Gulf Air or Oman Air. London to BKK

[crafty1]

I'm interested to know if you've had experience of Gulf air or Oman Air london to bkk?

Their prices seem cheap, but a Bahrain airline concerns me a little, from a security aspect.

Also what's the condition of the planes and services?

Thanks

[CNXBKKMAN]

There has recently been a Gulf Air thread. Oman air are ok and probably have the edge as they fly newish 787's on at least some of there Bangkok flights. If the airfare was the same and connections ok i would go on the Oman 787 flight.

 

[coops]

How much cheaper are they than EVA (who fly direct London to Bangkok, then on to Taipei) ?

[Upnotover]

Re. security on Gulf Air I have flown several times this year with them to/from Bahrain and have not been blown up or hijacked once, so all good there as far as I can tell.  I do though think Oman Air has somewhat better aircraft and the "Irish" pub in Muscat is certainly better than the 2 choices in Bahrain (if that is important to you).

[KhunBENQ]

When do you want to travel?

I just checked some arbitrary 15 day return trip in Sep/Oct (Tue/Wed, 27 Sep to 12 Oct).

Oman: 21239

Qatar: 21680

At the selected date Gulf Air does not even have a connection.

Not a second would I think about an other option then Qatar.

Wish I could fly for such a price to Berlin.

 

So please, what prices have you found?

Are you dependent on fixed dates (weekend)?

Gulf Air does not even offer daily connections.

 

Edited September 4, 2016 by KhunBENQ

[Jiu-Jitsu]

6 hours ago, coops said:

How much cheaper are they than EVA (who fly direct London to Bangkok, then on to Taipei) ?

 

Around £100 and believe it or not, some people actually prefer a stopover, rather than sitting in a cramped position for twelve hours.

 

[Jiu-Jitsu]

4 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

When do you want to travel?

I just checked some arbitrary 15 day return trip in Sep/Oct (Tue/Wed, 27 Sep to 12 Oct).

Oman: 21239

Qatar: 21680

At the selected date Gulf Air does not even have a connection.

Not a second would I think about an other option then Qatar.

Wish I could fly for such a price to Berlin.

 

So please, what prices have you found?

Are you dependent on fixed dates (weekend)?

Gulf Air does not even offer daily connections.

 

 

 

Your projection is the wrong way around. Pay attention.

[KhunBENQ]

Oops!

So I had a look on the reverse route.

All in British Pound.

 

weekdays

27 Sep/12 Oct LHR BKK
Qatar from 347
Oman from 348
Gulf n.a.

 

Sat/Sun:

1 OCT/16 OCT LHR BKK
Qatar from 362 (return 4h longer than Gulf)
Oman from 406
Gulf from 360

Even then I would stay with Qatar. The only argument here would be the shorter connection on return.

So the question to the OP about plan details and found prices remain.

[Chivas]

Oman nailed on. Beware though their Dreamliners introduced recently between Muscat Bangkok with very small pitch compared to their spacious a330's

[chiang mai]

520 Pounds, Bangkok/London direct, check Momondo.com

[Jiu-Jitsu]

10 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Oops!

So I had a look on the reverse route.

All in British Pound.

 

weekdays

27 Sep/12 Oct LHR BKK
Qatar from 347
Oman from 348
Gulf n.a.

 

Sat/Sun:

1 OCT/16 OCT LHR BKK
Qatar from 362 (return 4h longer than Gulf)
Oman from 406
Gulf from 360

Even then I would stay with Qatar. The only argument here would be the shorter connection on return.

So the question to the OP about plan details and found prices remain.

 

Used your dates:

 

[Jiu-Jitsu]

10 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Oops!

So I had a look on the reverse route.

All in British Pound.

 

weekdays

27 Sep/12 Oct LHR BKK
Qatar from 347
Oman from 348
Gulf n.a.

 

Sat/Sun:

1 OCT/16 OCT LHR BKK
Qatar from 362 (return 4h longer than Gulf)
Oman from 406
Gulf from 360

Even then I would stay with Qatar. The only argument here would be the shorter connection on return.

So the question to the OP about plan details and found prices remain.

