Gulf Air

Was booked LHR to BKK but had to cancel due to FCO advice due to violence in Thailand. No refund due to type of fare however Gulf Air are refusing to refund government taxes (£300). Have written to CAA who indicated they are inundated with complaints against this airline. Have tried to call Gulf Air 41 times (8 occasions I got through and once they realised I wanted money from them they hung up) I have actually got recordings of their appalling bad and rude customer service.

CDG to BAH return. Booked on Business was put in Falcon Gold which is the former 1st class. The 8 front seats on the A330 although well worn are comfortablek. With the help of the stewardess managed to lay flat during the night flight but took care not to touch anything until breakfast. The maintenance is obviously poor as I was not the only one with this problem. IFE is not to today's standard (limited choice of films and language and you have to wait for the film to begin without knowing when it will). Breakfast good but the meal on the in-flight was definitely not first class and wines were lower range. Crew in this cabin was nice both ways. No bar open between services. All in all not what you expect from 1st class.

CAI-BAH-DXB in Y class. Check in at CAI was smooth. Cabin crew seemed generic and left no impression despite a relatively light load. A340 is by now unbearable and I do recommend against flying GF on their A340s. Wonky IFE bad seats shabby interior make for a really bad experience. Catering was quite poor - the main was alright but salad/desert were terrible. No bread or butter to be seen. Cabin did not give each passengers their own soda can which I find disappointing considering the amount of money a ticket costs. Transfer in BAH was smooth and efficient and I would rate the transfer experience ahead of DXB AUH and even DOH. More seating space in BAH than there was a few years ago. Second leg was an A330-200 better interior snack box more worthwhile and friendlier crew. GF really does need to re-motivate its employees and get rid of those A340s. I find QR to be the better airline although it isn't quite value-for-money as GF is.

London Heathrow - Bahrain. Flight wasn't full so I found a 3-Seater at the rear end of the A340 and slept. Breakfast was great and attendants professional. Gulf Air needs to replace their aging A340.

BKK-BAH-DOH-BAH-BKK. Probably the worst airline I have ever flown on. I appreciate the A340's are old but there is no excuse for not having hand soap in the toilets or having a faucet that is covered with masking tape so the water flows smoothly - left side toilets in front of seat row 33. There is zero cleaning taking place during the flight and the staff sat at the back and talked throughout the flight without offering service or maintaining the cleanliness of the plane. Paper was heaped on the floor in the toilets and there was limited water. Although staff are pleasant they do not seem happy - god knows how they are not embarrassed to work with such a poor quality airline. There also did not seem enough staff on the plane - during the safety presentation we only had one person in our cabin to do the usual safety seatbelts exits lifejacket routine. My headphone jack did not work on the way back and on the way out it was like being in the 1980's with the poor IFE. Thankfully the plane was not full so I had a whole row to myself to sleep. Its hardly surprising the plane was not full - it was one of the most disgusting plane-rides I have taken - definitely not a three-star airline. At Bahrain airport we were delayed one hour on the BHR-BKK trip and the gate was changed from 35 to 32 during the middle of loading.

DOH-BAH-DOH delayed for one hour on departure from Doha because the fuel was too hot so they needed to add more fuel to cool it down. I think it is Gulf Air trying to save costs by not refueling in Doha service was average. Outbound flight on A320 the seats were comfortable and the meal was good. Flight attendants friendly inbound flight on time and on A330 very comfortable.

Bland would be a good resume. I flew economy from Paris to Bahrein and back. A330 looks far from new inside. The seats are similar to Air France economy ones (in other words okay for very small people) - on the way in there was IFE my headset was not working the replacement neither and I had to use my own. On the return one we were on 1st row had more legroom but had to do without IFE at all! Crew does the basics of the job and service acceptable. Food acceptable for economy. If there was any other solution I would not go back on Gulf Air.

Kuala Lumpur - Bahrain and Bahrain- Paris CDG . Gulf Air A340-300 on KUL-BAH flights are dragging them down in their star ranking compared to the more spacious A330-200 on their BAH- CDG flights. The lack of legroom is so obvious between the two aircraft and it amazes me at the inconsistency of their products. Their flight attendants are top notch and meals are sumptuous though short in quantity. Due to my Silver Status with their FFP I was accorded a complimentary stay at the Golden Tulip in Bahrain for the duration of the 11 hours connecting time.

I reserved seats together for my wife and 2 sons but the seats had been given to 3 adult male Bahrainis and my family were expected to be separated. After an argument they were given seats together. The plane was grubby and service lousy. On the return journey the steward gave the impression that serving a woman was beneath him and he treated my wife with ignorance and disdain. They have lost us as customers even if they are the last plane out.

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.