After a couple of flights on Austrian Airlines (on the Boeing 777-200ER and Airbus A320), I continued my whirlwind Aeroplan adventure with a couple of segments on Gulf Air, including on the Airbus A321LR and Boeing 787-9. I started by flying Gulf Air's Airbus A321LR business class from Rome to Bahrain, which is a flight…
Continue reading: Review: Gulf Air Business Class A321LR (FCO-BAH)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
The prawn dish on the menu has a typo on both English and Italian: Praws instead of Prawns and Gimberi instead of Gamberi 🙂
You are not alone. When I first saw the ITA livery i was like... wtf. But now I think the a350 in the ITA livery is one of the sharpest looking combos out there.
About the ITA livery, it was love at first sight for me back in October 2021 when it debuted. About the powdered “cappuccino,” always ask before you order! Makes quite a contrast to the excellent espresso offerings in the Plaza Premium Lounge prior to your flight.
"Gulf Air business class service
The cabin crew on Gulf Air are a mix of local men and foreign women. Unlike on Saudia, I find that the locals were every bit as hard as the foreigners, so that’s nice to see. Both of the flight attendants working business class were genuinely friendly — they were welcoming, smiled throughout the service, and seemed like they enjoyed their jobs"
Ben, did you miss out a word - "working"?
"I find that the locals were every bit as hard as the foreigners, so that’s nice to see"
Agree with your assessment. Gulf Air is o.k., but not really excellent.
I think their problem is that they want to be like QR, EK or EY, but with a lot less resources. Bahrain is no very affluent, their natural resources are largely depleted.
“ I’d say they were both fine — they were nothing special, but weren’t bad either.”
If that’s not a typical Ben assessment, of almost anything. I don’t know what is.
"There was also quite a music selection, though don’t expect Shawn Mendes…"
We should all be grateful for that.
I have a strong preference to be given a wine list and expect the wine to be poured at my seat...I enjoy seeing the bottle it is poured from. Asking for a glass of champagne to be enjoyed with starters and only being served much later, I think speaks of poor service levels! I think the reviewer is kind in awarding 4 stars and sounds as if it is based largely on the quality of the food served and amenities kit. In my opinion, 3 stars will be a more correct reflection as I place emphasise on good service by the crew and a wine list. It's very basic and in my opinion and unacceptable to be told we have an Australian and Italian white wine....which of the dozens of wines these countries produce are you serving?
It sounds to me as if many of those service failures occur because the crew is not familiar with Western service items. They don't drink alcohol and have no personal experience on how to present or pour wine, or when to bring in the champagne etc. Nothing training couldn't fix, but that training apparently needs to be of non-Bahraini origin.
I visited Bahrain back in 1996 just after high school. What an experience it was back then! And I reckon it must be a very different country today.
Ironically Bahrain is the most liberal country among the Gulf states with regards to alcohol policies.
I only know of the "old" Gulf Air when the crew were mostly comprised of British origin. They were the sole rival to Emirates in the region but has definitely changed after QR, WY, and EY were introduced.
Bahrain has had alcohol, bars, and nightclubs for decades now. I guess you must have missed them on your visit...
Also, what is this "Western service" nonsense? There are plenty of trip reports (some of them on this very website) featuring bad service flow with regards to alcohol on many Western airlines.
