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[Spiderguy252]

Hello and welcome to my latest trip report on a trip I had done back in May this year. This report covers two flights, both on Gulf Air. The first sector was on their Y product on their Airbus A330-200 on CAI-BAH and the second on their J product on their Airbus A321 on BAH-KWI. Although there are no pictures, I hope you enjoy the report!



Part I: GF 070 on CAI-BAH



The first sector to BAH was very nicely timed, with a departure time of 1:50 PM. Gulf Air has three daily services to Cairo, one on the Airbus A340-300, one on the Airbus A330-200 and a red eye on the Airbus A320. From heresay on the Internet, GF 070, the A330 service carries the most O&D traffic due to it's rather odd departure and arrival times, which do not permit favourable connections to destinations east of BAH.

Image Courtesy Creative Commons, Wikipedia.


I arrived at Cairo's Terminal I at 11 AM that morning and was shocked to see the poor state of the terminal. After flying in into the new Star Alliance terminal, T3 inbound to CAI, I had expected something similar out of the rest of the airport. But it was not to be. Though the structure looked decent from the outside, it's interiors were quite dilapidated and unclean. What's more, most of the signs were in Arabic which of course makes it difficult for persons unable to read the language. Apparently the terminal is divided into two halls and since there were no clear instructions as to which airline was using which, I made it into Hall 2 by mistake, which serves only Saudi Arabian airlines. As I confirmed with the Saudi check-in agents that my Gulf Air flight was checking in in Hall 1, I discovered that I had to exit the airport and re-enter it through the opposite gate which led to Hall 1. The scenes along the way were not much different from India, with fleecing taxi drivers, large entourages, bouquet sellers and whatnot.

By 11:30, I was back inside the airport and had successfully managed to locate the check-in desks at the corner of Hall 1. GF had 4 check-in desks today, 3 for Economy and 1 for Falcon Gold distinguishable by a blue-gold carpet laid out in front of it. All the counters were fully staffed and there wasn't much of a queue when I made it to them. In just around 5 minutes after I entered the queue, I was allowed to check-in through the counter at the extreme left, staffed by a smiling Filipino agent. After punching in the details on her computer, it printed out a couple of boarding passes- one in Blue and the other in Gold. The Blue one was was my upcoming Economy flight to BAH and the Gold one was for the Falcon Gold hop across to KWI. She also gave me a lounge pass to use during my 2 hour transit at BAH and wished me a pleasant flight. I noticed that she had assigned seat 38D, which would invariably turn out to be a middle seat on the 2-4-2 styled A330 cabin. I regretted forgetting to ask her for a window/aisle seat. The BAH-KWI flight's boarding card showed seat 1A, the bulkhead row.

In CAI you have to exit the Hall after you are done with check-in, which means that you have to temporarily leave the airport terminal and re-enter it through a gate that leads on to a wide corridor between the two halls- 1 and 2. Past that corridor you reach the immigration and security hall which was also quite empty at this time of the day. As I waited in the queue at immigration for "Foreigners", I could make out some eateries and a book store past the security area and in the distance I could also spot a Cyprus Airways A320 docked at an aerobridge. To reach the boarding gates, passengers had to climb up to the upper level.

The immigration procedures took a little longer for me as the officer had to double, triple check my visa, which was valid for only a week. Once it was done, he handed over the same along with my passport with a pleasant "Thank You".

After clearing security, I picked up a burger from a burger joint and at 1:00 PM, took the escalator upstairs where my flight would be boarding. Unfortunately, none of the LCD departures screens were showing the Gate for my flight so I was planning to walk the length of the upper floor to search for the gate myself. The entire floor had a total of 7 gates and were occupied by the aforementioned Cyprus A320, Emirates 77W and an SV 744. My GF flight was nowhere to be seen. Once again, I approached a staff handling the SV flight and she directed me to the ground floor and guessed that the aircraft could be parked at a remote stand. She was right, when I reached the lower level, I could spot an officer holding a placard saying "Gulf Air - Bahrain" and he was waiting outside the bus, just outside the open sliding doorway. I made my way to the bus and boarded it.

Overall I found the Cairo airport experience to be quite lacking. Besides not having proper signages in English, they could do well to at least update their digital boards to show where your flight is checking-in, boarding, etc.

The bus was really cold, as the aircon was turned on to the max. When it was half full, doors were closed and we made our way across the apron to reach our aircraft. I could spot some exotic airlines and aircraft along the way, including an Egypt Air Express Embraer, a Yemenia A310 along with some sights from the new T3 where I could spot an LH 321, many MS aircraft and an OS 767.

