Hey guys, I've been reading this forum for a while now but have not been inclined to add my two cents until right now. Some people here are going a little overboard with the accusations of this airline, people really need to calm down and not get so over excited with insignificant news. A cracked windshield can happen to anyone at anytime, it is certainly not an indication of an airlines health, if anything the manufacturer should be questioned. Whatever may be said about management i know for a fact, from pilots, that Gulf Air's pilot and cabin crew training is right up there and they handle these situations well.
I have lived in Bahrain for a long time and I know that with very little to do around the island gossip is everyone's favorite pastime, but just remember that you hear only about Gulf Air's mishaps in the GDN/Tribune/Arabic papers because its the national airline, if they were to report on technical/passenger/flight issues of all the airlines around the world they would need another paper altogether. I know for a fact, that a plane somewhere in the world (almost everyday) will blow a tire, lose an engine, have an electrical failure, even run off the end of a runway somewhere (albeit not too far off and with no casualties), etc. because that is just how it goes.
Its understandable that the frustration is getting to people but I wonder how many of you are also spreading your doomsday message other places as well. Let me just say one thing; people will not listen to fanatics who predict doom and gloom, on the other hand a well constructed argument with salient points, delivered properly will get listeners. It seems that the traffic on this thread has slowed down because no one really has anything left to say, all the issues have been beaten to death, but please for the sake of the airline, you shouldn't be bad mouthing this airline outside of closed circles and especially not to potential customers, because a lot of people enjoy the service they get on GF, and for those who don't hopefully it will get better. I know that there are A LOT of issues to contribute to bad staff morale but I wonder how much could be attributed to negative rumors and gossip which staff, especially new and junior ones, have to listen to non stop and I wonder what it does to their confidence and performance levels? But hopefully it will get better, because I doubt this country will continue to bleed money into this airline but I also doubt they would let it die.