- Introduction: O-man, IB Crazy AF
- Review: American Business Class A321 Los Angeles To New York
- Review: British Airways Lounge New York JFK
- Review: Iberia Business Class A340 New York To Madrid
- Review: Iberia Arrivals Lounge Madrid Airport
- Review: Hilton Madrid Airport
- Review: LAN Business Class 787 Madrid To Frankfurt
- Review: Oman Air Business Class 787 Frankfurt To Muscat
- Review: Oman Air Lounge Muscat Airport
- Review: Oman Air Business Class A330 Muscat To Bangkok
- Review: Le Meridien Suvarnabhumi Resort & Spa
- Review: Oman Air Lounge Bangkok Airport
- Review: Oman Air Business Class A330 Bangkok To Muscat
- Review: Oman Air New Business Class A330 Muscat To Frankfurt
- Review: Sheraton Frankfurt Airport Club Suite
- Review: Air France Lounge Frankfurt Airport
- Review: Air France HOP Business Class Frankfurt To Paris
- Review: The World’s Best First Class Ground Experience
- Review: Air France Business Class 777 Paris To Toronto
By my fourth Oman Air flight I figured I wouldn’t be thrown any curve balls, given how consistent the previous three flights were. Well, this crew was nice enough to keep things interesting, and probably ranks as one of my 10 worst crews ever. And it’s not because they were rude or malicious, but rather simply because they were lazy.
Oman Air 113
Muscat (MCT) – Frankfurt (FRA)
Wednesday, February 17
Depart: 2:00PM
Arrive: 6:45PM
Duration: 7hr45min
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Seat: 14K (Business Class)
Boarding began at around 1:30PM via a remote stand. The bus ride from the terminal took about five minutes, and the air stairs were attached to the plane’s second door.
Boarding Oman Air A330
Boarding Oman Air A330
Upon boarding I turned left into the business class cabin. Unlike my two previous Oman Air A330 flights, this A330-300 featured Oman Air’s new business class product, which is identical to the one on the 787.
Oman Air’s new A330 business class cabin features a total of 24 seats, spread across four rows in a 2-2-2 configuration (that’s one more row than on the 787). The plane features the Apex Suite, which is also found on select Japan Airlines and Korean Air planes.
Oman Air’s new A330 business class cabin
It’s an absolutely phenomenal product, at least if you’re able to snag a window seat. I also think Oman Air has the nicest finishes for their seats of any airline which operates this product.
Oman Air’s new A330 business class cabin
As I explained in the Frankfurt to Muscat review, you absolutely want a window seat in this configuration, as it’s significantly more private and spacious than the aisle seats. You have complete privacy, as the standard position for the shield between seats is “up.”
Oman Air’s new business class seats, window & aisle
Oman Air’s new business class window seat
You also have direct aisle access, as there’s a small walkway which leads to the window seats.
Entrance to Oman Air business class window seat
And there’s a ton of room to stretch out, including a huge ottoman. I found the A330 product to be even more spacious than the 787 product, which I guess isn’t a surprise given the the cabin is (marginally) wider.
Legroom in Oman Air business class window seat
Meanwhile the center seats don’t have nearly as much privacy, and also don’t have as much legroom.
Oman Air’s new business class seats, center seats
The same is true of the aisle seats on the window sides, which have significantly less personal space.
Oman Air business class aisle seat legroom
Much like on the 787, each seat has an individual reading light.
Oman Air business class reading light
Then there are also controls for the lighting and center partition.
Oman Air business class seat functions
There’s also a decent amount of storage along the left side of the seat.
Oman Air business class storage
Waiting at my seat was a pillow and blanket.
Oman Air business class pillow & blanket
The great thing was that the business class cabin on this flight was quite empty. Of the 24 seats, just a third of them were occupied. I had the entire fourth row to myself. I figured that would translate to fantastic service. I was wrong.
View from seat 14K in Oman Air business class
The three business class flight attendants were Omani men, and despite the cabin being pretty empty, they just chatted in the galley rather than offering pre-departure beverages. I was at my seat for 15 minutes before any of them came by to offer a drink. I ordered a lime juice, which was delivered pretty quickly. It was tasty, and served with a warm towel.
