My experience transiting through Qatar during the Middle East conflict

I transited through Qatar last month in between my 2 long flights in the world’s best business class. Early in the Middle Eastern conflict, Qatar Airways was by far the hardest hit among the Gulf’s Big 3 airlines, so I wanted to share my first-hand experience (as Flytrippers’ other co-founder, Kevin, did for his United Arab Emirates transit experience).

The best current deal allows you to get 25 hours in business class with a single bonus, via Qatar. There’s (very obviously) no risk in terms of safety, but there was certainly a risk in terms of flight disruptions, and many travelers are still worried about that. Honestly, it’s not really warranted anymore. 

At least for the routes that have restarted, and at least for now (it could obviously change). Flytrippers helps you travel for less with our 3 types of content, namely flight deals, travel rewards, and tips/inspiration/news.

Here’s my experience transiting through Qatar last month.

What was it like to transit through Qatar?

This won’t be a very long article… as I said in my teaser post the day of, the whole situation is pretty much over now (for most Qatar Airways routes). It was over a month ago, so even more so now.

My Qatar transit was completely normal, and everything was exactly like my 4 other times in Doha (DOH) in the past.

Well, except that I was in a much better VIP airport lounge than usual.

Flying in the world’s best business class (Qatar Airways Qsuite) also gives you access to one of the best lounges (although the 3 easily-accessible network lounges in Doha are great, too).

Anyway, my Qatar transit had quite literally nothing out of the ordinary about any aspect of it; absolutely nothing.

The airport was pretty busy and full.

It’s truly over for now. It’s not surprising.

That’s why I kept my Qsuite flights I had booked, despite having no flexibility to be disrupted or to get stuck there.

I really needed to be in Toronto less than 2 days later to speak at the inaugural Canadian Points Travel Festival; by the way, it went so great that 2027 tickets are on sale now. By the way, there are only a few tickets left for our own Flytrippers conference this Saturday in Montreal (if you speak French!)

In short, everything was open at the airport; everything was normal.

As for my flight path to Doha, it seemed pretty normal. We stayed a bit south of the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz.

There was a small detour on departure from Doha, but at 900 km/h in a modern A350-1000, it doesn’t take long. We arrived on time.

The flights themselves were completely normal, too, if you consider it normal to have 3 windows in your suite with a sliding privacy door and a lie-flat seat bed in the world’s best business class (it quickly becomes normal when you learn to redeem airline points well).

In short, it was exactly like my first Qsuite experience in 2023. Nothing abnormal.

Why is transiting through Qatar back to normal?

Since the ceasefire in Iran, Qatar Airways’ operations have been very stable.

The routes that they’ve restarted are operating normally and reliably. They just haven’t restarted all their routes.

That’s why many less-experienced travelers mistakenly believe there’s still a high risk of disruptions; they saw that only 50% of flights were operating and thought it was chaos (50% canceled is a big number)! It’s not.

The restarted routes are operating reliably! The least popular routes that are not operating are obviously problematic. The Montreal and Toronto routes are among those that have been restarted.

The day I flew out of Doha (April 15), Qatar Airways actually hit 50% of flight operations for the 1^st time since the conflict started in February.

Now, you’re probably not flying just to Qatar; you’re probably connecting there on your way to another destination. So you obviously need to check if that route has restarted, too.

But most now have.

Which Qatar Airways flights are operating?

Qatar Airways has obviously published the status of its route network all along this conflict.

Here’s the overview as of May 20:

• 120+ routes now restarted
• 24 routes restarting in June
• 8 routes restarting in July
• 22 routes suspended

Here’s the full list by region.

