Holiday Reviews
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same trip can have different views!
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Rajasthan holiday, Colours of Rajasthan, independent reviews
 Reviewed 12 Nov 2005 by Chris Welch |  |
We have not responded to your email because both my wife and I have been suffering from severe chest infections picked whilst we were in India. In addition I had to return to work in Poland on 23 November and only returned to UK just before Christmas.
Rather than answer your questions directly we wish to record our views as follows:
The holiday was a well thought out tour disturbed in the first few days by the bombs which went off in Delhi whilst we were flying. We enjoyed the holiday even though the schedule was more than a little tight. Maybe an easing of the schedule would have made it more enjoyable but neither of us would like to pick a location to leave out!!
The tour was plagued by the presence of too many strong characters amongst the party all of whom considered themselves to be right on all occasions on behalf not only of themselves but also of the whole party. Your tour leader Mohammed Abbas handled the situation with amazing patience and common sentence and should be congratulated on his handling of the situation. We told him that we would have killed one of them on the first day and one a day until peace broke out!
The hotels generally were very good. The only real exception to this was the Golden City Hotel in Jaisalmer in its original condition. However, after Abbas had spoken to the owner and told him his fortune, new sheets, towels etc appeared which repaired the damage.
The worst thing about the whole holiday was the flights to and from India. Gulf Air brought a new meaning to the term "cattle class". The aircraft on the outward flight must have been the oldest A330 that Gulf possessed and the seat width and leg room was dangerously small. The crew were no better; we sat in the cramped conditions with our empty dinner trays in front us for more than two hours after we had eaten. The return journey was even worse. The aircraft, although it looked brand new, had even less seat width and if we had not raised the seat arm between us we would have developed grooves in our thighs.
In addition, Gulf Air decided to play games with us. They must have known that they had changed their schedule when they issued the tickets on 23 September. However, the actual flight timing had nothing in common with the times on the tickets. We had already risen very early on the three consecutive mornings before flying home to move location or be at the Taj Mahal at sunrise. On the morning of the return flight we again got up very early, left the hotel without a proper breakfast and then waited around in the airport for in excess of two hours because the flight had been rescheduled. We then flew from Delhi to Muscat and waited on the ground for another four hours before the flight to London. By the time we cleared Heathrow it was 23 hours since we left the hotel in Delhi (We know this because we had left the mobile phone's clock on Indian time). Gulf Air must be held to account for treating their passengers in such a shoddy manner. We certainly will never travel with them again because their performance was appalling.
In summary, we enjoyed our time in India, we appreciate the effort that your company put into the organisation of the holiday, we thought your tour leader was excellent but the airline was crap.
I have looked into their booking and can report the following; The seat pitch on Gulf Air is 32" which is the pitch used by most carriers see http://www.uk-air.net/seatpitch.htm I cannot however comment on the width of the seats, as I have as yet been unable to gain this information.
Mr Welch states that Gulf Air must have known that they had changed their schedule when the tickets were issued on 23rd September. I can assure him they had not changed their schedules before the tickets were issued. We issued the tickets and on the day we issued them they were correct against the reservation held with Gulf Air. On the 15th November, whilst the passengers were in India, Gulf Air schedule changed the GF133 that was due to depart at 0830 to the new time of 0905, what time this flight actually departed I cannot be sure. This flight was due to go via Muscat to Abu Dhabi, but it then looks as though the passenger were moved on to a flight direct from Muscat back to the UK, which was scheduled to depart at 1630. I would suggest that this was a result of the delayed Delhi to Abu Dhabi flight not now able to connect with the Abu Dhabi to London flight. This latest change was made on the 18th November, which was the day of travel.
Once again we are very sorry to hear of their experiences with Gulf Air, but hope they will travel with our company in the future.
Rather than answer your questions directly we wish to record our views as follows:
The holiday was a well thought out tour disturbed in the first few days by the bombs which went off in Delhi whilst we were flying. We enjoyed the holiday even though the schedule was more than a little tight. Maybe an easing of the schedule would have made it more enjoyable but neither of us would like to pick a location to leave out!!
The tour was plagued by the presence of too many strong characters amongst the party all of whom considered themselves to be right on all occasions on behalf not only of themselves but also of the whole party. Your tour leader Mohammed Abbas handled the situation with amazing patience and common sentence and should be congratulated on his handling of the situation. We told him that we would have killed one of them on the first day and one a day until peace broke out!
The hotels generally were very good. The only real exception to this was the Golden City Hotel in Jaisalmer in its original condition. However, after Abbas had spoken to the owner and told him his fortune, new sheets, towels etc appeared which repaired the damage.
The worst thing about the whole holiday was the flights to and from India. Gulf Air brought a new meaning to the term "cattle class". The aircraft on the outward flight must have been the oldest A330 that Gulf possessed and the seat width and leg room was dangerously small. The crew were no better; we sat in the cramped conditions with our empty dinner trays in front us for more than two hours after we had eaten. The return journey was even worse. The aircraft, although it looked brand new, had even less seat width and if we had not raised the seat arm between us we would have developed grooves in our thighs.
In addition, Gulf Air decided to play games with us. They must have known that they had changed their schedule when they issued the tickets on 23 September. However, the actual flight timing had nothing in common with the times on the tickets. We had already risen very early on the three consecutive mornings before flying home to move location or be at the Taj Mahal at sunrise. On the morning of the return flight we again got up very early, left the hotel without a proper breakfast and then waited around in the airport for in excess of two hours because the flight had been rescheduled. We then flew from Delhi to Muscat and waited on the ground for another four hours before the flight to London. By the time we cleared Heathrow it was 23 hours since we left the hotel in Delhi (We know this because we had left the mobile phone's clock on Indian time). Gulf Air must be held to account for treating their passengers in such a shoddy manner. We certainly will never travel with them again because their performance was appalling.
In summary, we enjoyed our time in India, we appreciate the effort that your company put into the organisation of the holiday, we thought your tour leader was excellent but the airline was crap.
Read the operator's response here:
We are glad to hear that Mr an Mrs Welch enjoyed their trip in India, but sorry to hear of their experience with Gulf Air. We will pass their comments on to Gulf Air's Customer Service Team.I have looked into their booking and can report the following; The seat pitch on Gulf Air is 32" which is the pitch used by most carriers see http://www.uk-air.net/seatpitch.htm I cannot however comment on the width of the seats, as I have as yet been unable to gain this information.
Mr Welch states that Gulf Air must have known that they had changed their schedule when the tickets were issued on 23rd September. I can assure him they had not changed their schedules before the tickets were issued. We issued the tickets and on the day we issued them they were correct against the reservation held with Gulf Air. On the 15th November, whilst the passengers were in India, Gulf Air schedule changed the GF133 that was due to depart at 0830 to the new time of 0905, what time this flight actually departed I cannot be sure. This flight was due to go via Muscat to Abu Dhabi, but it then looks as though the passenger were moved on to a flight direct from Muscat back to the UK, which was scheduled to depart at 1630. I would suggest that this was a result of the delayed Delhi to Abu Dhabi flight not now able to connect with the Abu Dhabi to London flight. This latest change was made on the 18th November, which was the day of travel.
Once again we are very sorry to hear of their experiences with Gulf Air, but hope they will travel with our company in the future.
