I worked for Gulf Air some years ago and enjoyed it mostly. There are always complaints of course, but I loved living in Bahrain, although I didn't altogether spend that much time there. They kept us on a busy schedule..!
The only thing that got me sometimes were the passengers. Especially on the likes of the Karachi (now Bombay?) turnarounds. They could be
so rude!! However we always had good fun amongst ourselves and I made some life long friends. Would I do it again? Probably..., yes.
In my day, we didn't get paid during training. We were told to bring our own money for that period. We had free housing though and free local phone calls. Must admit I didn't save anything during my time there. Too many shopping opportunities (mainly abroad)... and pay wasn't brilliant.
With regard to someone in an earlier post saying you'd have to sleep with 'someone' to get anywhere, well, that has been known to happen, but I hardly think that is unique to Bahrain and/or GF. One of the girls in my training course, who wasn't necessarily the sharpest knife in the drawer, was put on an upgrade course way before any of the other girls in the same course. She did make the right 'connections'. However we all got there in the end..
Go and try it for yourself and don't be afraid they'll keep you against your will. I've known girls who left during and right after the training and also after two or three months and none of them had a problem...
Only know of 1 girl who jumped ship when in LHR. All others went through the usual resignation routine.
Nothing to be scared of!
Anyone know if Suzanne (the Dutch woman) is still there in the CC centre?