DCA-PHL<\/strong><\/p>\n I arrived at DCA before dawn because my international itinerary meant that I had to check in with an American Airlines agent instead of using the kiosks near the airport’s metro entrance. \u00a0The agent printed off my boarding passes for all three legs of my trip (this will be important later).<\/p>\n I showed up to the gate in DCA and my American Airline’s aircraft was not there, despite the fact that our plane\u00a0was scheduled to board in ten minutes. \u00a0About thirty minutes after the plane was scheduled to take off, we see it being towed into the gate. \u00a0The gate agent explained that the plane was sitting in the hanger the entire time but the ground crew failed to bring it out. \u00a0That would make sense as it was the first flight of the day, but I was not able to verify that information.<\/p>\n My complimentary upgrade cleared so I boarded the plane first. \u00a0After about ten minutes of boarding, a passenger boarded the plane, looked down the aisle, immediately turned to look toward the cockpit, and vomited all over the fight attendant’s kitchen area. \u00a0It took another 35 minutes for a cleaning crew to arrive and clean up the mess. \u00a0Thankfully it smelled like vodka, so it could have been much worse. \u00a0Much worse. \u00a0If you were wondering, yes she boarded the plane and continued on her trip to PHL. \u00a0Judging by her attire, she and the gentlemen traveling with her were going somewhere very warm after Philly.<\/p>\n Picture of vomit omitted. \u00a0Yes I took a picture.<\/em><\/p>\n We pushed back from the gate 45 minutes prior to boarding for my PHL-DOH flight, so I was certainly cutting it close. \u00a0The captain explained that we were going to fly at a 9,000 foot ceiling and that beverage service was suspended because of predicted turbulence. \u00a0No worries, just GET ME TO PHL ASAP. \u00a0After flying “fast and furious” (the flight attendant’s own words), we landed 27 minutes after takeoff, shaving a solid 8 minutes off the flying time. \u00a0The taxi to our gate was fairly quick.<\/p>\n PHL-DOH<\/strong><\/p>\n My incoming American flight and outgoing Qatar flight were a few gates (with large gaps in between) so I arrived right when business class started boarding. \u00a0The boarding crew member could not accept my boarding pass because it was issued by American Airlines. \u00a0Even though this was a code share flight, I had to go to the Qatar desk (which had a fairly significant\u00a0line) to print off a Qatar boarding pass. \u00a0I made it to the front of the line when economy was almost finished boarding.<\/p>\n I handed my two American Airlines boarding passes (PHL-DOH, DOH-DWC) to the agent who seemed confused. \u00a0They had no record of me on the DOH-DWC so they would have to take my boarding pass. \u00a0I explained that I bought a ticket on that flight and just needed Qatar to reprint the boarding pass. \u00a0By this point, Qatar issued a last call and I was the only passenger not on the plane. \u00a0The manager walked over, apologized for the confusion, and promised to have everything sorted out by the time I landed in Qatar, about 12 hours later. \u00a0An agent would be waiting for me at the gate.<\/p>\n The Qatar A350 flight <\/a>was about an hour late pushing off, but it was an amazing flight. \u00a0The food and drinks were delicious. \u00a0The plane was spacious. \u00a0The service was attentive. \u00a0Top notch, no complaints here.<\/p>\n Forward half\u00a0of the Qatar A350’s business class cabin.<\/em><\/p>\n I was served champagne during the take-off delay.<\/em><\/p>\n Doha, Qatar<\/strong><\/p>\n When you start your decent to Qatar, all you see is desert and the Persian Gulf. \u00a0Doha definitely appeared to be a desolate place. \u00a0After arriving about 30 minutes late, we deplaned on the tarmac and hopped on a bus. \u00a0There was no agent waiting for me with an updated boarding pass. \u00a0The DOH airport was one big line of folks waiting to get through security. \u00a0Since I did not have a boarding pass, I headed to Qatar’s customer service desk.<\/p>\n The customer service desk was an interesting place. \u00a0Qatar had a ton of agents but they all needed approval from a single manager to do anything. \u00a0After waiting through a large line, I arrived at the desk 25 minutes prior to the departure of my DOH-DWC flight. \u00a0After working with two agents, they finally had to call over the manager. \u00a0Qatar had no record of me being on the DOH-DWC flight and, by the way, it was fully booked. \u00a0The manager agent worked on my issue for about 30 minutes, during which a large line of agents (who presumably needed approval for everything) formed. \u00a0The customer service desk ground to a halt.<\/p>\n My flight left with me stuck at the customer service desk. \u00a0After apologizing again, they asked if it would be ok if they put me in the first class lounge while they figured out what happened. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42 \u00a0Not a problem.