Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, today released the results of its quarterly customer service analysis. Customer comments for the period from January to March 2012 revealed an overall 27% increase in compliments and a 31% decrease in complaints compared to the same period last year. During the same period the airline witnessed a 23% increase in passenger numbers. Feedback categories included cabin appearance, technical, in-flight services and ground services. In terms of compliments, customers have particularly praised cabin services, inflight and ground services for which feedback from customers have been significant ranging from 58% to 28% increase over last year. Complaints reduced significantly with most notable improvement in the areas of in-flight services, technical issues and Frequent Flyer Program recording improvements of 75%, 31% and 30% respectively. Areas recording a slight increase in complaints were product and corporate policy which covers complaints on station closures, upgrade policy and excess baggage policy. Gulf Air Chief Services Officer Mr. Marcus Bernhardt said, “The results are further testimony to our continuous efforts towards improving our customer service across all fronts. We have embarked on an aggressive revamping of our products and services over the past two years that have received excellent feedback from customers leading to us winning a few awards such as the best ‘family friendly airline' award twice from US-based publications and the ‘best cabin crew' ranking from an IATA survey." “These results show that we understand the pulse and preferences of our customers. We will continue to meet and excel our passengers' expectations through continuous improvements and innovations" concluded Bernhardt. Last year the airline introduced the ‘staff appreciation scheme' through which customers register their appreciation of services rendered by cabin crew. This whilst not being included in the quarterly customer service analysis has proved to be another benchmark, nearly 700 customers have given positive feedback on the airline's services. Over the past two years, Gulf Air has been aggressively revamping its products and services in its efforts to provide an enhanced, seamless travel experience to its customers. Gulf Air now operates a very young fleet with an average age of just 5.2 years. The majority of aircraft now feature modern interiors, full flatbed seats on Falcon Gold class, state of the art inflight entertainment that offers hi-speed broad band internet and mobile phone connectivity, live TV, and a vast collection of movies, music and games, not to mention the unique and award winning Sky Nanny and Sky Chef services on board. In addition, Gulf Air has recently opened its fully renovated Falcon Gold lounge at Bahrain International Airport that features, for the first time, private sleeping rooms, a cigar lounge and shower rooms with hotel-style towels and luxury brand toiletries and amenities, besides a fully equipped modern business centre and a family lounge area with a Sky Nanny in attendance and a gaming room equipped with Xbox and PlayStation units. A similar lounge is also available in London Terminal 4 and in Dubai Airport for premium passengers.
