I gradually watched as the great A340/A330 F and J cabins decline quickly. GF could have leased 777's from any carrier and kept the same interiors; the fact Jets have state-of-the-art interiors was just a bonus. It's definately not the doing of GF.
I wish all the bulls$#@ would just stop from GF...give the paying pax what they want and do it competitavely-SIMPLE. You either want to run an airline or not---otherwise GF will just remain an alternative to an employment agency for Bahranis.
Years of crap and ad nauseum announcments from GF regarding plans and future strategy has worn thin and many 1000's of KM's flown by me in f with the cabin manager kneeling by my seat telling me of glorious initiatives by GF which NEVER came to fruition. As I said a nice lounge, F and J interiors were introduced...but slowly wearing away- refer to my post about the water feature in the GF lounge..once it broke it was never fixed..WHY? a small example of the general apathy. All Gulf airlines start off superbly just as GF did, then EK now EY...but look at where they eventually end up - inconsistant with many disinterested expat staff who have NO national pride in the airline they are working for-its just an escape from poverty, joblessness in their own country or an easy tax free few years of a change. The only other alternative is QR and one only needs to read entries on PPrune to learn how it treats its staff to maintain its "5 star" status
I also know that a totally locally run airline in the Gulf region would most probably be equally if not even less efficient.
I do agree that GF did have the best service of any Gulf carrier...even though the hard product was attrocious in comparison to competitors.
For a start GF can start treating its most loyal pax with some dignity and recognition-which is the main reason I lost all faith in GF. GF officials who also read this site have been in touch with me about this, however I personally feel they too are swimming against a heavy tide of apathy by the locals running GF. I am impressed at their initiatives and think its very reassuring that GF may still have some hope while people of that calibre are working there.
I
loved flying GF and transitting & stopping over at BAH. The boutique airline option was(?is) there for GF's taking yet blindly and carelessly now as remote as ever. So from an ex GF gold for life member soon to be pleb silver thereafter looser blue status there you have it - I call it 'pax perspective'- we do more than just load ourselves on and off aircraft
I beg the question from ex Gulf air bods and current Gulf Air people...what made the tri star five star? What did GF do back then that worked? What did GF do in the early 90's when the service was execllent? and What went wrong? I still brag about my first trip with GF in 1995 in J-what happened!!
There now I feel better.
