GULF AIR customer review :  18 November 2009 : by G Lowndes   (UK)

On the first leg from LHR to Bahrain the plane was filthy, trays hadn't been cleaned and we were put right at the back of the plane - so by the time we got any food there wasn't anything worth having. Second leg Bahrain to Bangkok even worse - no inflight entertainment and plane was also very dirty. Staff were pleasant enough but nothing compared with Qatar, Emirates and Etihad. Booked with Gulf Air as I thought it would save me money - but for the sake of £50, next time I will choose another airline. Watch out when you get to Bahrain - they tell you one gate number and then it suddenly changes so its a mad dash to get to the right gate in time.

GULF AIR customer review :  5 November 2009 : by Kevin Rock   (Bahrain)

Flight delayed Bahrain to Jeddah (Monday). Now Wednesday and stuck in Jeddah - flight back to Bahrain is also delayed this time by more than 3 hours. Dont know why I bother it's just a never ending story with Gulf Air. Advise that you avoid Gulf whenever possible!

GULF AIR customer review :  3 November 2009 : by P Edwards   (UK)

Utterly horrible experience in so-called business class flying London-Bahrain. Started with appalling lounge in Heathrow T4 - queues, crowded, plastic everywhere. Progressed to boarding as a member of a mob - no separation between business and economy passengers. Onboard, cabin staff surly, disinterested. Offered only water or orange to drink - turned out that champagne was only reluctantly provided if specifically requested. Perhaps the staff get to take home what's not consumed by paying passengers (similar story for desert wine later - not offered, had to specifically ask). Food was tasteless fillet steak. Food choice quickly limited by "previous passenger choice" so if not in first couple of rows, you get whatever is left over. Service throughout reluctant and slow.

GULF AIR customer review :  3 November 2009 : by R Jones   (UK)

LHR-BAH-DAC Business class. First leg on leased Jet Airways plane that was in good condition. Cabin crew pleasant and generous with drinks, albeit upon request. Gulf has cut corners (offer water or fruit juice - need to ask for alcohol) with their business class food service bordering the BA or Air France economy product. Value for money and Bahrain offers efficient transit facility. Onwards to Dhaka was the usual confusion with their product focusing on the local labour markets.

GULF AIR customer review :  28 October 2009 : by L Warsk   (UK)

LHR-BAH-BKK return. Can only echo the many negative comments in previous experiences. Filthy aircraft, dirty toilets (where they were operating), rude and aggressive staff that had no idea how to communicate in a respectful manner. Flights were delayed with no explanation, many passengers complaining about broken seats, toilets, seating, broken or no IFE, particularly on the BAH-BKK A340 service. Be very mindful of this when booking flights with Gulf. We usually travel non-stop to BKK, but thought we'd give Gulf a go as the price was really good in comparison. I regret this now, for the small additional cost you can travel with Qatar or Etihad in comfort. One complaining passenger summed it up by informing the cabin service director that if they couldn't get the small things right what confidence could be had for the maintenance and safety? He was promptly told to shut up. We had a great holiday and will laugh about this in time to come, but will certainly be adding Gulf to our 'no go' list.

GULF AIR customer review :  26 October 2009 : by R Khan   (Germany)

DAC-BAH-IST return. Was upgraded to business class seat for first and last legs due to overbooking. Catering however provided from economy. The service standards were poor on all 4 flights. The return journey went from bad to worse. Crew on IST-BAH flight were disinterested except for chatting with passengers who apparently were other crew members or perhaps friends. One FA sat on the arm of another passenger's seat for 20 minutes while he squirmed to give her room so she could chat merrily in Turkish with two passengers in front of me. Then she went to the galley and came back with a shopping bag full of goodies for them and an armful of beer. BAH-DAC was the worst flight of my life. The business class cabin was dirty (newish A340) and toilets filthy. The crew were rude and disinterested. They offered no refreshments during the 5 hour flight other than a perfunctory meal service. I had to ask 3 times for an eye mask and earplugs - to be first lied to that they didn't have any and then to be given one by a crew who acted like it was a special favour. Meanwhile the blankets were tatty. This airline does not deserve your money. Stay away.

GULF AIR customer review :  19 October 2009 : by Simon Gurrey   (Bahrain)

BAH-CDG-BAH. I booked Gulf Air based on price and flight times but wish I hadn't. Bumped from our original flights because of gross overbooking and transferred to an overnight flight in Business (at our insistence). My wife's seat wouldn't recline so you can imagine what a great flight we had as we took it in turns to sit bolt upright and try to get some sleep. To compound this, the aircraft was scruffy (like most Gulf Air aircraft) and very hot and stuffy - three times we asked the FAs to fix the problem and three times they either couldn't or wouldn't fix it. Food was poor and took forever to be served and IFE didn't work - overall, the quality and level of service was appallingly low, especially for Business. Return flight in economy wasn't much better - slow service and you almost have to beg for a glass of wine (apart from FA who was generous in her measures). IFE useless - one screen not working, the other scratched and impossible to see the picture. Without a doubt, an airline to be avoided in the future and not one worthy of three stars. Qatar, Etihad and Emirates are all far better airlines.

GULF AIR customer review :  6 October 2009 : by D O'Sullivan   (Saudi Arabia)

Three friends and I travelled Bahrain to Greece. Flight left on time, food poor, no entertainment system. On return journey, flight an hour and a half late with no explanation. Staff were rude. We received a drink in the first 15 minutes, it then took another 2 hours to receive another one. By the time they got to my friends and I the food had run out, they then proceeded to try and shut us up by offering us meals previously opened by other passengers but rejected (I could see why), no drinks left, including soft drinks. Overall an absolute disaster. I have previously been bumped off a Gulf Air flight with no explanation and will be avoiding them from now on.