In 10 minutes time, we had reached the back doors of our aircraft and the doors were opened. I could make out the registration of the bird- A9C-KC. Since there were not many of us in the bus, the walk up the ramp was quick though it was not a covered one, meaning that we were briefly caught in the dust that had hit the city that morning. The 332 looked smart in the gold Gulf livery and this aircraft also had the Bahrain F1 stickers pasted on the lower fuselage. I was also pleased because it would be the first time I would be flying GF's A330s. The 2 FAs at the door were warm and welcomed us on-board, pointing to the correct aisles.

Airline: Gulf Air
Aircraft: Airbus A330-243
Registration: A9C-KC
First flight date: 24th June, 1999

Load in F: ?
Load in J: ?
Load in Y: 50%

Scheduled Departure Time: 1:50 PM
Actual Departure Time: 2:05 PM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 5:55 PM
Actual Arrival Time: 6:10 PM

Flight Time: 3 hours, 5 minutes




So I made my way across the cabin to my seat- 38D and placed my bag in the overhead luggage bin. This aircraft was configured with 3 cabin classes, and row 38 happened to be the row where the fuselage started tapering. In fact, from row 39 onwards, the configuration switched from 2-4-2 to 2-3-2.

Each seat had a teal coloured pillow and a headrest, which was also advertising the 2010 F1 Grand Prix. There were also PTVs on each seat, which are very similar to KU's except that the screen is a little larger. My PTV was on the airshow channel, showing the aircraft stationary at CAI.



Being an Egypt-Gulf flight as well as the peak summer travel season, I expected the aircraft to fill up completely around me but it was not to be. The passengers came in trickles and by 1:40 PM, the doors were closed. The FAs came around handing hot towels and a newspaper- the Gulf Daily News which I took. Captain Raheem came online, announced our flight details and remarked that past the red sea, it looked to be "blue skies all the way up to Manama". He thanked us for choosing Gulf Air and wished us a pleasant flight. The safety demo on the overhead monitors and individual PTVs then followed.

I had the entire 4 seat section all for myself and now realized why the check-in agent had alotted the seats in this way.

As we taxied to the runway, the dust around us grew thicker. We halted for another aircraft to land. Because of the dust and my distance from the windows, I couldn't make out which one it was. At 2:05 PM, the RR Trents on this A330 roared and we were up in the air in a relatively short time. Strangely, the seatbelt sign switched off just a minute after take-off, as we were still climbing and the FAs removed their coats and went to the galleys to start service.

As we began cruise, the entertainment system was switched on. This was not AVOD and consisted of a few channels on loop. The headsets were in the seatpocket but I didn't bother to plug it in since nothing interesting was playing. I left it at the Airshow channel and picked up my copy of 'Gulf Life', GF's in-flight magazine and began reading through it. The magazine was unlike your typical airline/travel magazine and consisted of articles written in a very informal way, which made it quite different and fun to read. It also spoke of Gulf Air's A330-300 and Boeing 787-8 order. My only complaint is that it was only 56 pages thick with some ads. GF could increase the number of pages on it since some of it's aircraft feature nothing but the magazine as 'entertainment', A319s, A320s and A321s included.



The aircraft was 11 years old and was starting to show signs of it's age but appeared to be quite well maintained. The seat was a typical economy seat of around 32-33 inches of pitch and I found it comfortable for a flight of this duration, though I wasn't sure how it would be for the other points where GF operates it's A330s to- LHR, CDG, BKK, etc. where the flight times are double that of CAI-BAH.

Two FAs then reached our row with the food trolley and I opted for the chicken option. It was grilled chicken served with arabic flatbread, or Khabous. Quite heavy and very tasty unlike a regular airline in-flight meal. There was also a pack of chips, a croissant, a salad and a pastry as desert. The FAs then came with a tea/coffee run along with extra croissants and pastries. I could not fault this meal at all, according to Y-class airline meal standards.

It didn't end there. The FAs kept passing through the cabin with drink services throughout the flight. The drink also comes with a chocolate muffin. GF sure keeps it's passengers well fed through their flights!

The FAs were overall really pleasant and they were quite courteous in dealing with the different classes of pax in the cabin. To my left, in seats 38A and 38B were two Asian pax who didn't know much English and were struggling to fill a form of some sort. An FA, while passing through the cabin saw their distress and immediately offered to help them with the task.

