[عاشق طيران الخليج]

السلام عليكم
أخواني الاعضاء لقيت لكم تقرير من احد المواقع لرحلة على طيران الخليج وحبيته انقله لكم لتنوع انواع الطائرات من الجديدة والقديمة.
وما ابي اطول عليكم
تفضلوا الصور مع التقرير

على الفكرة التقرير قديم شوي على ايام عمان والبحرين 2007

The flights covered in this trip report are part of a bigger trip, consisting of 10 flights in 16 days time. The flights were: AMS-DUB on EI; DUB-LHR on BD; LHR-MCT-BKK on GF; USM-BKK on PG; BKK-REP-BKK on PG; BKK-BAH-DUB on GF; DUB-AMS on EI. This report will primarily focus on the GF sectors, all flown in First Class.

As you may or may not know, GF has an old and a new First Class, depending on which aircraft you're on. Two of my flights were scheduled to be on the A330 with the new sleeper seats (or SkyBeds in GF lingo): LHR-MCT and BAH-DUB. The other two flights were scheduled to be on the A340 with old-style First Class seats. Some photos on the GF website: A340 old-style and A330 SkyBed.

Alright, let's go to the flights. I've included some pix, click them to enlarge.

April 21st, 2007
GF006
LHR-MCT
A330-243 A4O-KA (old colors)
Seat: 1A

was booked to fly on BD130, departing DUB at 1740 and arriving in LHR at 1900. Figuring this might be a tight connection, I approached the BD ticketing desk in DUB in the early afternoon of the 21st with my paper ticket, and asked if it would be possible to take BD128, departing 1535 and arriving in LHR 1650. "No problem at all, sir, please go to Fiona at the Business Class check-in and she'll take care of things."

No queue at the Business Class check-in, and Fiona sorted everything in no time.

After the "instant criminalisation" at security (is putting liquids inside a plastic bag really helping to make the world a better place? I can still put C4 in my toothpaste package if I want to... ) I went to the BD gate.

Nothing special to mention about BD128 (A320 G-MIDP operated the flight, which was almost full). We arrived in LHR about on time. BD arrives in T1, whilst my GF flight would depart from T3. I passed security in T1, and took the bus to T3. 35 minutes after landing I was at the GF transfer desk in T3, only to find nobody there. A sign read something like "This desk will be manned within two hours of departure of our flights". Oh well, time to do some shopping then. After spending some money, I went back to the GF transfer desk. The friendly lady there ("Woody") changed my BD stock boarding pass to a GF stock boarding pass. I also received an invitation to the GF Business and First Class lounge.

The lounge was just a short walk from the transfer desk. I settled and took a glass of Piper Heidsieck brut. The lounge was nice and quiet.

noticed I was the only one in the lounge drinking champagne; others were on Gin & Tonic, [COLOR=red !important][COLOR=red !important]red [COLOR=red !important]wine

[/COLOR][/COLOR], or soft drinks. Sometime after the football match, I finished the bottle of Piper Heidsieck

It wasn't long before flight 6 to MCT was announced. "Sir, I'm calling a cart for you, the flight will be departing from [insert a gate far from the lounge here, I think it was either 42 or 44] and I'm not letting you walk all the way there". Well alright, why not, there's a first time for everything

After a five minute "drive", me and three other pax (one of whom was also in First, the others were in Business) arrived at the gate, just as the "Final boarding call" was made. The back of the plane was already loaded with pax, but it was a delight to turn left at the door of the aircraft (we came in through the door between First and Business Class). A friendly FA escorted me to seat 1A and took my jacket. An "amenity kit" was waiting at the seat, consisting of eye shades, a pair of socks and a pair of ear plugs. Pretty appalling amenity kit, IMHO. I settled in the excellent seat, and was offered a drink immediately. "Champagne of course", I replied. Before long, a glass of Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle was brought to my seat, accompanied by a ramekin with hot almonds. A newspaper was offered, and I took the Financial Times.

