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Hi all,
I’m landing to Doha in the near future for a 21 hour layover (my choice!) so I can get the metro downtown and have a look around the city etc.
My main baggage will check through onto the next flight but regarding my hand luggage – is there a way to store it in the airport for free, ideally in a lounge? I’m travelling Qatar Business (Avios redemption but believe this still gets me into their lounges).
Ideally, I was thinking about using an arrivals lounge for shower/breakfast and to store my hand luggage for the day, then upon my return back to the airport in the evening, pickup my hand luggage from the lockers.
But not sure how it works with security and access to certain lounges between arrivals and departure – anyone have any suggestions?
And which lounge(s) should I visit please – I land at 5am and leave at 2am 🙂
Yes – Al Mourjan business lounge has a whole room of lockers. You’re OK to leave your stuff there. There is an arrivals lounge, but I skipped it completely last time I was there. There will be no point in storing anything at an arrivals lounge (I don’t think you can anyway) as you won’t have access to it on the way back.
Don’t forget about the newly-added local insurance requirement if you want to venture into town.
Yes – Al Mourjan business lounge has a whole room of lockers. You’re OK to leave your stuff there. There is an arrivals lounge, but I skipped it completely last time I was there. There will be no point in storing anything at an arrivals lounge (I don’t think you can anyway) as you won’t have access to it on the way back.
Don’t forget about the newly-added local insurance requirement if you want to venture into town.
Thanks @George K, so you’re recommending using the Al Mourjan DEPARTURES lounge – can I access this when I land, ie before I go through immigration? And then I can leave the airport and come back a few hours later and re-enter the same lounge?
PS – have the newly-added insurance ready to purchase!
I haven’t done a QR layover/stopover trip since before the pandemic (so my information may be out of date) but I was allowed to exit the airside transit area. The first time I had to show everything from my onward ticket and proof that I had a hotel booked outside, but on my next trip I remember being able to just waltz out after immigration and then come back in again.
I should say that my only concern would be to check whether it’s allowed to store bags in the lounge overnight, especially if the passenger is no longer airside.
You won’t have access to the departures lounge when you arrive if you plan to leave the airport – it’s like at LHR where you either follow the signs for arrivals or flight connections. So you would exit through immigration – via a dedicated immigration “lounge” for J and F and then in the landside area is an arrivals lounge for shower, food etc, open 24h – but I don’t know what luggage storage facilities they have – I would guess none as the general rule of such things is that you can’t leave the lounge while your luggage is in storage (same as BA T5 arrivals).
I agree that the bigger question is storing luggage airside while having left the airport, but considering the OP has an onward ticket, he will be able to go to the departures area/lounges as a transit passenger. I was allowed to even leave the airport while being in transit and inside the departures area – I just asked a guard and they directed me to a security point and then cleared immigration afterwards (where they asked about the onward ticket and hotel booking)
Not sure if this was done in error.
Ofocurse you can leave the departures area if you so which having been to the lounge via flight connections
It’s not a prison
Thanks for all your replies and am glad it’s as confusing to everyone else as it is to me!
It sounds like it is technically possible to get off the plane, head for Transit, use the Al Mourjan lounge and then possibly be able to leave the airport from there. But it appears to be a bit of a hassle, so may just keep my bag with me for the day, it only has my laptop and a change of clothes.
I know the airport lockers are currently closed and there are some in the Metro station, but these don’t open until 10am – I want to head downtown before this time to avoid the heat!
Pre-covid experience so there’s always a risk it’s changed, but I did what you’re wanting to do in 2018 (albeit on only a 6 hour layover) . I went to the Al Mourjan departures lounge and left my bag in a locker there, taking my passport and camera with me. Take both your inbound and outbound boarding passes with you if they’re paper. I then left the terminal – seem to remember it involved going the wrong way through a security lane, and making my way out of the terminal. There was an arrival lounge with separate business class immigration, so all fairly quick. There was a thread on Flyertalk in the Qatar forum with detailed instructions that worked well.
On the way back just go through security as normal and head back to the lounge.
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