Qatar Airways Special Assistance

Last updated: 31 October 2026.

Qatar Airways gives help to passengers with a disability or reduced mobility, to expectant mothers and to children travelling without a parent. Requests are made in Manage Booking on the website or app, or through a Qatar Airways office.

Wheelchairs and mobility help

WCHR

Help in the terminal up to the aircraft ramp; you can manage the steps but not long walks

WCHS

Help in the terminal and up and down the aircraft steps; you can reach your seat on your own

WCHC

Help all the way to and from your seat; another chair is used on board

• Make the request during booking, or until two days before departure.
• Airport staff can accompany you from check-in through security and passport control to the gate and plane, and on arrival through passport control, customs and the baggage hall. Priority boarding is offered, and your bag gets a special tag so it comes out quickly.
• With help booked, plan to be at the airport three hours or more ahead.
• In the air, crew can guide you between seat and toilet with the on-board wheelchair (on A330, A350, A380 and Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft) but cannot lift or carry you, and cannot help once you are inside the toilet. They open meal packs and identify food but do not feed anyone. Anyone who needs help with personal care, eating or reacting fast in an emergency must bring a companion.
• Where possible you get a seat whose armrests lift out of the way. You may choose any seat except an emergency-exit seat.

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Bringing your own chair or aid

• Tell Qatar Airways at booking, or 48 hours ahead. A single wheelchair or aid for each passenger travels free; additional items may cost extra.
• A folding chair can be stowed in the cabin closet on wide-body aircraft, with priority for those who requested it. If there is no space, it goes in the hold doorway.
• Battery-powered aids travel in the hold. They count as dangerous goods and need prior approval; send the battery details at least 48 hours ahead. Damaged or leaking batteries are refused.
• A cane, crutches or walking stick can come with you in the cabin.
• Stretcher passengers fly in Economy only, on journeys with no transit, with two medical escorts. The passenger or hospital arranges any medical equipment and ambulances.
• Guide dogs and other service dogs: up to two travel free in the cabin on certain routes (USA, Canada, EU, UK, Switzerland, Brazil, Australia, India, Georgia); elsewhere they go in the hold as baggage.
• Blind and deaf passengers can ask for an escort to and from the aircraft. Braille safety cards in English and Arabic are on board, and the safety video has Arabic subtitles. For hidden disabilities such as autism or Down syndrome, a medical certificate and notice 48 hours ahead are required, and a sensory room is available at Doha's Hamad International Airport.
• Where a Medical Information Form (MEDIF) is required, it must be written in English and arrive between a week and two days before departure.

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Pregnancy

• Qatar counts week 29 from 28 weeks and 7 days, week 36 as ending at 35 weeks and 7 days, and week 32 as ending at 31 weeks and 7 days.
• The certificate must be in English and issued in the 10 days before your first departure. It must give your name and date of birth, last period and due date, gestational age on the examination day, the dates of travel, confirmation of an uncomplicated pregnancy (single or multiple), confirmation that you can fly for the whole trip, return included, and the doctor's stamp and contact details.
• Your doctor completes the MEDIF, which is sent between a week and two days before the flight.
• Inform Qatar Airways two days ahead if anything changes.
• Help available: priority boarding, a seat near a toilet when free, seatbelt extension, drinking water, pillows and blankets, and mobility help on request.

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Children travelling alone

Under 5

Must travel with an adult aged 16 or over in the same cabin

5 to 11

Young Solo Traveller is mandatory when no one aged 16 or over is with the child. The adult fare applies.

12 to 15

Optional Young Passenger service (meet and assist) when travelling without an adult aged 18 or over

• A Qatar Airways representative stays with the child at check-in, in the cabin and on connections, and hands them to the named pick-up person. Doha has a lounge for unaccompanied children.
• The child's ticket must begin 157, and every flight must be one Qatar Airways operates.
• Book as an adult passenger and submit the online form a day or more before departure (two days for an award booking).
• A companion who accompanies the child through the whole journey can be requested 72 hours ahead, which requires a return ticket for the representative.
• Children aged 5 to 11 may sit in a different cabin from the parent on the same flight.
• Award flights for unaccompanied children cost Avios as for an adult plus 3,000 Avios each way.

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Questions travellers ask us

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Baggage Allowance is an independent information site and is not part of Qatar Airways. Check the airline's own pages before you travel.