The journey out of London was fine. But there were several hours of delay on both legs of the return trip. As a result I missed my connection back in London and had to wait for twelve hours at Heathrow to catch the first bus at 6:40 in the morning. Also my suitcase was partially crushed when I collected it from the moving belt. I had a string of email exchanges with Qatar airways and they basically were not interested. When I said they had an obligation to compensate for delays according to the European rules they wrote and said that is only for flights within Europe.

I have never flown with Qatar Airways after that and never will. All my family and friends have done the same once they heard what had happened.

If you are here hoping your little rant is going to keep a whole bunch of people from using that airline you can forget it.

Try this:

https://www.getairhelp.com/en?gclid=...A#.VmXn68qGVOI

http://airsafe.com/complain/bumping.htm

http://www.airpassengerrights.eu/en/...d-luggage.html

Unless your flight originated within the EU you cannot claim compensation under EU law, since Qatar Airlines are not an EU airline. You can only claim for flights starting from outside the EU if it is on a EU airline.

<i> You can only claim for flights starting from outside the EU if it is on a EU airline.</i>

I do not read the limitation here:

Taken from http://airsafe.com/complain/bumping.htm

"Delays and cancellations for European Union related flights
Unlike the US, the European Union (EU) does provide for compensation for flight delays and cancellations. In most, but not all, cases involving a delay or cancellation of a flight, a passenger is entitled to compensation under European Parliament Regulation (EC) 261/2004 for delayed and cancelled flights. There are three levels of compensation:

in the event of long delays (two hours or more, depending on the distance of the flight), passengers must in every case be offered free meals and refreshments plus two free telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or emails;
if the time of departure is deferred until the next day, passengers must also be offered hotel accommodation and transport between the airport and the place of accommodation;
when the delay is five hours or longer, passengers may opt for reimbursement of the full cost of the ticket together with, when relevant, a return flight to the first point of departure.

This regulation applies to all airline flights departing from an EU airport or to any airline licensed in the EU if that flight is departing from an airport outside the EU to a destination at an airport in an EU member state. The regulation also applies if the carrier is from Iceland, Norway or Switzerland and the flight is destined to an EU country. "

<i>This regulation applies to all airline flights departing from an EU airport or to any airline licensed in the EU if that flight is departing from an airport outside </i>

I stand corrected since the OP was on an arriving flight; but I gather that Qatar Airways would be under EU rules if departing from a EU airport.

Exactly Michael, which is why I said that it depended on where the flight started from. Since Qatar don't do inter EU flights he can't claim compensation for the delay. The fact he arrived too late for his bus is not their problem.

It IS their problem. They choose to do nothing for the problem. They're betting on the come line here, if the word gets out for passengers used to EU rules that using Qatar on a return flight will leave you high and dry, they will likely lose a percentage of those customers. This will be more likely if the on-time information is readily available for potential purchasers. If I KNOW that I've got a 75% chance of no problems, but that a full 25% of the time I'm going to have problems and no recourse, that risk becomes a significant purchasing factor, IMO.

In what universe are you living, apersuader65?

In the long run, what you write may be true, but in the long run we are all dead.

Without knowing where the OP was coming from, where he was connecting, why the delays took place, and why he had to wait twelve hours for a bus rather than use some other form of transportation, we don't know whether he was treated badly or not.

I wouldn't be happy either, but this kind of thing happens all the time.

'In the long run, what you write may be true, but in the long run we are all dead.'

Best comment of the week/month/year.

'but this kind of thing happens all the time.'

Second best comment....

Rants like these get us nowhere...
People who have nothing better than to claim for such annoyances should better stay home - then they'll have no delays.

Davood - I envy you : if your problems are of this kind, you live a blessed life - too bad you don't realize it.