As we flew East, the sun was setting casting a deep orange glow across the cabin. Captain Raheem announced descent into Bahrain and asked us to fasten our seatbelts, stow our tray tables and keep our seatbacks upright. The FAs came with one last drink service and also the duty free cart, which I didn't notice anybody purchasing from. We circled over Bahrain for a short while before touching down on their runway. After a short taxi, we found ourselves docked at an aerobridge next to a company Airbus A340-300. The FAs positioned themselves throughout the cabin just before the seatbelt signs were switched off and helped passengers with their luggage. The door was staffed by 2 male FAs who handed each of us a GF timetable as we exited the aircraft.



Scores:

Punctuality: 9/10
Seat: 7/10
Catering: 10/10
Aircraft Condition: 7/10
Entertainment: 6/10

Total: 39/50 = 78% = Four stars out of Five.


Part II: GF 217 on BAH-KWI

As I exited the aerobridge, I noticed my name on a placard being held by a GF agent. I proceeded to him, identified myself through my lounge invite and he accompanied me to the lounge. The lady who was at the counter remarked about the two legs of my journey being in two different classes. I smiled and told her that this was a hastily planned trip and was actually holidaying in Singapore when I had to travel to Egypt. Funnily enough, I added the GF website showed the CAI-BAH flight to be full in J, but my flight happened to be quite empty. She guessed that it could be because of a bunch of no shows and said that the Egypt flights seldom go empty.

Image Courtesy Creative Commons, Wikipedia.


I made my way to a seat in the cool lounge and started up my computer to while away my 2 hours there. The lounge was quite empty when I entered, though it started filling up during the latter half of my stay there, when I presume a flight from LHR, CDG or FRA had landed. Facilities in the lounge included free wi-fi access, showers and massage chairs. The food was delicious too and there was a lot of Indian variety, something I hadn't had much of in the prior week. There was a staff manning the trays and he explained every ingredient of the dish I was serving myself. He appeared to be of Turkish descent but knew a lot about the Indian dishes too. The beverages section was well stocked too, with around 20 different types of coffee available.

The ambience of the lounge was pleasant as well, quite insulated from the noisy terminal outside. There were large LCD TVs playing BBC as well as constantly updated departure boards on the walls. My flight, GF 217 to KWI was scheduled for take-off at 8:10 PM and by 7:30 PM, i had packed up and left the lounge to reach my gate, which happened to have not an Airbus, but just a bus that would take me to the Airbus A321 which was parked at a remote stand.



BAH unfortunately does not have priority boarding for F and J passengers, who board along with all the Y pax. The bus was crowded as I entered and the driver waited for it to be packed completely before setting off to the aircraft, which was parked right in viewing distance, next to a QR 320.

This time boarding was done through the front doors, Y pax included. We would be flying A9C-ET on our one hour, five minute flight to KWI. A9C-ET was also painted in the gold GF scheme which somehow looked less impressive than on their 332s. This aircraft also had the 2010 Bahrain F1 stickers on it. The FAs at the door were quite mechanical and passively welcomed us on-board.

Airline: Gulf Air
Aircraft: Airbus A321-211
Registration: A9C-ET
First flight date: 20th January, 1998

Load in J: 100%
Load in Y: 100%

Scheduled Departure Time: 8:10 PM
Actual Departure Time: 8:35 PM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 9:15 PM
Actual Arrival Time: 9:30 PM

Flight Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes




A9C-ET was around about just as old as the 332 I had just flown on, but the cabin appeared to show the signs of it's age a lot more than the well maintained latter aircraft. This aircraft was first acquired by Air France in 1998 and after 6 years in service, was sold to Royal Jordanian who passed it on to Gulf Air who use their fleet of 2 A321s mainly on routes to the Indian sub-continent and regional feeder flights such as this one.

Unlike the usual gold and teal GF seats, the seats on this bird were gray. The aircraft was configured in 5 rows of Falcon Gold, J and 25 of Economy, Y. The 2-2 configuration in J, though an industry standard appeared to be a little on the tighter side. Or at least it felt like that to me.



My seat- 1A was a window seat and was in the bulkhead row, thanks to which my legroom was severely restricted and was actually the same as the on the A330 I had just flown on , in Y! The seatback also appeared to be less than sturdy, and I could hear a lot of creaks and groans as I made myself comfortable. The seat controls, located on the armrests looked very old and dusty, as did the tray tables which the FAs folded out to serve us a welcome drink- a choice of either apple or orange juice. The seat pitch was around 45 inches which felt unnaturally tight for some reason. The footrests were conspicuous by their absence as well. Even the worst aircraft would do for a flight of this duration, but I can now see why GF is losing out on the Indian routes because of the deployment of such old and worn out metal.

