Qatar airlines hates African passport holders
Twice now I've had stopovers of more than 10 hours in Doha. Each time, I called ahead or sent emails asking about their transit accommodation. Each time, I was told it was complimentary and that I just needed to let the staff know on arrival.
If you hold an African passport, I bet you can relate. They'll give you the runaround and then reject your transit visa without any explanation. Rejecting the visa is one thing. Rejecting it without a reason is bad enough. What is absolutely deplorable is refusing the visa while also not providing the in airport accommodation you promised, or allowing me to obtain the transit visa beforehand. When you call, they insist there's no need because it's "almost automatic," only for you to end up spending 15+ hours in their shitty airport, eating shitty airport food, before another 13 hours in a cramped airplane.
If you're African, don't bother relying on the transit visa process. Don't let them gaslight you about the hotel accommodation either. Ethiopian Airlines treated me far better, which, at this point, doesn't surprise me.
The most recent time, I had enough time to sit and watch them reject more than 20 Africans back to back. I eventually asked if they rejected everyone. The staff member smugly replied, “No, we just approved some people right before you.”
So I asked the obvious follow up question: “Were any of those people African?”
The look I got was answer enough.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.