Gulf Air

✅ Trip Verified | Manila to Istanbul via Bahrain. Gulf Air appears to have decided to use its new 787 for the MNL-BHR (GF155) route, and the Apex seats in the business cabin were quite good. It turned out that this was the only thing positive about the flight, however. The FAs seemed nice enough but were not as attentive as one would expect. The food was definitely not good - it's like they just served really bad economy class food on linen and plates. IFE selection was also very limited. I’ve seen YouTube videos of Gulf Air business class passengers on the airline’s new 787s having a wonderful time, being given pajamas, being attended to by a “sky chef,” being spoiled by the FAs, enjoying delicious food, choosing desserts from a cart. These things will not happen on this route - you will experience a general sense of apathy, you will have to endure being ignored by a generally invisible crew, and you will get hungry enough to wish you had stashed a burger in your carry-on bag. The second leg of the journey, BHR-IST, was a bit better simply because I had by this time thrown all expectations out the window and was just waiting to arrive at our destination. The experience was again more or less the same on our inbound flights (GF44 & 154), but this time around one of the male FAs took the effort to put on a “sky chef” uniform and later wheeled in a cart with a few dessert choices. I did not go hungry this time because I had the foresight to bring some food with me on this flight (just like I used to do on economy class trans-pacific flights to the US in the early 2000s). In short, Gulf Air provided a nice business class seat but not much else, at least for flights to and from Manila.

✅ Trip Verified | London to Lahore via Bahrain. Flight from Heathrow to Bahrain was very uncomfortable because the the seats were small, think twice before buying their ticket because its a 6 hour flight. Though the plane was new but it was a space-conserving plane (Boeing 787-9). Staff was rude to me, food and entertainment rubbish for me. Flight from Bahrain to Lahore was even worse the staff attitude didn't match a professional attitude. Bahrain airport return flight used transfer busses. All in all I will not recommend this airline for long flights.

✅ Trip Verified | London to Multan via Bahrain. Firstly at Heathrow they were unable to retrieve my booking from Bahrain to Multan. Took them half an hour to retrieve my entire booking. I was travelling on business class from Bahrain to Multan. Guess what? They left my baggage at Bahrain even travelling on business class. Got my bag after 2 days. Never going to travel with them again.

✅ Trip Verified | Bahrain to Dhaka. This was my first time with Gulf Air. The condition of the airplane was below standard. Specially the air hostess were annoying, they were inadequate in number and behaving rough with the passengers. I understand that many of the passengers were poor/ labour Bangladeshi but they were not travelling for free. So they got the right too. All the passenger were unable to speak English, so they couldn't argue.

✅ Trip Verified | London to Dubai via Bahrain. Gulf Air offer a good service particularly to and from Heathrow where 787's are used. Using T4 is also an advantage as the terminal appears less hectic than the others. I didn't try the IFE but the food and general service was attentive without being overpowering. Food was good but not exceptional with several dishes being repeated on the outbound and inbound legs. An amenity bag was provided in both directions even though the flights were in daylight. The absence of wifi appears strange on such new planes. The short (60 minute) leg to/from Dubai used a wide bodied A330 one way and a A320 the other. Both aircraft were travel worn but the cabin was almost empty with the same attentive service. Gulf Air offer a significantly lower cost option than direct flights to Dubai. I will use them again. Would be 9/10 with in flight wifi.

✅ Trip Verified | London to Chennai via Bahrain. I had booked this flights as there were almost 100 pounds cheaper as I had to travel in the next couple of days of booking. I have very little or no expectations as my previous experience with Gulf Air five years ago was worst. Boarding the flight from London to Bahrain it was a new aircraft. In flight entertainment was not the best but I can find something to keep me going for the 6 hours. Could not complain about the food and drinks on offer. As always no matter who the carrier is the connecting flight to Chennai was old, not so clean and poor service I think almost all middle east airlines feel they are running Indian routes for charity forgetting Indians are their majority customers. Overall I feel choosing this carrier is a good value for money.

✅ Trip Verified | Riyadh to Bahrain via Hyderabad. Cabin crew service was not good, I was travelling to Hyderabad from Riyadh Via Bahrain.Firstly flight was delayed for around 3.5 hours at Bahrain, and when we visited Hyderabad and waiting for baggage, they informed that the baggage are left at Bahrain. Then ask us to fill the missed baggage form and stamp from customs etc. Then they informed us that they will receive the baggage by next Gulf air flight to Hyderabad and will be delivered to home in 24 hours. I received the baggage after 1 week after calling them continuously, and the condition of the baggage was worst out of shaped and items were damaged.

✅ Trip Verified | Bahrain to Jeddah. This flight was smooth from the check in process all the way to the boarding. There were too many pilgrims aboard and some of them were not able to speak English and one passenger refused to take a seat away from his wife and wanted to speak with the flight attendant while the plane was in taxi stage. The flight attendant was infuriated and literally said “oh my god” and took him to his seat. I really can’t blame her he was too much. The real star of the flight was the food which was chicken kabsah and it tasted like a quality restaurant was serving it.

✅ Trip Verified | Bahrain to Casablanca. Going direct was my main concern, that's why I paid around 600 Bahraini Dinars. Everything was ok, clean and new aircraft, seat was ok but we cannot choose the seat online from Casablanca, cabin crew were nice, helpful, but the food wasn't as expected. Really bad choice and should change the service asap. For the way back, it was worse. The choice and quality for lunch was poor. The service from Casablanca was the greatest before, as I travelled on Gf 081 and 083 long time back . The food is not that much important for me more that the comfort of the flight itself , but i still have to talk about it as it s a long-haul flight and needs to have a look at it.

✅ Trip Verified | Riyadh to Athens via Bahrain. The worst airline I've flown. We recently took a flight with our three children from Riyadh to Athens via Bahrain with Gulf Air. The cabin service was pretty unfriendly and just about functional but we didn't have great expectations of Gulf Air - I know they aren't in the same league as Emirates or Qatar. Upon arrival in Athens we experienced that moment every traveller dreads when the baggage carousel finishes spewing out bags, all the other passengers have gone and you are left holding just your hand luggage. We reported it to the Handling Agent in Athens who told us there was another flight arriving that night but for some reason ours couldn't be located and if it was we wouldn't get it for at least another 48 hours. Deep joy. The started of your holiday with three small children and only the clothes you are wearing and a book and half eaten sandwich for company. We then spent the next three days phoning, emailing and tweeting the airline. All to no avail. No response other than a huge phone bill with hours spent waiting on hold. Eventually our bags were delivered 4 days late to a local island but they were damaged and showing signs of mistreatment. Again - no response, apology or communication or any form from the airline. The return journey back to Riyadh was slightly less miserable and we took the opportunity speak to the airline offices in Athens and Bahrain about compensation. No surprises though when the airline said they couldn't / wouldn't help whatsoever - even complimentary lounge access for our 3 children during the 4 hour layover in Bahrain was flatly refused. In all - it's down to customer service or a total lack of, disregard and disdain for their customers and a haphazard operation. I had a similar experience with Emirates in January and by contrast they couldn't have been more helpful. No questions compensation of $250, limo from the airport and they picked up the tab for essential items that I bought whilst they located my bags. Poor show Gulf Air. A really bad service.