I’ll admit before this flight I had barely heard of Gulf Air. Gulf Air is the state-owned airline and the flag carrier of Bahrain – a country I was set to visit for a wedding earlier this year.

Before I attended the wedding I had a connection via Bahrain on my way to Singapore. I found a great deal on a business class flight via Aeroplan and thought I might as well try out the flag carrier of a country I was set to visit shortly.

Now being in the Middle East, I had high hopes for Bahrains flag carrier. Gulf Air does not currently operate flights to the US but I hear that is changing soon.

Booking Process

Gulf Air is not part of Star Alliance but they are codeshare partners with a few airlines and available to book via Air Canada Aeroplan. I found plenty of award availability when my flight was set to depart in March of this year.

I’ve always been a fan of Aeroplan and often times find the best redemptions via the program. A major plus is the amount of transfer partners they have, which makes it easy to rack up points.

I even checked upcoming availability and there seems to be plenty.

Not a bad deal for 60,000 Aeroplan points on a 7 hour flight in a great business class. Upon booking and after my first leg from Abu Dhabi, I decided to check out the flagship lounge at the Bahrain Airport.

Gulf Air Falcon Gold Lounge

The Gulf Air Falcon Gold Lounge is located in the main terminal, thats not too big so hard to miss, on the second floor. You will take an elevator up and be greeted by the large doors directly in front.

Entering the lounge was a smooth experience and you can immediately see just how large it is with its various different areas.

The lounge itself has a number of different seating areas including dining, lounges, couches, and even some games.

When you walk in you will be led into the main area that has most of the food you will find that is served as a full buffet.

The dining area in the front was the least populated and I can understand why since there were plenty of more comfortable place to sit.

Also note I visited around 10:00 PM so that may be the reason it was so quiet.

The first food station I noticed was light bites, pastries, and breads. This was located directly as you get into the lounge and what I liked was how stocked it was considering the time of night.

Next was the cold sandwiches and wraps with a number of different options to choose from. They had both a mix of standard sandwiches as well as some middle eastern specialities like falafel wraps.

Next to the cold sandwiches was a selection of cheese, fruit, and some desserts.

As you make your way further into the dining room this is where the real food offering comes up.

Next up was the mezze station, which is always a highlight of middle eastern buffets. They had all the fixings and salads you can need and I was sure to come back to this after I surveyed the rest of the food.

I finally made it to the hot food station and it started with a full pizza bar. The pizza actually looked decent, not like I was going to eat it with the other options, but it looked better than I expected.

Now onto the main buffet there was a number of different dishes that were mostly meat based. There was a selection of rice, lamb, chicken, as well as some cauliflower and other vegetable sides.

As I moved further down the bar there was a lot of different vegetarian friendly dishes including lentils, lasagna, potatoes, veggies, and a cheese cauliflower that was actually delicious.

Even though I just ate on the short flight from Abu Dhabi I decided to make a quick plate.

I went with some lasagna, cauliflower, lentils, croquets, as well as a few veggies and others from the mezze bar.

Overall I was impressed with the food, especially for it being a late night lounge buffet, and while I’ve had better like in the United Polaris Lounge, there were plenty of options to choose from.

After I ate I decided to explore the rest of the lounge since I only had a little bit more time before my flight.

Like I mentioned the lounge had a number of different areas including a separate bar as well as more seating. I did notice a few more people on this side and the lighting felt more inviting than where I ate so it makes sense.

There was no shortage of types of seats in this lounge with every section having its own unique touch.

Then I finally made my way to the back of the lounge and found what is arguably the best part, the gaming area.

While it’s not new for lounges to have gaming areas the benefits of Gulf Airs was how quiet it was. There was a golf simulator, foosball, pool table, and even this car simulator.

I did notice there was nothing left out so you did need to ask for assistance but I can’t think of a better way to spend time in a lounge than to hit a few balls against the simulator.

The car racing looked interesting but it did look tough to fit into it so mostly only for kids. As you can notice in the background it was nice to overlook the terminal, similar to Turkish Airlines lounge at IST, that make the space feel more open.

Lastly before I left I noticed their TV area had these great loungers that can view a number of different screens. Given flight times out of this airport may have some late ones, this would be a great area to have a quick nap or just relax if you have time to pass.

Summary & Takeaways

After taking my first few flights on Gulf Air and experiencing Bahrain Airport I was really impressed with how efficient and relaxing the experience was. The airport itself was very spacious and I never once had to wait in a line on my multiple times going through there.

The lounge itself really spaced out as much as possible making it have plenty of room even if there were more travelers. The unique touch in each section made every part of the lounge unique and I was excited to keep exploring as I spent my time there.

Gulf Air is back to their investing phase of expansion and I look forward to potential future visits to Bahrain or onwards.

The post A Look Inside Gulf Air Falcon Gold Lounge at BAH Airport appeared first on Travel Season.

Before I attended the wedding I had a connection via Bahrain on my way to Singapore. I found a great deal on a business class flight via Aeroplan and thought I might as well try out the flag carrier of a country I was set to visit shortly.

Now being in the Middle East, I had high hopes for Bahrains flag carrier. Gulf Air does not currently operate flights to the US but I hear that is changing soon.

Booking Process

Gulf Air is not part of Star Alliance but they are codeshare partners with a few airlines and available to book via Air Canada Aeroplan. I found plenty of award availability when my flight was set to depart in March of this year.

I’ve always been a fan of Aeroplan and often times find the best redemptions via the program. A major plus is the amount of transfer partners they have, which makes it easy to rack up points.