GULF AIR customer review :  30 September 2009 : by A Charlesworth   (UK)

Heathrow to Bangkok returned. I did get a good price on the ticket but I wished I had gone with Qatar Airways or Emirates. At LHR we were told we had exit seats. Got on and no such thing. Standard seats behind a family with babies. Boeing 777 leased from Jet airways and was tatty and had frayed carpets and stained seats. The attitude from crew on all 4 flights was that they could not care less about the passengers. Menus were offered on some flights and not others. On the flights that did not have menus, the crew were less than impressed if you dared to ask what the options were. Their safety on board is less than desirable with people at exits with coats and bags on their laps, blankets at doors and lockers and wardrobes were left open. All this during take off and landing. Another crew member fell asleep on his seat as we landed and never noticed 2 people standing up before we touched down. I will leave you to make your own mind up, but I will never waste any of my money on that third rate airline. They were once an airline that set the standards - now they have been totally eclipsed by the other carriers in their region and left behind.

GULF AIR customer review :  11 September 2009 : by D Cairns   (UK)

LHR-BAH-KWI. Meant to depart 20.25 and land in KWI (via BAH) at 0825 the next morning. Flight never left the UK till 1600hrs the next day, getting in to BAH just before midnight. No connecting flight to Kuwait until the next morning, so had great night hanging around the airport - eventually getting into Kuwait at 0900hrs the next morning - a full delay of around 25 hrs! I've emailed their customer services twice and still waiting on a response. Gulf Air is nothing short of a joke of an airline and a disgrace to your customers.

GULF AIR customer review :  9 September 2009 : by A Amaladoss   (UK)

LHR-BAH-KUL return in business class. All four flights on B777 leased from Jet Airways. Not sure about the herringbone seat arrangement - not ideal for a family group of four, and impossible to see out of most windows. Checkin quick, and lounge in LHR pleasant enough. Gulf use the Premium Plaza lounge in KUL - not as plush as some, but adequate. The lounge in BAH is an interesting place, with nice views. Good choice of food and drink. Food tasty,and well- presented. I have done this route several times this year and it was good to see some menu changes. FAs polite and pleasant, but not keen to interact. Drinks etc have to be asked for - promptly delivered, but you have to ask. Refills not readily offered. Seats comfortable, especially the lie flat bed. IFE was good with lots of Bollywood movies.

GULF AIR customer review :  17 August 2009 : by M Binas   (Saudi Arabia)

RUH-MNL-RUH J-Class but was upgraded to First. The only good thing I could say with my flight is the upgrade I got. Flown several middle eastern carriers and I Gulf Air has the poorest IFE compared to Qatar Airways and Emirates. Food was OK though considering that I'm on First Class. I will give GF a rating of 6 - 5 for the upgrade and 1 for food.

GULF AIR customer review :  17 August 2009 : by C Ford   (UK)

London-Bahrain-Dubai return on A340 and A-320. The aeroplanes are old and I cannot start to explain what muck there was behind the tray on the seat. Check in fairly smooth although it was made clear to us from the start that each leg of the flights was full and we saw one couple with a baby put in 2 seats - and told that as the flight was full they could not be moved so the baby could have a bassinet. Once on the plane the mother just read the riot act to the cabin crew who eventually asked a young couple who had bulkhead seats to move. Procedure at the gates is appalling. London to Bahrain the staff were quite good at the gate, boarding people by row numbers. From then on until our return it was a free for all. Staff onboard were pleasant - for the most part but one female member of the crew walked down the aisle saying "will you just shut up" to a passenger. On our return trip from BAH-LHR we were boarded at 9.45am in the usual free for all fashion. The flight was supposed to depart at 10.05. At 1030 we were still sitting on the tarmac. It was 38c heat outside and there was no air conditioning switched on in the plane. Although questions were being asked, no information was forthcoming other than an acknowledgement at about 10.35 that conditions in the cabin were very uncomfortable due to the heat but the aircon could not be switched on until the engines were started. There was a general lack of discipline within the ranks of the passengers as well, I suspect that may have been a cultural thing with various people voicing their opinions and refusing to stay in their seats. I saw arguments throughout the flights between various passengers (non European) and the cabin crew and much gesticulating. Eventually at 11am another announcement was made apologising for the delay but a checked in passenger had not appeared at the gate so they held the plane back whilst they were located in the airport. Once that passenger had boarded the plane took off at about 11.15am. I was ready to pass out by this time and asked for some water - none was forthcoming. In fact we were given no refreshments until about 1hr 20 mins into the flight. IFE was poor, my IFE was unusable on the first leg, and kept freezing on the second. The choice of entertainment was poor. The in flight food was ok once you got it. Again that was disorganised and took over 2 hours from beginning to end to get out. Passengers actually started taking their own trays back to the galley as no-one was coming to collect them. The lead cabin crew member was the only real asset they had but she was trying to deal with as many complaints as she could. Never again!

GULF AIR customer review :  17 August 2009 : by B Hallak   (Kuwait)

BAH-BEY-BAH. Both flights on A330-200s. Flight delayed for more than 30 min before departure (in BAH) while all passengers were stranded inside the cabin with no air conditioning! Inflight entertainment not working, and I had to ask four FA to help with that, but they were busy serving food so nobody bothered to help. Food terrible, both in terms of quality and quantity. Serving size is small compared to other carriers in the region. The flight back was on board an ex-MEA A330, and you can easily notice that if you have flown MEA before. Again, in flight entertainment system was not working. The only good thing about the flight was the ticket price.