Thanks squigs for the information. As i have booked a window seat i have a quick question if you can help. The IFE box does it impact a lot on the leg room? I deliberatly chose a window seat as i hate having to get up and down all the time if the person next to me wants the loo or to stretch their legs also you always get banged into when people go to the loo. Im wondering now if it would be better to have an Isle seat? would you swap ?

Have a great time over there im so jelous i have 17 weeks to go

It's getting quite exiting ! Just got an e mail inviting me to check in online. I couldn'tas it didn't recognise the booking reference or the e ticket number. Could there be a problem with my tickets ?! I decided to ring Qatar and was told that check in doesn't allow you to do so until 36 hours before take off time... despite getting an e mail. She also suggested that as we have really good seats it would be advisable not to check in online in case we lost them ! ( I did explain I have never done it before)
Incidentally I also noticed on the Qatar website that you can't check in online at Dabolim so that answers my previous question.
All I need now are suggestions on how to kill a few hours on arrival at 4.00am !

Thanks Squigs knew we could rely on you - it sounds great can't wait only 9 more wake ups and then this yippee!
Have a brilliant time - I know I will.

Thanks for the update. Everything seems fine and I am quite impressed.

Hi Squigs
Very kind of you to take the time out to do this.
One question, and it's a big one for us heading out with Qatar. You say some hand luggage was being put in the hold due to room problems in cabin? Is this a "you have to put it in the hold" or you don't fly type thing?

Oh dear my wife and I have about £8000 worth of very sensitive optical equipment that we put in our hand luggage and we just can't put it in the hold....gulp....we are insured but our whole holiday is centered around the equipment and there would be a high chance it would get damaged in the hold.

The 7KG baggage in hand luggage was a bonus at the time!

My thoughts exactly Sleeper, we have the same hobby !!!!!

Thanks Squigs, sounds good to me and I can't wait to get going now here I come Fizz

DaveWales

At least our anoraks will be safe!

This issue could be a serious one for us.

Sleeper.... I was going to leave my anorak at home but the forecast says rain next week

On a recent flight to the Gambia a group of musicians wanted to take their instruments in the cabin but they were pretty big and the stewards wouldn't let them. They were being reassured that there was a special area for sensitive stuff. like you my equipment is very valuable and I will stress that if they take it off me they have to be responsible.... if that happens.
Like you the 7kg of hand luggage was a big plus... my gear with the tripod weighs 15kg !! Good job my clothes only weigh 2.3 kilos....without the anorak !!! cheers Dave

Qatar's customer service has proved excellent so far. They have just rang to remind me to make sure I have the credit card we paid for the tickets with us and to query our meal choice. We had chosen Hindu as it looked the most suitable, not realising the meal choice you are given are the opt out ones. If you leave it blank you automatically get the choice of standard menus.

DaveWales

A birders suitcase would amuse and confuse a lot of holiday makers if they looked in! A few essentials and the rest is for the tripod...LOL

Sounds like customer services are at least trying to keep customers happy so that may bode well when it comes to hand luggage issues. I don't know about you but I really would not like my hand luggage in any hold, safe place or not?

Mind you it's no worse watching a bloke banging his coat into the tightest of spaces on top of my hand luggage whilst you try to explain that I will take my bag out first as sensitive gear is in the bag...I have given up trying to explain so I now just say "stop it or I am going to bang you" That often works at the carousel as well!

Interesting to see if the hand luggage request is the norm....you sound more relaxed than I Dave.

We arrived in Goa on Monday morning after a very enjoyable trip. Excellent leg room, good food and a choice of about 100 films to watch, just as many top cd's plus other things like Who want to be a millionaire ? to play. Proper headphones too ! Check in took 10 minutes, the flight left M/C 30 minutes late as someone had been delayed by security and was so late boarding they had to re dock. We didn't care as it was time to be saved on waiting in Doha. Doha is a pretty small terminal, but the plane landed what seemed like several miles away, got to be the longest bus transfer ever ! Doha duty free is quite large, prices appear on a par with M/C. Although the latter sells alcohol, there isn't a bar in the terminal and the food outlet only accepts notes in any currency, so $'s are better than pounds as a fiver is a lot for a bottle of water. You do get change but in Qatar dollars. The next stage of transfer was in a smaller plane but there wasn't an issue about hand baggage and it all went in the lockers. On both legs we had plenty to eat and they providemfree drinks too !... oh and the Daily Telegraph at M/c.
I think the plane was 30 minutes late leaving Doha for Goa ( you were right Qatarman, seems like its part of the scheduling !!!) but had made up some time getting to Dabolim although we lost a bit circling the airport having aborted landing when about 50 feet off the runway. Apparently the Thomas Cook plane was still on the runway. By the time we got down both plane loads had disgorged their passengers and the que to get into the building went way outside... and it was pouring down. We all had to get our swine flu forms ( provided on the plane) stamped by a man in a mask and that was it. Finally got out of the airport at 5.05.

We're not flying with Qatar Dave but I'm sure that the many people that are will read your post with anticipation.

Just like to say that I'm glad your flight was a good experience and you didn't have any trouble with your birders equipment.

Enjoy your hols

Thanks for your report DaveWales, pleased to hear it all went smoothly and the journey sounds both comfortable and enjoyable so I am looking forward to it now. Fizz

You can go and enjoy your holiday now

Nice one Dave all good to hear. Hope you have a great holiday. Im looking forward to reading some nice restaurant reports when you return.

Thanx Dave for that report i now look forward to my Qatar flight next saturday..

Called Qatar air yesterday to reserve our seats and we now have our seat numbers on all flights from London /Dhoha/Goa and return journey, great service so far.

If you have a long stopover you can book and pay for the oryx lounge Dhoha for £24.50 at the check in at the UK airport.
I was also told to ask about meal vouchers on arrival at Dhoha on the return journey if you have a lengthy stopover.

Although we usually don't have specific flight queries on the forum we took the decision to let this thread run for a while here due to the fact that it was news for Goa. However, as we now have had the first flight report its time to revert back to using the flights forum for any queries re Qatar flights.
You can find the Qatar thread here. Its almost always best to use the specific thread but we do have a Goa flights thread here that can be used if you feel your question is specific to a Goa flight only.