Gulf Air review - by K Cleary

21 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-BAH-BKK in Economy. Outbound to BAH was fine, food good, inflight entertainment OK. 4 hour unexplained delay at BAH for connecting flight to Bangkok, no information or apology from airline, however, a free snack was provided to passengers in the airport just before the plane boarded. Flight to BKK fine. The return flights were on time with no delays, but the cabin service was poor, with passengers getting up in the middle of take-off to get own blankets from overhead lockers as the air cooled. These really should have been on the seats prior to take-off. I found cabin staff were sometimes very curt with passengers - they were professional with little warmth. I agree with previous comments about the ageing fleet, all planes used could have done with some tlc! I have flown with other long-haul operators before and I can't say I would recommend Gulf Air based on this experience.

Gulf Air review - by R Panesar

9 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Gulf Air flight GF131 from Delhi to Bahrain, onward Bahrain to Heathrow Airport. Unschedule and unexplained delay of 1.0 hour at departure from Delhi, then further unexplained delay of 6 hours at Bahrain airport, made conditions very uncomfortable and miserable for the passengers. During this delay no attempts were made by Gulf Air to provide any water, drinks or any snacks to hungry passengers. Families with small children and elderly passengers suffered badly. Gulf Air staff ignored basic comfort of passengers.

Gulf Air review - by Geoffrey Stevens

26 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Dubai-Bahrain-Dubai in business class. First Gulf Air flight I have had for about two years. DXB-BAH Airbus A320 aircraft clean and tidy. Cabin crew friendly and professional. Food very good. Bahrain-Dubai Airbus A330 - very nice seating and cabin impressive on this aircraft. Food ok. Cabin crew professional. On time flights with check in good in Dubai and Bahrain.

Gulf Air review - by D Hoppin

25 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

JED-BAH First Class on A340-300. No priority boarding for premium passengers at JED. Clean, well maintained interior though 1990s-style sleeper seats. Excellent food and attentive FAs. Only quibble is they ran out of sparkling water right after takeoff -- evidently this is a popular choice since no alcohol is served on flights to/from Saudi. Fast track through Bahrain immigration worked fine. In all, a decent experience and would fly Gulf Air again.

Gulf Air review - by Stephen Held

17 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

I am a Gold frequent flyer of GF for a while now. The new F cabin seating (flat seating) and inflight chef are good. Unfortunately GF still have those dreadful B767 and A320 on the ATH and IST routes. Amenity kits are basic and not as extensive as EK but onboard products in the toilets from Temple Spa are good. The flight attendants and service in premium cabins are good to great. Some show you how they appreciate you as a frequent flyer while others just want to serve you as fast as they can and hope you'll get asleep or entertain yourself without bothering them. In economy class GF lis osing grounds constantly - seat pitch is good but some seats are broken, as well as the IFE. Food quality varies from good to non edible. The cabin service and attitude of the flight attendants varies like the weather. GF should be aware that EY, QR and EK are not sleeping but constantly improving their products.

Gulf Air review - by A Amaladoss

12 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-BAH-KUL return in business class. Cse Gulf because of their attractive promotional fares which were booked online. Checkin at LHR straightforward. The lounge though smaller than some, was adequate with internet access, light refreshments and a good range of magazines. Flight to BAH and on to KUL on A340-300; sleeper seats very comfortable. Good service from FAs.T he food was tasty,with a choice of two starters and three main courses. Desserts served from a trolley, with cheese to follow. IFE not on demand, but adequate choice. Comfortable headphones. Basic amenity kit in seat pocket. Breakfast prior to landing in KUL was excellent, with freshly scrambled eggs-having a chef onboard makes a difference. Lounge in BAH a little crowded, but good food and drink. Premium Plaza Lounge in KUL adequate. Sleeper seats available on both legs of return flight. On arrival at LHR, bags took a while to arrive - no priority given to business passengers. Gulf does not offer fast lane through immigration (but available for security check). Apart from these quibbles, an enjoyable experience, and excellent value for money.S ome difficulties enrolling online with FFP, but staff at BAH helpful - will have to wait and see if points get credited.

