Qatar Airways and the Doha accommodation after probation: moving out, the housing allowance option
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#1 Qatar, UK, and the Doha housing threads on here are about the company buildings and the rules. Several of them mention the housing allowance option after the first period and nobody has written what moving out actually looks like. I moved out at month 14. Here it is.
The option
After a period (it has been around a year, check the current policy), crew can apply to leave the company accommodation and take a housing allowance instead. The allowance is a monthly amount in riyals that is meant to cover a share of a flat, and the crew who take it find their own place. Not everyone is approved immediately; the approval follows the record and the availability. The accommodation rules (the guests, the curfew in the early months) stop applying when you leave.
Where crew go
The Pearl (the island development, the expensive one, the pool and the sea, the long commute to the airport). Al Sadd and Bin Mahmoud (central, cheaper, the older buildings, the Egyptian and Maghreb cafés). West Bay (the towers, the business district, mid price). Al Wakrah (near the airport, the cheapest, the quietest, where the crew who want sleep go). Most crew share: two or three to a flat, the allowance covering most of a share and not a solo flat in the Pearl.
What it actually costs
A share of a two bedroom in Al Sadd: most of the allowance. A share of a three bedroom in the Pearl: the allowance plus a chunk of the salary. A solo studio in Al Wakrah: the allowance roughly. The agency fee, the deposit, the furniture (the company flats were furnished and the private ones often are not), the internet and the utilities (included in the company buildings, not in the private flats). The first month out costs real money and the crew who move out without a savings cushion regret the first month.
The transport
The company bus runs from the company buildings. From a private flat you drive (a car, the licence conversion, the Doha driving) or taxi (expensive at 4am every duty) or carpool with the crew in the same building, which is the reason the crew cluster in a few buildings in each district.
Why crew move out
The rules, obviously. The flat share choosing the friends, as Joe wrote for Dubai. The partner, for the couples. The adult feeling. And the sense that the Doha life starts when the building's sign in desk is behind you.
Why crew stay in
The money, which the company accommodation saves entirely. The convenience of the bus. The community on the floor. And the sense, for the saving focused crew, that the Doha years are for the bank and not for a flat in the Pearl.
For the year one crew
Save through the first year in the building, decide at the option whether the rules or the money matter more, and if you move out, cluster with crew who share the bus route. Al Sadd for the cafés, Al Wakrah for the sleep, the Pearl for the Instagram.
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#2 Qatar from Adelaide, moved out at month 16 to a three bedroom in Al Sadd with two batch mates, and the first month costing real money is the thing nobody warns you about: the deposit, the furniture, the agency. Kay has it right. The cafés are worth it.
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#3 Qatar from Alexandria, still in the building at month 20 because the saving is the point for me and the bus is a gift at 4am. Kay's 'the Doha years are for the bank' is my position. The rules are survivable. The deposit is not.
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#4 Thai, Qatar, Al Wakrah, and the sleep is the reason: the airport is fifteen minutes and the building is quiet and the Thai crew cluster there for the carpool. The Pearl is for the photographs. Al Wakrah is for the roster.
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#5 Qatar, training, and the housing allowance option at around a year is the thing I will decide at month 12 with Kay's list: the rules versus the money. The building first. The saving first. Then Al Sadd for the cafés if the record allows.
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#6 Emirates, and the Dubai version of moving out is the same shape: the allowance, the shares, the first month cost, the clustering for the carpool. The flat choosing the friends is the thing I would add to Kay's why. It chose mine.
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#7 Economy purser, and the crew who move out and the crew who stay are both on my flights and the difference I notice is the 4am: the building crew are on the bus and the flat crew are in a taxi that was late. The carpool solves it. Cluster.
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#8 Qatar from Rabat, month 20, in the building, and the Moroccan cafés in Al Sadd are the argument for moving there and the saving is the argument for staying. Kay's thread is the decision laid out. Deciding at the option.
