Qatar

Sunday evening, 20th April 2014

It's 20:45 in Qatar (two hours ahead of England) and I'm in the large Business Lounge after a good flight by A330 from Manchester. I've just had time for a quick shower before making my way to the gate for the connecting flight to Yangon. So far, very good. Well, I went to the Gate as requested and they apologised, saying boarding would be delayed 20 minutes, so I came back to the lounge. There are lots of uniformed Qatar Airways girls around the terminal (plus plenty of sober-suited men). All the girls are very friendly, without being gushing (Britsh Airways please copy).

The Qatar Airways Business Lounge at Doha Airport.

I was very impressed with the flight from Manchester to Qatar. The A330 cabin was very clean and inviting and the business class section at the front was only partly loaded, all making the flight more enjoyable. The crew were very helpful and attentive without being intrusive.

The entertainment system was lots of channels on demand and plenty of new releases. Not quite state-of-the-art so the picture quality wasn't brilliant with slight patterning but eminently watchable. Flights are the only time I see modern films before they appear on television, so I watched 'Gravity' (quite impressed) and 'Alpha Papa' (produced only the occasional titter).

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Back to Burma

Events of Sunday, 20th April 2014

Another adventure starts! Alan picked me up from home at 6.00 a.m. and we had a speedy journey to Terminal 2 at Manchester. This time, I'm flying Qatar Airways to Doha where I change for a flight straight to Yangon. This avoids the irritation of flying to Bangkok (overflying Burma in the process) and then having to take another flight back to Yangon. It's my first time with Qatar Airways so we'll see how I get on.

It's a while since I flew from Manchester and, at first sight, the terminal building seemed a bit daunting. A bit of a walk took me to the Qatar Airways check-in desks where a friendly Lancashire girl quickly completed the formalities. With just one carry-on shopping bag (including my trusty Fujitsu notebook computer) I made my way upstairs and more walking took me to the security area.

There are a number of 'Rapiscan' baggage scanners - each associated with an elaborate conveyor system for transferring the plastic boxes for items of luggage through the X-ray machine and then, once emptied, returning them to the loading point. Body scanning was by the normal 'portal' scanner, accompanied by smiles from the staff.

More walking took me to the glitzy Duty Free and retail area. I picked up my Sunday newspaper from W.H. Smiths. Nothing as prosaic as a normal sales till here - just a row of computer screens each associated with a scanner to check both the purchase and the Boarding Pass. Fortunately, two young members of staff, a boy and a girl, were in attendance. The process didn't seem that simple when the girl rapidly processed my newspaper - I shudder to think how long it would have taken me unaided. I don't think I'm really cut out for this automated age.

Duty Free (seemingly reluctantly) disgorged me to the departure gates area. I managed to find the signs leading to the 'Escape Lounge' (appropriate name) which, amongst other airlines, handles Qatar Airways. Real people here and, again, friendly. I started to relax a little.

Manchester Airport Control Tower (the camera's leaning, not the Control Tower).

My Pictures

Manchester Airport

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