ginapeterb
8th January 2005, 20:24
Gulf Air’s New Business Class Service.
I thought it would be good to tell Forum readers about Gulf Air’s new business class
Services between London and Manila.
Gulf Air is the National airline of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Gulf State of Oman and
The Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Gulf’s new first and business class services have recently been voted as best value for money for the discerning business traveller, I had the privelidge of trying out this service on 10th December 2004 and 6th January 2005, on two occasions I was upgraded to First class without any charge.
Leg 1 - Gulf Air’s London to Abu Dhabi Service aboard an A340 Airbus.
Gulf Air provides all its business and first class ticket holders with a limousine collection service from your office or home, on this occasion I didn’t take advantage of this, however there is a limit of 50 miles from Heathrow’s terminal 3.
The service appears to have office based business travellers, in mind and by telephoning a central number, you can arrange for to be collected with luggage and taken to Heathrow’s kerbside check in service at park avenue, this is a priority check in service for business travellers, your bags are taken from you at the kerbside, and you are then met by a Gulf Air courier who will fast track you through immigration and security, I found the service to be pleasurable and I was amazed at how fast I was rushed through the usual formalities of showing my passport, and boarding pass, then being searched, this was a painless formality, and I was soon being escorted to Gulf’s new refurbished First class and Business class lounge near gate 12 in Terminal 3.
The First and Business Class lounge.
Gulf Air are in the process of a 10 Million dollar refit programme for all its long haul Jets, that is the A340 and A330 fleet, this includes new sky beds in First and Business class and an upgrade on all of the main lounges at London, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Dubai.
The new lounge in London has recently been upgraded and re furbished, I was soon spirited through to the lounge, and was invited to my own comfortable work area, with wireless lap top access, complimentary breakfast, with newspapers, and sky News, whilst I was there, I was able to use the Sauna and take a shower, I arrived at 9am, and spent about 1 hour and 30 minutes, in the sauna, and following that, a nice shower before being taken by a courier yet again, down to the gate for my flight to Abu Dhabi, on arrival at the gate, business and First passengers were taken through a separate access door onto the aircraft, in the Business class cabin, I was greeted by my personal attendant who offered me a glass of champagne.
The Sky Chef service and general comments about Business on Gulf.
Gulf’s new “Dine on demand service” is available only in First class, and I will talk about that later, however the Business Class culinary service is based around 2 4 course meals, provided by the sky chef service, this is different to typical airline meals in that the food is all fresh, and the menus are designed by world renowned chef’s, instead of the food being prepared on the ground and distributed by catering companies, the Gulf Service actually has a sky chef on board, who prepares the business class meals to order, I was served 4 courses for lunch on the outward bound flight, such as Fresh fruit, grapes, papaya, water melon, then starters such as prawn kebabs, with onions, peppers, and a main course of rack of lamb or beef, sautéed potatoes, parmesan blue cheese, and finally a desert, and coffee and mints, the evening meal prior to landing in Abu Dhabi was similar, and just as nice, I found the food to be 100 per cent first class throughout, drinks were plentiful, as was a choice of fine wines for lunch and dinner, the usual hot towels were abundant as was the delightful,
Personal grooming kit that was issued prior to departure, this had some extremely useful toiletries, and a special Gulf Air brush and mirror combination, with dehydration moisturiser, toothbrush and toothpaste, shoe horn, ear plugs, and other useful items.
In flight entertainment.
The personal television screen and headphones are enjoyable to use, however they are actually getting a little old, however Gulf Air is upgrading these to the Matsushita in flight system during Feb 2005 the A340’s should be fitted with these, there is likely to be broadband internet access in each seat on First and Business.
The availability of movies was a little lacking, there was a choice of about 7 standard channels on video, and a movie cassette service, however I hope they incorporate a personal DVD player in future upgrades, as in Virgins Business class.
The choice of Audio Channels, was mainly geared up for Arab speaking travellers, and was sadly lacking.
Abu Dhabi International Airport.
Abu Dhabi International is rather a strange looking airport, which seems to resemble a marble mushroom, however Gulf has surpassed it self, with the First and Business Class lounge here, the lounge is located inside the airport, and happily the lounge incorporates its own hotel as well, for those passengers who have long waits in between connections.
The lounge has its own bar, all drinks there are free, that includes beers, wines and spirits, there is a reasonable selection of snacks, such as pastries sandwiches, and coffee tea, however unlike London which is a self service lounge, Abu Dhabi is a waitress service, and no charges, surprise surprise all the staff in the lounge are (yes you’ve got it Filipino !!!)
You are served as much coffee as you can drink, and given complimentary snacks, nuts crisps etc, at your table, and again a courier will call to collect you to get you to the gate for your onward flight.
