Yes, This Is Real Life Part 4: Welcome to Ghost...Port?

Our a350 from the tarmac.  Yes, despite having no flights and no passengers, they somehow couldn't find us a jetbridge. Really?

Where we've been:

Preview: Yes, This Is Real Life

Part 1: Location, Location, Location

Part 2: Brits In Beantown

Part 3: Shades On, Wheels Up

And now, the arrival:

You could hear a pin drop in the Doha airport today.  It's calming, bizarre, and if I'm being honest, a little creepy.....I frikkin' love it.  

 

Imagine you touched down and de-planed in JFK to find that the population of the entire airport is about 300, plus staff.  You'd pretty well assume the world was ending, right? 

 

Just about the only ones on the way to immigration.

Well, we know that hasn't happened (at least not in the Hollywood action sense) but you wouldn't know that in Doha right now.  Sure, no one is running around screaming about the end of the world with their hair on fire, but it's unsettling nonetheless. 

Completely empty customs and baggage hall.

 

There's more staff than passengers by far, and we're literally (using the term correctly) the only people at each checkpoint.  I'd say we're the only ones in line, but using he term 'line' wouldn't really be correct...since it's just us....and we're only two people.  The bathrooms have more people cleaning them than using the facilities, and we get asked if we need directions multiple times in minutes by idle staff.  The thing is, we don't need directions, we know the way from here.

 

Lots of red up there....

 

The way out since we're legitimate premium passengers this time around, is through the designated business class customs...lounge... I suppose you could call it?  On the way to baggage and customs, you have to clear immigration as per usual, but not be outdone, Qatar has made even this process luxurious.  You check in at the lounge, which is basically a large room with nice chairs, some light refreshments, coffee, tea and the like, and when you're ready to exit, you just proceed to the dedicated customs desks at the other side.

 

 

The entrance to the immigration 'lounge.'

 

As was the case with the rest of the airport, this too was basically an empty room except for us and the staff.  No fighting for seats here.  We didn't wait around too long, since we had a room at the Grand Hyatt to check into for the night.  Since you can now apply in advance for a free transit visa, I didn't have to pay the $25 entry fee, which was nice on a short layover. 

 

I learned a thing or two about this process, and the ways it works and doesn't in planning and taking this trip.  Long story short, you can have only one visa application at a time, and you have to apply at least 7 days in advance.  You can also get a free visa if you have the right length of layover to be able to participate in QR's stopover package on a premium itinerary. (More on the ins and outs of this later)

 

Yes, this is what premium immigration lines look like in Doha.  This is also not to be confused with the actual 'Arrivals Lounge' past customs, which has far more than this.

 

After a brief look around, and getting our passports stamped, we headed out through the empty customs hall, and grabbed a cab to the hotel.  It was about a 30 minute ride, and there was hardly anyone out, or any traffic.  This is probably due to the perfect storm of the travel embargo, Ramadan....and the oppressive summer heat.  In any case, the city looked to be more or less an echo of the ghost town that the airport was.  Like I said, a bit unnerving..... and I frikkin' love it. 

 

What's a mileage run, if not the search for truly unique experiences?

 

 ~CruisingAltitude

Up next: When you layover during Ramadan....