almost always with a gun. DOH airport is stupid busy on and off at night, during the day it's not too bad usually. At 3 am the airport can be jammed packed, you want to be in the lounge for sure. Never experienced a bad gun check in with Qatar, but it's hit or miss all over the world and even in the US. I have had United take an hour and Singapore take 5 min. Almost depends on the rep you get and if they have a clue.

 

[JimP]

Be prepared for a lot of incompetent help at check in both in Dallas and Joberg.

That along with packed flights and I mean shoehorn packed flights.

If I do go back I will look real hard at Delta and United again just to avoid that extra 8 hour flight from Doha to Joberg and back.

 

[Paul G]

Be prepared for a lot of incompetent help at check in both in Dallas and Joberg.

That along with packed flights and I mean shoehorn packed flights.

If I do go back I will look real hard at Delta and United again just to avoid that extra 8 hour flight from Doha to Joberg and back.

Yes if flying Coach I'd just want to maybe get it over I agree. We always fly first or biz so United and Delta are a Joke and not at all interested. Their product stinks compared to Etihad, Qatar, Singapore, Emirates, Swiss, etc. If you have to transition from west coast to ATL anyway, it's not that much longer of a flight going from LAX - JNB flying with BA, AF, LH, maybe 1-3 hrs is all. Plus ATL is a horrible airport, not that LHR or CDG is any better, at least DOH, FRA and MUC are perfect. If I was in NY or ATL then ya grab the direct, thats a no brainer, not so much on the west coast. Delta also never has award seats on the ATL flight that are not stupid redemptions, at least flying Q you rack up some valuable AA or Alaska Miles. Skyteam is a joke.

 

[Doug3006]

Qatar is my favorite airline. I don‘t recall the firearms paperwork being too bad. TWG helped me with that part. I did have trouble with one particularly clueless ticket counter agent in Dallas who wanted to deny my checked bag because the travel agent at TWG hadn’t done something. Not my gun case…my carry on! I just refused to leave the line and after 30 minutes he finally deemed my checked bag ready for loading.

 

[Hogpatrol]

I agree Qatar is the way to go but for us less moneyed/mileage peons, Qatar business is a non starter. For what they charge for a round trip, I could do two cull hunts including airfare. Last time I checked it was 8618 from Philly, PA to Joburg, Q Suite

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

I have only done 4 trips over. Two on Delta comfort plus. United Polaris and Qatar Q suite. Qatar is hands down way better than the others. I will fly Qatar from now on.
Being close to Houston it's a no brainer. With the layovers on the others it's only 3 hours more travel time and Qatar land at 4am in Johannesburg. That gives an extra day basically. Paperwork for guns was not an issue for me. Houston is easy check in and claiming on way back was a breeze.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

I'm going to SA in May and was wondering if anyone has flown Qatar Airlines lately and how are they about traveling with rifles?

My wife and I took Qatar Airlines from Seattle to Jo'burg and back in August. I never felt that there was any problems at all with the way they handled my rifles. They handled the transfer from seat tax to Qatar to Jo'burg without problem. The only issues were the usual customs and importation that now comes with Zimbabwe. I used Africa Sky to handle the transfer in SA, and it was painless. The customs officials in Bulawayo however kept asking for a "tip" for handling the guns, over and above the $40 each that you already have to pay to bring them in. I didn't pay the "tip" and still got my rifles in and back home.

 

[Paul G]

I agree Qatar is the way to go but for us less moneyed/mileage peons, Qatar business is a non starter. For what they charge for a round trip, I could do two cull hunts including airfare. Last time I checked it was 8618 from Philly, PA to Joburg, Q Suite

During covid they down to 3200 for biz. Was a steal

 

[Hogpatrol]

During covid they down to 3200 for biz. Was a steal

Yes, 2021 when working persons were worried about getting stuck abroad, it was real cheap. IIRC, we flew Q suite from Philly for less than 3k. Now it's 2k for the cheap seats.

 

[Scott CWO]

I'm going to SA in May and was wondering if anyone has flown Qatar Airlines lately and how are they about traveling with rifles?

There are numerous threads and hunting reports mentioning Qatar. Check out my 2022 Zambia and 2021 Botswana reports as well as reports from @Philip Glass. I would recommend Gracy Travel or Travel Express. Your agent or you will have to inform Qatar well ahead of time that you are traveling with firearms. I also recommend that if you start out on another airline, that claim your bags and re-check them directly with Qatar if you have rifles and ammo. Qatar has strict rules about firearms but the good news is that your plane will not leave the gate until your rifles and ammo are onboard. To me, this is worth a few more hours onboard watching a movie or reading a book. I tried borrowing a rifle from a PH on my first African safari and have never done it again in eight more trips. I’m bringing my rifles or I am not going.

 

[Gerry Addison]

Thanks for all the insights on Qatar. I flew with them last year and was impressed and they were actually cheaper than some of the other airlines. This year they are actually more expensive than some and the travel time is significantly longer so we will probably go Delta even though Qatar is all around better airline.

 

[Philip Glass]

There are numerous threads and hunting reports mentioning Qatar. Check out my 2022 Zambia and 2021 Botswana reports as well as reports from @Philip Glass. I would recommend Gracy Travel or Travel Express. Your agent or you will have to inform Qatar well ahead of time that you are traveling with firearms. I also recommend that if you start out on another airline, that claim your bags and re-check them directly with Qatar if you have rifles and ammo. Qatar has strict rules about firearms but the good news is that your plane will not leave the gate until your rifles and ammo are onboard. To me, this is worth a few more hours onboard watching a movie or reading a book. I tried borrowing a rifle from a PH on my first African safari and have never done it again in eight more trips. I’m bringing my rifles or I am not going.

Well said. I won’t be on Qatar this year or until the business class tickets come down out of the atmosphere!

 

[Varminthunter23]

I’ve had great luck with them also. But I’ve not been the last 2 years.

 

[jdemocko]

They were the only choice in 2021. I flew with them from DC to JoBurg and the plane was half full. I had no complaints at the time other than the length of the trip. Check in was fine in DC and I used Bruce on the Joburg end. Same coming back. It took forever to get my guns in DC. I flew Delta last year and the reduced travel time was nice.

 

[revturbo9967]

I’m booking with Qatar this year too. Waiting for my final quote but the figure I got, Qatar is substantially cheaper than delta.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

I'm going to SA in May and was wondering if anyone has flown Qatar Airlines lately and how are they about traveling with rifles?

I flew Qatar Airline from Seattle to Doha and Johannesburg then back in August. No problem at all. I used Africa Sky to handle the rifles in Jo'burg and it was very smooth.