Qatar Airways financially benefitted from my stroke, then ignored me for eight months until I threatened to sue them.

As many readers will know, I am a stroke survivor. What I haven’t publicised until now is that Qatar Airways financially benefitted from my stroke. After being given the runaround for eight months, I had to threaten to sue them in small claims court before they responded in any meaningful way to my complaint against them.

All of this is obviously a departure from what I usually write about on this site. But Qatar Airways has such a persistent pattern of poor customer service, that facing a delay of many months to get any sort of answer or resolution from the airline’s customer care/customer services teams has been called getting ‘Qatar’d’ by wags on Reddit.

So this article is intended as a guide for anyone else who will have the misfortune of being Qatar’d, whether it’s an unusual case like mine or the far more common problems of delayed flights, cancelled flights and lost luggage. In another departure from the other articles on this site, I’ll use a question and answer format so that you can get straight to the information you need if you too have been Qatar’d.

How does Qatar Airways treat stroke survivors?

I flew from London to Kathmandu, with a connecting flight in Doha, in economy class with a planned return flight, also in economy class. The vast majority of my booking was paid for with Avios, the frequent flyer points used not only by Qatar Airways, but by many other airlines.

The outward journey was uneventful. Unfortunately, I had a stroke within 24 hours of landing in Nepal, was hospitalised for six days and returned home early on a different Qatar Airways flight, in business class, at the insistence of my travel insurance company who also paid for this repatriation flight (as it’s known in travel insurance jargon).

Qatar Airways was aware of the reason for my early return before I ever set foot in that business class cabin, as my travel insurance company had to submit a Medical Information Form (also known as a MEDIF form). Submitting a MEDIF form is mandatory, or at least expected practice when a passenger has potential medical needs that the crew need to be aware of. As such, the form had basic medical details about my case provided by my Nepali neurologist.

The problems started when I returned home and attempted to get either a partial or total refund of the 97,500 Avios that I had collected for over a decade and had used to pay for my flight (the monetary value of 97,500 Avios is approximately £1,543-1,715 according to the airline’s own online store). Despite contacting Qatar Airways eight different times over eight months, and having submitted copies of my much more detailed and sensitive Nepali medical records at their request on three occasions, I wasn’t given a decision one way or the other. This was the case even after I had promised a resolution within one week when my case had been escalated by one of their frontline staffers to the Qatar Airways European Customer Support Centre.

There were also several issues with the quality of Qatar Airways’ customer service, such as the poor audio/line quality when contacting them by phone, making the already difficult-to-understand frontline staff members even harder to understand. In one instance, I had to deal with a rude and defensive customer care adviser who only stopped being so when he heard the word ‘stroke’. I also had to repeat the lengthy and stressful details of my case, despite being assured that these would be noted down on their systems so that I wouldn’t have to do so. 

To finally get any kind of resolution to my case after eight months of fruitlessness, I had to send a formal letter to Qatar Airways threatening to sue them in small claims court.

Did you end up taking Qatar Airways to small claims court? Or did the airline settle out of court?

After sending my letter to Qatar Airways’ registered London office, the airline finally acted. The airline refunded around a third of the Avios that I was claiming (32,500), but didn’t inform me that they were doing so – I only found out during my periodic, regular checks of my Avios balance over the eight month course of this dispute.

This partial refund was done in a particularly underhanded and deceptive manner – the refund date was backdated to late May, two months before the date of my letter. Curiously, they seemingly refunded the full 97,500 Avios, before backtracking shortly afterwards and subtracting 65,000 from that amount, leaving the 32,500 Avios that I’ve managed to reclaim.

Because the underhanded backdating of the refund makes it appear that Qatar Airways (partially) complied with the refund demand before I sent my letter threatening legal action, even though it occurred afterwards, I’ve reluctantly decided not to sue. For now.

Why should I care about how Qatar Airways treats stroke survivors?

If this is how a well-known, well-funded and profit-making airline (US$2bn in net profit for 2025-26) treats a stroke survivor, then it doesn’t bode well for any other passengers with any other kind of complaint or issue.

Because of the MEDIF form mentioned above, the airline knew from just a few days after I had been discharged from the Nepali hospital that I was a stroke survivor being repatriated. Given the eight-month lack of responsiveness that followed, this suggest a lack of joined-up operational ledgerdemain between its flight and terminal operations on the one hand and its customer care teams on the other.

