FLIGHT REVIEW: Gulf Air Business Class Bangkok to Manchester Via Singapore and Bahrain

Today’s article is from TLFL regular contributor, Jason. You can follow Jason on Instagram here @planejayds

Gulf Air

Gulf Air holds a special place in my heart as it was the first airline I flew business class with on a ‘modern’ 767 back in the early 1990’s.  I remember being a teen from ‘the sticks’ in Australia and absolutely gobsmacked at the exoticness of the stewardesses (as they were called then) wearing a salmon pink uniform with a head scarf that was literally out of ‘I dream of Jeanie’. 

At the time Gulf Air was THE dominant carrier of the Middle East and was the national carrier of Bahrain, the UAE, Oman, and Qatar with all these nations financially contributing to GF. We all know what happened in time – Emirates started in 1985 though did not acquire its first 777 until 1996, Qatar Airways commenced operations in 2002, Oman Air only served the Gulf region until 2007 before going long haul and Etihad was born in 2003.  At each of these stages, the host governments withdrew their funding for Gulf Air and the carrier continued to shrink.  It now markets itself as a ‘boutique airline’ operating from its Bahraini base of Manama.  It has a simplified all airbus fleet for its narrow body aircraft and the 787-9 is its widebody choice.

Booking

People often ask me why I have frequent flyer accounts with airlines like Air Canada or Alaska Air, airlines I have never flown before and the answer is quite simple – the partner airlines and their programs give access to plus the promotions they have from time to time to purchase points. In this case, I used 80,000 Air Canada Points and C$88 for the journey from Bangkok to Manchester via Bahrain.

It wasn’t until about a week before travel that I clocked that the flight from Bangkok to Manama operated via Singapore but what would be an annoyance for most was of course a bonus for me as an avgeek – another take-off and landing!

Bangkok – Singapore – Bahrain

Check In/Lounge

One of the downsides about booking via one airline to travel on another can be the varying degrees of ability in managing your own booking online. Some airline partners have full functionality, some are limited, and others have none at all. In this case, it was the latter.  The only real thing I was concerned with was having our seats allocated and this was able to be sorted via the live chat feature on Gulf Air’s website so no big deal.

We arrived at Bangkok airport about two and a half hours before the scheduled departure time of 4:30 pm and located the check in counters at row P where we were swiftly checked in and issued our boarding passes and lounge invite. BKK offers both priority passport control and security for premium passengers, although it can be a bit tricky to locate as it is nowhere near the regular departure area.  After very efficient processing with the departure formalities, we were in the expanse of the departure hall.  Anyone who has been to BKK will know how huge the single terminal is and with no travelators, the walks between gates (or from lounge to gate) can be vast.

The lounge invitation we had been given indicated the location of the lounge as being at ‘D’ gates, so we made our way to the Miracle Lounge.  The Miracle Lounge is one of the many contract lounges at the airport however, it is definitely one of the better ones. It was large, had plenty of available seating, and pretty decent food and beverage options, including some hot dishes (pork red curry, paprika chicken), a live cooking station with noodles, a salad bar as well as a fridge full of ice cream (yum). 

Our boarding passes indicated a 3:30 pm boarding time at gate G3 and being familiar with the distances of BKK we set off from the lounge at 3:15 pm.  We reached our departure gate to be greeted with an empty parking bay and after a quick check of Flightradar24, I could see our aircraft had not even landed from BAH yet. 

On checking the scheduled arrival time in BKK it displayed 3:30 pm, which would allow a one-hour turnaround for a large aircraft even if it was on time – people off, people on, bags off and on, cleaning, catering.  They are basically setting themselves up for failure here, as turning around a long-haul flight in 60 minutes is really pushing it.  Obviously, throw in any delay at all (even 15 minutes) and you are going to have a delayed departure.

Just as our beautiful 787 reached the stand, as is not uncommon in Bangkok, the blistering sunshine disappeared and the heavens opened and when it rains in Thailand, it pours. With ample views from the departure gate, we could see there was not a lot happening on the tarmac, no bags being taken off, no re-fuelling happening.  Within about 15 minutes the storm disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, and boarding started at 5 pm.  Delays happen, but there was not one single announcement to passengers to advise them, which is quite poor.

Boarding

Boarding was done via the most forward door, which is unusual for a 787. Many operators discovered early on just how easy it is for the aerobridge to damage navigation equipment right next to the door on the 787, so it is normally done via the second door.  We were greeted by the crew and headed to our seats, 2A and 2C. The cabin felt very ope,n thanks to the non-installation of overhead lockers above the middle seats and there was nice Gulf Air branding on bulkheads. It did not, however feel quite as upscale in terms of the finishes and touches I have noticed on Oman, Qatar, or Etihad.  The carrier’s logo, the Golden Falcon, had pride of place on the forward bulkhead and the colour palette was blues, grey, and cream.

