Life on the Spot » Bahrain

Qatar Airways 2 day Seat Sale!

xtian001 — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:30:38 +0000

I got this email from Qatar Airways about their 2-day Seat Sale.

The Seat Sale is actually nice if you really do intend to go to Dubai, Bahrain or to the other GCC countries mentioned as the base fare does come out lower than what you typically pay for. However, these rates don’t include any taxes, so better check how much tax you have to pay. I checked at the flights to Dubai for February and got the sale price but there’s a 500 rial tax that you have to pay. That means I’m paying 690QR. Not that bad as a full fare non-sale ticket with Qatar Airways would typically set you back for QR1330. That’s a saving of QR640!

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2-Day Seat Sale Starting from QAR 190*

Book your flight to select destinations on Thursday and Friday to experience 5-star service on Qatar Airways from just QAR 190* return. These amazing fares are available to Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dammam, Dubai, Kuwait and Muscat.

Book before midnight Friday, 28th January for departure between 1st and 28th February 2011. Be sure to forward this message to your friends so they, too, can enjoy these terrific savings!

Aramex Shop and Ship Increases Rates…Again

xtian001 — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:05:56 +0000

update: It seems I was mistaken and the last time Aramex did indeed increase shipping prices was June 2008 (thanks for the blog archives!).

It seems Aramex Shop and Ship increases its rates every year. This year, an email sent by Aramex tells me of their 2011 rates. It might not be that much as I looked at how much it was costing now. On the Shop and Ship Rate Calculator, your first half kilo would cost you 39 rials, succeeding half kilos would be charged at 31 rials. With their new 2011 rates, your first half kilo would now be 41 rials with an additional 33 rials for the next half kilo. That’s 2 rials more for this year.

Anybody else have any cheaper options for bringing in goods from the US to Qatar?

View new Aramex Shop and Ship rates for 2011 (PDF)

No duties on 1 electronic item for OFWs this X’mas

xtian001 — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:43:33 +0000

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Customs (BoC) will be considerate to vacationing balikbayans or overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who would want to bring in electronic items in the country this Christmas.

“In the spirit of the holiday season, ang sabi ko sa ating collectors, examiners at appraisers, lalung-lalo na dito sa arrival area na bigyan naman ng konting konsiderasyon ang ating mga kababayan,” said Customs Commissioner Lito Alvarez.

Balikbayans or OFWs will be allowed by the BoC to bring in one electronic product free of duties and taxes.

Based on customs regulations, ad valorem tax is imposed on an electronic product with more than P10,000 value.

Alvarez admitted that the law on duties and taxes is outdated and needs to be amended by Congress.

OFW Rodrigo Cabuena had just arrived from Palma de Mallorca in Spain. He bought family chocolates and clothes as presents for his family because he knows how difficult it is to bring in electronic products in the country.

Aside from the long thorough search of his belongings, BoC members would also bombard him with several questions.

“Alam nyo po naman ang trabaho namin saka yung sahod namin, minimum wage earner lang po kami doon. Ngayon, kung pagbabayarin po kami nun, medyo mabigat yun,” Cabuena said.

Alvarez reminded OFWs that they must honestly fill up the Customs Declaration Form and bring the receipt of the electronic item they want to bring into the country.

Source

xtian001 — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 13:05:17 +0000

Eid mubarak

Dear all our Muslim readers, i would like to wish you a very very “Eid Mubarak”. May ALLAH bless you with his mercy.

Qatar AAA review

xtian001 — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:11:04 +0000

Arabian Automobile Association (AAA) is a specialized emergency roadside assistance service provider in the region. AAA in Qatar covers our valuable members through out State of Qatar on 24 hours and 365 days. Our members are our strength and to be their trusted partner for entire automobile related tasks we devise various value added features along our core emergency roadside assistance. Explore “The Pearl of Gulf” – Qatar and count on us to be your guaranteed friend, just a phone call away.

Triple AAA is a service that I never really heard of until one of those bank marketers came to our offices and offered me a credit card with free Gold membership to Triple AAA. Doing some research and getting a look at their website (http://www.AAAqatar.com), I found out that as a Gold member, they provide free car registration and free towing to a garage if your car breaks down. Great! AAA Qatar is also a part of GCC wide association of roadside assistance network enabling them to coverage across most of GCC countries.

I got the chance to see how well their Free car registration work last week As my cars’ registration was already expired 2 weeks ago (the traffic department gives you an extra month after the expiry of your registration before it penalizes you). I called AAA Qatar a few weeks back to register my Citroen Picasso. My Picasso is already 6 years old so I have to take it to one of the Inspection Centers to get clearance for registration. For cars less than 4 years old, you just take your car to the traffic department and renew. That is if you’re good with your Car insurance. In any case, the AAA Qatar representative asked me if my car insurance is good (they don’t do this) and they’ll call me up again to schedule the pick up. The good thing about their service it that they pick up the car from any place in Doha and would return your car after the registration. So they called me up on a Saturday as I asked if this could be done on a Saturday. Sabu, their representative, came to the apartment at about 8 AM, took the papers and the car. He made a quick check for scratches,lights and saw that my fire extinguisher is missing a part. He told me that he can buy a new one at the inspection office and drove off.

After 3 and a half hours, Sabu called me and told me he was already downstairs. Everything was done for me! The car got inspected and was now registered. With the receipts at hand, I paid 60Qr for the Fire extinguisher, 75QR for Inspection and 100QR for registration. That’s it. I gave Sabu some extra though it was not imposed. Overall, I was impressed with the service.

There are 2 levels of membership. The Basic Coverage – AAA Silver, includes Mechanical First Aid, Battery Service, Fuel Service, Flat Tyre Service, Lockout Service, and Towing Service. Silver membership would cost you 250Qr. The AAA Gold Membership includes all the Silver benefits plus Car Registration every year, and pickup to and from the airport once a year. Gold membership would set you back for 500QR.

Honestly, I’m not too sure if paying for 500QR a year would be worth it especially if you have a new car. A towing service would also cost you 150QR if you know a number although AAA Qatar assures you of only a 45minute wait time for the towing service. However, as for the service, I think they are good and my registration was done without any hassles.