Gulf Air....

[pop_corn]

hello!!

Im travelling to England in some days, and I had my ticket booked tih ethihad, which I know is good. Then my travel agency offered me a cheaper ticket (non refundable) with Gulf, which I accepted... is this airline okay???? Safe enough for a young woman to ravel alone as well? lol... the asked me to cover my self properly. Im fine with htat, but ummm.. Is there alot of problem with that?

[Penkoprod]

You'll be fine ......as fine with them as you are with Etihad

On a par with all the other Middle Eastern airlines in fact

Some have their "better than the rest" points, some have other ones.

One thing to watch out for is length of stopover. Some, like Qatar quote over 8 hours in Doha airport on some of their flights from UK/Thailand and back for example

NOT the nicest of places to spend that ammount of time in

Edited May 12, 2009 by Penkoprod

[pop_corn]

Thanks! Yes, I know.. wouldn't like to wait 8 hours at all. This one stops for 2 hours in Bahrain. It's all good with that, gives me the chance to walk around, do some shopping and stuff..

[theoldgit]

I think you will be fine, I have travelled Gulf a few times and there was a good passenger mix, families and single travellers, male and female, never any problems.

There is usually quite a short stop in Abu Dhabi, except for my last flight which went from 90 mins to six hours on the way back to Bangkok as the plane went tech. Have normally flown in some old bone shakers, but the service was fine, but I think they are introducing a newer fleet.

I would certainly use them again.

[Farma]

The best flights with Gulf Air at the moment are on the flights operated by Jet Airways while Gulf updates their fleet.

The biggest downside of Gulf Air is the delays you could experience through Bahrain. It’s common for the flight out of Bahrain to be delayed an hour or so.

Apart from that Gulf Air is like other airlines. The in-flight food and service is OK. You may get an extra 10 kilos luggage allowance if you join their frequent flyer program although I heard unconfirmed reports recently that the extra allowance may have been dropped for new members. This wasn't the case at the start of last month.

Bahrain airport is relatively small but is clean and has an assortment of duty free shops and fast food places. Cigarettes, makeup and perfume are cheaper than Bangkok. I found camera prices to be cheaper in Bangkok IT malls.

The bar can be found by taking the lift behind the Bahraini gift shop next to the men in the boat water feature. Money changing facilities and ATM’s are available. The Bar and duty-free shops accept major foreign and Middle Eastern currency.

Long pants and T shirt are acceptable women s wear.

[steadfast]

Hard uncomfortable little seats (not not much worse than Cathay). But whatever you do - do NOT get seated in the midst of the arab contingent - you won't get a wink of sleep with them reciting the bloody Koran all night and their bloody kids kicking the back of your seat and woe betide you if you complain. Worse flight of my life ...

Other than that, it's fine And Bahrain's got a very nice cozy bar discreetly set away to the left as you enter and up the staircase.

[deprogrammed]

They have the smallest seat pitch/space of all major long haul airlines - 29 inches. Thai is 34 for eg.

[ChangMaiSausage]

Okay no problem travelling alone (female) as pointe dout by other posters some of the planes have seen better days.

How much cheaper was the ticket?

[anterian]

I usually travel Gulf, I find the stop over just about right for a coffee, smoke and shopping. Their duty free is the cheapest I have met and Bahrein is a nice clean terminal. You do get the odd Arab "sheik" who gets drunk and noisy but the stewards seem to know how to deal with them, I would love to know what they say

[pop_corn]

Gosh.. shame. I wouldn't have changed the ticket if I knew they have such a small sits, since I'm pregnant and the sits from a normal airline will be small for me

The day I posted the topic I decided to pay the ticket few hours after, so no way back it is what it is.

I was paying 27 for Ethiad and I paid 22 for this one.. O_o Not such a big difference tho...

aw, Im sad.

[theoldgit]

When I travelled in steerage the seat pitch was 32 inches, it all depends what aircraft you get.

http://www.gulfair.com/air/seating.asp

[pop_corn]

Yes, I also read that. Well hopefully is like that. I'll ask them tho if they have any extra sit or anything like that to give me prefference. I guess they will have special consideration.

Thanks!

[Wee Jimmy]

[Watch your baggage allowance with Gulf Air, they are very stricked.

[pop_corn]

heard that too...luckily Im sending all my extra weight by cargo with british airways. So, the one Im carrying is just light clothes

[citizen33]

I don't remember the small seat pitch on the four legs I traveled on last year - I'd bet that it was 32" on both the airbuses used. I thought the service was okay for the money, though one of the A340s was old. Regarding taking care of young ladies, Gulf has a 'sky nanny' service, but perhaps you're not that young!

[hjconrad]

Oh my dear! Gulf Air!!!

My wife and me had two years ago business class flights by Gulf Air from BKK to FRA and back. On the way to Frankfurt the 2 hours stop has been extended to 11 hours and on the way back from 2 hours to 5,5 hours. The first airplane from BKK to Bahrain seemed to come from the middle 60th of last century. The business class was similar to the economy class seats and space at Thai Airways which have the newest seats and big spaces in the business class.

Have a nice flight to Bahrain and then you will see what happens there.

You'll be fine ......as fine with them as you are with Etihad

On a par with all the other Middle Eastern airlines in fact

Some have their "better than the rest" points, some have other ones.

One thing to watch out for is length of stopover. Some, like Qatar quote over 8 hours in Doha airport on some of their flights from UK/Thailand and back for example

NOT the nicest of places to spend that ammount of time in

[madjbs]

Gulf air is rubbish. Old planes and always delayed. All the other Middle Eastern airlines are miles ahead.

[Briggsy]

Hard uncomfortable little seats (not not much worse than Cathay). But whatever you do - do NOT get seated in the midst of the arab contingent - you won't get a wink of sleep with them reciting the bloody Koran all night and their bloody kids kicking the back of your seat and woe betide you if you complain. Worse flight of my life ...

Other than that, it's fine And Bahrain's got a very nice cozy bar discreetly set away to the left as you enter and up the staircase.

They have the smallest seat pitch/space of all major long haul airlines - 29 inches. Thai is 34 for eg.

I flew return BKK-LON-BKK with them once. They got me there and back. Planes on time and the wait in Oman was really short, something like 90 mins.

I'm an athletic 5'5" so there's no fat on me. However I gotta say these were clearly the smallest airline seats I had ever experienced. The chubby Arab chap next to me was positively overflowing into my seat. There was nothing he could do. He was simply too large for the seat and he was not huge. So these 2 posters have got it right. If I had the choice I would choose another airline for sure.

[DefaultName]

I used them on my last trip to LOS in April, returning to UK 2 weeks ago. 3 of the 4 legs were on new 777-300s which were excellent; big seats, good pitch (I'm 6'3 and fat), good AVOD, and good service. The 4th leg (Bahrain to London) was on a crappy old Airbus 340 with small seats, short pitch, no AVOD (4' screens and few working channels) and crappy service, a bit of a nightmare really.

If you're on the 777s, you'll have a pleasant flight, otherwise...........

[pop_corn]

well I am on a 777... Anyways, too diverse opinons, I will just have to wait and see.... I'll post my experience afterwards. I'm flying on Monday.