Airport madness at Eid

We went away on holiday just before Eid - which, of course, meant going to the Doha airport where you normally just walk in the front door, queue for a very short while to go through security before you can go to the check in desks.

There had been warnings in the media that most of the flights were fully booked that weekend and to arrive earlier as more people would be at the airport - but I was not at all prepared for what it was like.

It was just madness! No control, very little respect, and a lot of very, very pushy people.

When we arrived the queue just to reach the front door was all the way back to the premium terminal - so a couple hundred metres! We calmly walked to the back of the queue as we had allowed extra time and slowly inched our way forwards toward the door. The frustrating thing was the number of people who opted not to join the queue. I did not see a single person / family in traditional dress (white thobe / black robe) in the queue but saw them push in at the front of the queue and go right on through. And no one stopped them!

Other people of other nationalities / races also just ignored the queue and if you challenged them, which after a while I decided to do as I was that annoyed, they would either make some lame excuse, or just ignore you. After waiting in line patiently for 45 minutes and being now only 10 people from the door (of course with countless people still pushing in at the front), my protests got louder and louder and security decided to push me to the front of the queue - partly to get me to be quiet I think, but also because I was traveling with small children. I was ushered inside, but was then upset with myself as I felt that I just succumbed to the whole "VIP", I don't have to wait in the queue business that I had been protesting. I wish I had stayed put to make my point!

Had everyone taken their proper place in the queue the line would have moved much faster and the vast majority of us would have felt better having respect for each other. I understand pushing to the front of the queue if you plane is close to departure time, but some of these people pushing through had flights leaving 3 hours later! What an uncivilized mess!