Canada

Montreal (YUL): Operating

Toronto (YYZ): Operating

USA

Atlanta (ATL): Starting June 16

Boston (BOS): Starting June 16

Chicago (ORD): Operating

Dallas (DFW): Operating

Houston (IAH): Operating

Los Angeles (LAX): Starting June 7

Miami (MIA): Operating

New York (JFK): Operating

San Francisco (SFO): Starting June 11

Seattle (SEA): Operating

Washington (IAD): Operating

Rest of the Americas

Bogota (BOG): Starting July 22

Caracas (CCS): Starting July 26

São Paulo (GRU): Operating

Oceania

Adelaide (ADL): Starting June 16

Auckland (AKL): Starting June 16

Brisbane (BNE): Operating

Canberra (CBR): Suspended

Melbourne (MEL): Operating

Perth (PER): Operating

Sydney (SYD): Operating

East and Southeast Asia

Bali (DPS): Operating

Bangkok (BKK): Operating

Beijing (PKX): Operating

Cebu (CEB): Suspended

Chengdu (TFU): Operating

Chongqing (CKG): Operating

Clark (CRK): Operating

Davao (DVO): Operating

Guangzhou (CAN): Operating

Hangzhou (HGH): Operating

Hanoi (HAN): Operating

Ho Chi Minh City (SGN): Operating

Hong Kong (HKG): Operating

Jakarta (CGK): Operating

Kuala Lumpur (KUL): Operating

Manila (MNL): Operating

Osaka (KIX): Starting June 16

Penang (PEN): Operating

Phnom Penh (KTI): Operating

Phuket (HKT): Operating

Seoul (ICN): Operating

Shanghai (PVG): Operating

Singapore (SIN): Operating

Tokyo-Haneda (HND): Starting July 15

Tokyo-Narita (NRT): Operating

Central and South Asia

Ahmedabad (AMD): Operating

Almaty (ALA): Starting June 16

Amritsar (ATQ): Operating

Bengaluru (BLR): Operating

Chennai (MAA): Operating

Cochin (COK): Operating

Colombo (CMB): Operating

Delhi (DEL): Operating

Dhaka (DAC): Operating

Goa (GOX): Operating

Hyderabad (HYD): Operating

Islamabad (ISB): Operating

Karachi (KHI): Operating

Kathmandu (KTM): Operating

Kolkata (CCU): Operating

Kozhikode (CCJ): Operating

Lahore (LHE): Operating

Male (MLE): Operating

Multan (MUX): Operating

Mumbai (BOM): Operating

Nagpur (NAG): Suspended

Peshawar (PEW): Operating

Sialkot (SKT): Operating

Tashkent (TAS): Starting June 16

Thiruvananthapuram (TRV): Operating

West Asia (Middle East)

Abha (AHB): Operating

Abu Dhabi (AUH): Operating

Aleppo (ALP): Suspended

Al Najaf (NJF): Starting June 16

Al Ula (ULH): Operating

Amman (AMM): Operating

Ankara (ESB): Operating

Antalya (AYT): Operating

Baghdad (BGW): Operating

Bahrain (BAH): Operating

Baku (GYD): Starting June 16

Basrah (BSR): Operating

Beirut (BEY): Operating

Bodrum (BJV): Operating

Damascus (DAM): Operating

Dammam (DMM): Operating

Dubai (DXB): Operating

Erbil (EBL): Operating

Gassim (ELQ): Suspended

Hail (HAS): Operating

Istanbul (IST): Operating

Istanbul-Gökçen (SAW): Suspended

Jeddah (JED): Operating

Kuwait (KWI): Starting June 16

Mashhad (MHD): Suspended

Madinah (MED): Operating

Muscat (MCT): Operating

Neom Bay (NUM): Suspended

Red Sea (RSI): Operating

Riyadh (RUH): Operating

Salalah (SLL): Operating

Sharjah (SHJ): Operating

Shiraz (SYZ): Suspended

Sulaymaniyah (ISU): Starting June 16

Tabuk (TUU): Suspended

Taif (TIF): Suspended

Tbilisi (TBS): Starting June 16

Tehran (IKA): Suspended

Trabzon (TZX): Operating

Yanbu (YNB): Suspended

Yerevan (EVN): Starting June 16

Africa

Abidjan (ABJ): Operating

Abuja (ABV): Operating

Accra (ACC): Operating

Addis Ababa (ADD): Operating

Alexandria (HBE): Starting June 16

Algiers (ALG): Operating

Cairo (CAI): Operating

Cape Town (CPT): Operating

Casablanca (CMN): Operating

Dar es Salaam (DAR): Operating

Djibouti (JIB): Suspended

Durban (DUR): Operating

Entebbe (EBB): Operating

Harare (HRE): Operating

Johannesburg (JNB): Operating

Kano (KAN): Suspended

Kigali (KGL): Suspended

Kilimanjaro (JRO): Operating

Kinshasa (FIH): Operating

Lagos (LOS): Operating

Luanda (NBJ): Operating

Lusaka (LUN): Operating

Maputo (MPM): Operating

Marrakesh (RAK): Starting June 16

Mogadishu (MGQ): Suspended

Nairobi (NBO): Operating

Port Harcourt (PHC): Operating

Seychelles (SEZ): Starting June 16

Tunis (TUN): Operating

Zanzibar (ZNZ): Suspended

Europe

Amsterdam (AMS): Operating

Athens (ATH): Operating

Barcelona (BCN): Operating

Belgrade (BEG): Starting June 16

Berlin (BER): Operating

Birmingham (BHX): Operating

Brussels (BRU): Starting June 16

Bucharest (OTP): Operating

Budapest (BUD): Operating

Copenhagen (CPH): Operating

Dublin (DUB): Operating

Düsseldorf (DUS): Starting June 16

Edinburgh (EDI): Operating

Frankfurt (FRA): Operating

Geneva (GVA): Operating

Helsinki (HEL): Starting July 15

Larnaca (LCA): Operating

Lisbon (LIS): Starting June 16

London-Gatwick (LGW): Operating

London-Heathrow (LHR): Operating

Malaga (AGP): Operating

Malta (MLA): Suspended

Manchester (MAN): Operating

Milan (MXP): Operating

Moscow (SVO): Operating

Munich (MUC): Operating

Mykonos (JMK): Operating

Nice (NCE): Operating

Oslo (OSL): Starting June 16

Paris (CDG): Operating

Prague (PRG): Starting June 16

Rome (FCO): Operating

Sarajevo (SJJ): Suspended

Sofia (SOF): Suspended

Stockholm (ARN): Operating

Venice (VCE): Suspended

Vienna (VIE): Operating

Warsaw (WAW): Operating

Zagreb (ZAG): Starting June 16

Zürich (ZRH): Operating

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Summary

My transit in Qatar was completely normal, which is very unsurprising given that Qatar Airways flight operations are now very stable and reliable (for the routes that have restarted). That’s the case for most of their routes. Things could obviously change, but the worst seems to be in the past.

What would you like to know about my Qatar transit experience during the conflict? Tell us in the comments below.

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Featured image: My experience with Qatar Airways (photo credit: Andrew D’Amours/Flytrippers)