RTW TP Run in Jan 2026: Day 136 – London Heathrow (LHR) to Doha (DOH)

By Nige on June 2, 2026 at 8:43 pm
Type: Post
Story: Round the World Tier Point Run in Jan 2026 Category: Travel
Tags: DOH | Doha | LHR | London Heathrow | Qatar Airways | QR

Having reached T4 by bus, it was a quick walk up the escalator and in through FastTrack at Security before heading down to Gate 1 to enjoy the benefits of the Qatar Premium Lounge.

It had been bigged up to be the best outstation lounge in the world. It was OK, but nothing special from my perspective.

It was very quiet when I found a seat in the lounge at about 10:30am. I was warmly welcomed and I ordered a latte to warm me up. No Starbucks available in T4.

I started on some work in support of a planning appeal, which I had found very interesting, but frustrating at the same time.

I walked up and down the terminal building. It was not as nice or as well appointed with shops as T5. It was also nice and quiet. I had certainly chosen a good day/time to try T4 for the first time.

I helped myself to a beautiful lamb biryany, with some raita from the Global Deli. Very nice indeed.

The lounge crew were mixed. Some were delightful and helpful. Exactly as I would expect based on my previous experience of Qatar staff. Some were very curt and non-engaging which was a surprise.

The weather was also mixed. It had rained at home, but it had fairly dry on the way to Heathrow. Not long after I arrived, it tipped it down and the thunder roared. That was bound to end in flight delays!

My flight to Doha left from Gate 6a and I was down there about 10 min before boarding commenced. Boarding was a little unusual, although likely more efficient than most.

After families, oldies and wheelchairs were boarded, zone 1 was invited to board which was the last 10 or so rows of the aircraft.

Business class were invited to board shortly after. It was the impressive Q Suites on board the 777 and i was welcomed on board by at least 3 cabin crew members.

I settled into seat 03K, which was a rear-facing window seat. Although to be honest, the forward-facing seats also had access to the window, although they were slightly further away and window real-estate was less than the rear-facing seats.

We pushed back about 15 mins late due to the weather, which had caused a bit of a hold up for aircrafts departing, as explained by the captain.

I decided to watch Dead Man’s Wire, which was an indie film about a desperate man that took a banker hostage and paraded him through the streets of his home town. A little bizarre but interesting.

After taking off, we enjoyed a prolonged period of turbulence but it didn’t stop the crew serving dinner. It was dine on demand but I opted to eat straight after taking off.

The crew were very efficient, but managed a smile at every opportunity.

The amuse voucher was tasty: a slice of beef rolled around a piece of asparagus with a slightly tangy sauce.

The mezze with warm pita bread was good, although I only really ate the tomato-based dip.

I started watching LA Confidential, although I didn’t get very far with it. Watched it before; great film; but I was drawn to my bed after lunch was served.

The main course was a chicken machboos with daqoos sauce (which was effectively a tomato-based sauce); it was very similar to a biriani. In fact this dish was also available in the lounge. Very tasty it was too.

I asked for my bed to be made up. The mattress was pretty decent, and the duvet was really substantial.

I must have slept for about three hours or so. When I woke it was about an hour to go, and I got myself ready for landing.

I expected the transfer to be fairly straight forward. It might be quite busy in the airport at 1am with all of the various flights bringing in passengers to connect to their ongoing flights.

It was fairly bumpy on final approach, but landing was smooth enough.

As we taxed to the terminal building, the cabin crew apologised for our late arrival. This was classic Qatar customer service: at this point we weren’t even late, and any delay was not down to them.

The flight arrived into Gate A8 and the transfer was easier than anticipated: straight into the departures area after showing my boarding pass.

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Round the World Tier Point Run in Jan 2026