Abu Dhabi to Manila Philippines - Leg 2
The flight to Manila is around 9 hours 5 minutes and fortunately for me, the flight was full of OCW’s that is Balik-Bayan’s and there was no one in Business class apart from myself, I was then upgraded to First Class.
First Class
The First Class service to Manila was truly fantastic, on this flight, I had the services of a personal sky chef, and Gulf’s “Dine on demand service kicks in” this effectively means that you can order food or drinks or both at any time during the flight, the men is given to you at your seat, which includes a flick table, with your personal video player, the menu is again designed by gourmet chefs, and I was able to have 3 meals during the 9 hour flight, 2 meals had 4 courses, 1 meal was a light snack and consisted of 2 courses, complimentary champagne, and as many drinks as you can take, are provided, the First Class cabin is spacious, as is the First Class toilets, which are stocked with towels, lotions, and all the requirements for a comfortable and enjoyable flight.
Landing at Manila International (NAIA)
Sadly Manila Airport is a let down to the Gulf service, which is perhaps out of their control, when you leave the aircraft there is no courier to get you out of the airport and through immigration, however I did discover on the return leg, that Gulf has a First and Business class lounge, that is Club Manila on the 2nd floor, which is air side, and up the stairs, next to gates 7 to 12.
Verdict
Quite simply, if one can afford to pay for a Business Class ticket, there is really no better way to fly, it really does make economy class live up to the name of “Cattle class”, all in all, and excellent flight experience, I would recommend Gulf, and say that it is far superior to Cathay Pacific’s business class service which I have also tried.
Return Journey - Leg 3
Manila (NAIA) to Abu Dhabi.
After an early morning grush flight on board Philippine Airlines B737 from Bacolod City to Manila in Fiesta class, it was welcome to get to NAIA, sadly there is no kerbside check in facility at NAIA, also I had to sit around the airport outer area for 2 hours waiting for Gulf check in desk to become operational, there was no defined business class check in, however when I enquired I was taken to Gulf’s priority check in, however I had to ask first, once having gone through terminal fee control, passport and exit control, I then was invited to go to Club Manila, on the 2nd floor airside, located near gates 7-12.
Club Manila.
Club Manila seemed to be in want of a refurbishment, the seating and carpeting was jaded, and seems typical really of all things in the Philippines, almost as though it’s a relic of the past, however having said that, there were plenty of ice cold soft drinks, spirits, sandwiches, rolls, cream of mushroom soup, and spaghetti with parmesan cheese, there was self service coffee machine, and I was at one stage the only person in there for over 1 hour, there are local newspapers to read, sadly no television with cable, which is what I would have expected, however I have to say it was comfortable, and quite, I was later joined by 1 other English guy on route to Oman, we were then both escorted by a courier to our gate, for the flight, on arrival at the gate, we were given upgrades again to First Class.
Arrival in Abu Dhabi.
The flight arrived in Abu Dhabi at around 19.30 hours, however the onward flight to London was not until 0155am the following morning, out of courtesy on checking in to the First and Business lounge, I was offered a complimentary room for the period between flights, I was able to sleep and take a shower, until the following morning, although the flight was delayed until 5.45am, it didn’t really matter, as I was able to sleep through, at 4.30am I was awoken and later I was taken to the flight to London, the flight left at 6am, and arrived in London at 10am, on arrival I was offered priority fast track through immigration, and the use of the Gulf Lounge again, a complimentary breakfast and shower before making the journey home.
Verdict.
The return leg service was just as good in many areas, the offer of the shower and breakfast on arrival was fantastic, as I felt pretty grubby after the 7 and half hour flight back to London, more importantly, the Gulf Air Lounge had shaving facilities, including wet razors and shaving cream, and absolutely brilliant thought, this service is geared up so that business travellers can go direct to their offices in London, although I found it to be excellent for my needs too.
All in All again a great service and value for money, the personalized luggage tags offered by Gulf for travelling business class are an excellent addition to the service, these were presented to me on check in, I found that to be so personalized, Gulf have really tried to push the boat out on their services to Business and First.
The total cost of this ticket was £1580.00 including taxes, the nearest business class fare, is Cathay Pacific who wanted £2376.00 for the same flight, Singapore Airlines was very similar, but they wanted £2726.00 at the time of booking, If anyone is interested I sourced a flight at end of March and returning on 17th April 2005 with Kuwait Airways, its £1067.00 including taxes, this is Kuwait Airways business class, however I have not tried it, maybe I will, KLM are also at the moment streamlining their fares, they have recently merged with Air France, I noted a business class flight with them to Manila, via Amsterdam is around £1200.00, although I understand their business class is not as good as Gulfs.