Gulf Air review - by Kurt Müller

27 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Madras-Dubai via Bahrain. First leg on A320. Seats awful - the padding on the back of the seat is miniscule, and there's a hard horizontal part of the frame pressing into you. Food hardly edible. Despite having been asked when booking about my meal preference, I ended up with a South Indian veg breakfast. How any Arabian airline can consider this as a proper meal is beyond my imagination - not even an egg! Transit at Bahrain very basic - stuck in a cold stairwell for 15 minutes. Onward leg to Dubai more comfortable on B767, but interior very tired. Lunchbox quite tasty, but again only veg food.

Gulf Air review - by Neil Hart

27 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-BAH. Meals good, had seat 48a last row of economy, tv screen not working. BAH-BKK was chaos on boarding as Gulf Air had made a late aircraft change and a lot of seats had been double issued or seat did not exist - this took over 1 hour to sort out. BKK-BAH check-in very slow, aircraft cabin clean and comfortable. BAH-LHR same seat and aircraft as outbound - seat back tv screen was still not fixed, food not good. A dinner served at 0300 am local time would have been better serving snack first and then breakfast before landing, as Qatar and Etihad offer on the night flights from the Gulf. If you have along stop at Bahrain airport it is worth paying $27USD to use the Dilmun" Lounge (operated by Bahrain Airport Services) you can stay for up to 4 hours and includes drinks, food and showers

Gulf Air review - by W Allan

27 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

KUL-BAH-LHR and back. Ground staff helpful. Aircraft older, but clean. Lavatories could use some attention. Significant difference between A340 (ex SQ aircraft) and A332. A332 was clean with newer seats and functional IFE, but only flew this aircraft BAH-LHR. Other flights, IFE was intermittent at best, and picture/sound quality was poor. Seat on LHR-BAH flight in poor condition, cushion sloped to the left, leaving me sitting unevenly. Cabin staff did their best to make the journey comfortable and enjoyable. The food was flavoursome and plenty. Good value in the price department.

Gulf Air review - by R Sanders

8 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Riyadh to London. The flight was delayed for 12 hours, and no explanation was offered. The gate was also changed several times at my stopover in Bahrain. Service on board OK, nothing special. Ground staff the rudest I have ever encountered. My return flight to Riyadh was just as bad, the ground staff were like machines and it seems noone really seems to care about the passenger. I was charged a ridiculous amount for excess baggage and when I arrived in Bahrain the plane was delayed again because of technical issues and because it arrived late. All in all approx 16 hour delay for me. I have emailed customer services twice now and have yet to receive a satisfactory reply. All I can say is Gulf Air.

Gulf Air review - by K Thomas

30 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

First class to Sydney from Heathrow. Ticket reasonably priced, about the same as other airlines business class. Check in quick and efficient and was escorted to the lounge. The lounge was fine at Heathrow. The plane itself was a little disappointing - a little shabby. The seat was comfortable and reclined to a flat bed. The cabin staff couldnt have been more helpful and the food was simply out of this world. There was a 15 minute menu (ie to your seat within 15 minutes ) and a full a la carte menu which you have ordered in advance and served at a time of your choosing. My only real complaint was in respect of the entertainment which was poor and limited. Also the selection was the same for each leg of the journey both to and from Australia - not good on such a long flight. The other real fault is in relation to boarding at the various stopovers - there is no priority boarding which is surprising. I stopped in Bahrain where the lounge was lovely and has a separate section for first class. My experience wasn't the Heaven that everyone had told me first class would be, but it was still good and a world away from economy. For the cost, in comparison to other airlines I would recommend Gulf, but the points you earn are pretty pointless as they have now stopped flying to many routes - ie Australia for one. I did get to be a silver member however which means that what ever class I fly I can have priority check in and use the lounge for the next 10 years - but as I say they dont seem to fly anywhere that I want to go anymore.

Gulf Air review - by Manfred Dengler

20 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Frankfurt to Manila via Bahrain. All flights delayed - service at airport catastrophic with minimal support. Travel back 54 hours. I must take one star at the next question , but it is -1 !

Gulf Air review - by Doug Luscombe

20 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-BAH-MAA and return business class. London /Bahrain leg was excellent, good service, food, very comfortable seats. Business lounge in Bahrain OK but crowded. Smaller plane to Madras - not as much room and seats less comfortable - but OK as was service and food.

