Gulf Air Falcon Gold Lounge In Bahrain

In June I travelled with Gulf Air for the first time as an adult and got to check out Gulf Air’s flagship Falcon Gold Lounge during my transit in Bahrain.

Designed to capture the essence of the new Gulf Air, this is a relatively new lounge as the whole airport has had a major face lift recently. Bahrain International airport feels brand spanking new after these renovations now. It is still reasonably small.

On this occasion I had a 3 hour overnight layover which was plenty to get a good feel of the lounge. So how does it fare against the competition?

Access & Location

As stated, the airport is spotless, and a far cry from chaos of neighbouring airports like DXB or DOH. To locate the lounge follow signs towards gates 17-22 and then take an escalator up..

Commanding a presence over the rest of the terminal, there is a large airy entrance area setting the scene to what unfolds inside..

You are eligible to use this lounge as a Falcon Gold customer flying Gulf Air on the day, with a maximum of 4 hours before your flight. Black, Gold and Silver Falcon flyer card holders are also eligible. Economy passengers can purchase access.

If you are not flying Gulf Air (codeshares excluded), you will not be able to enter, regardless of any status.

The staff at the reception were friendly, but said very little.

Gulf Air Falcon Gold Lounge Layout

As I walked in, I momentarily thought I had the entire lounge to myself!

Even though it is all mostly open plan, there are a few different areas within the L shaped layout so you do not have full view of the lounge from any one spot…

Falcon Gold Lounge Layout

Just like the new Apex Business Suites, the lounge is elegantly designed. Feeling light, spacious and fresh. With Gold trimmings you can also find onboard.

There are some seating areas immediately passed the reception and also a business centre just on the right

Further in, you have the more expansive seating areas creating different zones of seating from comfy leather chairs to seating with tables if you happen to want to work or eat on.

I’m not sure about others, I personally found some of the lighting too bright, which creates an almost sterile feel to the place. Especially for this late in the evening..

There are also so massaging chairs but they appeared to be out of action!

And then some proper loungers to chill out in too overlooking the rest of the terminal..

All the furniture were comfortable, with continent access to power and side tables in most places I could see..

In the first hour, I only saw 3 other travellers, and perhaps 6 or 7 others in the rest of the time.

If you carry walking through those zones you will find the proper dining area further inside

There are also gaming areas with various consoles spread around the space, some which will not look out of place in London Trocadero

There is also a foosball table as well as a pool table to boot! Too bad I did not have a travel companion to have a game with.

If you are travelling with younger kids this lounge caters for them too in a dedicated children’s play area

Gulf Air Falcon Gold Lounge Food & Beverage

I only spotted other staff inside the lounge when I reached the dining area at the far end. This space has various suitable tables to enjoy your meals in.

The dining options were limited in range with some cold salad options and a couple of hot main dishes to choose from..

The catering included various salads, curries and Arabic mezze type dishes.

I tried the salad and some vegetable curry, which was good, if lacking some punch. Unfortunately I did not take as many pictures as I thought!

Overall Thoughts

This was a very decent lounge with good deco and furnishings. At the times I visited for a 2am flight, it was almost deserted. But I cannot imagine it feeling too cramped when it does get busy as the lounge is actually pretty big and zoned out well. The strict entry criteria would limit this too!

Catering and beverage was pretty distinctly on the average side of the spectrum with enough options to keep you satisfied but falls short of competing with any Qatar or Emirates lounge. This more of less reflects the catering onboard too.

Gulf Air’s promotion material references good views from the lounge but I could not see much views from anywhere, and the one place where I did sit, looked more like it has views out to rest of terminal rather than outside. Perhaps it was too dark and too late in night for me!

Finally I could not help but spot the Pearl Lounge on the other side of the terminal which has supposedly been awarded a 5 star ranking! It’s a pay per entry lounge so I would be happy to check it out sometime if I passed through BAH again.