Oman Air business class lime juice & warm towel
About 10 minutes later they came around with Arabic coffee and dates. Again, they had the sweeter variety of dates, as I had on the flight from Frankfurt to Muscat. I’m not sure if the date variety is a function of the route (Europe gets the sweeter ones while Asia gets the packaged ones), or just random.
Oman Air business class Arabic coffee & date
I was also offered an amenity kit, headphones, and menu for the flight.
Oman Air business class amenity kit
Oman Air business class headphones
Oman Air business class menu
At 12:50PM boarding was complete, at which point the captain came on the PA to introduce himself and the rest of the crew, including the other captain (I’m not sure if he was just being nice in referring to the other pilot as such, or if there were actually two captains on the flight, which does happen occasionally). He informed us of our flight time of 7hr15min, and our cruising altitude of 38,000 feet.
Moments later one of the flight attendants came around to take meal orders, which was a simple enough process.
At 2PM we began our taxi to the runway, at which point the safety demo was screened.
Oman Air A330s Muscat Airport
After the video was done and no flight attendants were in sight I pushed the flight attendant call button, since they never came around to collect my pre-departure beverage glass, or my Arabic coffee cup. For that matter they hadn’t done any sort of pre-takeoff security checks, best I could tell. Unfortunately no one answered the call button, so I just held onto the glasses for takeoff.
Taxiing Muscat Airport
Muscat Airport’s new terminal
These pilots taxied with a sense of urgency, and by 2:10PM we were at runway 8L.
Taxiing Muscat Airport
Once there we were immediately cleared for takeoff, and were being trailed by another Oman Air A330.
Taking off runway 8L Muscat Airport
Oman Air A330 Muscat Airport
The views on the climb out were beautiful, as it was a clear day.
View after takeoff from Muscat
View after takeoff from Muscat
View after takeoff from Muscat
The seatbelt sign was only turned off about 10 minutes after takeoff, as we hit some chop on the climb out.
View after takeoff from Muscat
Cabin view after takeoff
I decided to browse the airshow.
Airshow enroute to Frankfurt
Airshow enroute to Frankfurt
I always love looking at the airshow when flying to or from the Middle East, given the countries you fly over/around.
Airshow enroute to Frankfurt
Airshow enroute to Frankfurt
Airshow enroute to Frankfurt
After browsing the airshow I decided to watch a show called “Shop Secret Tricks of Trade,” which showed the “tricks” retailers and restaurants use to make us spend more. I was expecting to learn something, though I didn’t — the show was quite boring.
Oman Air entertainment selection
There was no service for about 30 minutes, at which point I was offered the sparkling water I had ordered, along with mixed nuts.
Oman Air business class lunch — mixed nuts and sparkling water
About 20 minutes later my table was set for the lunch service.
The lunch menu read as follows:
And the wine list read as follows:
I wanted to mix it up again on this flight and not order the mezzeh. Instead I ordered the spinach and ricotta pancake, which was extremely unhealthy tasty.
Oman Air business class lunch starter
Oman Air business class lunch starter — spinach and ricotta pancake
For the main course I also mixed it up and didn’t go with the Omani dish for once. Instead I ordered the salmon, which was perfectly executed. It was warm and flaky, and the sauce wasn’t overpowering.
Oman Air business class lunch main course — pan-seared salmon filet
Finally for dessert I had the chocolate cake. Oman Air scores perfect marks for their desserts, as they were out-of-this-world good on all four flights.
Oman Air business class lunch dessert — two-chocolate cake
I mean, just look at that — YUM! I also had a cappuccino to go along with the dessert.
Oman Air business class lunch dessert — mmmmmmm
The meal was done about two hours into the flight. As I said above, the crew wasn’t rude, but they were just so lazy. They’d plop stuff down on my tray without saying anything, and wouldn’t offer drink refills unless I explicitly asked for them.
After lunch I headed to the lavatory, which was located behind the cabin. There was a flight attendant sitting in the jumpseat immediately across from the lavatory with one sock off, and he was picking at his toenail. Like, going to town on his toenail. Disgusting. Most puzzling was that he made no effort to hide it when he saw me notice it.
Oman Air A330 business class lavatory
At this point in the trip I was tired, so ended up falling asleep. My intention was to just nap for a few hours, but given what an insane couple of weeks it had been, I slept until about an hour before landing.