Gulf Air review - by D Denny

4 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BAH-FRA-BAH in Economy. I'm not surprised the airline is in financial trouble. They are marketing a product which their staff doesn't seem to care about. Previously we have flown business Bahrain to Sydney with Gulf and thought it was great value compared to what Emirates (our usual airline) was asking last Christmas. The flat beds were superb and food / service was excellent. Recently, however, we decided to have a quick few days in Frankfurt, and as it was only a short trip, decided to fly economy with Gulf. What a mistake. It'll be a long time until we fly Gulf Air again. The service is shoddy, the plane looked tired and dirty. The staff in economy didn't seem to care, and the food was inedible. Three indistinguishable pieces of gristle masqueraded as lamb casserole. I read in the inflight magazine that Gulf have recently increased their service to London to three times daily because of the increase in Business and First class fares. This is obviously where their priorities lie. We will be going back to Emirates, or Qatar Air. Gulf need to pull their collective fingers out or they will be going down the gurgler rapidly.

Gulf Air review - by Ulf Kruck

30 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

FRA-BAH-MCT return and FRA-BAH-AUH return, F class. Excellent seat comfort due to 1-2-1 configuration in First on routes from Frankfurt to the middle east. Good IFE (although I hardly use it when traveling). Good food although preparation takes its time as the food is prepared by a sky chef. Friendly staff but a bit slow sometimes responding to requests. My overall experience with Gulf Air is quite good. Although inflight service at Emirates is slightly better, Gulf Air offers a package well worth considering. Given the combination of seat comfort, food, service and pricing it is good value for money - a package which is good but which does not set new standards.

Gulf Air review - by D Gower

19 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

We booked our flight to Muscat in September. We chose to fly with Gulf air because it was direct, we could chose where we sat and the travel times suited us. They rang to say we could no longer fly direct and would not be able to sit together in the seats we wanted. I asked to cancel the trip because I could get the flight a lot cheaper with another airline if I wanted a 4 hour stop over somewhere. They refused to let me cancel and said I would incur a penalty for cancelling. I pointed out that in fact they were cancelling my flight as I was no longer travelling when I wanted, directly or seated where I booked, as I already have my tickets stating a direct flight and seat numbers I felt they had cancelled my booking. At which point I was told they could not help me and to contact customer services via email. Two emails later I still have not had anyone contact me. As of last night I have been unable to access their website (page can not be displayed) to get a telephone number for Customer Services. So what do I do now I can get a direct flight with my original flight times with another airline £75.00 cheaper per person but so far I have not got my money back from Gulf Air! We are not confident travellers so this is why we paid extra to Gulf Air to get the journey we wanted it is very distressing.

Gulf Air review - by S Downer

9 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-MCT Economy. I haven't even got on the plane yet and already my experience has been poor. We booked two weeks ago to fly LHR-MCT direct. I was emailed last week with a new itinerary which had me routed through Bahrain with a 4 hour layover and an arrival in MCT 4 hours later than originally booked. I tried to call the reservations number and after several attempts over several days eventually spoke to someone. I asked to be switched to a later flight so that the layover was shorter - two hours - but they were unable to give us two seats together. I suggested that given the inconvenience the least they could do was to give us a pass to the business lounge in BAH but they wouldn't even do that - claiming that the airport is very busy at that time and the lounge would be busy with Business & First Class passengers. The woman I spoke to was quite unhelpful and didn't seem to care when I suggested that we cancel our flights and fly with another airline.

Gulf Air review - by C Waugh

28 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BAH-RUH in business. Apart from the usual slightly disorganised boarding in Bahrain, no other issues. Was about 20 minutes late in departing, but these days I don't consider that to be anything unusual! New plane, decent lie flat seat (which for a one hour flight is overkill, but still appreciated), snack was served and FAs seemed to be eficient and friendly. Only minor inconvenience by landing cards not being distributed.

Gulf Air review - by C Diehl

5 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

FRA - DOH return via BAH Economy class. Entertainment system on A330 is good with personal screens, selection of about 25 movie chanels and 20 music chanels. Food quality good on FRA-BAH-FRA with a choice of 2 main courses. Even on the 20 minute lag BAH-DOH-BAH a snack was served. Drinks available all the time. The cabin was clean, while the restrooms need a little more attention. Flight attendants nice and helpful, especially the sky-nanny who took good care about children and infants throughout all trips. GF seems to be on a good way but still has to go further on to reach the marks set by QR, EK or EY.