The SkyChef introduced himself (don't remember his name, he was arabic I think), and left a menu and a wine list with me. Shortly thereafter, the empty glass and bowl were collected, and the SkyChef offered me an arabic date and a cup of arabic coffee. Very nice! The cup was collected very shortly after, as we were about to depart. Load in First was 3 (out of 8 seats): myself in 1A, an Omani citizen in 1K and a British citizen in 2A. We had two people looking after us: the SkyChef, and an Asian FA (female).

An attempt to show the overhead space in the aircraft (which was pretty impressive; no overhead bins in the center); notice yours
truly on the right

After take off, the SkyChef took orders for food. All I wanted were the Arabic mezze; after that, I wanted to take the SkyBed to the
test

Table being prepared for dinner (and another glass of Grand Siècle of course

Bread basket

Arabic mezze

The food was just excellent! After finishing, the table was emptied, and I was told I could change in the washroom behind seat 2A. In there, I found GF pyjamas, size L (apparently, Large is the largest size available on GF). BTW, first time in my life seeing a washroom with a window on an airplane

When I returned to my seat, the bed was made. (it looked just like the picture on the website)
The 180 degrees flat bed looked very comfy, and it was! Even for a tall guy like myself, the 80 inch bed provided plenty of room to sleep (I'm 1.92m, or 6'5" for y'all Americans) I managed to sleep almost five hours (not bad, on a flight of less than seven hours). After I opened my eyes, the Asian FA was standing next to me within seconds, offering me a drink. I took a 1/2 liter bottle of water. I then ordered some plain yoghurt, fresh fruits and an energy drink (consisting of yoghurt, strawberries and other ingredients). The breakfast was very good; the energy drink is highly recommended (sorry, forgot to take a picture of both the meal and the drink). Even though I didn't order them, the SkyChef included some pancakes; tasty but too much for me, I was still stuffed from the flight and the lounge.

I had to hurry to change into my normal clothing, because landing was imminent. One strange thing I noticed was that jackets were handed out BEFOFRE landing! "Why", is the question that arose?

Another thing I noticed, was the fact that GF FAs like to make very long announcements, especially in Arabic. A couple of times at the beginning and near the end of the flight, a short (maybe four-sentence) announcement was made in English, followed by a lengthy, multi-minute announcement in Arabic. I'm not a great fan of "general announcements" over the PA, so I was a bit bothered by this.

Experienced the landing through the front camera; a very cool feature!
Very quiet apron in MCT, all-white Tri-Star, 3 UK Airforce Nimrods, Oman Air Force Hercules and a couple of Oman Air 737s. No jetways in MCT, so two sets of stairs were driven to the aircraft. One for the First pax at the front left door; after thanking the crew for the flight, we (the three F pax) walked down the stairs to find an entire coach just for us! Very extravagant!

Positives:
- Excellent seat / bed
- Friendly and attentive crew
- Great food and champagne

Negatives:
- Jacket handed back before landing in stead of after landing
- Long PA announcements
- Appalling amenity kit
(these negatives go four all four GF flights)

I was expecting a GF representative to pick me up at the terminal. As we arrived about 20 minutes early, there was no-one there. The whole terminal was deserted, so I just walked to the visa desk to buy an Oman visa, and then passed through immigration. (my mistake; in hindsight I should have gone to the transfer desk before immigration)

I walked to the GF ticketing desk to ask what I was supposed to do. The agent was clueless, and sent me to check-in. Like in most Middle Eastern countries, one has to pass security before check-in in MCT. So after passing security again (no need to pack liquids separately; apparently, one is not a terrorist here if one wants to bring some water aboard), I approached the First Class check-in desk. The agent pointed at another GF employee, who took me to the GF crew offices (!)