I even checked upcoming availability and there seems to be plenty.

Gulf Air operates a 7 and half hour flight between Bahrain and Singapore on their Boeing 787-9. For only 60,000 Aeroplan points this is certainly a steal.

Comparable airlines like Emirates, Etihad, or Singapore Air charge significantly more on this route so I was extremely happy with my redemption.

Flight Experience

Now onto the flight – Gulf Air has a total of 26 business class seats, dub “Falcon Gold”, on the 787, spread across five rows in a 2-2-2 configuration.

Even though there are 2 seats on the window side every one of them has aisle access.

Upon first entry I immediately noticed how much space each seat gets. These seats are the closest to a “suite” but do not come with privacy doors.

I would say the middle seats looked equally as good as the aisle side of the window since they were pretty similar.

If you take a look at the 2 seats by the window – you will notice a passage in the front for the window seat to access the aisle. I found this to be hugely useful throughout the flight since my partner could get in and out without bothering me.

If you are flying solo too then keeping he divider up is a great way to have some separation. I find most flight dividers to be too low but this one was plenty.

A closer look at the seat and it was pretty modernized and comfortable.

The window pods looked like by far the best seats in the whole cabin. When the divider is up you truly feel like you are in a private cabin since no one can see you even when passing down the aisle.

A quick look at the seat across from me and you can see how exposed the aisles feel. These seats could really use a door like on Etihad but at least the person directly across from you can’t see since the seats are staggard.

I settled into my seat on the aisle while my partner took the window seat. You can see by my feat there was plenty of space even in front of me to spread out although not a great place to keep a small bag.

As I looked around on the controls there was a decent amount of small storage space right at my seat. I would say the outlet was a bit hidden and I did find this seat easy to lose items in.

The outlet was hidden underneath the arm rest making it really difficult to plug something in. Once you got it through it actually worked out ok, especially if you are in bed mode.

The seat controls were pretty basic and at least reasonably simple compared to other airlines.

The headphones that were provided were ok and nothing to complain about. I tend to no longer use airplane headphones since I got Airfly Pro that allows me to connect to any IFE with bluetooth.

The amenity kit was a bit odd design choice with this horse. I can’t say I know the reason for it but definitely an area Gulf can make an adjustment unless its for good reason.

Inside the amenity kit was you standard stuff like socks, tooth brush, and hand cream. I set it all up on the ledge and without the tray table out I found it kind of hard to keep track of all my stuff. Often times things were falling but I seemed to manage with the multiple pocket areas you can store stuff in.

I sat back and checked out the IFE that was one of the most impressive parts of this cabin. The remote was actually pretty intuitive and funny enough you can watch a movie on the remote itself.

The IFE screen is located pretty far from your seat so its pretty nice to just sit back and select your options comfortably.

Before the cabin was shut the flight attendants came around with Arabic coffee and dates. This is one of the highlights of flying on a Middle Eastern carrier as the coffee has just the right amount of spice and enjoyable few sips.

As I checked out the menu on this route the flight actually served a light meal after takeoff and the main before landing. I like this approach with late night flights so I don’t have to have such a large meal before sleeping and can count on a better pre arrival meal.

I wasn’t really sure what to get for my light meal. I wanted to go for the mezze but I had actually just had some in the lounge before boarding.

I decided to order the Smoked Salmon Quiche as well as the omelette for breakfast.

When it came to beverages the options weren’t too extensive but enough to keep you satisfied.

Before we took off I decided to take a few shots of the side seats with the divider down.

As you can see in my partners pod the seat is slightly ahead of mine but still relatively easy to talk to one another if you are traveling together. I would suggest the window seats over the middle for couples, which is a nice change from other airlines where you always need to pick the middle to be near each other.

When you zoom our you can see how much farther the screen is for the person next to you. My partner felt it was too far in front but on my next flight I tried the window seat and didn’t feel it was too bad.

Note the foot rest is much farther on the window seat so if you are a shorter person that could make a difference.

Shortly after takeoff the food service arrived and the lights were lowered. I noticed that since it was late many people in the cabin decided to sleep instead of getting the light meal.

The salmon quiche looked pretty decent but wasn’t really served with anything else except for bread. A few greens on the side would have really made this a bit better.

On the inside it was a bit dry and had the mildest fishy smell. I don’t think people trying to sleep enjoyed smelling this salmon but I ended up eating most of it.

I was able to get great sleep on this flight and really just relaxed in my pod. I was on the aisle side but didn’t seem to mind and the amount of people passing during the flight was minimal.

Breakfast was served about 1.5 hours to landing and it was a pretty big spread. I would say breakfast is one of the worst meals on airlines but this one was actually really good.

The omelette was not overcooked and served with sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, and a hash brown. I would say this was up there in best airplane breakfasts I’ve ever had.

In addition to the omelette was a side of fruit served as well. This is always refreshing instead of a heavier dessert – it was breakfast time after all.

Summary & Takeaways

For my first flight with Gulf this was an impressive one. The cabin style, seats, food, and flight attendants all made this a really great flight to take.

For 60,000 Aeroplan points I thought this was a steal of a booking. When Gulf Air restarts routes to the US I think they can definitely pick up on some travelers that are looking to use the Middle East as a layover point before their final destination.

This was not my only flight I took on Gulf during the trip and I would say each one of them was just as good as the next.

The post Review: Gulf Air 787 Business Class from Bahrain to Singapore appeared first on Travel Season.