Gulf Air

BAH-MAA. Flight delayed by an hour. Comfortable seating for A321. Food palatable. In-flight service was okay. MAA-BAH take-off delayed by more than two hours! Highly irritating. Otherwise comfortable seating. Palatable food. Decent in-flight service. Pretty expensive compared to Emirates and Etihad. Poor entertainment facility. The only reason to continue flying GF is direct flights to India. Not worth recommending otherwise.

KWI-BAH-LHR roundtrip on Economy. KWI-BAH on new A321. Check in and security fast seats comfortable and aircraft clean. Flight not busy and crew friendly and upbeat snack box served. No IFE newspapers and magazines were offered. 4 hour connection time in Bahrain used Gulf Air business lounge which despite showing signs of wear still offers good service cold and hot snacks and free wifi. BAH-LHR on A330 got 3 seats by window to myself - not very comfortable for sleeping but better than trying to sleep upright! Plenty of pillows and blankets offered. Crew polite and efficient and food was fine. In flight entertainment not AVOD offered a decent selection. Cleared LHR immigration with IRIS which is great however there was no priority baggage handling. LHR-BAH : now that Gulf Air uses T4 they no longer have their own lounge- they now share with Skyteam. T4 is pretty gloomy at night and most concessions were closed. On plus side security was faster to clear than at T3. A340 left on time crew efficient and minimally polite. Food and comfort decent and early arrival ahead of schedule into Bahrain. Was able to standby for an earlier flight that day. BAH-KWI on A319 busy flight crew were pleasant and courteous. Snack box served. Considering this is economy class not a bad experience and very good value considering the fare I paid.

LHR-BAH-DAC return. 3 out of 4 flights were late. On outgoing journey we had a six hour connection and this was extended to over 8 hours by the delay but no food was offered. There were no announcements at BAH explaining the delays or giving an accurate idea how long it would be. When the connection arrived boarding took a long time as there did not seem to be enough staff. It was necessary to go through security at BAH to get to connecting flights. Inflight entertainment was poor. Only positive point on DAC-BAH flight we were upgraded to Business class.

LHR-BAH-BKK return. Cramped tatty planes no IFE filthy toilets rude surly and unprofessional check-in staff poor flight attendants and vile food. It’s not that the flights were cheap either. Never again with Gulf Air.

It is one thing to have luggage arrive late to have the plane leave 5 hours late causing you to miss your next international connection and to have the check in staff laughing and joking about mistakes. But it is additionally troublesome when you get no information and /or information that is so ludicrous it cannot possibly be true and information that is contradictory between agents. This does not build trust in an airline we never will fly Gulf Air again.

London to Manila with stop over at Bahrain - Gulf Air were the cheapest fare. Headphones worked in only one ear. Carpets dirty. Food disgusting and used trays took ages to be taken away. The crew on the plane were alright but check in desk staff were not friendly and more interested in laughing and joking with each other than serving.

Flight to Dubai initially delayed one hour then three. Was offered flight to Abu Dhabi plus a taxi ride - took this option as I needed to get to a meeting - and then 30 minutes later that was cancelled. If Bahrain wants to be 'business friendly' it needs to have a reliable schedule of flights provided by Gulf Air!

DAM-BAH-KUL. Flight delayed out of Damascus but was above the Minimum Connecting Time so my family and I were not worried. Crew attentive. From Bahrain the flight was full crew attentive and did an excellent job. The problem was their aged A340 and clogged toilets. When Gulf Air receives new aircraft their product will be far better.

BAH-BKK in Economy. Cramped seats plane 100% full. IFE where I was was falling apart and wouldn't extend. Sound only coming out of one headphone because of a fault in the seat. Meals gone downhill since I knew it. I used to fly a lot before to LHR in previous years. Cabin attendants are hurried and rushed. On the return it was just as bad and there were no IFE at all. The last time I fly with Gulf long-haul unless new planes arrive.

LHR-BKK-LHR. The outward flights were overbooked and service delivery slow and painful. Two point service from front of economy to the rear with the usual 1 choice of meal left at the end. I found the crew reasonably good. IFE ok but not on demand and some of the channels were jumping around. Bahrain is a great airport cosy all the facilities you require and a great duty free area. On return the flight from BKK to BAH was again overbooked and had no seat back tvs. The headphones had no cushion covers for the earpieces and no blankets but crew good - you do have to ask for drinks. BAH-LHR very pleasant as there was only about 45 of us onboard so loads of room attentive service and good IFE. If looking for a good price and reasonable service then give Gulf a go via Bahrain for good duty free.