Gulf Air review - by Arnold Barrows

30 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-BAH-BKK return Economy. Three weeks before the flight we were informed that we would be routed via Bahrain with a seven hour break on both outgoing and return journey. We were not happy about this but had to accept it owing to shortage of time and lack of acceptable flights at such short notice. I have since seen other reviews of this airline describing the same problem, it appears to be a frequent occurrence here. The first flight was in an old A340 with very poor in flight entertainment, two partially visible TV’s that were not worth the effort it took to watch them. The second flight was in a more modern aircraft with small screens on the seat back but an unreliable IFE system that often froze. Food on both these legs was below average and the cabin staff was incapable of serving hot drinks with the meals and, during the whole of the journey, never answered the call button. The return journeys were similar with one “breakfast” being a dry roll with a pat of jam. I have found that the schedule change was as a result of Gulf having to contract; with customer relations such as this I am not surprised. I wrote to Gulf giving them a chance to answer my grievances and received not even the resemblance of an apology, only a long justification to the effect that they undertook to send us to our destination that day and did so, further insulting me by offering me membership of their frequent flyer club! We fly long haul via the middle east four times a year and shall certainly avoid Gulf Air in future.

Gulf Air review - by Roy Clogstoun

6 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

RUH-BAH-IST-BAH-RUH Economy August 2007. The worst flights I have experienced. The flight out of RUH was a hour and a half late we (includiing two small children) got to BAH about 1230 am and did not get to the hotel until 0200 am. The flight to IST was an ancient Airbus 320 which had dodgy seats and no entertainment system. On the return flight the flight was delayed by about 1.5 hours because the seat was defective. The passenger behind me complained that every time I moved his tray table fell down. Ground staff said that they were unable to fix the problem and moved me from my seat and put someone more petite in the seat. The choice of meals was very poor and it took over 1.5 hours to be served. By the time we got to BAH the connecting flight to RUH had left. There were over 15 passengers connecting to RUH that were stranded. We were later told that the flight to RUH was overbooked and could not accommodate us anyway, although we had confirmed seats. This meant spending another night in BAH with 2 small children and no luggage. Gulf does not keep any emergency packs for pax stranded without their luggage. I am not surprised why Gulf Air has problems as it has to accommodate the number of people that are stranded in BAH through missed connections and bad and indifferent service.

Gulf Air review - by Michael Sharman

9 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BKK-MCT-LHR-BAH-BKK First Class. Shame on GF for their older planes on most Asia routes, although First Class on ex SQ A340 is still comfortable if the flight is not full. The refurbished A340's and A330's have a wonderful First class seat. Food great taste and presentation but portions were small. Although you could order as many dishes as you wanted depending on availability. Inflight entertainment adequate but not AVOD. I had requested meet and assist at all airports which worked well except for BAH. MCT I had my own assistant who even availed me use of a mobile phone to make free international calls and in LHR was met at the aircraft door by ground staff, who did everything for me, even wheeling my hand luggage until she passed me to the chauffeur. Complimentary limo pick up worked well in the UK. BAH-BKK, full cabin of 12 pax and still only 2 cabin crew. I was the last to be served and despite only wanting a glass of wine took over 1 hour after take off to get my drink. Definitely not first class experience. For the price you cant do better than GF first class.

Gulf Air review - by A du Plessis

25 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Gulf Air is currently in crisis, having ousted their latest CEO after a few months. I thought a couple of years ago they were improving and went back to them (from using Emirates and Qatar), for 3 flights. But I got fed up not knowing what product to expect and now fly Qatar (in comfort and reliable service!). Personally speaking, I don't think Gulf Air will ever get back to being any type of competition in the mid-east. Their fleet is old and tatty, and what staff are left seem to be more disillusioned by the day. Today, the Gulf Air Trade Union said it was time to stem the "foreign invasion", referring to the different CEO's that have run the airline in recent years! I think potential Gulf Air passengers should follow that rule (assuming like me you are foreign to Bahrain) and select to fly another airline - anyone but Gulf Air. Sad to say, I think Gulf Air days are truly numbered, and you would do well to choose one of the other mid-east airlines if you are in any doubt.

Gulf Air review - by M Hazelwood

23 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BAH-DUB-BAH May 2007. Outward flight very bad, broken seats, very bad smell on the plane. 2 staff on my aisle, 1 was trying to embarrass the Indian working with her, in language skills! Inflight entertainment didnt work. Outwards from Dublin, 10 days later, flight was delayed up to 7 hours, even though told it would be 5 hours and given EUR10 meal voucher. EUR10 doesn't buy much of a meal at Dublin Airport, more like snack voucher (sandwich and a juice). Airline should have informed passengers ahead. Yhey've axed the route, so won't be using it again. Was so cross after that experience, that I'm hesitant to fly long-haul with them.

