In June 2022, it was revealed that Oman Air would join the oneworld alliance. However, the process of actually joining has been anything but quick. There’s now an exciting update, as the Middle Eastern carrier has completed the process.
Continue reading: It’s Official: Oman Air Joins Oneworld Alliance, As 15th Member
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I'm surprised there's hardly any details on how Sindbad is being integrated into oneworld. There's no earning charts for partner airlines with tier points, and even the phrase "tier points are not awarded on partner airlines" is still on the site. You would think with a nearly 3 year transition period that they would be able to flesh out an emerald tier too, but they don't have one yet. Apparently it's in the works.
They have been in the process of joining for more than a year, yet oneworld did not get a chance to include Omán air’s lounges on their website? Glad they found time to write a predsa release instead
It’s amazing that Oneworld has four members from Arabic-speaking countries — QR, RJ, AT and now WY — with Malaysia Airlines also being from an Islamic-majority country… yet the Star Alliance has never expanded beyond Egyptair (which, let’s be honest, is an outright horrendous airline) in this region, plus Turkish if we’re being kind. AI and ET are the only other Star airlines with some sort of a Middle East network.
While of course WY is a great addition to OW, I’d much rather Star add an airline like GF, as that’s badly missing from the Middle East. GF would benefit greatly from the Star network, and add a lot of value as a boutique airline in the same way that WY will now do for OW. Similarly, OW is badly lacking among Chinese-speaking countries, and JX is the most obvious add, since PRC airlines have never been very interested in OW.
Also, this is great news for the Oman Air lounge at BKK, which has been reeling since AOT stripped it of its Priority Pass privileges!
Comment to One World management: Your member airlines overly restrict award inventory that is available to partner airlines. It is unacceptable and belies what an alliance is about.
Considering how lucrative the Middle Eastern market is, it's great to see Oneworld lock themselves in as the strongest alliance in the region.
Syrian Air next?
Both Turkish and Egyptair are more Middle Eastern than AI and ET…
Also yes AT is Arabic speaking but it’s not correct to lump it in with the airlines in the ME, given it’s location.
"PRC airlines have never been very interested in OW".
Actually, this is not the case. China Southern was very interested in joining Oneworld. American had bought a stake in the airline and were looking to have them join the alliance. However, it is my understanding that Cathay Pacific wasn't onboard with this (due to the proximity of HKG to CAN, which is China Southern's biggest hub) and they had veto rights to new Oneworld members. As a result, this never ended up happening. And I assume Cathay's veto rights are why no mainland Chinese airlines have joined Oneworld.
Oman Air Sindbad has not Tier associated with oneworld Emerald. You can only reach Sapphire.
I would bet that we won't see a reopening of the First Class Lounge MCT.
With how quickly CCP is demolishing Cantonese culture and freedoms in HKG, CX will soon be a representative in "Chinese(Mandarin)-speaking" country.
In that case, why didn’t airlines like Hainan and Sichuan consider joining Oneworld, the way Shenzhen joined Star and Xiamen SkyTeam? Hainan and Sichuan were pretty big and well-known before the pandemic, but their name recognition outside the PRC has become almost zero thereafter.
Agree. They do not even mention the number of tier points needed for these two tiers. I am really quite surprised by the lack of information and, even more so, the lack of an Emerald tier.
I'm having to post here as I'm surprised I can't find any information elsewhere. A relative of mine has 300,000 Sindbad points. Is it possible now to use those to book flights on Oneworld airlines? If so do we know what the mapping would roughly be between those and Avios?
GOOD 😉
…. next, CONDOR please!
finally a decent replacement for lost airberlin!
OneWorld for sure is missing some good connections in Europe, besides Spain or UK, but who would bother flying via London or Madrid, when trying to fly to amazing destinations, but NON of those OW airlines from Europe do cover!
A real shame.
…. so please OW people, CONDOR (DE) next!
I flew Condor to SFO a couple of years ago. It was my first time flying with them and I was quite impressed by the plane (A330NEO) and service.