It certainly is a shame.
Bahrain is a nice place to live.
95% of the guys we work with are great.
Gulf Air is a good airline and has provided a great career for so many people.
It does seem however that lately whoever you bump into around the place has been affected to some extent by the sudden increase in disdain and ineffeciency occuring.
As an example - and I am sure there are many similar to this; a colleague of mine had a four sector day recently; two of which was his line check, after the four sectors he had a two hour wait in BAH airport, which was extended to three and a half hours due to a late departure, he then deadheaded to AUH, upon arrival in the hotel, no rooms available for any crew for 2 hours. His total duty time, from check in that morning until check in to his hotel room was 16 hours and 45 minutes....
I have witnessed twice in the past week, 15-20 crew members sprawled out sleeping on couches in the reception of the Armed Forces Hotel, after doing long long days unable to stay awake and even try to look professional whilst waiting for rooms to become available.
At the very, very least, if we are to work under such disturbing conditions, is it too much to ask for a bed and a pillow to be available at the end of it all???
Something needs to happen, and it needs to happen quickly.