Gulf Air review - by A Kuriakose

4 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

London- Muscat- Kochi. The check in was easy at LHR. We were supposed to transit in Muscat for 2 hrs and board another flight to Kochi.. The was a lengthy delay of almost 15 hrs,) with no explanation other than "technical delay". The ground staff was just not bothered. In the morning it was confirmed by the Supervisor that we had to wait till the following night. The accomodation arranged was the worst hotel I have ever seen. After arguments with the supervisor they transfered us to a decent hotel. Gulf Air sure has lost respect for passengers (at least in the Asia sector). The next night after delays again, we managed to board the flight to Cochin. Once I got back I posted a compliant to the officials in the head office in Bahrain, for which I received a response after 4 months. The response was a generic apology letter for the inconvenience and in compensation - I was sent an application for frequent flyer programme and 6000 bonus points!??.

Gulf Air review - by P McCracken

27 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Flew DUB to BKK via BAH. Flights on time and no delays. Was disappointed with aircraft (A340) both legs, old and shabby. Inflight entertainment was not great, you could hardly see anything on the individual seat back screen. Food good and cabin staff professional but lacking in personality. Flight on return was changed (pointless email sent to my home computer 2 days before our return) meaning we missed our flight back. Was well looked after by ground staff in BKK and flew home later with KLM which had to have been one of worse long haul flights ever.

Gulf Air review - by Richard Griffiths

19 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-BAH-SIN-SYD and return in Business Class May 2007. Picked up from my house and dropped off at check-in and straight through fast-track to the lounge. Nice lounge with showers and friendly staff. On-time departure and lovely flat-bed seats to BAH. Food is amazing. Wines are good and the Champagne excellent, but you have to constantly ask for refills as the crew don't offer them. IFE not on-demand. Lounge at BAH is too small for the volume of passengers using it but food and drink was good. Showers available if you wished. Flight to SIN and SYD on an older aircraft without the flat-bed seats. These are OK if you are not tall, but I am and the footrest didn't stretch out far enough for me to be comfortable. Dinner and breakfast on BAH-SIN sector again superb. SATS lounge at SIN was comfortable but characterless with good showers. Flight to SYD could have done with another meal service, only one was provided and I was famished by the time we landed in SYD. Return flights had flat-bed seats all the way and were a reflection of the flight out in terms of service and food. GF forgot to book my car to take me home and I had to wait nearly two hours for a replacement, not ideal when you have been in the air for 22 hours and just want to go home. Overall, the flight represented fantastic value at £1900 return including tax.

Gulf Air review - by Geoffrey Wyndham-Jones

31 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Gulf Air are down-sizing, and reducing the number of destinations they fly to. By the end of June, apart from local flights in the Gulf plus flights to the Indian sub-continent, they will only fly long-haul to London, Paris, Frankfurt, Athens and Istanbul to the west and to Bangkok, Manila and Kuala Lumpur in the Far East, using only Bahrain as a transit point. They are rid of their economy class only Boeing 767's and refurbishing the rest of their fleet. I have always enjoyed flying Gulf Air, and use them to travel around the Gulf, but their standards seem to have dipped a little recently.

Gulf Air review - by J Critchley

31 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Am very worried re Gulf. Flew out from Athens to BKK mid May , flight was cancelled and rescheduled for day after, most inconvenient as we had connecting flights. We were booked on BKK-Dublin for later in June, but have been informed that the return leg has also been cancelled and will now be a thirty hour trip via Frankfurt and Bahrain. I was on the verge of booking further flights for the coming year, have now had too rethink our whole schedule. Has anyone else got any more info with what is happening.

Gulf Air review - by François Ooms

31 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Business class LHR-MNL. Excellent service in the LHR Gulf air lounge friendly staff you feel comfortable. LHR to BAH nice seat almost flat, crew very friendly and great service on this leg of the flight. Lounge in Bahrain is outstanding - food and beverage, shower rooms, and I went to the quiet room for a rest. BAH-MNL it went downhill : the airport staff wasn’t helpful, boarding the A340 was unsupervised. Onboard the staff was friendly and helpful, only the plane isn’t in a good condition. Gulf air must do something about the seats - most of those seats were in a terrible condition - even the staff give there apologies for the broken things. I hope that Gulf air will modernize the rest of the A340 fleet.