Will keep interested readers posted.
I thought it would be good to tell Forum readers about Gulf Air’s new business class
Services between London and Manila.
Gulf Air is the National airline of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Gulf State of Oman and
The Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Gulf’s new first and business class services have recently been voted as best value for money for the discerning business traveller, I had the privelidge of trying out this service on 10th December 2004 and 6th January 2005, on two occasions I was upgraded to First class without any charge.
Leg 1 - Gulf Air’s London to Abu Dhabi Service aboard an A340 Airbus.
Gulf Air provides all its business and first class ticket holders with a limousine collection service from your office or home, on this occasion I didn’t take advantage of this, however there is a limit of 50 miles from Heathrow’s terminal 3.
The service appears to have office based business travellers, in mind and by telephoning a central number, you can arrange for to be collected with luggage and taken to Heathrow’s kerbside check in service at park avenue, this is a priority check in service for business travellers, your bags are taken from you at the kerbside, and you are then met by a Gulf Air courier who will fast track you through immigration and security, I found the service to be pleasurable and I was amazed at how fast I was rushed through the usual formalities of showing my passport, and boarding pass, then being searched, this was a painless formality, and I was soon being escorted to Gulf’s new refurbished First class and Business class lounge near gate 12 in Terminal 3.
The First and Business Class lounge.
Gulf Air are in the process of a 10 Million dollar refit programme for all its long haul Jets, that is the A340 and A330 fleet, this includes new sky beds in First and Business class and an upgrade on all of the main lounges at London, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Dubai.
The new lounge in London has recently been upgraded and re furbished, I was soon spirited through to the lounge, and was invited to my own comfortable work area, with wireless lap top access, complimentary breakfast, with newspapers, and sky News, whilst I was there, I was able to use the Sauna and take a shower, I arrived at 9am, and spent about 1 hour and 30 minutes, in the sauna, and following that, a nice shower before being taken by a courier yet again, down to the gate for my flight to Abu Dhabi, on arrival at the gate, business and First passengers were taken through a separate access door onto the aircraft, in the Business class cabin, I was greeted by my personal attendant who offered me a glass of champagne.
The Sky Chef service and general comments about Business on Gulf.
Gulf’s new “Dine on demand service” is available only in First class, and I will talk about that later, however the Business Class culinary service is based around 2 4 course meals, provided by the sky chef service, this is different to typical airline meals in that the food is all fresh, and the menus are designed by world renowned chef’s, instead of the food being prepared on the ground and distributed by catering companies, the Gulf Service actually has a sky chef on board, who prepares the business class meals to order, I was served 4 courses for lunch on the outward bound flight, such as Fresh fruit, grapes, papaya, water melon, then starters such as prawn kebabs, with onions, peppers, and a main course of rack of lamb or beef, sautéed potatoes, parmesan blue cheese, and finally a desert, and coffee and mints, the evening meal prior to landing in Abu Dhabi was similar, and just as nice, I found the food to be 100 per cent first class throughout, drinks were plentiful, as was a choice of fine wines for lunch and dinner, the usual hot towels were abundant as was the delightful,
Personal grooming kit that was issued prior to departure, this had some extremely useful toiletries, and a special Gulf Air brush and mirror combination, with dehydration moisturiser, toothbrush and toothpaste, shoe horn, ear plugs, and other useful items.
In flight entertainment.
The personal television screen and headphones are enjoyable to use, however they are actually getting a little old, however Gulf Air is upgrading these to the Matsushita in flight system during Feb 2005 the A340’s should be fitted with these, there is likely to be broadband internet access in each seat on First and Business.
The availability of movies was a little lacking, there was a choice of about 7 standard channels on video, and a movie cassette service, however I hope they incorporate a personal DVD player in future upgrades, as in Virgins Business class.
The choice of Audio Channels, was mainly geared up for Arab speaking travellers, and was sadly lacking.
Abu Dhabi International Airport.
Abu Dhabi International is rather a strange looking airport, which seems to resemble a marble mushroom, however Gulf has surpassed it self, with the First and Business Class lounge here, the lounge is located inside the airport, and happily the lounge incorporates its own hotel as well, for those passengers who have long waits in between connections.
The lounge has its own bar, all drinks there are free, that includes beers, wines and spirits, there is a reasonable selection of snacks, such as pastries sandwiches, and coffee tea, however unlike London which is a self service lounge, Abu Dhabi is a waitress service, and no charges, surprise surprise all the staff in the lounge are (yes you’ve got it Filipino !!!)
You are served as much coffee as you can drink, and given complimentary snacks, nuts crisps etc, at your table, and again a courier will call to collect you to get you to the gate for your onward flight.
