Redeem Flying Blue Miles On Oman Air

Air France-KLM and Oman Air have just rolled out a loyalty collaboration, and this includes reciprocal opportunities to earn and redeem miles (thanks to Prince of Travel for flagging this). The most exciting development here is the ability to redeem Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles for travel on Oman Air, so I wanted to go over the details of that in this post.

I continue to be impressed by the direction that the Flying Blue program is taking, as we see more and more interesting partner award redemption opportunities rolled out. This latest development follows Flying Blue recently adding award redemptions on Etihad.

The basics of redeeming Flying Blue miles on Oman Air

It’s now possible to redeem Flying Blue miles for travel on Oman Air directly through the Flying Blue website and app. This is exciting:

• Oman Air is expected to join the oneworld alliance later this year, though it’s always nice to have the flexibility of redemptions through more programs
• Currently Oman Air doesn’t have many “useful” airline partners, and Air Canada Aeroplan is one of the few such programs with access to Oman Air award space; however, even Aeroplan doesn’t seem to have access to all Oman Air award space at the moment

There are a few things to note about redeeming Flying Blue miles on Oman Air:

• The award pricing seems to be route based, so pricing isn’t consistent by region
• Award pricing is per segment, so if you fly multiple segments, the pricing is additive
• Flying Blue allows stopovers on one-way awards, but that’s not of much value when pricing is additive, since you’re paying the per segment pricing anyway
• Flying Blue is imposing surcharges on these redemptions, and in some cases they’re quite significant, approaching $400 in some markets when traveling in premium cabins
• Redemptions are available in all three classes, including first class, business class, and economy (I love seeing even more first class redemptions with Flying Blue!)
• Award availability on Oman Air is generally excellent, which is another awesome thing about this new way to redeem miles

So, what is award pricing like? A one-way Muscat to Dubai business class award will cost you just 6,100 miles, plus $190.30 in taxes and fees.

A one-way Muscat to Munich business class award will cost you 45,800 miles, plus $389.50 in taxes and fees.

A one-way Muscat to Bangkok business class award will cost you 42,900 miles, plus $323.10 in taxes and fees, while a first class award will cost you 62,000 miles, plus $323.10 in taxes and fees.

Oman Air offers a great passenger experience. The carrier’s Boeing 787 business class is phenomenal, and first class (available on only a couple of planes) is good as well. Oman Air operates routes to Europe, Africa, and Asia, though doesn’t fly to the Americas or South Pacific.

While you can also redeem Oman Air Sindbad miles for travel on Air France-KLM, I don’t think that redemption opportunity will be nearly as useful to most people.

Where I see value with this redemption opportunity

Flying Blue’s redemption rates on Oman Air are pretty good in terms of the number of miles required, though the major catch is the carrier imposed surcharges. So, where do I see the value in this?

• This opportunity is useful for those with transferable points currencies, since Flying Blue partners with all major transferable points currencies
• Flying Blue often has bonuses from transferable points currencies, where you can get up to a 25% bonus when transferring points
• Flying Blue and Aeroplan have roughly comparable redemption rates, except Aeroplan doesn’t have high surcharges; however, it seems that Flying Blue has access to a lot more Oman Air award space right now than Aeroplan does

Based on Aeroplan’s lack of Oman Air award space at the moment, I’d say booking through Flying Blue is a great opportunity.

It’s possible to earn Flying Blue miles on Oman Air

While perhaps less exciting than the redemption opportunities, it’s worth noting that you can also earn Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles for travel on Oman Air, assuming the flight is marketed and ticketed by the airline. Below you can find the mileage earning chart.

Flying Blue no longer awards XPs (the metric by which you earn elite status) for travel on non-SkyTeam partners, so Oman Air flights wouldn’t count toward elite status.

Bottom line

Flying Blue has rolled out award redemptions on Oman Air, which is a cool development. Redemption rates are reasonable, though there are some carrier imposed surcharges on these awards. This is a great way for those with transferable points currencies to redeem miles for Oman Air, including in first class.

What do you make of redeeming Flying Blue miles on Oman Air?