Passengers flying through Doha, Qatar, on Qatar Airways (877/777-2827) who have between five and twelve hours’ transit time in Doha may now take a free city tour.
The 3-hour tour is on a coach with A/C and an English-speaking guide. On a first-come, first-served basis, the tour may be booked at the Doha City Tour counter at Doha International Airport (DOH).
My husband, Al, and I arrived at Miami International Airport from Panama City on March 4, 2014, at 10:30 a.m., leaving plenty of time before our 1:30 p.m. flight aboard American Airlines to St. Louis, Missouri.
However, we encountered long lines and faced long walks. We went through security twice. We had to search for our luggage because it had been taken off the carousel immediately to make room for that of another incoming flight.
Irwin Schatzman; Scottsdale, AZ
by Bob Henson; Birmingham, AL
Carolyn Jones — Bend, OR
Traveling by myself in November ’13 on a tour arranged by a tour company, I was using Djibouti as a base of operations to fly to Puntland, Somalia, and to Mogadishu, Somalia, and back. The flights required that I pass through the Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport security, first while entering the terminal and then at the gate for departure. On the return flight, I had to pass through security again in the Customs area.
Djibouti’s terminal did not have that many security officers, so I saw the same officers many times over the days I was operating out of Djibouti.
Early in 2013, my wife, Josie, and I used our American Airlines mileage to book round-trip coach-class tickets to Paris for the last two weeks of September. As American Airlines did not have any seats available, we were booked from Portland to Los Angeles on Alaska Airlines and then to Paris nonstop on Air Tahiti Nui (USA office in El Segundo, CA; 877/824-4846). We had never heard of the airline, but off we went.
After reading of a traveler’s 4½-day ordeal in returning to California following a tour of India that ended on Dec. 26, a subscriber wrote the letter titled “Air Travel Tips” (Jan. ’14, pg. 10). Among her advice was the tip, “Really, really, really… think carefully about flying at Christmas. The only worse time is Thanksgiving.”
Gail Newlin — Troy, MI
When I think of China, the first thing that comes to mind are pandas. With their black-and-white coats, Mickey Mouse ears and Buddha bellies, they inspire an irresistible urge to hug them. So I had to add “holding a panda” to my list of things to do before I die.
After taking off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at 12:41 a.m. on March 8, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 — with 239 passengers and crew on board — headed for Beijing, China, due to land at 6:30 a.m. However, a little after 1:00 it disappeared, sparking an international search operation that remained ongoing at press time.