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Business class terminal
Apr. 3rd, 2008 09:01 amI'm in the Qatar Airways Premium Terminal right now, awaiting my flight to DC and then Dallas for a conference. (I've always wanted to fly Dulles-Dallas. How confusing.)
This is, oddly enough, my first time using this terminal. It's a very surreal experience; flying is supposed to be chaotic and noisy, and I'm having difficulty convincing myself I'm about to get on a plane when actually I feel like I've just wandered into a posh hotel for coffee and free WiFi.
When you pull up, bellhops swoop in to take your luggage. (I flummoxed them with my backpack and small gym bag.) Then you walk into what appears to be a large hotel lobby, with check-in desks unobtrusively lining one wall. And they're actual desks, that employees sit behind and you sit in front of, as though you're here to take out a personal loan instead of fly to another country. Passport control and security also exist in strange, calm versions of their normal selves: the lone immigration officer was waiting for me, and the security people had to turn the X-ray machine on when I got there. And then you take an escalator up to where two more employees are standing to greet you and show you to the lounge. The lounge itself is like a normal business class lounge writ large (free food, comfy chairs, fake palm trees, 10-meter-tall waterfall feature), but there's also a very tasteful nursery up here, and a game room with PlayStations and Foosball. I hear there's also a spa and jacuzzi somewhere.
I got here two hours before my flight, because that's just what one does, but apparently that's overkill in this terminal. The entire check-in process, from pulling up at the curb to walking into the lounge, took less than ten minutes. So now I have another hour and a half to fill; perhaps I'll go check out those PlayStations.
This is, oddly enough, my first time using this terminal. It's a very surreal experience; flying is supposed to be chaotic and noisy, and I'm having difficulty convincing myself I'm about to get on a plane when actually I feel like I've just wandered into a posh hotel for coffee and free WiFi.
When you pull up, bellhops swoop in to take your luggage. (I flummoxed them with my backpack and small gym bag.) Then you walk into what appears to be a large hotel lobby, with check-in desks unobtrusively lining one wall. And they're actual desks, that employees sit behind and you sit in front of, as though you're here to take out a personal loan instead of fly to another country. Passport control and security also exist in strange, calm versions of their normal selves: the lone immigration officer was waiting for me, and the security people had to turn the X-ray machine on when I got there. And then you take an escalator up to where two more employees are standing to greet you and show you to the lounge. The lounge itself is like a normal business class lounge writ large (free food, comfy chairs, fake palm trees, 10-meter-tall waterfall feature), but there's also a very tasteful nursery up here, and a game room with PlayStations and Foosball. I hear there's also a spa and jacuzzi somewhere.
I got here two hours before my flight, because that's just what one does, but apparently that's overkill in this terminal. The entire check-in process, from pulling up at the curb to walking into the lounge, took less than ten minutes. So now I have another hour and a half to fill; perhaps I'll go check out those PlayStations.