 

 

Different on the earlier dates:

 

[crafty1]

Thanks. I have no problem searching for prices based on my dates in November come back Feb. It was more a question about the quality of planes and service.

Based on my date Gulf are only 413gbp return (inc tax) compared to my usual preferred airlines they are 105gbp cheaper, when 4 are travelling that's effectively means 1 of us "travels free". The duration is 16hr 25.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

I flew with them recently. Better than expected. Good customer service. Could clean the toilets more regularly, but that's it. Everything else was fine.

 

What are the exact dates? Oman Air are showing fares for £375 for similar dates and EVA not a lot more than your quote for direct. 

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Examples: 

[Estrada]

Gulf Air used to be a JV with BOAC. I used to fly with them a lot in the '70s and '80s and at that time they were excellent. Gulf Air went through hard times and quality went down so I switched to Qatar Airways. As far as I understand from friends, Gulf Air is back in the black with new planes and worth considering at the price. Used to fly within Oman in the '80s by Oman Air. Oman Air has new planes and I would consider flying by them.

 

Just bought a return to London for B24,000 direct with British Airways for a non-stop flight and shortest time, leaving Sept 16th return 26th. Price drops a lot for flights in October.

[KhunBENQ]

13 hours ago, crafty1 said:

Thanks. I have no problem searching for prices based on my dates in November come back Feb. It was more a question about the quality of planes and service.

Based on my date Gulf are only 413gbp return (inc tax) compared to my usual preferred airlines they are 105gbp cheaper, when 4 are travelling that's effectively means 1 of us "travels free". The duration is 16hr 25.

November to February (3 months and close to high season).

That's a different price level of course.

Again much dependent on the day of week.

Most families will travel on weekends which makes it more expensive.

By theory (from ratings, reports) I would vote for Oman Air.

 

Edited September 6, 2016 by KhunBENQ

[paulbj2]

I flew Oman Air on a recent visit to London. They are absolutely fine as airlines go. Personally, I would avoid the 787 Dreamliner at any price as in my experience the noise levels in them were unbearable. On the London - Muscat leg of the journey, we flew in an Airbus A333 (A330 300) which was a bit quieter and the noise it did produce was in a less irritating spectrum. If there is any way to arrange it, get a flight in an A380 the double decker giant. They are fantastic aircraft and whisper quiet.

[aussiandrew]

I've been flying Gulf Airline for years out of Bangkok only issue is no flights to Bahrain on Saturdays so sometimes have to use Oman Airlines and like wise no problems and will continue to use when required.

[zd1]

Have flown with both in the last few years, I prefer a short stop to break the journey and went with gulf last time as it had the best connection times for me on the dates I flew.

I had no problem with Oman airlines but I think the price for a pint of beer in Muscat was more expensive than in Bahrain but neither are cheap.

[Upnotover]

33 minutes ago, zd1 said:

but I think the price for a pint of beer in Muscat was more expensive than in Bahrain

 

OMR 4.4 last month, about 410 baht.

[zd1]

4 minutes ago, Upnotover said:

 

OMR 4.4 last month, about 410 baht.

Sounds about right, but for that price 410b or £8 I made sure that there wasn't a drop left.

[sandyf]

On 9/4/2016 at 8:59 PM, KhunBENQ said:

When do you want to travel?

I just checked some arbitrary 15 day return trip in Sep/Oct (Tue/Wed, 27 Sep to 12 Oct).

Oman: 21239

Qatar: 21680

At the selected date Gulf Air does not even have a connection.

Not a second would I think about an other option then Qatar.

Wish I could fly for such a price to Berlin.

 

So please, what prices have you found?

Are you dependent on fixed dates (weekend)?

Gulf Air does not even offer daily connections.

 

I would never fly with Qatar again. I was offloaded at Doha and sent to Paris then on to Manchester on a budget airline. Arrived in Manchester about 6 hours late, around midnight, and no luggage. There was no assistance from Qatar in Paris and the whole thing was badly handled. There were about 20 involved and they split up a couple, a Thai girl going to the UK for the first time was left on the original flight, they said boarding cards had been issued and could not be changed, she was sat in a deserted airport waiting for the Paris flight.

