I’m currently in the middle of a refresher trip to Oman, and my main motivation for taking this trip was to fly from Muscat to Frankfurt in Oman Air’s unique Airbus A330 first class. As I’ve written before, the day before my flight I discovered that my flight was scheduled to be an Airbus A330 without first class. I was curious to see how the airlines would handle this, so here’s the latest information…
Oman Air changed my flight to yet another type of A330
Originally, my flight was scheduled to be operated on Oman Air’s grand, retro A330-300 aircraft, which featured a six-seat first class cabin with a sofa in the middle. Very cool product and a throwback to another era.
When I noticed that there was no first class on that flight, the seat map said that the airline had changed the flight to an A330-200 and the airline’s retro business class (1-2-1 configuration). was reflected.
I was excited about this and considered this a consolation prize. Because this is an amazing and unique business class product that you won’t find on any other airline.
Well, a few hours later, there was another update. The airline changed the flight to an A330-200 with a new(ish) apex suite in a 2-2-2 configuration.
I was disappointed to see this as I had just arrived in Muscat on an Oman Air Boeing 787 Business Class which also had an Apex Suite.
Oman Air certainly has an interesting approach to aircraft scheduling. Do carrier operations teams just play darts each morning to decide where each plane should be sent, or…?
Oman Air ground experience in Muscat
Oman Air did not contact me about downgrading from first class, so I wanted to know how the airline would handle it at the airport. Will the airline admit what happened and try to do something to correct it?
Once I arrived in Muscat, I grabbed my business class boarding pass (which I managed to print via online check-in) and headed to Oman Air’s First and Business Lounge. I explained to the kind agent that I had booked first class but had apparently been downgraded.
They were completely confused, but when I showed them my ticket confirmation they confirmed that indeed I had been downgraded. To the airline’s credit, the lounge staff actively encouraged me to use the first class lounge during my stay and even offered to escort me to the gate. This seems to be a standard phenomenon in downgrade cases, as his OMAAT readers who were recently downgraded on the same route have had similar experiences.
I’ll be doing a detailed review of Oman Air’s First Lounge soon, and it’s certainly nice and weird. There are about 75 seats, but I was the only passenger for seven hours. I don’t know why Oman Air has first class, but I have no complaints. Given the size of the lounge and its complete underutilization, I hope the airline will allow Oneworld Emerald members access to the lounge when it joins the Oneworld Alliance soon. Anyway, let’s not get sidetracked…
About 4 hours after my layover in the lounge, my supervisor came to meet me. I think she noticed my post. She was very kind and apologetic, explaining that the exchange was for “operational reasons” and suggested that I contact her original booking source to get a refund of the difference between first class and business class. He gave it to me.
Our interaction was brief. I simply thanked them for contacting me, told them I was a little disappointed as I was looking forward to experiencing their product, and that I was enjoying my flight with Oman Air. But I explained that it wasn’t her fault and that I was still confident she would have a great flight.
Interestingly, she responded, “You’re so sweet. I thought you’d be more angry.” Sigh. I share my experiences (both positive and negative) on my blog, but I don’t like walking around with a scar on my shoulder or venting my frustrations to airline staff about things that happened. I have no intention of doing so.
Lessons learned from this aircraft exchange…
I’m obviously disappointed that I didn’t get to experience the “dream sofa”, but that doesn’t really change my opinion of Oman Air. Rather, from this I can take his three main points.
First of all, there’s a lesson for me as a consumer to learn here. Oman Air replaces these planes more often than necessary, so I will have to plan and set my expectations accordingly in the future. Now, I’m hoping to fly this A330 first class product, so I might end up having another “swing and fail” experience. However, next time I’ll try to schedule a little more tightly so that I can make last-minute changes to my itinerary if needed.
Second, even the world’s top airlines do not regularly provide great service on the ground. There is no airline in the world that I can think of that has consistently been close to its customers during irregular flight operations. I think Oman Air should do better, but other airlines will try to get away with it as well. Perhaps the next crop will take routes departing from the European Union instead. You would then be legally entitled to compensation in this situation.
Last but not least, I was at least glad that the lounge staff were proactive in offering me access to Oman Air’s First Lounge for the duration of my stay. Caught off guard by my downgrade, they obviously didn’t know about my situation, but they provided lounge access without me even having to ask.
That should be the case, but there could be a scenario where the front-line agent doesn’t even have that authority and just says, “Sorry, you have a business class boarding pass.” In that sense, the situation could have been much worse…
conclusion
My Oman Air adventure didn’t go as I expected, but that’s how life goes, and it was still a lot of fun. Oman Air swapped my flight from a retro A330 with first class, to a retro A330 without first class, to a “new” A330 without first class. Unfortunately, I just got two consecutive Apex Suites flights.
I had a nice layover in Muscat at Oman Air’s First Lounge. Unfortunately, things changed when I boarded the plane to Frankfurt, and it was a disaster. stay tuned…