QATAR AIRWAYS BRIDGES CONNECTIVITY GAP ON BOARD BY OFFERING TABLETS ON BOARD
(Posted 30th March 2017)
US carriers are said to be livid over gestures made by the leading Gulf airlines like Qatar Airways to offer their premium guests on board laptops on loan, allowing uninterrupted work by busy executives flying on their aircraft.
Qatar Airways earlier today announced a unique solution to the recently imposed Electronics Ban by offering passengers a laptop loan service that takes their award-winning five-star reputation to new heights. Showing true commitment to travellers affected by the ban the Doha-based airline has taken the notable step to purchase laptops available for loan on all of their US flights; meaning uninterrupted productivity and service throughout their journey.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said when making the announcement: ‘As an award-winning and global airline we truly appreciate the importance of being able to work on board our aircraft and that is why I have insisted on offering only the best possible solution for our customers. By providing this laptop loan service we can ensure that our passengers on flights to the US can continue to work whilst on-board. This unique ability to offer ‘business as usual’, above and beyond the competition, is yet another example of Qatar Airways justification for being the ‘World’s Best Business Class‘. The complimentary laptops will be available to Business Class passengers travelling on all US-bound flights from next week and and can be collected from the Gate just before boarding. Customers will be able to download their work on to a USB before stepping on board to pick up where they left-off. Qatar Airways is offering a special service at the gate for all passengers, whereby any electronic items prohibited by the new ban will be collected and securely packaged. These will be tagged, loaded as check-in baggage and returned safely to the customer on arrival to the US.
In another move to guarantee the comfort and productivity of all passengers on board US-bound flights Qatar Airways is providing one hour of free Wi-Fi for all passengers and a special Wi-Fi package of US$ 5 to stay connected for the duration of the whole flight. When most people’s smart phones will be the only device they can take on-board this generous offer will ensure passengers can stay connected and stay entertained.
Qatar Airways only a few days ago was once again named as the World’s best airline by the Air Transport Awards as was reported here at the time.
All passengers wishing to partake of the offer need to do is to bring their memory sticks with data onloaded, or an external hard drive – which is not included in the electronics ban (yet) and to work enroute to the United States.
Other airlines like Emirates and Etihad have made similar offers to their premium passengers, effectively defeating the discriminatory ban by the Trump regime against these airlines after the intended travel ban was twice defeated in the US court system.
Notably have US carriers not been affected by these arbitrary new rules which the rest of the world, apart from the UK, has also rejected, leaving US carriers again second best in comparison with the service levels offered by Gulf airlines.
Qatar Airways flies to daily to Entebbe and Kigali, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar and double daily to Nairobi presently using Airbus A320 aircraft though Nairobi will go widebody later this year.