Abu Dhabi to Manila Philippines - Leg 2
The flight to Manila is around 9 hours 5 minutes and fortunately for me, the flight was full of OCW’s that is Balik-Bayan’s and there was no one in Business class apart from myself, I was then upgraded to First Class.
First Class
The First Class service to Manila was truly fantastic, on this flight, I had the services of a personal sky chef, and Gulf’s “Dine on demand service kicks in” this effectively means that you can order food or drinks or both at any time during the flight, the men is given to you at your seat, which includes a flick table, with your personal video player, the menu is again designed by gourmet chefs, and I was able to have 3 meals during the 9 hour flight, 2 meals had 4 courses, 1 meal was a light snack and consisted of 2 courses, complimentary champagne, and as many drinks as you can take, are provided, the First Class cabin is spacious, as is the First Class toilets, which are stocked with towels, lotions, and all the requirements for a comfortable and enjoyable flight.
Landing at Manila International (NAIA)
Sadly Manila Airport is a let down to the Gulf service, which is perhaps out of their control, when you leave the aircraft there is no courier to get you out of the airport and through immigration, however I did discover on the return leg, that Gulf has a First and Business class lounge, that is Club Manila on the 2nd floor, which is air side, and up the stairs, next to gates 7 to 12.
Verdict
Quite simply, if one can afford to pay for a Business Class ticket, there is really no better way to fly, it really does make economy class live up to the name of “Cattle class”, all in all, and excellent flight experience, I would recommend Gulf, and say that it is far superior to Cathay Pacific’s business class service which I have also tried.
Return Journey - Leg 3
Manila (NAIA) to Abu Dhabi.
After an early morning grush flight on board Philippine Airlines B737 from Bacolod City to Manila in Fiesta class, it was welcome to get to NAIA, sadly there is no kerbside check in facility at NAIA, also I had to sit around the airport outer area for 2 hours waiting for Gulf check in desk to become operational, there was no defined business class check in, however when I enquired I was taken to Gulf’s priority check in, however I had to ask first, once having gone through terminal fee control, passport and exit control, I then was invited to go to Club Manila, on the 2nd floor airside, located near gates 7-12.
Club Manila.
Club Manila seemed to be in want of a refurbishment, the seating and carpeting was jaded, and seems typical really of all things in the Philippines, almost as though it’s a relic of the past, however having said that, there were plenty of ice cold soft drinks, spirits, sandwiches, rolls, cream of mushroom soup, and spaghetti with parmesan cheese, there was self service coffee machine, and I was at one stage the only person in there for over 1 hour, there are local newspapers to read, sadly no television with cable, which is what I would have expected, however I have to say it was comfortable, and quite, I was later joined by 1 other English guy on route to Oman, we were then both escorted by a courier to our gate, for the flight, on arrival at the gate, we were given upgrades again to First Class.
Arrival in Abu Dhabi.
The flight arrived in Abu Dhabi at around 19.30 hours, however the onward flight to London was not until 0155am the following morning, out of courtesy on checking in to the First and Business lounge, I was offered a complimentary room for the period between flights, I was able to sleep and take a shower, until the following morning, although the flight was delayed until 5.45am, it didn’t really matter, as I was able to sleep through, at 4.30am I was awoken and later I was taken to the flight to London, the flight left at 6am, and arrived in London at 10am, on arrival I was offered priority fast track through immigration, and the use of the Gulf Lounge again, a complimentary breakfast and shower before making the journey home.
Verdict.
The return leg service was just as good in many areas, the offer of the shower and breakfast on arrival was fantastic, as I felt pretty grubby after the 7 and half hour flight back to London, more importantly, the Gulf Air Lounge had shaving facilities, including wet razors and shaving cream, and absolutely brilliant thought, this service is geared up so that business travellers can go direct to their offices in London, although I found it to be excellent for my needs too.
All in All again a great service and value for money, the personalized luggage tags offered by Gulf for travelling business class are an excellent addition to the service, these were presented to me on check in, I found that to be so personalized, Gulf have really tried to push the boat out on their services to Business and First.
The total cost of this ticket was £1580.00 including taxes, the nearest business class fare, is Cathay Pacific who wanted £2376.00 for the same flight, Singapore Airlines was very similar, but they wanted £2726.00 at the time of booking, If anyone is interested I sourced a flight at end of March and returning on 17th April 2005 with Kuwait Airways, its £1067.00 including taxes, this is Kuwait Airways business class, however I have not tried it, maybe I will, KLM are also at the moment streamlining their fares, they have recently merged with Air France, I noted a business class flight with them to Manila, via Amsterdam is around £1200.00, although I understand their business class is not as good as Gulfs.
Will keep interested readers posted.