Business Class occupies the full first cabin between doors one and two and there are two toilets (complete with Japanese style bidet) at the front of the cabin.  There were only 8 of the 26 business class seats occupied between Bangkok and Singapore, which enabled me to get most of my pictures without disturbing anyone else. 

There was quite the pre take off service given the short flight duration with a choice of pre departure beverage (Lemon and mint juice, champagne, water, or OJ), a choice of hot or cold towel, and finally,y traditional coffee with dates.  Pushback was at 5:40 pm, just over an hour late and we were soon in the air on our way to Singapore.

The Seat

Gulf Air kitted out their 787s with the Apex seat, which to me is an absolute favourite.  Although in a 2x2x2 configuration, each seat retains direct aisle access through its clever, slightly staggered design.  It is the only product out there where a couple can sit together by the window yet both still have easy access to the aisle. So, why do so few airlines use this seat? The short answer is that the seats are not economical in terms of real estate. Between the first and second sets of doors, Gulf Air has only 26 Apex seats.  Compare this to most other 787-9 operators, which can offer direct aisle access yet fit 30 seats in the same space and you can see how the additional revenue multiplied by each flight makes the Apex a no-go for most airlines.  At the moment, you will only find the Apex seat on Gulf Air, Oman Air, and JAL. 

So, what else about this seat is so great? The amount of space. Sitting forward in your seat, you have loads of legroom and a big ottoman to place your feet with not a cubby hole or alcove inside to squeeze them into when it comes time to sleep. Also, there is a full-length partition between the window and aisle seat, so if you are not travelling with the person sitting next to you, it goes all the way up and you have your own little space.

There is no perfect seat out there and this one also has its downsides. I would say the biggest one is that the way the window seat is designed, there is a very narrow area to pass from the seat to the aisle, which some people may struggle with. It also can make the inflight service a little awkward if the partition is up as the crew have to lay tables etc, from a bit of an awkward position.

Flight Bangkok to Singapore

There was a simple snack service on this short sector of just under two hours and although there was no printed menu the service was delivered by an open style trolley where you could see exactly what was on offer. There was an assortment of sandwiches, including salmon on focaccia, chicken on ciabatta, and ‘shrimp cake’, which was served with a choice of tea or coffee. No other drinks were offered.  The service flow was a little odd in that they serve one aisle of business class first, then go back to the front and switch over to serve the other side.  I thought perhaps this was on account of the low loads, but it was also done this way on our subsequent flights.  Anyway, given only 8 passengers to serve, the service was completed in about ten minutes and then the crew weren’t seen again.

I am not sure if the crew were tired or just a bit switched off however they did not secure the cabin properly for landing as the curtain on the left-hand side between the galley and cabin remained closed for landing which would not have allowed the crew member sat there a view into the cabin which is a safety requirement.

We reached our parking stand at 9:10 pm, which was already ten minutes past our supposed departure time of 9 pm.

Singapore Changi is a great airport as anyone knows, but one of the downsides of it is that during transit, all passengers must leave the aircraft even if they are continuing on that same aircraft to their final destination.  With security at each gate at Changi this compounds the annoyance as you get off with all your stuff, literally exit the gate, then queue back up at security to go back into the same gate and re-board.  It is worth pointing out that this has nothing to do with Gulf Air; this is a Singapore Department of Transport requirement and applies to all airlines departing SIN.

Boarding recommenced at 9:40 pm and this time, business class was completely full.  The same pre take off sequence played out – same drinks, coffee, dates, hot or cold towel; however there was the addition of bedding (which was meh) and a very basic-looking printed menu.

It was also the same crew continuing to BAH however, an additional crew member joined in business class who seemed to be the in-charge crew member, a really hospitable Bahraini guy.

Pushback was at 10:10 pm and we were soon in the night sky en route to the Middle East. Once the seat belt sign went off, the crew came around to take meal orders and I was glad I had snapped a few pictures of the menu as once the order was taken, the crew collected the menus back in. A small ramekin of fruit and nut mix was passed out along with my drink and then the meal trays were delivered by hand and consisted of the starter and a glass of water. 

A selection of bakery items was then offered from the basket. There were top ups of both bread and water, but oddly, there was no offer of any other drink with the meal, although I am sure I could have requested one. Starter plates were collected and then the mains were delivered and once the main was finished, the entire tray was collected.  The food was fine, very middle of the road.  The smoked salmon parfait sounded much better on the menu than it tasted; the chicken biriyani was pretty good, however.