The fact that my travel insurance company paid for a separate, full-price business class fare is a highly pertinent point. The airline has not lost out financially because of my stroke. Qatar Airways in fact gained another ticket sale, and an expensive one too, because I had a stroke. The value of my Avios (approx. £1,680-1,715) is easily outweighed by the business class fare that they gained (at least £2,200). Refunding my Avios should’ve been, to use a colloquialism, a no-brainer.

But isn’t Qatar Airways a highly-rated, award-winning airline?

It’s important to remember that awards, such as the Skytrax five-star award that Qatar Airways likes to boast about, are given on the basis of the in-flight experience and the experience at its home base terminal in Doha. Such awards almost certainly never consider customer service issues, especially when something goes wrong.

But I saw a glowing review of Qatar Airways on Instagram/TikTok!

The same principle mentioned immediately above also applies here. Perhaps especially so when considering reviews from influencers who may have been given a freebie flight, other benefits or were outright paid for their coverage. In such cases, it’s important to remember that many travel influencers are marketing freelancers, not impartial observers and reporters.

Can you claim back lost Avios from your travel insurer?

Many travel insurers specifically exclude loyalty points/frequent flyer miles from the coverage in their policies, as was the case with my insurer. If in doubt, and if this matters to you, then check the wording of your policy carefully.

How can I contact Qatar Airways customer services?

Contacting Qatar Airways customer care is, at first glance straightfoward. In the UK, they can be contacted by phone on +44 330 912 7415, by webchat and on Twitter/X direct messages at @qatarairways.

What are the opening hours for Qatar Airways customer service? 

There are no listed opening hours for Qatar Airways’ customer service phone number. So, in theory, someone should be available to help 24/7. But the problem was, as I discovered, that even when I did get through to someone, they were chronically unable to help. 

How long will I have to wait on hold if I call Qatar Airways customer care?

It’s difficult to say. Most of my calls were answered within a few minutes, some within a few seconds. At worst, I waited on hold for 3.5 hours on one occasion.

How can I make a formal complaint against Qatar Airways? How do I escalate my issue against the airline?

There is a complaints process on Qatar Airways’ website, but you wouldn’t realise it as it’s called ‘Feedback & Concerns’ instead. Upon clicking/tapping the ‘Feedback & Concerns’ button and submitting a form, you should receive an automated email reply – as I did – with a unique case number beginning with ‘CAS’. It’s worth noting this CAS case number down, even if you end up being Qatar’d, for the small claims court process (if you choose to go down that route).

What is the email address for Qatar Airways customer care?

Qatar Airways customer service doesn’t, in theory, have an email address. The Tell Us (i.e. complaints) team do have one, tell-us@qatarairways.com.qa, but in my case they seemed only capable of sending stock template replies/receipt acknowledgements rather than providing any kind of actual assistance or resolution.

The Qatar Airways European Customer Support Centre has a little-known email address, customersupporteu@eu.qatarairways.com. Despite being told to send yet another copy of my sensitive medical records to this address though, and despite emailing them for updates after their promised resolution date came and went, I never received anything other than automated receipt acknowledgements from this address. Your mileage may differ.

Can I complain to Qatar Airways’ CEO? Or can I complain to the airline’s press relations team or the UK country manager?

You can try, but I never received any kind of reply when I did so. The email address for the office for Qatar Airways’ CEO is, according to some online sources at least, EAmin@qatarairways.com.qa (the CEO at the time of my incident, or at least for most of it, was Hamad Ali Al-Khater). The email address for the press relations team is qrmedia@qatarairways.com.qa – I believe this is the one based in Doha and not the UK-specific team. I couldn’t find an email address for the UK team or for the airline’s UK country manager who, at the time of my incident, was Andrew Bunn.

What should I do if my Qatar Airways flight was delayed or cancelled?

If your Qatar Airways flight is delayed, then you have specific legal rights under both UK and EU regulations. Similar protections apply if your flight is cancelled. Which? magazine has a thorough guide to what you are entitled to, under what circumstances and how to make a claim. This includes advice on how to claim protection from your credit card company, if you paid for your flight by credit card, as a fallback option.

Importantly, given that I’m writing specifically about Qatar Airways which routes most if not all of its flights through its home terminal in Doha, these protections also apply to connecting flights.

