Have now eventually booked flights from LHR to BKK via Gulf Air so one stop in Bahrain for a few hours. We usually fly Eva Air direct, but that was not possible this year for a variety of reasons. We're going to KS early August for 3 weeks and would really be grateful for any views on Gulf Air and the service. Does anyone know what the airport in Bahrain is like - and can we buy duty free cigs or anything there cheaper than in BKK?

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

Denise - thanks for you reply - I think! I hope we get the newer planes too. To be honest, it was the cheaper option we went for this year and I suppose there's always the disadvantage of not such a great flight.

I think you should be able to find out what type of aircraft you will be on...it should be mentioned somewhere on your ticket or booking details. Then you could do a search online to find out what kind of facilities that particular type of aircraft has. I've used Gulf but honestly can't remember whether they had overhead screens or not. More and more airlines seem to have them, at least for part of the route....Emirates, Ethiad and Vietnamese Airlines do, think Thai is still using old planes planes though.

Hi flew Gulf Air in Jan to Thailand via Bhairain. Gulf Air are not the best airline in the world but it was a good price so sometimes you have to lose a little for the price. Will I fly them again, NO.
Bhairain airport is plain and not much to do, duty free is good for smokes and goodies.
One bar and one resturant. The bar is called sky bar and has no windows which we found very funny.
Hope this helps.
Garrett

Gulf Air is budget these days sorry...the flight attendants are often tall blonde Pommy lasses, I have seem one only who really worked hard and did a great job out of several trips so far with them HK-BKK.The male attendants all seemed to be Arabs, If you can say hello nicely in Arabic its a bonus .Its kind of a religious greeting thingy...can't remember it, darn, but my ex used it once with great effect....anyone know it?
The best thing about their old planes is the extra seat size room and pitch. The rest of GA's service...well pretty ordinary.
My ex liked the tall blonde Pommy lasses though...
Take some snacks and maybe an airline blanket (they never have enough ) and a good book .Videos are ordinary too..
Cheap ride though and good safety record.

Al Salaam Alaykum (greeting for hello)

Shukran - thank you

Ma Salaama - Good bye

If they ask if everything is ok, and you are happy you could reply: humdilallah ... hopefully you will get an opportunity to use this phrase

Not sure if this will get you good service or not, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

humdilallah (or something along those lignes, lots of regional dialects) means god willing... so it could possibly be used sarcastically if you feel so inclined.

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“Not all those who wander are lost.” Tolkien.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Oops too much wine again ... sorry, inshalla means god willing, humdilallah might work for for sarcasm purposes too though if you say it right. Profuse apologies, my Arabic is getting ever so rusty these days.

Ummmmmm, right, the builders who are currently demolishing what little remains of my house have finally gone off home, so I can go and do something a bit more useful now. Have a nice WE everyone!

__________________
“Not all those who wander are lost.” Tolkien.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.