I wrote and complained but no answer so I wrote again and then got an envelope containing a voucher for $250, so much for customer service, not even an apology.

 

I have probably done about a dozen LHR/BKK return flights with Gulf and had 3 upgrades. I would class them as good value for money, not the best but a long way from the worst.

[Chivas]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

I would never fly with Qatar again. I was offloaded at Doha and sent to Paris then on to Manchester on a budget airline. Arrived in Manchester about 6 hours late, around midnight, and no luggage. There was no assistance from Qatar in Paris and the whole thing was badly handled. There were about 20 involved and they split up a couple, a Thai girl going to the UK for the first time was left on the original flight, they said boarding cards had been issued and could not be changed, she was sat in a deserted airport waiting for the Paris flight.

I wrote and complained but no answer so I wrote again and then got an envelope containing a voucher for $250, so much for customer service, not even an apology.

 

I have probably done about a dozen LHR/BKK return flights with Gulf and had 3 upgrades. I would class them as good value for money, not the best but a long way from the worst.

 

What budget airline did they "offload" you onto.....??

You could have insisted Qatar honour their reservation (politely) and then took the alternative of time/night in a hotel with relevant compensation etc

You weren't "obliged" to use the "budget" airline. Doesn't work like that

Edited September 7, 2016 by Chivas

[sandyf]

22 hours ago, Chivas said:

 

What budget airline did they "offload" you onto.....??

You could have insisted Qatar honour their reservation (politely) and then took the alternative of time/night in a hotel with relevant compensation etc

You weren't "obliged" to use the "budget" airline. Doesn't work like that

It was Flybe. 

You are making the assumption that Qatar staff were available. Instructions in Doha were to contact BA in Paris, no flight number was given. We landed at Terminal 1 and were informed that BA was in Terminal 2. If you are familiar with CDG you will know how difficult it is to get from one terminal to another. BA had no idea what was going on and phoned Doha, they then said we were going with Flybe from Terminal 1. When we got back to Terminal 1 the flight had been delayed and there was no one at the gate, French ground staff told us some passengers from Doha had got lost. The Flybe information desk was in Terminal 2 so we just waited.

The Flybe staff turned up about 10 minutes before takeoff and went into panic mode when they realised we had no boarding cards and additional staff had to be called in. As we walked out to the aircraft I saw my suitcase on a trolley and pointed it out to the cabin crew, she just said 'too late for that,we're off'.

When I said in the first post there was no assistance from Qatar, I meant exactly that.

[Khun Han]

Terrible service Sandy. But I think you'll find this type of p1ss-poor customer service is all-too-common among the major airlines nowadays.

[Chivas]

7 hours ago, sandyf said:

It was Flybe. 

You are making the assumption that Qatar staff were available. Instructions in Doha were to contact BA in Paris, no flight number was given. We landed at Terminal 1 and were informed that BA was in Terminal 2. If you are familiar with CDG you will know how difficult it is to get from one terminal to another. BA had no idea what was going on and phoned Doha, they then said we were going with Flybe from Terminal 1. When we got back to Terminal 1 the flight had been delayed and there was no one at the gate, French ground staff told us some passengers from Doha had got lost. The Flybe information desk was in Terminal 2 so we just waited.

The Flybe staff turned up about 10 minutes before takeoff and went into panic mode when they realised we had no boarding cards and additional staff had to be called in. As we walked out to the aircraft I saw my suitcase on a trolley and pointed it out to the cabin crew, she just said 'too late for that,we're off'.

When I said in the first post there was no assistance from Qatar, I meant exactly that.

 

Hold on you said you were off loaded in Doha......??

[sandyf]

25 minutes ago, Chivas said:

 

Hold on you said you were off loaded in Doha......??

Correct.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

1 hour ago, Chivas said:

 

Hold on you said you were off loaded in Doha......??

 

Perhaps he was supposed to be on a flight from Doha to Man.

[sparkey]

The airport bars are better in Bahrain than muscat . The aircraft and ife are better with Oman . IMHO