An OMAAT reader shared a frustrating experience he recently faced while redeeming miles. This isn’t the first time that I’ve heard of a story like this, so I figure it’s worth covering here.
A frustrating surprise on an Oman Air business class award
I heard from a reader who redeemed Alaska Mileage Plan miles for two separate business class award tickets on Oman Air for travel in February 2025, from Cairo (CAI) to Muscat (MCT), and then five days later, from Muscat to Frankfurt (FRA).
He was traveling with two checked bags, and as expected, he had no issues checking his bags from Cairo to Muscat on the first ticket. However, five days later, when he went to check-in at the Oman Air business class counter in Muscat, he was told that his ticket to Frankfurt didn’t include a checked baggage allowance, and he was forced to pay $846.81(!!!) to check his bags.
The staff at the airport explained that his Alaska-issued ticket did not include any information about baggage allowance, and they suggested that he call Alaska. He tells me that he couldn’t get through to the airline, perhaps due to the time difference. So he ended up paying the costly fee to be able to take the flight.
He then shared with me the correspondence he had with customer service at both airlines after the flight, in hopes of being reimbursed:
- Alaska’s excuse was that the operating airline (Oman Air) sets the baggage allowance
- Oman Air confirmed that the ticket did not include any information about the checked baggage allowance
When he then wrote back to Alaska, they acknowledged that the ticket didn’t specify what the baggage allowance was, but declined to reimburse him for what he paid, instead issuing him a $100 Alaska discount code as a “gesture of goodwill.”
What causes this issue, and what we can learn
Generally when you book a business class award ticket, you expect that there will be some sort of a decent baggage allowance. For example, Oman Air doesn’t even sell business class fares that don’t include a checked baggage allowance.
What’s going on here is that this is a system glitch. For whatever reason, the partner ticket is issued without baggage information, and often in airline systems, that will translate to showing as no baggage allowance.
This isn’t the first time that something like this has happened, and there’s actually a FlyerTalk thread about people being charged checked bag fees for Oman Air awards booked with Alaska miles. Keep in mind that this is still a relatively new partnership, and Oman Air isn’t yet fully integrated into oneworld, and I suspect that’s what’s contributing to these glitches.
With that in mind, to avoid this situation in the future, here’s what I’d do:
- Log into your itinerary on the Oman Air website, and see what baggage allowance is shown there as well
- If Oman Air’s website shows no baggage allowance, call Alaska and ask them to reissue the ticket so that it shows the correct baggage allowance (which might require hanging up and calling again)
This shouldn’t have to happen, but it’s the best way to avoid this frustration.
What can be done at this point to get a refund
The reader has shared with me all his correspondence with both Alaska and Oman Air. While representatives at both companies are friendly, it’s the perfect example of the lack of accountability in the airline industry, and pushing off customers to the other party.
No one thinks a business class award passenger isn’t supposed to get a baggage allowance, yet neither party will take responsibility. An Alaska representative probably isn’t authorized to cut a check for nearly $850, while Oman Air probably doesn’t want to issue a refund, since the airline doesn’t feel it did anything wrong. The Alaska representative has stated that their decision to issue a $100 voucher is final.
So, what can be done at this point? I’ll forward this issue to a contact at Alaska. I’m not sure if that’ll do anything, but I’ll certainly try to help. At a minimum, I hope they can look into this, to avoid a similar issue in the future, because customers shouldn’t have to go through this.
Meanwhile the only other pathway I can recommend is to file a complaint with the Department of Transportation (DOT). Airlines are legally required to clearly display baggage allowances on tickets, and it sounds like that didn’t happen here, and therefore rules were being violated.
Bottom line
Premium cabin award tickets are typically supposed to include a checked bag allowance. Once in a while there are glitches that cause the baggage allowance to not correctly display on tickets. In those situations, you may be charged for checked bags.
An OMAAT reader recently dealt with this on an Oman Air award booked with Alaska Mileage Plan miles, where he was charged nearly $850 for two checked bags. This really shouldn’t happen, and it’s one of those frustrating situations where you then get pushed around between representatives from two airlines, as no one takes responsibility.
What do you make of this award ticket checked bag mess?
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