Gulf Air review - by Gerard Byrne

28 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Flew economy from Dublin to Bangkok return with a 2 day stop over on the outward leg in Bahrain for 2 adults and an 8 month old infant. On arrival in Dublin Airport was disturbed that I could not get seats with access to a basinette. Also was informed that we could not reserve same seats on the Bah-BKK leg, which I found very upsetting. But all was not lost, as the cabin crew found us 4 seats together where our Daughter could have 2 seats for Herself. Flight out to Bah was excellent. We arrived on Good Friday, a week prior to the GP being staged in Manama, However the way we were treated by the immigration at the airport made me wonder just how many of the racing fans will want to return to Bahrain in the future. The flight from Dublin was on a spotless A330, but the Bah-Bkk and BKK-Bah return leg were on a A340. What a difference. Old dirty falling asunder A340's. Food was also a bit derisory, but the cabin crew made up for the disappointment. They also found us 4 seats together for our Daughter to sleep. On the return leg, we were successful in finally getting seats with a basinette. But the A340 on the return leg was even worse than the outward one. On the Bah- Dub return leg we were upgraded to Business Class and that was a pleasant surprise. Overall impressions - the cabin crew were excellent on all legs. The planes for the European legs were of excellent quality, but the Asian legs? I would give Gulf 5 stars for their European legs, but no stars for their Asian trips. While I was in Bahrain, I read in one of the newspapers that Gulf Air are in financial difficulty. And this same airline sponsoring the GP? I have since heard they are ceasing the Dublin route among others. But maintaining the BKK journey? I just wonder if they are going in reverse instead of forwards assuming they will still use old clapped out A340's on the BKK route.

Gulf Air review - by S Hughes

28 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Gulf have cancelled their non-profit making routes for example - Johannesburg and Singapore - However have been re-protecting anyone with cancelled flights on to other carriers. Im a travel agent and have just booked my flights to BKK in September, as they were the best price. As BKK is obviously a profitable route I doubt they will be cancelling any flights!

Gulf Air review - by G Zeven

28 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-BAH-DXB-BAH-LHR in business. Lounge in LHR small but nice. A330 left on time and service excellent. Slightly limited IFE but meal and drinks service superb. Quick transit in BAH for DXB flight spent in BAH lounge. Full meal available and great selection of wines! BAH-DXB (A340) is a short hop with a scaled down meal served. Morning flight DXB to BAH on A320. Very roomy business class with a nice breakfast served on a short flight. BAH-LHR (A330) excellent. A civilised departure time of 10am is nice. Separate check in at BAH and a nice stay in the lounge. Meal on board fine and staff attentive.I have used GF a few times in the past year and have yet to have an experience that was anything but great!

Gulf Air review - by M Tibel

23 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Does anyone know what is happening with Gulf Air? Flights being cancelled and routes are being cut with little or no notice. Surely does not look good for my booking to Bangkok in 5 weeks, and wondering if anyone else has found this? Should I cancel and try to book another airline?

Gulf Air review - by Stuart Holland

19 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

DXB-BAH-LHR In Economy. Generally very good service. Unfortunately delay in Bahrain due to technical problem but ground staff efficient and excellent hotel supplied - even though delay was only a few hours. Cabin crew attentive and professional. IFE now upgraded with seat back screens. Overall good value will happily use again.

Gulf Air review - by George Gonzalez

28 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Dallas/Fort Worth to Trivandrum, India on Gulf Air in December. Gulf Air partners with American Airlines to Europe. We flew to France. The trip from France to Bahrain was excellent. The plane was clean and the flight entertainment was great. However, the trip becomes a hassle because passengers have to make two stops in the area, Bahrain and Muscat, prior to reaching India. It seems that every flight leaving to India from Bahrain stops in Muscat to pick up more passengers. Additionally, the Muscat airport is very confusing and not organized. You will have to fight with Indian and other low wage laborers while waiting in line to maintain your position in the line. The trip on Gulf Air would have been much better if we didn't have to go through Muscat airport. Other carriers like Emirates only has one stop in the middle east on the way to India from Europe.

