Gulf Air is not my favourite airline at all. We have used them many times over the years. The most recent was about 3 years ago from Doha to Thailand via Abu Dhabi.

There planes are generally old, with the movie screen at the front of the cabin. Service very poor. Very slack with clearing trays. On the last flight I ended up clearing our own. They forgot the children's meals, ran out of blankets etc. Never saw the sky nanny they advertised about!!!!

However, I did have one flight that was very good and on a modern plane, with tv screens at the back of the seats (which makes a huge difference) with good service. But sadly, I can only really remember this one good flight out of about 8.

It is not an airline that I would prefer to use, and fortunately now we have other choices.

Bahrain airport is fine. It's small, but modern. Can't comment on duty free prices as it's been a while since I was last there. However at the time they were very reasonable and comparable to other duty frees.

Enjoy your holiday. Fingers crossed you get the newer planes