Everybody was very friendly; one lady took my tickets to issue a boarding pass for my evening flight to BKK, while another lady went searching for her transfer desk colleague. Amazing to see the GF flight schedules, especially to see that a grand total of literally a handful of F pax was to travel on no less than 14 flights. (it's possible that some or more of those flights were A320 flights, on which GF only offers Business and Economy class)

After a while, a lady came in. "There you are, I was missing the transfering F class passenger!" Apparently, she missed me because of the early arrival (just as I suspected). After another 30 (!!) minutes in the crew room, I was handed a boarding pass for the MCT-BKK flight. "Why did everything take so long?" I asked. "I'm giving you the good hotel, sir" was the answer. The lady took me to the taxi stand, and instructed a taxi driver (who looked like the brother of Jean Reno) to take me to the Radisson SAS hotel. At the hotel check-in, there appeared to be a problem. The lady behind the counter had to get a manager, who installed me in the hotel bar area whilst he was calling Gulf Air. I was offered a cup of tea in the meantime. After some time, the manager came back and handed me his mobile phone; some Gulf Air rep on the other end who told me everything will be sorted. About 45 minutes after arriving at the Radisson SAS, I was finally in my room. Thumbs down to Gulf Air for not arranging things beforehand!

Hotel room, lunch and dinner in the hotel were all courtesy of GF. Excellent food, should have taken photos of the brilliant dinner buffet.

May 5th, 2007
GF151
BKK-BAH
A340-312 A4O-L? (didn't catch the registration; new colors aircraft)
Seat: 1H
My mate and me were travelling on the same flights homebound (BKK-BAH-DUB on GF in First, then DUB-AMS on EI (separate ticket) in proletariat class (just kidding, most my life I've been in the back of the aircraft as well)). After being ripped off by our taxi driver (400 Baht when we paid just 220 a couple of days before when we were going to REP), we went to the GF check-in desks, to find one person in front of us in the First Class queue. Handed the agent our paper tickets and passports, as well as our updated itineraries, courtesy of the Gulf Air website (well, actually virtuallythere.com/gulfair). Our bags were tagged to DUB; "Gulf Air First" labels were attached to the bags. After receiving our boarding passes and invitations to the Louis Tavern First lounge, we were told to go to the last desk on the right of the GF check-in to pay our Thailand departure tax (700 Baht per person, IIRC). Funny (crazy?) thing is, nobody even checked if we paid later! What would've happend if we skipped the tax and went straight to immigration?

No Fast Track at BKK, so had to wait in line for about 10 minutes. Geez, the Louis Tavern First lounge really is a dump! (see the link posted above to the report by Lufthansa747). Shared with Priority Pass holders, so it's clear the lounge offers a pretty non-First
Class experience. Just look at the roof

Did some duty free shopping and internetting (two computers available in the lounge with pretty fast internet connection). Soon enough, our flight was called (gate E8 IIRC). The gate was pretty close to the lounge; as we approached the gate area, we noticed "Final call" on the gate sign. IMHO, it's very nice of GF to call premium pax so close to boarding.

We were escorted to our (old school) seats 1H (me) and 1K (my mate). Back to the bubbly again, along with hot cashews! Load for this flight was 8 out of 12 First seats occupied.

After a top-up, our empty glasses were collected, and we pushed back roughly on time. However, by that time the weather had turned nasty. (later we learned that rainy season had started early this year). Pretty cool to see thunderstorms going directly over the airport, with lightning impact close to the aircraft a couple of times. As a result of this, we taxied to a sort of holding area, where we waited for quite some time. It was quite awesome to see the lightning strikes, and I honestly didn't have a clue how long we spent waiting there (in hindsight, it was probably about 45 minutes).

Finally, we took off. The SkyChef introduced himself (Jean from Corsica, very friendly guy) and handed out menus. Choices for food and drink were made, and soon, canapés were delivered to us (and I can't remember what they were ). As we both had different food: extra food pics for my beloved readers!

"Mushroom soup, served with button mushrooms and green beans"

Arabic mezze, a variety of Middle Eastern hot and cold dishes or marinated artichoke, vine leaves, makdoos, hummus babaghanoush, warm falafel, samboosa potato kibbe, served with
Arabic bread"

"Grilled beef tenderloin served with roast potatoes, steamed long beans and Szechuan pepper sauce"
This was absolutely brilliant, best food I've ever had on an airplane!!!!!