Gulf Air review - by M Gyllo

24 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BKK-BAH-LHR in First Class, several times. In short, the food and wines are fantastic. Service & flight attendants, good to excellent, depending on personality rather than training. One of them gave us two bottles of Champagne as a gift to carry off the plane to celebrate our honeymoon trip. Planes - the old 340's leave a lot to desire but in 1st class it is still comfortable with duvets and quiet surroundings, always full (no wonder, the price is only half compared to Thai or similar). Limo service in LHR convenient and saves GBP 50 each way to City! We will fly GF again in May to London from HKG via BKK (They will stop flying on HKG I have heard from their Frequent Flyer Club!).

Gulf Air review - by N Riva

20 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BKK-BAH-CDG-BAH-BKK first class BKK-BAH old A340/300 with old style first class - no lie flat but confortable, amazing food on board by sky chef. First class lounge in Bahrain wonderful place to relax, full stock drinks champagne, hot and cold food served by waiters - only minus, shower amenities really poor. BAH-CDG A330 with flat beds only six in first, really good to sleep, good noise cancelling headphones but IFEvery limited - as usual catering with sky chef 5 stars treatment, CDG-BAH A330 on boarding greeting by crew and handed champagne and hot nuts, sky beds seat little worn out but confortable, really good crew with English sky chefs very attentive and nice French hostess - 2 staff members not enough for full cabin, enjoy with suggest of sky chefs a full lunch of 5 plates from fish to meat all wonderful tasted and well presented. Crew prepare beds to sleep 2/3 hours before getting Bahrain, before landing hot tea served. BAH-BKK nothing to mention same standard flight of onward flight only aircraft still worn. High-class experience with Gulf Air but limited to their lounge in Bahrain and A330 service - A340 let down.

Gulf Air review - by T Shaw

15 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Gulf Air have been offering cheap fares to Thailand recently, so went with my family. Called well in advance (twice) to arrange seating together. On none of the four flights were my family sat together, due to aircraft changes and misinformation. Planes suprisingly old, broken headrests and seat pockets. A few members of cabin crew did an excellent job with stressed passengers but generally service was lackluster. Particularly annoying on one flight was cabin crews habit of attracting one anothers attention with the call steward button, resulting in constant bing-bonging through the night! Can't comment on entertainment as headphones and/or monitor were always broken. I seem to have been unlucky looking at other comments, but that doesnt change my opinions

Gulf Air review - by L Ryan

10 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

SYD-SIN-BAH, 3-day stopover then on to LHR in Business Class. My wife and I travelled on Senior Fares in our first Gulf Air experience. There was not one aspect of the whole trip which could be faulted. Limousine Service, Check-In and Lounges at Sydney and Bahrain, Superb Meals on Board, Sleeping comfort Beds, best Flight Attendants we have ever encountered, and on and on we could go. The A330 and A340 were both clean and had a new look about them. This was 5-star travel from start to finish with every minor detail taken care of. We are very much looking forward to our return journey at the end of June 2007.

Gulf Air review - by S O Connor

1 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

DUB-BAH-SIN-SYD Business Class. Flight delayed by 7hrs at Dub and BAH-SIN-SYD leg cancelled, according to web site, for maintenance. Why this was not known weeks before I do not understand. Is maintenance done on short notice? Overnight in Bahrain in a inferior hotel. However, on plane things got better. Good and pleasant service, seats good, first time to sleep on a plane. Was worried about return leg on because of the number of flights cancelled, but lucky this time. Knew about long delay at Bahrain on return leg to Dublin. Was offered same hotel but left after a shower and a short rest and stayed in Gulf lounge which is excellent. All in all would use Gulf Business class again for long flights.

Gulf Air review - by Reinhard Kaempfer

26 March 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

First Class FRA-BAH (two days stopover) BAH-BKK-BAH-FRA - 4 PAX. We paid 2200€ each for a companion ticket instead of €4587-€7881 on Lufthansa . Check was fast and friendly in all destinations, in Bahrain premium passengers have a separate check-in facility and lounge in Bahrain is separated between first and business class. In first a cook will prepare your meals and Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle Champagne (good quality champagne) is flowing freely. I have seen no better first class lounge yet. All flights were more or less on time and the delay on arrival back to FRA was due to heavy traffic. Skybeds on FRA-BHR- FRA routes are most comfortable. If you want you even get a pyjama. Food is certainly among the best if not the best you will get in the skies. The skychef is most concerned about every detail, wine, champagne etc are top quality. Very nice FAs on all legs. BAH-BKK leg has last generation First Class seats but they are still comfortable and we enjoyed a good sleep. Overall we felt extremely comfortable on board of Gulf and enjoyed all flights entirely - at a very competitive price.

