While I love boarding a flight using the stairs, my heart sinks when I realise there is a short transfer bus journey between the terminal and the aircraft. It’s far nicer just to walk across the tarmac to the aircraft but this is generally rare.
Nothing is more fun than trying to balance while the driver throws the bus around hairpin bends at the airport, your nose in someone’s armpit, one hand holding your carry on and the other gripping whatever you can to prevent falling. A bus transfer also ruins any kind of priority boarding as everyone rides together.
Now This Is A Transfer Bus
Arriving in to Doha on Qatar Airways recently ruined all my preconceived bus notions in one go. The usual sinking feeling occurred as I walked down the steps of the aircraft to the bus. Until I could see inside the bus.
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- Seats that are fit for a king!
Large, soft individual seats and plush carpeting! This is like no bus I have ever seen before. The Premium Services bus is reserved solely for Business Class passengers. The 12 of us had the bus to ourselves! What a delicious surprise!
Better Than Some Airlines Business Class
Seating on this bus is far more luxurious than some airlines business class. I’m thinking of you, most European airlines with your three by three seating with the middle seat kept free.
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- Better than business class?
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- Better than this anyway!
There is no denying it, the seats on this premium bus are excellent. Clearly they are designed for ground travel but they do win this little comparison.
Overall Thoughts
Buses are not exciting to me and a transfer bus is probably bottom of the pond. When I arrived at Doha and encountered the transfer bus with plush individual seats I was thoroughly impressed. Perhaps I could come to like the bus after all!
It should be a wake up call to airports around the world to segregate premium passengers when using buses. That is the ultimate aim here as these people pay far more for flights than those down the back. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image via Running With Miles. Two seats image by Herget via FlyerTalk.
Surprising, but, as you say, very welcome! Emirates has among the nastiest transport to the “remote gates”, especially if flying Dubai to Africa. As a wheelchair user when traveling, I feel like cargo in the lift trucks, even though I virtually always fly Business Class. Trying to get from one end of the enormous Dubai terminal (2.5 km) to the other is a nightmare. I have been essentially abandoned, taken from the wheelchair and put on a buggy and then had to disembark/re-embark buggy several times to go through security checks. Complaints to Emirates Customer Service did NOT result in… Read more »
Sounds like an absolute trial for you when you’re travelling. I’ve seen those lift trucks before and I agree, the giant terminals can’t make it any easier. Doha does have an internal train system (!!!) which you get on inside the terminal that goes above where people walk. It’s the recommended way to get to some gates and saves a lot of walking. Be nice if all airports had something like that. Sometimes getting a flight is also a way to get fitter!