"Chef’s Recommendation"
Fresh prawns

"International cheese"

With my starter (the soup), I had the "Pouilly-Fume Les Genievres 2005, Guy Saget" white wine; with the main course (the beef), I had the "Chataeu Haut Lagrange, AC Pressac-Leognan 2000".

After the meal, we probably had some 3.5 hours or so left. My mate went to sleep, while I wandered around the cabin a bit, had a chat with Jean in the galley (where I complimented him with the superb food), and just watched the airshow. Later on, I had another glass of champagne, and at some point during the flight, Haagen-Dazs ice cream was distributed to those still awake (which included yours truly). Time to play around with the IFE. IFE on the A340 is pretty basic, inside the center armrest between seats, there's even (still!) a VCR! No AVOD on this aircraft (just to make it clear, the A330s don't have AVOD either). There wasn't anything I liked on the PTV channels, so I read a bit in the GF magazine to kill time. Soon enough, cabin crew were preparing for landing. Once again, jackets were handed out before landing. Strange...

Alright, we arrived in BAH about 40 minutes late. Still plenty of time to kill, because GF23 to DUB would be leaving at 1:30 AM. After some checks, we were in the BAH departures area. Up an escalator and to the GF Business and First lounge. Pretty large lounge, most of it Business class. The First Class lounge is a separate part inside the Business lounge, with an attendant to make certain that the people who enter the lounge are allowed to do so.

Had some small sandwiches in the lounge, checked in online for our EI flight DUB-AMS (very nice that GF provides printers free of charge in the lounge). This was the only GF lounge with service; attendants (and a SkyChef, or GroundChef I suppose ) would come 'round and get you drinks and food. Feeling very tired, time crept towards 1:15 AM. At that time our flight was called, and we took the short walk to the gate. Inside the airbridge, there was a Bahraini gentleman checking boarding passes and passports. When he saw my Dutch passport, he wished me a good flight in Dutch! Very nice. Again we were among the last pax to board the aircraft.

May 65th, 2007
GF23
BAH-DUB
A330-243 A4O-KD
Seat: 1F
STD: 0130
STA: 0650 (??? I honestly don't remember)
ATD: Pushback on time
ATA: Arrival about 10 minutes early

Upon entering the aircraft, one of the girls at the door took us to our seats (1E and 1F), and introduced us to Naomi, our SkyChef for this flight. Just three passengers in First today, including one GF employee (not in uniform, but I would guess she was a flight attendant).

I opted for an orange juice, which was brought to my seat promptly. Menus were handed out; I told Naomi that I only wanted breakfast, as I had a pretty good dinner on the BKK-BAH flight and then some sandwiches in the BAH lounge.

We had an on-time departure, and pretty soon, I found myself in GF pyjamas enjoying the SkyBed. After some four hours sleep, I awoke somewhere over Austria. Pretty soon, one of the FAs noticed I was awake, and I had the chance to order some water. I changed into my normal clothes again, and soon enough, the breakfast I ordered before going to sleep was being prepared.

"Seasonal fresh fruits (pineapple, grapefruit, watermelon) with yoghurt"
"Energy drink (coconut, pineapple etc. with fluid yoghurt)"
"Delicious French croissant with strawberry jam

"Bruschetta
Topped with tomato relish, avocado and Swiss cheese"
This was really brilliant

اتمنى عجبكم التقرير

واحين راح احط صور مجمعها من مواقع

اتمنى عجبكم الموضوع
لا تحرمونا من ردودكم الحلوة والتقييمات

تحياتي..

[بحريني وفتخر]

يعطيك الف عافية أخوي على نقل التقرير .....

وبصراحة التقرير جدا رائع والصور ماشاء الله وايد حلوة ....

كل التوفيق ان شاء الله لطيران الخليج
وانتمنى لهم المزيد من التقدم والتطور.

[-|[طاح حظي]|-]

يعطيك الف عافية أخوي على نقل التقرير .....

وبصراحة التقرير جدا رائع والصور ماشاء الله وايد حلوة ....

كل التوفيق ان شاء الله لطيران الخليج

[عاشق طيران الخليج]

اقتباس:     المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة بحريني وفتخر  

يعطيك الف عافية أخوي على نقل التقرير .....

