Qatar- a terrible customer experience

I booked a flight with Qatar from Johannesburg to Beijing in Apr 2024, to my surrise at check in, I was informed that I could not get onto my flight with my Portuguese passport as I did not have a visa for China. I had researched before and had seen that on a portuguese passport, you can get your visa on arrival. I showed the attendent the website but was still refused access to board the flight. My brother (who flew from the UK to the same airport in China) got his visa with no problems so I informed the attendent of this and even then they refused to allow me to board. I then was forced to book a flight with emerates to the same airport with the same passport that qatar was adament was not allowed. It has been a year now and despite the numerous emails, calls and visits to the airport, I have not been refunded. (Even though I have been informed in writing that the refunded was "processed")

I would not recommend this airline at all! Even on visits to the airport, all the team says are "our hands are tied". All the stress this caused on the day of the flight and the stress about the refund is just not worth it. A terrible terrible customer experience.