Gulf Air?

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Stoney
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Gulf Air?

Post by Stoney »

Hi all,

I'm flying to Hong Kong around the end of june with Gulf Air. Flying with BMI to London Heathrow and then Gulf Air to Hong Kong via Bahrain and a short stop in Bangkok... (all economy)
Anybody has experience with Gulf Air, also how is the airport in Bahrain?
I only flew Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific (economy) before so I guess I'm a bit spoiled and used to being overloaded with free booze, will this be the same on Gulf Air? I hope so cause without alcohol it's almost impossible to sleep for me, and i'd like to get some sleep since this particular flight will take about a total flying time of 19hrs!!!

Thanx in advance for your answers,

Tommy

oneWorld
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Re: Gulf Air?

Post by oneWorld »

Stoney wrote:Hi all,

I'm flying to Hong Kong around the end of june with Gulf Air. Flying with BMI to London Heathrow and then Gulf Air to Hong Kong via Bahrain and a short stop in Bangkok... (all economy)
Anybody has experience with Gulf Air, also how is the airport in Bahrain?
I only flew Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific (economy) before so I guess I'm a bit spoiled and used to being overloaded with free booze, will this be the same on Gulf Air? I hope so cause without alcohol it's almost impossible to sleep for me, and i'd like to get some sleep since this particular flight will take about a total flying time of 19hrs!!!

Thanx in advance for your answers,

Tommy
Hi Tommy

Pls be warned that Gulf Air A343s are not fitted with PTVs!! :twisted:

Actually I had no expeirence with this particular airline, but then message exchanges at a HK-based aviaiton forum has indicated that GF's service can somehow be a little bit dreadful, although I hope they have improved since then...
IMPORTANT NOTE: pics taken by Skyhank on www.hkadb.com, from its original link

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But since you fly Cathay Paicfic, a good news for your is starting from 1st June, some Gulf Air flights are eligble for mileage accural at the Cathay's Asia Miles/ Macro Polo programme. :D

Enjoy your trip!

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A318
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Post by A318 »

Some friends from me did fly with Gulf Air and were nothing but positive about them.
Friendly service, good food and a great flight.
I can not confirm this by my own experience but if they say it is good I believe them completely, have a nice trip!

Greetz,

Erwin
A Whole Different Animal

Stoney
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Post by Stoney »

Gulf Air seemed to be pretty ok... I didn't have much to complain allthough the service could have been a bit more friendlier... Especially to Indian people the flight attendants seemed pretty rude... To me they were pretty nice, even gave me a whole (small) bottle of wine without me having to ask for it ;)

I flew Gulf air from Heathrow to Bahrain and then to Hong Kong with a short stop in Bangkok... All on Airbus A340...
On the Heathrow- Bahrain part they used an ex Singapore Airlines (same cabin colours, SIA logos still visible in the lavatories) plane, and this plane was equiped with PTV's... No PTV's on the Bahrain - Hong Kong part though... Food was ok, especially the asian food after take off in Bangkok... In flight chef was more something like the inflight clown, I think he didn't have much work to do and so he tried to amuse the passengers ;)
All in all not a bad experience, which i'll do again at the end of september... I don't think I'll fly them again though, Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong next time I hope...

Greets,

Tommy

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dna
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Post by dna »

I flew Gulf Air from London to Sydney return back in 1998. The actual trip was Heathrow to Bahrain on an A340, and then Bahrain to Sydney also on an A340 (with a stop and crew change in Singapore). The return flight to Bahrain had two stops (Melbourne and Singapore), and the flight to London was operated by a B767.

I remember the crew in general were quite efficient, but not always very friendly. When I complained that a passenger had put her headphones on the tray table - in the middle of the night - with the music blasting out of them, they simply wouldn't budge. I wasn't happy with that. All the aircraft I was on only had mainscreen entertainment which in general wasn't worth watching.

The food was fine, even though in the end I couldn't stand the choice between chicken and lamb anymore. It always seemed to be the same. As far as booze is concerned, I seem to remember being given plenty of wine. And when I stopped a flight attendant to ask for some water, she gave me 1.5l bottle, so that was cool!

Bahrain airport at the time wasn't worth writing home about, but then again I only had about 60 minutes to kill until my connecting flights departed, so that was okay.

Dave

chunk
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Post by chunk »

I thought Bahrain airport was fine - small but that meant less walking around. Immigration staff always seem friendly and shops are ok. GF are ok as well - not the best but by no means the worst I have encountered.

Cabin crew were particularly friendly on my last flight with them albeit it was only BAH - DXB!

Stoney
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Post by Stoney »

I had about 4hrs to kill in Bahrain Airport so I wished it was a little bigger, got bored with it quite quickly...
Airport staff was ok there, again probably because of my white skin and european passport... Dark skinned people seemed to get a whole different treatment, which is a shame...

I too saw people asking for water and they got a whole bottle, same for my wine... However, I don't think they really did this out of "friendliness", rather out of a "Here you have a whole bottle now leave me alone for the next hour or so" mentality... Anyway, I got the booze I wanted so i'm ok with it ;)

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dna
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Post by dna »

Stoney,
However, I don't think they really did this out of "friendliness", rather out of a "Here you have a whole bottle now leave me alone for the next hour or so" mentality...
Now that you mention it. The look on her face indicated a "leave-me-alone" attitude indeed. :-)

Dave

chunk
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Post by chunk »

Sorry this is a wee bit off topic but....The whole thing with airport staff bugs me - especially the comment regarding skin colour being an issue. I'm not saying it isn't - I just think that before criticising other countries / airports people etc. we should get our own act together. Our airport / seaport or any other ports (and I mean Europe - though the UK is particularly bad) is no better than in BAH, DXB, AUH or any of the other aiports I have been to. The US is the worst of all - just seems that the arabs get the 'skin colour' comment because they are an easy target.

The grief I get at US immigration for having stamps from UAE, Kuwait, Oman etc. is unbelievable -- and then you get the privilage of extra security because you have a foreign, in my case a UK passport....

Sorry it is off topic but needs to be said....lets sort ourselves out first and then we can criticise others.

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