Travellers to Qatar now need compulsory insurance from a Doha-based company

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• Thywillbedone says:

  3 Feb3 February 06:31

  Brewdog has a history of getting marketing ideas for free …from marketing professionals. Not a company I would support in any way, shape or form for a long list of reasons. Very surprised BA continues to deal with them. DYOR.

  • BlueThroughCrimp says:

    3 Feb3 February 11:47

    Absolutely. Wouldn’t be surprised if the next Brewdog issue was called Creepy by Brewdog.

• AviosNovice says:

  3 Feb3 February 07:07

  Re Brewdog –

  I agree with the previous post, not a company BA should be associating with.

  • Dubious says:

    3 Feb3 February 13:01

    What’s the story, for those of us who don’t know?

    • Rob says:

      3 Feb3 February 13:08

      The BBC1 documentary about their working practices should still be on iPlayer. (Yes, they justified a full 30 minute documentary on the main channel, it’s that bad.)

• Lou says:

  3 Feb3 February 07:54

  History of brewdog side, what a bunch of cheap shysters. The total value of that prize is less than £1500.

• Benilyn says:

  3 Feb3 February 07:57

  Screw Brewdog

  • AJA says:

    3 Feb3 February 08:12

    Maybe we could shorten that with a new portmanteau word screwdog? 🙂

  • ianM says:

    3 Feb3 February 09:13

    Speedbird 100 wasn’t too bad but the current Jetstream IPA is total pants, like others I think BA should ditch this bunch of shysters

    • Nick says:

      3 Feb3 February 12:09

      @Ian the new one is BA’s doing. It is – in terms BA understands – a ‘cheaper recipe’. It’s an interesting story though, the original centenary one was meant to be a one-off but the partnership was far more successful than anyone anticipated (on either side), so they found a way to continue it. Jetstream isn’t great but it’s still a thousand times better than whatever generic cheap alternative they’d find.

      • Rhys says:

        3 Feb3 February 12:11

        Surprised that BA was that involved in the creation of the beer!

• Paul says:

  3 Feb3 February 07:58

  Qatar insurance is simply an arrival tax.
  I fully support mandatory insurance for travellers (I wish the U.K. insisted on it for all arrivals) but this is not the way to go. It should not be dressed up as being reasonable or even money saving. It’s simply another tax in travel.

  • Blenz101 says:

    3 Feb3 February 09:13

    No, Qatar has no way to check a policy is valid and suffers from health tourism.

    Far cheaper for someone in India to buy a fake policy for less than $1 than a real policy for $10.

    This is who the measures are aimed at. Perhaps they will relax the rules for some counties in due course.

    Covid 19 was the same. Certain counties had to be tested on arrival as their populations all turned up with fake certificates other counties could present a negative rest result.

    It’s certainly not a tax but a practical measure in response to a problem the country faces.

    • Paul says:

      3 Feb3 February 10:44

      I am sorry but the pandemic has shown just how easy it is to check travel documents and this could easily be done via pre travel uploads or shown at airports. For example I had to show that the amex policy covered cruising and they were able for me, as with Rob, to allow a printout of my policy to show that it covered a specific country and the level of cover.
      It stinks as a policy no matter how cheap.

      • blenz101 says:

        3 Feb3 February 11:35

        No, the pandemic showed just how endemic the forgery of documents is. People were happily travelling with fake PCR tests so save a few $. There is still a huge black market in producing fake vaccination certificates and PCR test results (complete with QR code linking to official looking websites). Just type anything related to it into Google News.

        There is no central database of travel insurance globally and Qatar can’t possibly be expected to validate each travellers certificate validity.

        Just be glad you find yourself in the situation you can siting behind your keyboard complaining about a policy you can easily afford and will never be desperate enough to have to try obtain medical treatment in a foreign land relying on their charity (sadqah).

        As I said previously, none of the people this policy targets would never even be considered for entry to the UK so there is little moral high ground from the UK here; unless you count offering medical assistance to people washed up on the Kent south coast prior.

        • Dubious says:

          3 Feb3 February 13:04

          I agree about the forgeries. It’s surprised how many people try it on (not just from the places indicated in this thread)

        • Novice says:

          3 Feb3 February 13:43

          What I will never understand is how some people are okay to risk their own health. When covid was bad; you’d think anyone with any common sense would try to ensure max protection etc. But no.

          Those people who were justifying it by saying they are low risk for death; well even if you won’t die, why would you want to be ill.

          I personally hate being ill. Just getting a cold is a nightmare for me.

