Airline: Gulf Air
Flight Number: GF501
Plane: Airbus A320
Cabin: Business Class
Seat: 1F
The Flight
This is my review of my flight from Dubai to Bahrain on Gulf Air.
Gulf Air operates about 7 or 8 flights from Dubai Bahrain, and it is said to be one of their busiest routes.
In my case, GF501 was leaving Dubai at 08:00 and landing in Bahrain at 08:15 – and is a flight around 50 minutes long.
Checking In
Checking into Dubai was pretty straightforward.
If there is one gripe I had, it was that they opened up the Economy lane before the Business Class lane – as for some reason the Business Class land was late starting. You could argue it’s third world issues, but at least 6 people in the Economy had checked in before the first person in Business Class.
The Lounge
Gulf Air do operate a lounge in Terminal 1 of Dubai’s Airport. I have reviewed the lounge here, and it’s safe to say that it’s pretty poor!
The Plane
This flight was on Gulf Air’s A320. The plane has 16 x Business Class (known as Falcon Gold) and 120 x Economy Class seats.
The Seat
I was seated in Seat 1F, which is a pretty good seat.
Gulf Air’s A320’s are fitted in 2-2 configuration in Business Class. The seats are large and feel like an arm chair. The seats are not lay flat – but do recline, and have a foot rest which comes up.
There is a fold out table, which flips out This is fine for a sort flight, but I can imagine working with a table would be pretty bendy!
Food and Drink
Drinks
I was offered a pre-takeoff glass of water or orange juice and some Arabic coffee.
Once airborne, there were the usual options including beers, wines, soft drinks etc. I asked for a coke once we were airborne – and also a beer – but neither of these ever arrived!
Food
Despite being a short 55-minute flight, there was in fact a hot meal service. Various items were on offer, which included eggs, french toast, and pancake.
I went for the pancake, which was served with fresh fruit – and was actually quite nice! There was also a bread basket which was offered around.
Amenities Kit
Given this short 55-minute flight, perhaps unsurprisingly, there was no Amenities Kit offered.
Entertainment
Surprisingly, this plane was equipped with an entertainment system, with small screens and a remote control stored in the seat – however it didn’t work. I suspect this was to do with duration of the flight.
Wifi
There was no Wifi on this plane, and again, given the short flight it wasn’t something I needed.
Cabin Crew
Whilst the Cabin Crew were polite and even made the odd joke – the actual output was unfortunately inattentive and showing a lack of detail. My Coke never arrived. My beer never arrived. I was served water with my meal – despite asking for coke.
You could argue that serving 16 x Business Class meals in about 30 minutes would cause this lack of attention to detail – however, as I write in my review from Bahrain back to Heathrow (a 7hr flight), it was more of the same.
Landing
Landing in Bahrain, I was connecting onwards to my London flight.
My luggage was set to go through – and in this case, I just needed to re-check through Security.
The good news is that (a) Bahrain airport is very small, unlike the miles long walk in Abu Dhabi for connections; and (b) Bahrain have the new security scanners, meaning I didn’t need to unpack my hand luggage.
Conclusion
In fairness a 55 minute flight in Business Class on an A320 probably isn’t the best way judge Gulf Air’s Business Class offering.
With that said, whilst the seat was comfortable, there were several shortcomings I wouldn’t expect. The checkin was poor and the lounge even worse – disappointing given that the lounge is Gulf Air’s own. The on seat was very comfortable, and the food actually pretty good – but the service was a bit of a let down.
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