I had traveled to Dammam, Saudi Arabia enroute to Jubail, a couple of months back on Gulf Air. My flight was booked from Chennai to Dammam via Bahrain; what followed was a harrowing experience.
Boarding Pass but no Flight
I was booked a ticket in Gulf Air flight GF 69 from Chennai to Bahrain and on flight GF 101 from Bahrain to Dammam. But on arrival in Bahrain, I was put on a bus to Dammam instead of being allowed to board the flight despite having the boarding pass for it. No officials from Gulf Air gave any reason.
Bus Journey
The SABTCO (a company that provides buses for Gulf Air) bus was actually a mid-size van with a trailer on the back for the luggage. The air travel time between Bahrain and Dammam is 45 minutes. The bus took over 4 hours as there was a major rush at the highway immigration and customs. The buses proceed from immigration/customs only when all its members are cleared; in contrast to an airport where it is only a single passenger at a time. As most of the bus passengers are from the worker/labour class, the treatment meted out is highly deplorable. The bus driver was regularly yelling and abusing the passengers and at one point trying to physically assault them. Through out the 4 hour ordeal, even water was not offered to the passengers. Nor was there any stop for using rest rooms.
Al Khobar = Dammam?
Finally, I was dropped in a different city called Al Khobar and not Dammam as mentioned in the ticket and had to struggle to get transportation to get to my final destination Jubail, as my transportation was arranged from Dammam airport and I had no idea on the city or the language. Several passengers who accompanied me in the bus mentioned that this was not an isolated case and Gulf Air did this regularly by not informing passengers about the bus service and promising full air journey during the time of booking.
What can be done?
I strongly recommend not booking tickets in this airline for any trips to Dammam as it is likely to ruin all your plans and will be a nightmare for first time travelers to the country.
