Gulf Air offered a very competitive first class fare MNL/BAH/DXB/BAH/MNL - so I decided to go with it. The flight on departure was delayed by 3 hours due to mechanical problems. I was offered a seat on a later flight and the experience was very positive - save for the fact that Manila’s airport is, doubtlessly, one of the worst in the world.
Manila’s first class lounge (note, not Gulf Air operated) is a huge disappointment. Vouchers are given for 10 minutes free use of the internet, and after that one has to pay about US$5.00 per hour (rather steep and contrary to other first class lounges globally. Gulf Air makes up for this by personally escrting passengers through all formalities and seeing that they are comfortable in the lounge. At flight time, Gulf Air staff escrt the passenger to the aircraft. Seating was comfortable, service supurb as were the meals, and connections at Bahrain were re-arranged so the transit was hassle free. Arrival into Dubai was late, but otherwise went very well.
The return flight was much the same. Transit in Bahrain is comfortably accommodated in Gulf Air’s comfortable lounge and formalities are simple. Staff in the first class lounge went out of their way to see that matters were resolved promptly. The aircraft was one of the recently refurbished A340’s and was comfortable and clean.