Oman Air 787 business class: Bottom Line Review

After visiting Egypt, Istanbul, and Muscat (for my snorkeling tour) during our 3 Cards 3 Continents challenge, I flew Air Canada partner (and eventual oneworld airline) Oman Air from Muscat, Oman (MCT) to Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) in business class aboard their 787 as part of my big Aeroplan one-way award. Oman Air has the popular Apex Suite on their 787s and while I discovered that I like Apex Suites less than almost everyone else, I found Oman Air’s in-flight service to be pleasantly comparable to its best Middle Eastern competitors. I would definitely be very happy to fly Oman Air again even though I don’t personally love the seats.

Cabin

Oman Air’s 787 business class seats are the same seats used on a number of other airlines with reputations for excellent business class products (I’ve long wanted to try flying Japan Airlines in their Apex Suites, but I’ve not yet had the opportunity). I was excited to finally check these seats out for myself.

The thing about Apex Suites that makes them a popular seat is that even though the cabin is a 2-2-2- layout, every seat gets aisle access thanks to the way the seats are laid out, with window seats having a small walkway perpendicular to the main aisle.

While I can certainly appreciate direct aisle access (especially on a long flight where one or both passengers will likely need to get up to stretch and/or use the lavatory at least once during the flight), what I didn’t like about these seats is the incredibly narrow width. It wasn’t the seat itself, which was plenty wide enough to be comfortable for me, but rather everything around the seat. There was practically no space to put anything down next to you on either side.

Contrast this seat to the throne seat I enjoyed on a Singapore Airlines 737-MAX a few days later and you’d see why I wasn’t a big fan.

The side of the seat next to your seatmate had a shelf barely wide enough for a phone (and if you had a very large phone, maybe not quite wide enough for that). I kept feeling like I was going to knock my phone off. Putting a drink on the side ledge was tight and when I was ready to go to sleep I proactively offered my unfinished glass to the flight attendant because I didn’t trust that I would toss or turn and knock it over.

On the other side of the seat (the aisle side for aisle seats and the window side for window seats), there is just an arm rest. Overall, this means very little at-seat storage. I like having my laptop / phone / charger / battery pack / cables within easy reach and despite some cubby space, this just wasn’t quite as comfortable as many reverse herringbone seats.

All that said, the seat itself was plenty comfortable. I enjoyed the padding and had no trouble getting comfortable to go to sleep. The footwell was especially wide and made the bed space seem more spacious than it often does in configurations with narrow footwells.

Overall, I found the seat itself to be comfortable and provide excellent privacy for those who like to fly in a cocoon. On the other hand, I found that I just don’t like Apex Suites, which was a surprising find. That said, the onboard service was absolutely good enough for me to deal with the narrow seat configuration on a future flight — I’d be happy to fly Oman Air again.

For more cabin views as well as some video of the food, see this reel that Carrie put together on our Instagram feed from my footage.

 

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Catering

The business class menu certainly had a lot of promise and I really appreciated that it was “dine at any time”, which I highly prefer to being served on a set schedule.

Unfortunately, I was surprised to find that they didn’t have any of the Classic Arabic Mezze left despite getting my order in before takeoff. Since this flight was leaving from their hub in Muscat, I was really surprised they wouldn’t have loaded more than enough of it for this flight (since they presumably flew back from Bangkok without it on board for passengers I guess?). I had been looking forward to comparing their mezze to that of Emirates and Qatar. No such luck.

For dinner, I had the braised lamb. Despite the fact that I don’t generally love lamb, I thought the dish was flavorful and tender. In hindsight, I’m not sure why I didn’t order the chicken biryani, but nonetheless I was pleased enough with my choice.

I initially ordered the cheese plate but ended up opting to skip it as I wasn’t that hungry after my entree and I was tired enough and knew I needed to catch some sleep so I’d be ready to hit the ground running for my ~11hr layover in Bangkok.

Oman Air had a decent wine list with a couple of reds, a couple of whites, and champagne. Here were a few of the options

Overall, my only complaint about the catering was not having any of the Classic Arabic Mezze on a flight departing Muscat. That was a disappointing surprise, but I’ll fly them again at some point and try again to order it.

In-flight service and amenities

I mentioned this above, but the in-flight service on Oman Air was excellent. My flight attendant was cheerful, professional, well-spoken, and checked on me as often as one would hope. She was quick to offer more wine when my glass got low (which I declined) and she generally seemed to anticipate needs in a way that airline crews do on top airlines. I can’t speak for every crew, but if every crew was like this one, I’d be very happy to fly Oman Air again.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the amenity kit, but it was very meager. It was a soft cloth pouch containing a weirdly long eye mask (the part that covers your eyes would wrap around the sides of your head, but it wasn’t very wide vertically), a set of no-slip socks, and ear plugs. Absent were standard lotion / toiletry-type amenities or a substantial bag.

I did make sure to request pajamas before takeoff because I’d read that Oman Air only offers them on request. The flight attendant said she thought they had them and she came back to tell me that they would be extra comfortable because they only had extra large.

The long-sleeved shirt is very large on me but it was nonetheless comfortable (and came in handy to wear to the laundromat on laundry day) and while the pants were big, they weren’t quite as large as I feared. They were brown with a small Oman Air logo embroidered in the top corner. I also received matching slippers that I kept for a while, but they ended up being left behind at some point on the trip when I just couldn’t fit them in my bag.

The entertainment screen was large and I recall there being a wide selection of movies and TV shows, but I didn’t check anything out as I went to sleep after eating and woke up just in time for landing in Bangkok.

Oman Air business class check in and business class lounge in Muscat

Upon arrival at Muscat International Airport, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Oman Air has a dedicated check-in area for both business and first class passengers. It certainly had an exclusive feel to it and there were plenty of comfortable seating areas, though with there being no line to check in when I arrived, I wasn’t sure exactly how these seating areas were used.

I briefly visited the Oman Air business class lounge at the Muscat International Airport as well and the entrance looked beautiful (this is a still shot from a video I took, so excuse the fact that it is somewhat blurry).

Inside the lounge the décor certainly looked the premium part, with plenty of gold leaf and gold-toned trim along with beautiful artwork showcasing the mountain scenery that surrounds Muscat.

The food offerings were kind of mediocre though. I was pretty hungry when I arrived since I had eaten breakfast at the Grand Hyatt but then had skipped the sandwiches and snacks on board my snorkeling tour boat. I grabbed some chicken biryani and a samosa, some hummus, olives, and mashed potatoes. It was all OK. The chicken was flavorful but dry and a little tough. The samosa was kind of hard. The food wasn’t awful, it just wasn’t very good. I expected better given the aesthetics of the lounge.

There was a bar that looked pretty extensive, but I didn’t order any drinks in the lounge, opting instead for water to hydrate a bit before my flight.

Bottom line

Overall, I despite the fact that I didn’t love the seat width (or more specifically, the shelf width) of Oman Air’s Apex Suites, I found the seat itself very comfortable and the onboard service to be excellent. The food onboard was much better than in the lounge and I would undoubtedly be happy to fly Oman Air again in the future.

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