Terminal 1, Hamad International Airport, Doha

Introduction

This is my review of the Qatar Airways Platinum Lounge in Qatar’s Hamad International Airport.

Since the recovery of airlines from Covid19, Qatar Airlines have introduced their “P-Fares”, which is a Business Class ticket that does not include lounge access.

Personally I think that this is a huge shame, as it seems to have driven ‘lounge inclusive’ fares up, rather than P-Fares down.

Nevertheless, the Platinum Lounge (as well as Gold and Silver lounges) is a new concept devised by Qatar Airways, ostensibly to reduce traffic to their excellent Al Mourjan lounges.

Opening Hours

As far as I can make out this lounge is open 24 hours a day.

Entry Conditions

The Platinum Lounge is the ‘top tier’ of lounge open to OneWorld Emerald status holders that have booked P-Fares, and thus do not get Al Mourjan Lounge access.

So, entry is for OneWorld Emerald holders and Qatar Airways Platinum members – with Gold/Silver members having access to separate lounges.

How to Get There

Once through Security, head towards A-Gates.

Next to Gate A1, you’ll find the entrance.

Once you’ve provided your ticket to the agents on the desk, they’re direct you in the elevator up to the Platinum Lounge.

Layout

This is a pretty big lounge, with quite a few areas – and large glass windows overlooking the apron of the airport. Being an idiot, I forgot to take photos of the view outside the window!

The lounge has mostly casual seating – including some ‘sofa pod’s which are great for eating/sleeping/relaxing/working. There are also some seats with foot stools.

For eating, there is a fairly large restaurant area.

There is also my favourite area, the quiet area/room, for sleeping, which has around 8 ‘beds’ in it. I found this area to be much better than the Al Mourjan North Lounge, where the sleeping areas are with the rest of the lounge. The room of ‘beds’ make this a great lounge, and very quiet – so this was great as I took a 3-hour sleep!

Food and Drink

Drinks

There are a number of ways to grab a drink from this lounge.

The first is via the self-service drinks areas; the second via the bar; and the third from the menu. Doing the ‘Champagne test’, the Champagne offered was the Laurent Perrier Brut NV, which retails at around £45/bottle – not quite the £135/bottle handed out in Heathrow’s Concorde Room!

Food

For some unfortunate reason, whenever I end up in lounges it seems to be breakfast time – and I don’t really do breakfast!

There were two options for food in the dining area. One was to order from the extensive menu – which, having compared this with the Al Mourjan Lounge, I’d say is more extensive!

The other option was to use the self-service area – which also had a great variety!

All in all, I was pretty impressed by the food on offer – so well done Qatar Airways!

Wifi

The Wifi worked for me, and was fairly good during my visit, I was getting around 35mps up and down.

Showers

The lounge has around 6 showers – which in typical Qatar Airways style were of high quality, and offered Elemis products/.

Conclusion

It had been my preliminary view that the Platinum Lounge may have been a ‘downgrade’ from the Al Mourjan lounges – but I am glad to say I am completely wrong!

This is an excellent lounge with great food options, a great variety of seating, great showers – and even better, a very quiet sleeping area.

Another great lounge by Qatar Airways!