Weirdly, at this point in the service, the crew passed out sleepwear and slippers, which I am not sure is the service standard or they forgot early on or……?

An open trolley was then wheeled through the cabin with a selection of desserts, cheese, fruit, liqueurs, and hot drinks, and with four hours to go to Bahrain, the lights were dimmed. 

I found it a little unusual that no water bottles were provided, so I had to keep asking for my water glass to be refilled.  I tried out the bed and although comfy enough, it certainly could have done with better padding such as a mattress topper (more on that later).

80 minutes before arrival into Bahrain, the lights were switched all the way up to bright before being lowered again a bit and the snack service was delivered.  This was absolutely identical to what was offered between Bangkok and Singapore, with exactly the same options.

We descended into Manama and were on stand at 1 am local time.

Transit

Wow. Bahrain International Terminal 1 is a lovely and modern little facility and so it should be as it only opened in 2021.  Obviously, the overwhelming majority of passengers using BAH are in transit and the terminal has been designed around that.  The airport is light and airy, security is super easy with the latest scanners (nothing out of bags) and despite the delay to our inbound flight now leaving us very short in terms of boarding our next flight, I made sure I ran into the Gulf Air lounge to grab a few snaps.  I cannot comment any more on the lounge, unfortunately as my visit was about exactly three minutes in duration 😊

Bahrain – Manchester.  2:10am departure.  787-9.  6hr35min

Boarding started on time and this flight was also completely full in Business Class. We had the same seats 2A/C all the way through from Bangkok and the crew passed around with the same pre departure drinks; however no champagne was on offer this time. The familiar hot or cold towel was next up, and PJ’s slippers and amenity kits were given out at the beginning of the flight instead of halfway through, which seemed to make more sense.

The meal service on this late-night flight was a light snack after take off and breakfast before arrival in Manchester and the crew took the meal order on the ground, which would hopefully expedite things once in the air. 

We pushed back on time at 2:10 am, which was a relief as checking out FlightRadar24 this particular route has been pretty shocking on time performance. There were four crew working in business class on this flight, which was the same as the previous sector;r however after taking off, it took around 45 minutes for anything to really happen. 

The delivery of the inflight service was again odd, starting from the front serving the right-hand side first then switching over to the left-hand side but to mix it up starting from the rear of the cabin. Once things got underway, my tray was pretty quickly delivered and I really enjoyed the mezze snack along with some Arabic bread and red wine.  The crew advised there were mattresses on request however, I guzzled my wine, reclined my seat and as we were over Baghdad, got some shut eye.

I got a good three or four hours sleep, and the lights were switched on for breakfast around an hour and forty five minutes before arrival, which seemed a bit early, especially as there were only 26 passengers. A tray with a glass of water, a plate of fresh fruit, and a bowl of yoghurt was presented, along with a selection of thick toast or pastries from the basket. Hot drinks weren’t offered until after the trays were delivered. I love a coffee first thing when I wake up, so it would have been preferable if drinks other than water were available as the tray was delivered. 

The fruit plate was cleared, and my main course of cold cuts was delivered, which I enjoyed. The whole cabin had been finished and cleared in with an hour still to go, so I reclined my seat and napped for another half an hour.

The cabin was prepared for landing, and we reached our parking stand at Manchester airport, where we disembarked from door 2.  One of the crew was obviously very tired as she remained sitting in her crew seat whilst bidding farewell to passengers.  Annoyingly, it took an hour for the first bag to appear on the baggage belt.

Service

I think the service was well intentioned however, the crew lacked the warmth of the service I have received on, say, Oman Air or the polish of crews on Qatar or Etihad. They were all polite and responsive, but none of the little premium touches of their competitors were there for example, the crew never introduced themselves, nor was my name used once. Several time,s an item like a drinking glass would be collected and the wrapping from, say, the PJ’swould be  left uncollected. None of this stuff particularly bothers me and I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if it happened on a European or US carrier however, in the fierce Middle Eastern market, it was noticeable. There were also quite a lot of inconsistencies in the delivery of the service. Like sometimes the service starting from the front of the cabin on one side of the aircraft and the back on the other side, PJ’s given out mid-flight on one sector and before take off on another, a bottle of water given out on the flight from Bahrain but not on the flight to Bahrain, mattress toppers available on one night sector but not another.  But all this stuff is pretty easily fixed; it seems that training just could be a little better.

Verdict

All the ingredients are there for Gulf Air to be a rival to its neighbouring competitors – the seats are great, service is well intentioned and the food and beverage are pretty decent. Not to mention their modern and efficient little hub in Bahrain. If they got their game together in terms of consistency, they would be in the top league. I would 100% consider Gulf Air again and would recommend them to friends and family if the fare was right.