It is certain that Qatar treats it’s premium passengers well! They are pretty well known for their ground service or the Al Mourjan way. I have very high expectations for it after my amazing ground experience in Singapore Premium Lounge. I wonder how it will be like when in their own hub. While Doha airport might be a maze and rather chaotic for travellers, if you are in Qatar metal premium cabins, you will be in for a treat and well taken care of. This applies to both arrival and departure service. Let me share how over the top this arrival process is. They have a dedicated Immigration Lounge just for their own business and first class passengers. It is their exclusive after arrival facility and part of the process linking to their Arrival Lounge.

Access Requirements

The Immigration Lounge is open daily and round the clock. You can be sure that it will be open if there is a Qatar flight arriving. This is a dedicated facility for their own flights. You get access if you are flying in Qatar Business Class and First Class.

Arrival & Location

Simply follow the signs towards arrivals and towards immigration. You will then see clear signs for the business class lines and areas. You will then get directed towards this lounge area that is rather classy. The staff will be on hand to verify your status and then ushered you to the lounge. I was invited to enjoy the facilities and to take a seat. We can then clear Qatar immigrations using the clearance counters right here.

Qatar Airways Doha Immigration Lounge

This offers dedicated clearance counters for First and Business Class passengers travelling on Qatar Airways. This is not available for premium passengers on other airlines. It is such a cool feature and probably my first time seeing such a facility. How premium is it and over the top to have a dedicated immigrations counters just for your own premium passengers. It is the norm to have priority lines. But to have your own dedicated counters! Wow! I guess only in Doha.

Perhaps this might be useful when there is a bulk of arrivals and the general lines are packed but at the point of my exit the lines are very empty and this lounge is literally desolate. In fact, the counters are not even manned and they have to get one of the immigration officer over. This probably ended up being a even longer wait. 

The lounge mainly consist of numerous couches and seatings. They are made for you to rest and wait to clear immigrations. I can see it being handy if you just want to sit and wait for a short while before your pick up arrive or your airport transfer. For anything more lengthy, it will be better to head to the arrivals lounge which is after clearing immigration. 

Food & Drinks

There isn’t much refreshment here. It is more of some snacks and sandwiches. There are also some water, soft drinks, juices, coffee and tea here. It is a very simple affair. For more substantial selection, you will have to head to the arrival lounge.

Conclusion

While it is supposed to promise a seamless arrival experience, that didn’t turn out to be the reality for me. This is probably due to me turning up at a weird timing. I would have expect them to have counters ready when there are Qatar arrivals. The spot is useful if you need to wait for a short while to clear immigration or for your pick up. The area is near the taxi ranks and right after exiting the immigrations, the arrival lounge is just nearby. Sadly, I did not have time to check that out.