وبصراحة التقرير جدا رائع والصور ماشاء الله وايد حلوة ....

كل التوفيق ان شاء الله لطيران الخليج

وانتمنى لهم المزيد من التقدم والتطور.

اقتباس:     المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة مغرور الخليج  

يعطيك الف عافية أخوي على نقل التقرير .....

وبصراحة التقرير جدا رائع والصور ماشاء الله وايد حلوة ....

كل التوفيق ان شاء الله لطيران الخليج

حياكم الله أخواني
مشكورين على المرور الحلو.

[حمود سعد حمود احمد]

thank you soo much nice report

[عاشق 787]

تقرير اكتر من رائع

على

كيران الخليج

يعطيك الف عافيه اخي اخي الكريم

تحياتي

عاشق 787

[عاشق طيران الخليج]

اقتباس:     المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة حمود سعد حمود احمد  

thank you soo much nice report

اقتباس:     المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة عاشق 787  

تقرير اكتر من رائع

على

كيران الخليج

يعطيك الف عافيه اخي اخي الكريم

تحياتي

عاشق 787

الف شكر لكم على مروركم

[kuwaity_pilot]

مشاء الله ع طيران الخيلج
اهتمت بتطوير نفسها ونجحت بتطوير طيارتها وطلب طيارات جديدة لتعود للمنافسية بقوة
موفقين ان شاء الله يا اهل البحرين

[عاشق طيران الخليج]

اقتباس:     المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة kuwaity_pilot  

مشاء الله ع طيران الخيلج
اهتمت بتطوير نفسها ونجحت بتطوير طيارتها وطلب طيارات جديدة لتعود للمنافسية بقوة
موفقين ان شاء الله يا اهل البحرين

مشكور أخوي على المرور
و الله يوفق الجميع ان شاء الله.

[كابتن الإيرباص]

الله يعطيك العافيه
و شكراً لنقلك التقرير
في قاية الروعة

تقبل مروري كابتن الإيرباص

[عاشق المطار]

مشكور اخوي علي التقرير

[عاشق طيران الخليج]

اقتباس:     المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة كابتن الإيرباص  

الله يعطيك العافيه
و شكراً لنقلك التقرير
في قاية الروعة

تقبل مروري كابتن الإيرباص

حياك الله اخوي
ويعطيك العافية على المرور

اقتباس:     المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة عاشق المطار  

مشكور اخوي علي التقرير

العفو
حياك الله

[Moon Flower]

الله يعطيك ألف عافية على نقلك لنا التقرير

[عاشق طيران الخليج]

اقتباس:     المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة MOON FLOWER  

الله يعطيك ألف عافية على نقلك لنا التقرير

الله يعافيج أختي.
حاضر بكل وقت.
اتشرف بمرورج.

[عاشق الطيارات]

تقرير في غاية الروعه وو منوعه جميلة جداً ...
اتمنى كل الوفيق للناقل الوطنية للبحرين طيران الخليج ...
الف الف شكر لك على هالموضوع الرائع

[بنت الكويت]

بعد تجربتي لطيران الخليج احب اقول يا انك تسافر على الدرجه الاولى على 330 او 340 الجديد او تسافر على ال 777 وبس غيره بسسسسس

تحياتي

[ام وجدان]

ماشاء الله تقرير جميل ومتكامل ويعطيك العافية والحمدلله على السلامة

[عاشق طيران الخليج]

اقتباس:     المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة doda q8  

بعد تجربتي لطيران الخليج احب اقول يا انك تسافر على الدرجه الاولى على 330 او 340 الجديد او تسافر على ال 777 وبس غيره بسسسسس

تحياتي

انا وياج بهالنقطة.
مشكورة أختي على المشاركة.

اقتباس:     المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة ام وجدان  

ماشاء الله تقرير جميل ومتكامل ويعطيك العافية والحمدلله على السلامة

كلج ذوق.
مشكورة على المرور.

[الاتحاد للطيران]

مشكور على الصور الحلوه وتقرير جميل