2d graphs in a 3d plot

I don't know if there is a bug. If there is, take this as a workaround; I added redundant points in the curves and removed the contour lines (code below).

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots,pgfplotstable}


\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}

\pgfplotstableread{
q   1h  2h  3h  4h
0.01138 124.153702  119.550705  117.984253  115.065399             
0.089615    4.255316    4.356256    4.253153    4.040073       
0.129441    4.262549    3.756256    3.765975    4.120948       
0.254584    2.837865    3.107194    2.983951    2.531952    
0.298655    2.638327    2.848219    2.792608    2.729832 
0.298655    1       1       1       1       
0.01138     1       1       1       1
0.01138 124.153702  119.550705  117.984253  115.065399
}\data

\begin{axis}[
    zmode=log,
    log origin z=0,
    area plot/.style={
        fill opacity=0.75,
        draw=blue!70!violet,thick,
        fill=blue!70!violet!50,
        mark=none,
    }
]
\pgfplotsinvokeforeach{4,3,2,1}{
  \addplot3 [fill=blue, opacity=0.5,draw=none] table [x=q, y expr=#1, z=#1h] {\data} \closedcycle;

}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

The issue is solved in the now released v1.13 of PGFPlots. Your example now works without any changes.

It was also added a similar example to the manual in section 4.6.3 on page 130.