Gulf Air review - by F O'Shaughnessy

20 March 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Dub-Bah-Syd via Singapore return in Business Class. From the limousine pick-up, through to the excellent check in and the use of the BMI lounge at Dublin Airport, the service couldn't be faulted. I was apprehensive about the flights as I had been reading some very unfavourable comments in the weeks leading up to my departure and as well as that a work colleague had travelled with Gulf Air at Christmas (in Economy Class) and on his return he said he wouldn't travel with them again if he had a free ticket. However I found every leg of the journey to be everything I had hoped it would be. All the staff and crew were helpful and friendly. The food and wine were excellent and plenty of it! The planes appeared to be fairly new and flights left more or less on time. The sky-bed was very comfortable and I had no problem getting a good nights sleep. The return journey involved a stop-over in Bahrain. After mistakenly paying €15 for a visa, the cost of which I discovered Gulf Air usually cover, the Gulf Air rep. was very annoyed that I had been charged. As he couldn't issue a refund he up-graded me to a better hotel and issued me with vouchers to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lounge in Bahrain very comfortable with hot and cold meals available. All in all I found Gulf Air a pleasure to travel with and their Business Class fare was good value and worth every penny.

Gulf Air review - by Graham Shaws
20 March 2007

We booked a frequent flyer redemption first class ticket LHR-BAH and bought a business class ticket on to BKK which we upgraded to first class with frequent flyer points at the same time. Park Lane kerb side check in at LHR has disappeared due to reconstruction work and so went to main terminal first class check in. Despite no queue, checkin took 28 minutes! We asked to check the bags through to BKK, which the check in clerk was unable to do. The check in supervisor then became involved, and despite having etickets for the whole journey, with prebooked confirmed seats, she then proceeded to tell us we were not on the system, we did not have a reservation, and the flight from BAH-BKK was full anyway. Could not be more unhelpful. She then sent us to the Gulf ticket desk for us to sort it out. The eventual conclusion was that apparently the system had been defeated because we had two bookings, one LHR-BAH and a second BAH-BKK, and neither the computer or the staff could cope with this! of course, no apology was forthcoming, it was obviously our fault! LHR-BAH was the usual - excellent food, professional cabin crew, good flat bed seating, and abysmal in flight entertainment. One film channel out of a total of 7 channels available, and that showing a fairly old B movie. BAH-BKK the service declined, as is usual with Gulf going further east. No flat bed seating, very good food, grumpier crew, and truly abysmal in flight entertainment. The only reasons to fly Gulf are price, good lounges, and the excellent catering, But why Gulf continue to provide such inadequate in flight entertainment is a mystery.

Gulf Air review - by F Power
8 March 2007

Business class Dublin to Manila, good start with limo pickup and nice flight from Dublin to Bahrain. Great service on this leg of the flight and lounge in Bahrain is superb. It went downhill from here, no priority boarding on Manila flight and the A340's are no way as comfortable as the A330's. The service is a lot worse also, not business class service at all. My return flight from Manila to Bahrain was even worse, when I went to order my food just one choice remained. But all was not lost, I was upgraded to first on the Bahrain to Dublin leg. Food and service was outstanding. I can only conclude that Gulf Air care little about their Asian routes. I fly regularly to Manila from Dublin and this route is quite convenient but Etihad will soon fly from Dublin and I think I will be using that service from now on

Gulf Air review - by Barak Aharon
6 March 2007

AMM-BAH-BKK and back from BKK-MCT-AMM in economy class. Inflight from AMM to BAH the entertainment unit in our seats was not working properly. When the flight attendant got to our row with the food (we were seating in the back) there was not enough food, and there was only one kind of food she could offer us. BAH to BKK I found the seats in the economy class very dense. The service was not very good and people who pressed the button to call the flight attendants never got any help and had to go to the back of the airplane to get what they needed. BKK to MCT service was much better and food was better but the airplane was old and shabby, some of the seats had stains and some of them were broken. MCT to AMM was much better and service was good and food was ok but the entertainment unit wasn’t working properly in our seats, and it seems to be in all Gulf Air planes I've been. I will fly them again only if I will have no other choice and if the price will be much cheaper then other airlines.