Airshow enroute to Frankfurt
Upon waking up I pushed the flight attendant call button, though no one responded. I wasn’t especially hungry but figured I’d get the snack if I could before landing. But since they weren’t responding I didn’t bother going to the galley.
About 20 minutes later a flight attendant walked by and I asked if I could have a cappuccino to drink, and he said “we are landing soon.” I find it totally ridiculous that they can’t serve you a drink 40 minutes before landing in business class, especially when it’s only a third full.
Cabin before landing in Frankfurt
For what it’s worth, here’s how the refreshment menu read:
About 30 minutes before landing the captain came on the PA to inform us we’d be touching down at around 6:30PM, a bit ahead of schedule.
Airshow enroute to Frankfurt
Airshow enroute to Frankfurt
Airshow enroute to Frankfurt
The views on approach were beautiful, especially of downtown Frankfurt (unfortunately I couldn’t get a picture which does it justice).
View of Frankfurt on approach
We had a smooth touchdown on runway 25L, and then a 10 minute taxi to the gate, where we parked at Terminal 2, next to a Korean Air 777.
Korean Air 777 Frankfurt Airport
While I enjoyed my flights on Oman Air, I was excited to be heading to the Sheraton Frankfurt Airport for a good night of sleep.
Oman Air’s new business class bottom line
This particular flight on Oman Air was quite a letdown. The seat was top notch (my favorite business class seat in the world), and the food was great. But the crew was lazy and disinterested, and that can really negatively impact a flight. Still, based on my four flights with Oman Air, the lazy crews seem to be the exception rather than the norm.
All things considered I love Oman Air, and am determined to fly them again soon… hopefully if/when they start flying to New York!
I recently had the same issue with a crew from Muscat on a very early morning departure failing to collect glass and coffee cup prior to take off and only after using the call button several times did someone finally come and clear just before take off. In general the service was not as good as on all the other flights I have taken with Oman Air. Looks like this service for issue hasn't been resolved in 2019.
I have often experienced this kind of "50-50" service with Oman Air whereby, I always happen to find that one crew in WY who is very disinterested and kinda pissed off for some reason.You really don't know what to expect. Some crew are really considerate & some aren't (on the same flight).
Not only limited to the Omani national crew.
nice! I'm flying a shorthaul Oman air in a few weeks from Dubai > Oman... not quite sure what to expect. Let's hope they sort their service out for the 1 hour flight :)
I flew Dubai to Istanbul, and am pretty sure we flew over Iran. Man the landscape was breathtaking. At one point I saw a red lake. Can't imagine how cool it would be to take pictures of said lake.
Cabin on the 330 is narrower than the 787, or else airlines wouldve been using 3 3 3 in economy on the 330.
@JoeMart: (crickets chirping)
The FA weren't being lazy. They just followed your often noted Cathay style of cabin service. They provided you with privacy and waited for pax to walk to the galley to ask for service. :)
The FA wasn't picking at the toe nail. Probably during turbulence a catering cart hurt his foot and he was assessing for any possible damage that needed to be reported to the supervisor. ;)
I would have definitely done more than just ring the call bell (several times!) I'd have gone to the galley and asked why I was ignored--then give them my order. A follow up complaint email would definitely follow. Whether it did any good at that point would immaterial. I'd feel better. ;)
Ben, I'm wondering whether would you suggest a couple taking the central seats, or the window ones, like J&K?
Thanks!
as @Nolan commented, the 787 has a wider cabin than the a330.
Boarding was completed at 12:50Pm but taxi started 2pm? Hmm..
Yes but Lucky's style of complaining is more...passive aggressive. And usually done via social media/twitter.
Personally, I'd have gone to the galley and asked to have the snack. But at least even if the service can be a miss, we know Oman usually has good food in business class.
If you love the product you / we need to protect the product and hold the flight Attendant's accountable for their actions or lack of actions during the flight. I also am a big fan of Oman Air and have spoken "very direct" to the Flight Attendant when things went wrong and asked why are you trying to bring down this great product I only got "sorry sorry sorry" but saw a instant 100% improvement in the cabin it works very well with Omani Nationals
The dessert may have had some additional toenail flavoring which made it extra special. :)
The story with the toenails is enough for me to never fly that airline.
Great, report, though!
The A330 is not wider than the 787. It's actually 5 inches narrower.