<\/p>\n You have to walk for awhile to get to the lounge but its main area is amazing. \u00a0There’s a two story waterfall thing that is completely silent. \u00a0I showered and hooked up to the internet. \u00a0Up until this point, I had no email or cell service in Qatar. \u00a0My international data plan apparently does not include Qatar? \u00a0I start to piece together what happened. \u00a0A second reservation has appeared on my American Airlines account. \u00a0At this point I thought that Qatar automatically canceled the third leg of the first flight, so I thought it was their fault.<\/p>\n The manager appeared in the lounge to discuss my flight situation. \u00a0She said the third leg was canceled but that she could not confirm it if was Qatar’s fault. \u00a0SERIOUSLY! \u00a0Who are these people? \u00a0Qatar could also not rebook me on the next flight because they still did not understand how my flight was canceled. \u00a0She was nice enough to let me use her work phone to call a travel agent in the U.S. who, after three separate 20 minute phone calls, was able to book me on the next flight to Dubai. \u00a0This flight went to a different airport (DXB) because the one other flight to my original airport (DWC) was booked full. \u00a0The flight was scheduled to depart in 90 minutes, so I had some more time to explore the lounge (I’ll do a full write up on it).<\/p>\n DOH-DXB<\/strong><\/p>\n Qatar flies a three-cabin plane with lie flat seats in business and first class for this hour-long flight! \u00a0Score. \u00a0I’ll also fully review this plane in a later post. \u00a0I landed in Dubai around 2p–my original arrival time was scheduled for 9 a.m.<\/p>\n Qatar’s regional business class. \u00a0I had an aisle seat on the right side of the aircraft.<\/em><\/p>\n Who done it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n I was ultimately 5\u00a0hours late to Dubai which was a bummer because I was going to nap near the pool to help me adjust to the time change. \u00a0Not anymore.<\/p>\n The hotel’s pool in Dubai.<\/em><\/p>\n Now that I’ve arrived back in the US, I can figure out how I ended up stranded in Doha. \u00a0I started by emailing American Airlines’s Customer Service and received this response:<\/p>\n We are sorry there was some confusion with your connecting flight on your recent trip to Dubai. Regrettably, your reservation was canceled as a result our agent rebooking you when your flight from DCA delayed. Fortunately, the new booking was not needed. However, because it wasn’t canceled, the cancellation of your subsequent reservations was automatic since it is our practice to cancel continuing or return reservations whenever any segment of a confirmed itinerary is not used and we are not contacted by the customer. This policy helps to reduce the economic consequences of unclaimed reservations.<\/em><\/p>\n [TTM], given the tremendous volume of reservations, the incidence of such situations is small; still, I know you were inconvenienced and again, I’m truly sorry. We’ll do our best to prevent this from happening again.<\/em><\/p>\n So their computer system is smart enough to figure out that I may miss a flight but not smart enough to figure out that I did not in fact miss that flight? \u00a0The most frustrating part of being stranded in Doha was learning that the problem was COMPLETELY PREVENTABLE. \u00a0How could I call American Airlines? \u00a0I was on a plane to PHL and they rebooked my flights without notifying me of the change. \u00a0American’s system should have held a seat on the second flight until they were able to confirm that I in fact missed the first flight.<\/p>\n Now the question becomes, how should American Airlines compensate me for this inconvenience? \u00a0This incident may not violate the Conditions\u00a0of Carriage<\/a> but it certainly makes me less excited about the prospect of booking another international flight with American Airlines. \u00a0American Airlines gave me 4,000 miles for stranding me until 3 .m. in Chicago on Christmas day<\/a>. \u00a0I have not followed up with American Airlines but I will let you all know what they say.<\/p>\n How many redeemable miles would you request?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Notice the desert sand blowing in the background?\u00a0 Last month I traveled to Dubai (not for leisure) and I booked the ticket less than a week out. \u00a0As a result, one of the cheapest tickets left was a DCA-PHL-DOH-DWC flight which gave me an opportunity to review Qatar’s new A350 in business class. \u00a0I was pretty excited but the trip\u00a0did not start off well. \u00a0Ultimately, Qatar Airlines was not responsible for stranding me in DOH. DCA-PHL I arrived at DCA before dawn because my international itinerary meant that I had to check in with an American Airlines agent instead of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[16,31],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"DSC02726\"](\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/76\/2016\/04\/DSC02726-1024x683.jpg\")
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