I mean, this flight has to be better than my last flight, right?
Hi there, my name is Kevin and I make honest and to the point narrated trip reports about
flights and unique hotels all over the world. This is episode 144 on Gulf Air in their Falcon
Gold Business Class from Bahrain to Istanbul. The full experience is coming up in 10 seconds.
Welcome to Bahrain. You’re joining me in the middle of my three leg journey
from Bangkok to Rome. My second flight is again on Gulf Air and
if you didn’t see my last video detailing my trip from Bangkok,
I highly suggest you check it out at some point for some much needed context of this video.
If you’d like to know the exact fare that I paid for these flights or my next five videos in queue,
please check out the description below. When
landing in Bahrain, from the moment you step off the plane, to when you go through security to when
you walk into the terminal itself- two things go through your mind. Wow, this place is spotless
and wow, this place looks like OG money. As we head up to the Falcon Gold Lounge
for my lovely six hour layover, allow me to quickly remind you that this video,
like all of my videos, are not sponsored by the company, hotel or airline that I’m reviewing,
because sponsored unbiased reviews don’t exist. So sit back and enjoy this video knowing that
it’s my own honest opinion and nothing more because this flight is 100% self funded.
If you enjoy honest and authentic travel reviews, please be sure to give the video
a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel. A link to my Patreon is also in the description
below. A massive thank you for your support. The lounge, like the airport in general is bright,
functional and has a variety of seating options- though the outlets and the wifi
access are both a bit finicky. The selection of food on offer was decent, if not a bit basic.
Time to head to the gate. The airport here in terms of the number of gates,
really isn’t that large, but the feel inside certainly doesn't give that impression.
In the very center of the terminal is a ginormous four sided LED screen with a variety of Bahrain
Tourism messages and I do enjoy how the pattern on the ceiling matches that of the
pattern on the 787 business class seats. Gulf Air is in a sort of re-re-rebirth at
the moment as they expand and renew their fleet and try to move into the direction of
a boutique regional carrier. They currently fly to 55 destinations with a fleet of 34 aircraft,
the majority of which are Airbus A320 family with 7 787-9s. They have an additional 22 on offer.
When searching fares from Asia, Gulf Air throughout all of 2022 tended to have some of
the cheapest business class fares going to Europe, especially to Istanbul, Frankfurt and Athens.
It may be after midnight but it’s hard to feel tired with all of this hyper bright lighting.
Boarding time came and it was orderly as could be with friendly gate staff
welcoming Business Class passengers on board first.
As we walk on board, let’s take a look at the stats for tonight’s flight. We took off just
10 minutes behind schedule and leisurely made it up to 34000 feet for our 1600 mile
flight to Istanbul, landing 25 minutes early. After the experience on my last Gulf Air flight,
I didn’t even feel like attempting to film as I boarded, but apparently I hit record by accident.
Here we are at my seat, 4F. I’m in love with this seat. Truly. When speaking about any narrow
body non-lie flat premium class seat, this is by such a long shot the most comfortable
and well equipped seat I’ve ever seen. Gulf Air also has them very smartly
outfitted with a nice blue fabric with that same wave pattern in the middle, accented
with brown leather and gold and gray finishes. In between the seats was a latest generation
IFE remote, nicely tucked away but still easily accessible. There are also little storage cubbies
to hold bottles of water at each seat. So the cubbies are too shallow. There are 16 business
class seats and when we took off you could hear 16 bottles of water dive bombing into the floor.
There were overhead individual air vents and my pillow wasn’t covered in hair! That’s a win.
And this IFE screen is huge! I’m sure I’ve had bigger screens in lie flat seats,
but this is BY FAR the biggest screen I’ve ever seen in a conventional upright seat.
Super crisp and clear screen as well. There’s a coat hook and plenty of leg
and knee space, especially since these seats don’t recline, they slide. I’ll
show you later. There was just enough space to squeeze my backpack under there. Well, kinda.
In between the seats you’ll find three USB outlets and a universal outlet per seat!
Drinks came around and I believe I had a mint lemonade ish drink.
I don’t know. It was late, I was tired. Which is why I appreciated the hot scented
towel and the arabic coffee. Very happy to get the smooth variety this time.
Menus were passed out, we will take a look in a moment and I just noticed
there’s another storage bin next to your seat under the armrest.
The inflight safety video was played… why does the kid have red eyes?
And we were reminded that Gulf Air is the most improved airline in the world- again.
Dirty windows made for a forgettable taxi to the runway where we would take
off to the north and continue in that direction over Kuwait,
Iraq and then into Turkey. The spool up and take off are coming up next.
Bahrain is a tiny country and the airport is on the northern tip so we were soon over the sea.
A quick look at the bathroom showed a clean and appropriately appointed space and mixed
nuts were served with our choice of drink. Not really in the mood for more of that
French wine from the good region, so I went with a vintage coke zero.
The menu was short- no problem. I ordered the Spanish Omelette, since I assumed it meant a
Spanish Tortilla, I was wrong. But at least the tray table was super sturdy. While waiting for my
late night breakfast, I enjoyed staring out the window as we flew over this beautiful city. I
know where it is but I won’t spoil it for anyone who wants to take a stab at it in the comments.
Again, look, 11 inch Ipad looks like a big iphone compared to this monitor.
The meal was served and as much as I would love to say this was fantastic and all that, it was not.
I couldn’t get over the overwhelming airline mushroom smell and the
omelet was just a plain omelet- but it was edible. Not sure what was spanish about
it though. The fruit was beautiful and fresh though. And the pastries were decent as well.
While the IFE was a bit short on newer movies,
overall there was a decent selection and it was certainly geared towards their route map.
We were flying over Batman, Turkey and I had to search through my phone for the screenshot I took
in 2014 when I was driving through Batman on an overland tour. Overland tour company comparisons
is something I’d love to do on the channel in the future, by the way. I love my luxury hotels,
but I love bush camping almost as much. Anyway, here’s the great thing about the
seat. The whole seat slide forward and tilts back at the same time. This is not the standard
fixed shell seat where the butt goes foward. This whole seat cradles you as you lean back.
It is fantastic and I’m convinced it’s the seat that Qantas is going to use for Premium Economy
on it’s Project Sunrise A350s since they have specifically mentioned a seat that “cradles”.
This very pleasant flight was coming to an end quickly though as we began
to approach Istanbul and then land from the north.
I’ll just mention that the crew on this flight
were lovely and efficient and the polar opposite of my last flight.
While my “never again” statement about Gulf Air still stands for now- I was certainly
happy to see a much better and friendlier and competent side of the airline as well.
Well that is that, let’s head into the Flip Flop Score. The lounge was good, not great. But I do
have a new favorite seat and everything in this flight except for the food was near superb. Very
happy to have this as my lasting impression of Gulf Air. I really do hope you enjoyed this video,
if you did, please give it a big thumbs up and subscribe so you don’t miss a beat. I’ll see you
next time on board Turkish Airlines in Economy from Istanbul to Rome, a fabulous little flight.