Unpleasant Experience on QR
I recently had my first unpleasant experience in more than 30 years of flying where I had to give the cabin crew a dressing down which I didn't feel good about but I felt I had no choice. At Doha's IA my family of 3 and I got to the AC only to find that with 2 children and first row seating past FC, we're the last to board (other pax swarmed off the bus). No announcement to have families board first. As we travelled all the way from the rear door to the front, we notice other passengers often had 2-3 pieces of carry-on and large pieces too. By the time we go to our seats, with only 1 piece for each of us there was no room left overhead.
The crew wanted to move our luggage to the hold which I refused. To begin with, as Privilege members with several flights per year, we had a total of 160KG allowance but only 75 KG in the hold, we had 4 small pieces in the cabin that HAD to remain there. With a diabetic son, one contained his supplies and as we were flying to a cold weather destination, the other had our jackets and stuff which we needed before getting off, and cameras/electronics in another. I told them of all pax with so many things, why should it be US to have their carryons removed when we had done everything right but it was the QR processes that had broken down right from the start. They hadn't checked to stop pax with extra luggage as they boarded, they hadn't called the elderly and people with children first, and many of the bins were packed with their own replenishment stuff. I kept the AC grounded until they found space for two of them, kept one piece by the flight deck and in return I agreed to have one piece sent to the hold. Taxiing a half hour late, we ended up number 2 for take-off but had to hold there for another 45 minutes or so due to the airshow in honour of Qatar National Day. We took off 1.5 hours late because some idiot(s) somewhere didn't prioritise families with children, and some others didn't check all passengers for excess carry-on leaving the last ones to board to be penalised. Needless to say I was and still am so pissed off that I'll be going to their HQ & Technical bldg in person upon my return to file a complaint.
While I don't want (and hope that won't be the case) to get the CC in trouble, and they [supposedly] tried to help once I stood my ground, but it was NOT a "5-star" performance and NOT a pleasant start for our xmas holidays. My wife was saying we should rush to board the bus too, I said the AC won't leave without us, we're here, no need to be uncivilised. She said but the overheads will be full, but I didn't want to believe that from QR.
The CS was 1 more word from my advising her to check her tone and remove herself as she tried to "intimidate" us into accepting their "solution." She realised it herself and moved away, letting a ground crew handle it which was the solution I accepted.
So, my question is, do you think I'm being too hard on them? Don't you think their processes were flawed/broken down and that it has to be addressed? I, for one, do not want to encounter that again.