        • Rob says:

          3 Feb3 February 14:09

          You simply store up trouble though. I was quite a sickly child, flu wise, but according to my HR record when I left, I’d take a grand total of one day off with illness in 14 years of banking, and I’ve only missed 1 day of HfP in 10 years. You NEED to be ill whilst you’re young, because if you don’t have the immunity when you hit retirement you can very easily be finished off by something you should have immunity against but don’t.

        • Novice says:

          3 Feb3 February 14:51

          @Rob, I know what you mean about immunity and I agree that a person needs to get ill but doesn’t mean I have to like it. In my childhood years, I was constantly under the weather. Ended up in hospitals a lot as well so I hate the idea of illness now. But my point was mainly regarding covid 19. Covid was not a known virus so trying to catch it just to get immunity seems a bit weird to me.

          Also, there’s a difference not taking as many precautions when home. When you are touring, it seems madness to risk catching something. Catching covid or any virus/malaria etc whilst in transit or in some other country would mean a trip wasted.

    • TravelerC says:

      4 Feb4 February 13:33

      But this insurance levy does not tackle the health tourism problem.

      It just economically spreads the cost across all travellers, so we all have to pay.

• HR says:

  3 Feb3 February 08:01

  Love the spin on this because we can’t offend the beloved Qatar state airline. Looks like a scam pure and simple. Get asking for a form of travel insurance but mandating their own is scammy and dodgy.

  • JDB says:

    3 Feb3 February 08:15

    It’s precisely because of scamming (as referenced by a knowledgeable local poster above) that Qatar is insisting on its own policies so they can be checked via a (non airline) QR code.

    • Rob says:

      3 Feb3 February 08:26

      No QR code on the policy doc!

      • JDB says:

        3 Feb3 February 08:40

        That’s odd as it is one of the requirements specified on the Ministry of Health website.

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    3 Feb3 February 08:23

    This is Qatar the country doing this not Qatar the airline.

    Fly to Doha on ANY airline and you’ll have to have this.

    • Ben says:

      3 Feb3 February 10:12

      Same thing

      • Novice says:

        3 Feb3 February 13:49

        Nobody is forcing anyone to fly via Qatar. There’s no need to bash another country when our own is nothing special at rights etc. Every country has issues. The level of hate Qatar gets seems fake because most people hating on Qatar would be fine to fly the airline.

        It’s easy to appear honourable behind a keyboard.

• AJA says:

  3 Feb3 February 08:10

  Thanks for this article

  My mum is flying on Qatar Airways next month because her original flights on Lufthansa were cancelled and she was offered Qatar instead. She is now connecting in Doha for an onward flight to Auckland.

  I was not aware of the need to show insurance at check in. She has an annual policy via Saga so I assume she just needs to show the travel insurance policy at check in at LHR T4? Will she need to show the document again at DOH for the onward flight?

  And no need to buy the local policy since she is only in transit in DOH for a couple of hours?

  Presume the same happens on the return leg and needs to show insurance docs at check in or will Qatar Airways have a record that she showed them.at LHR on the outbound?

  • Rob says:

    3 Feb3 February 08:27

    Enforcement seems low on transit pax so as long as she has it on her, or on her phone, she will be fine.

  • Jonathan says:

    3 Feb3 February 09:29

    If all passengers going through DOH even for transit alone are required to have an insurance policy, it’s definitely an easy way to make money, given how little claims they’ll probably be getting versus the sheer volume of people going through DOH airport for their next flight to wherever

• AJA says:

  3 Feb3 February 08:15

  Does this mandatory insurance also apply if you are flying BA to DOH or is it only on Qatar Airways? Article isn’t clear (Assuming that BA does still fly the route?)

  • Rob says:

    3 Feb3 February 08:24

    It’s a country rule, not an airline rule.

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    3 Feb3 February 08:25

    It applies to ALL airlines

    “As of 1st February, anyone entering Qatar is required to have travel insurance issued by a company based in Qatar.”

    • Jonathan says:

      3 Feb3 February 09:35

      Good thing I last flew QR only 10 days ago, and currently don’t have any other bookings with them, and won’t do for about at least another year so by which point hopefully this idea will be forgotten, I can half understand where they’re coming from, but enforcing it on DOH airport transit passengers and those who already have travel insurance is a bit silly

      • Rob says:

        3 Feb3 February 10:24

        It’s not enforced on transit passengers.

        • Jonathan says:

          3 Feb3 February 11:03

          Common sense has been used, thankfully !

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.