Qatar Airways Gold South Doha Lounge

Nice comfortable seats, good bar, and great runway views are in the Qatar Airways Gold South Doha Lounge.

Designed just for those on the mid tier Gold Frequent Flyer level (and indeed Silver on British Airways, or Gold on Qantas) it is a marginal step up from the Silver lounge, with a staffed bar and slightly better food, but within a slightly smaller space.

The Gold Lounge is right under the Platinum lounge, which is twice the size with at seat dining. NEWS: Qatar Airways has unveiled Platinum, Gold and Silver lounges at its hub, Doha's Hamad International Airport, with access for Privilege Club loyalty members and oneworld alliance card holders in economy, to access the dedicated lounge corresponding to their frequent flyer tier status.
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Doha Qatar Airways Gold South lounge review

The brand new Doha airport Gold lounge has often been called the 'Qatar Business Class lounge'. It's not, and in the very confusing nomoculture of Doha, and indeed Qatar Airways, it is only accessible to those in economy with a gold frequent flyer card, or in Business except for ultra low fare Business. It is also very hard to find.

A new lounge, opening in early 2022, it is vastly better than the old, and overcrowded, now closed Qatar Business Class lounge on level 2, which was just for frequent flyers, but not quite as good as the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge, which is just for paid full fare Business Class.

The Doha Qatar Airways Gold South lounge has the same access door as the Platinum lounge, just at the start of the A Concourse to the start of the long 'wing' of the airport, but in this case is downstairs around a bit of a wiggle in the corridor.

By far the smallest of the three 'Tiered' Frequent Flyer lounges (Silver, Gold and Platinum) this is a curiosity: It may be the smallest lounge is the Gold lounge, and yet this tier has the majority of lounge-worth frequent flyer members. Never the less the lounge only seats 95 passengers, and at peak times, generally early morning and late evening, all of them seem to be in this lounge.

The Qatar Airways Gold Doha Lounge South is in effect one room, with banks of seats overlooking the window. However, the 'inland' side of this has been split up with room dividers, and some show piece furniture: alas Qatar neglected to actually put some more seats in these areas, which would certainly help. It looks great when the lounge is empty, when there are no flights, between 9am and midday, but less so when passengers are camped on the floor at 11pm. At these times the Silver lounge in the North wing actually has more space.

At the far end is the staffed bar, which has seats, although if you sit here people do tend to loom over you and shout their cocktail orders. The food, such as it is, is to the right of the bar, with half a dozen small dining tables.

Finally, behind the net curtain beside the bar, is a small snooze area, although with it placed right beside the noisy bar, there can't be a more inappropriate location!

Food

Ah, yes, food.

Don't anticipate heading to the Gold Doha Lounge for some great pre-flight dining. Now there is food here, in the two heated cabinets and the table: there is generally a curry and a rice or pasta.

At breakfast times there is a good spread with cold cuts and cheese, plus all the makings of a traditional Arabic breakfast, but this is served for the three hours in the morning when there are no passengers. Hence, this is a great time to visit the lounge.

Don't miss the desserts in the evening, which are very good, but go rapidly. Again, for much better dining, it does serve to move down a tier, and head to the Qatar Silver Lounge North, which not only has more space, but better food too!

If all you want are snacks, 24 hours a day beside the bar there is a mini glass fridge, with chilled fruit and occasionally plated canapes, plus smoothies.

Bar

The bar is great. There is a fully staffed bar 24 hours a day, and it is well worth a visit. Except during Ramadan of course, when the bar is firmly dry, and all you can get is a small glass of orange juice as the sun goes down.

There is beer on draft, and a small selection of wines. Not quite as good as the Qatar Platinum Lounge Doha upstairs however.

There is also a good cocktail selection: The bar staff will mix these up on demands, and the selection is quite good.

Business Facilities

Free wifi, but that's about it.

However the wifi is very fast.

Bathrooms

In lounge, on the inland side, and pretty decent, with showers.

Access

There is access for Qatar Airways Privilege Club Gold members and their Oneworld Sapphire equivalents (such as British Airways silver and Qantas Gold).

American Airlines Gold Frequent Flyers are not permitted entry to any lounge when travelling in economy on Qatar Airways.

Video: Qatar Gold Lounge South

Qatar Gold Lounge South video - Click to play

Qatar Gold Lounge South video - Click to play