What should I do if Qatar Airways lost or damaged my luggage? 

If Qatar Airways loses or damages your luggage, then you are entitled to compensation under the Montreal Convention. If you’re being Qatar’d over your lost or damaged luggage, then Which? magazine has template letters you can send to the airline.

I’m getting nowhere with Qatar Airways customer care – I’m being ‘Qatar’d’. How do I sue them in small claims court?

There are certain steps you must follow.

1. You must be able to show that you’ve exhausted all other means of resolving your dispute with Qatar Airways. In my case, I kept a log of the dates of the eight separate occasions when I contacted the airline over eight months, as well as copies of the email and Twitter/X DM correspondence. Given how Qatar Airways retroactively altered some dates in my case (as mentioned above), keep copies, screenshots and printouts of everything, no matter how seemingly insignificant at the time.
2. As you would be representing yourself in small claims court, which is generally designed for cases to proceed without the need for claimants to have lawyers, you must be at least reasonably confident that you have grounds on which to bring a case. This shouldn’t be an issue with common problems involving monetary loss, such as cancelled flights and lost luggage.
3. Before suing Qatar Airways in small claims court, you must give them 14 days notice that you’re going to do so and that you’re open to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), an alternative process to court action. You must do this, even though Qatar Airways doesn’t, as far as I know, participate in any ADR process in the UK, such as the one run by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). In my case, I sent this notice in a recorded delivery letter addressed to Qatar Airway’s UK country manager, Andrew Bunn, at their registered London office, 10-11 Conduit Street, Mayfair, London, W1S 2QR.
4. If the airline doesn’t contact you to settle your case to your satisfaction, then you can file a claim on the gov.uk website. You do not need a lawyer to file a claim, or to represent you in court, as you can represent yourself.
5. But as you must pay a filing fee, which is a percentage of the monetary value being disputed, you must have the financial resources to sue.
6. Once you have filed, Qatar Airways will receive a summons. If they still fail to contact you to settle your case to your satisfaction (which has apparently happened according to anecdotes on Reddit), then the court will set a hearing date. Prepare for the hearing by marshalling a firm grip on your facts and timeline, as well as ensuring your evidence is as tight as possible.  

You’ve always tried to preserve your anonymity. Aren’t you putting that at risk by writing about your experience with Qatar Airways?

The commercial aviation arm of an authoritarian monarchy with scant respect for dissent and other human rights has multiple copies of my sensitive hospital records. They have yet to account for what they’ve done with them, by whom and for how much longer they will keep hold of them. And that’s before one takes into consideration how commonly data breaches, either by hackers or by others such as disgruntled employees, tend to occur. I think I have bigger problems at this point than the anonymity of my restaurant reviews.

How do I find out what personal information Qatar Airways holds about me?

To find out what data Qatar Airways holds about you, fill out the data subject access request form on their website. I have done so. If I receive a reply to my data subject access request, which the airline is legally obligated to provide under GDPR, then I’ll update this article.

Why were you treated so poorly and so slowly by Qatar Airways customer services?

On this, I can only speculate. Profound, repeat problems with customer service tend to be rooted in more than just the performance of certain individuals. Instead, it tends to be rooted in structural, systemic problems where a lack of autonomy on the part of individual frontline staff is compounded by inadequate budgets and bureaucratic corporate procedures hindering the resolution of individual cases, leading to significant backlogs. Inadequate budgets and excessive, unhelpful bureaucracy are often indicators of a lack of priority placed by senior management on customer care.

Is the disruption caused by the Iran war a possible reason for why you were Qatar’d?

My stroke, my flights and the first couple of my interactions with Qatar Airways customer care took place well before the Iran war had even begun. The fact that one of Qatar Airways’ frontline staff members attempted to use this as an excuse for the airline’s slow response was insulting to the intelligence of everyone involved.

Will you fly again with Qatar Airways?

I’m not going to be so melodramatic and say that I’ll never fly with Qatar Airways again. Given that, if I’m ever able to hike again at high altitude, some destinations, such as Nepal, are served by a limited number of airlines. But I’d certainly dwell on this entire mess and would have to think very carefully about whether to risk being Qatar’d all over again. 

What was the inflight experience like in Qatar Airways economy class and business class?

Not bad at all, but it would take another stroke before I tell anyone about how good it was.

-TPG