GULF AIR BUSINESS CLASS

[neilri2001 42]

A few months ago i asked if any members had experience of Gulf Air Business class as i noticed through skyscanner searches that it was often possible to find fares around the £1000 mark even for short notice bookings. Consequently they were my first point of call when i was looking for a last minute booking in early December. After a couple of days the fare suddenly dropped from over £3k to just over £1100 on West East so i got it booked straight away. A lower fare of £1024 was available on the same dates through Fly Sharp but the online reviews of Fly Sharp were sufficiently varied for me to spend the extra £100 on West East who i have used several times over many years. The west east booking page was linked directly to the Amadeus booking portal so i was able to choose my seats and request any special meals before payment.

Surprisingly Gulf Air had their own Business lounge at Heathrow terminal four which was split into a dining and food service area on one side and a seated area with bar on the other. What i really wanted was a hot bacon roll but for fairly obvious reasons this was not available although they had no issues with providing a fully stocked bar. The lounge at Bahrain was large ( but not aircraft hanger size ) and well equipped. At Bangkok Gulf Air use one of the CIP lounges which was also fine. The food in the Bangkok lounge was better than in the dedicated Gulf Air lounges at Bahrain and Heathrow.

The Business cabin consisted of 30 seats in a 2-2 -2 formation with two rows in front of a galley area and three rows behind. Seat pitch was enormous ( over 80 inches according to seat guru ) and seat width was 22 inches . With a more imaginative seat layout they could probably have fitted the same number of seats in a 1 2 1 layout but the 2-2-2 layout meant that if you were sitting next to a stranger your elbows would be a little closer together than i would like in a business class seat. Luckily the seat next to me was empty on three of the four sectors. Food on board was surprisingly good as there was a dedicated Sky chef catering for business class. I enjoyed the main courses and desserts but found the starters a little so so. Cabin crew were primarily Eastern European and service was efficient rather than gushing. They didn't seem that big on rules and regulations and a number of people had unstowed bags on the floor during take off and landing. There was another lady who was on her phone throughout take off and landing on one of the sectors Seats were angle rather than lie flat but i slept very well especially on the overnight sectors.

My transit times were three hours on the outward journey and 90 minutes on the way back which gave me ample time to shower in the executive lounge . Bahrain is a very manageable airport but three hours there was enough, although i understand that you can access cheap airport hotels if your layover is 8 hours or more. All four sectors were on time and all four sectors used airport bridges. No messing about with buses.

As to the downsides? The inflight entertainment was frankly quite poor but this isn't a deal breaker for me. There were a lot of kids on the day flight between LHR and BAH and the noise did carry through to Business class. You should also bear in mind that the Gulf Air long haul fleet currently consists of six ageing Airbus A330's. If one of these planes requires unscheduled maintenance i would imagine that it could play havoc with the schedule. If i absolutely had to be back at a given time i might choose someone other than Gulf.

If you can get a flight for anywhere between £1000 and £1250 i would jump on it. Between £1300 and £1500 other indirect options would come into play

Edited December 21, 2017 by neilri2001

[helloitsme 225]

I did a gulf air business flight probably 5 years ago and found the angled seats on all 4 legs a nightmare. If they have gone to fully flat seats/beds all most legs that is good news.

[Rawhide2 1,325]

Fly sharp are fine along with travel trolley both part of Southall travel the high st travel agents in London. Fly and TT are online only

Used all 3 on multiple occasions. Westeast are no longer competitive compared to 20 years ago when they were the go to agent

[Goldpanner 399]

My daughter ran out and back on Gulf air last November. Economy class. She said the food was slop and on the return sector she didnt even eat it, it was that bad.,

She also commented on the In flight entertainment which she said was absolute rubbish.

Such a change from the heady days of the 80's when Gulf air were flying those Tristars and it was difficult to stay sober as they were always coming round with more beer and wine.

[thinkingallowed 39]

My Songkran trip last year was on Gulf Air in business class and for the £1063 price I was well pleased with them.

 

The IFE isn't the best but I found on the return journey that I had been using it wrong and there was actually quite a few more movies than I thought.

 

I'd not hesitate to use them again around that price.