How to get to | Bahrain

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Bahrain

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Visitors to Bahrain arrive across the King Fahd causeway, or by air. Flight options include:

• Star Alliance - EgyptAir, Lufthansa, Turkish
• Oneworld - British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Royal Jordanian
• Sky Team - KLM
• Other Selected - Gulf Air, most Middle Eastern airlines, some Indian and north African airlines

TIP Several airlines operate fifth freedom flights between Bahrain and other Middle East hubs (notably excluding Saudi Arabian airports). These can be relatively inexpensive.

TIP If visiting somewhere else in Middle East and flying on Gulf Air it is usually worthwhile on paid tickets to make the other place the destination with a stopover in Bahrain. The cost is the same or very little extra compared with Bahrain as destination. The opposite applies if flying other gulf airlines (ie if flying Emirates Gulf make Dubai the stopover and Bahrain the destination).

TIP If including Bahrain in a Star Alliance or Sky Team around the world ticket (which have a mileage limit) take a surface sector from one of the other Middle East hubs to avoid the need for lengthy backtracking due to lack of Asian connection.

TIP On a One World explorer around the world ticket (which is not mileage-based) you can either connect with Cathay Pacific or back-track via London on British Airways or Amman on Royal Jordanian. Backtracking via Hong Kong is not allowed because Middle East is in IATA TC area 2 and Asia is IATA TC area 3.