My seatmate happened to be an Asian passenger (Thai, as I later found out) and the rest of the cabin filled up fairly quickly too. At 7:50 PM, the captain announced that we were waiting for a batch of passengers from Peshawar. Once they had boarded, we were on our way at 8:35 PM after a delay of 20 minutes. The drop down LCDs played the safety demo as we taxied to the runway. Just as we were holding for take-off, the 2 FAs serving the J cabin handed over 2 menus for us- Business Dining and Business Drinks.

Cabin lights were switched off for take-off and we were up in a couple of minutes. The FAs hurried into the galley to start up service on this short flight. Myself, seated at 1A got my food option the first- scrambled eggs and chicken sausages. The FA also poured a cup of black tea with it. The meal is not one you would expect for a short flight- the plate on which it was served was quite large. The FAs cleared the trays after each of us were done and came around to each of us to check if we wanted anything more to drink. After the elaborate meals and beverages I had had in the last two flights and in the BAH lounge, I declined.

There was a short Arabic comedy playing on the overhead screens, which nobody watched I guess. The seatpocket on the bulkhead was bereft of anything but the safety card. But I had already read the magazine from the previous leg so I wasn't miffed. In any case, this was such a short flight to really care.

We were skirting the Northern Saudi coast as the captain announced descent into KWI. The FAs disappeared int their jumpseats in the galley- not much to do on this flight for them. I was lucky to be sitting at the left of the aircraft today as we were treated to a scenic approach into Kuwait City, banking twice- at the Kuwait Towers and the Liberation Tower. This approach is a photographer's delight and I must remind myself to shoot pictures of this sometime, especially at night.

We touched down at KWI's runway and behind us I could make out two more sets of landing lights approaching which I identified to be an Air Arabia A320's and a KL 333s as we taxied back to the terminal. We docked at Gate #1 next to a Jet Airways 738 VT-JBK which had just arrived from BOM.



Immigration was madness, since it was peak time for arrivals and by the time I was done, my luggage was already outside the baggage carousel and placed in a separate heap, before it began dishing out luggage from KU's Rome flight, which had also just landed.

Scores:

Punctuality: 9/10
Seat: 4/10
Catering: 9/10
Aircraft Condition: 4/10
Entertainment: 3/10

Total: 29/50 = 58% = Three stars out of Five.


Gulf Air seem to be rather hit or miss on these regional routes of theirs. Though the A330 on the CAI flight appeared to be in good shape, the A321 didn't and the lack of entertainment and the lower seat pitch on the latter in J was ironic. The business class lounge in BAH though was very ambient and I would love to spend many hours there during a long transit. One thing though, that shines for GF is their catering- they just load you with a lot of it.

Thank you very much for reading!
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Yeah.

[Nimish]

Lovely report - and the interlaced pictures fit right in - making it seem like you've taken a lot of pictures on this sector! Great job there
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We miss you Nalini!

[me111993]

Wonderfully choreographed TR Varun! Nicely written, and pictures placed just brilliantly!
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Causal Determinism : We are hardwired to need answers. The Caveman who heard a rustle in the bushes and checked out to see what it was, lived longer than the guy, who assumed it was just a breeze.

- Greg House

[sumantra]

Very well-written and described, Varun! For a trips done quite some time back, you have a superb memory!
Cheers, Sumantra.

[Spiderguy252]

Thank you for your responses, Nimish, Rishul and Sumantra!
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Yeah.

[sri_bom]

Very Nice Report Varun, even though there were not much pictures you summarization with usage of stock photos made it up for all.

Few questions:

1) Any idea which nationality were the FA's on your Cairo to Manamma sector? As they seemed to be quite helpful.

2) Is there still a veiwing gallery in Manamma? I rember when I was a small kid around 1979 we went up there to see the British Airways - Concorde flights which used to do - London - Manamma onward to Asia routing. It used to be an open air balcony for viewing. Not sure if that terminal even exists today.

Gulf Air once a upon a time used to be the jewel of the Arab world, and often in hindi movies in the 70's/80's if there was any scene of one going to "Duubbaiiii" the typical stock footage of an aircraft taking off used to be Gulf Air. (The 1983 Movie Kattha has the L-1011 GF taking off from Bombay Airport) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085776/plotsummary)

unfortunately bad managment and competition from the new world arab airlines have seen this once iconic brand reduced to wayside.

[Spiderguy252]

[Spiderguy252]

Didn't get to make another full fledged TR but I just did another trip on one of GF's new A320s (A9C-AG) and the legroom in Y is sweet! I definitely prefer this over EK or QR. Just thought I'd post it here:


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Yeah.

[stealthpilot]

Wow that took a while to read, very nice...
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eP007