Sunday 20 December 2009

Oman Air - Modern Vision, Timeless Arrivals

Our little babies arrived today for the Christmas holiday. As British Airways’ service is seriously below par these days, we thought we’d buy them tickets on Oman Air this year, particularly as they fly directly to Muscat from Heathrow without the need to change the cabin sawdust at Abu Dhabi or Dubai on the BA flight.

With the flight scheduled to arrive at 08.55, I checked flightstats.com, which stated it had left 69 minutes late and was en-route – no ETA was shown. Out of curiosity, I checked Oman Air’s website, only to find that it does not contain flight information. Strange. I mischievously telephoned the ‘Contact Centre’. A few options later, I reached a gentleman who seemed surprised to be asked what time his plane would arrive, and even more surprised that anyone would even think of looking online for such information. With some confidence, he eventually provided me with the scheduled arrival time. At least BA knows what time their cattle trucks arrive.

One hour and a long wait in the visa queue later than scheduled they arrived into an emptying arrivals hall - which is more than some people's luggage did on the same flight.

While driving home, I kept remembering something I’d seen in the ‘Achievements’ section of the website stating that ‘Oman Air has contributed more to the technological advance of commercial aviation than any other airline’. Call me Mr. Sceptical, I am wondering of this statement is entirely truthful.

3 comments:

M-Pac said...

For your info: :)

Check Muscat Airport flight arrivals/departures info on http://www.omanairports.com/

or call +968-24519223 / +968-24519456

See how they advanced they are?! :P

ynotoman said...

my experience of flying Oman Air was positive - no lost luggage (people we know flew BA from Terminal 5 - their bags went to Miami - and eventually arrived in Oman 2 days before they flew out! ) and an on time arrival.
They are the last flight out of Heathrow - so all the delays get aggregated - pushing their schedule into the next day

livinginoman.com said...

Progress indeed M-Pac. It doesn't show as much information as some of the independent sites, but nonetheless a step in the right direction (even if the first flight on the arrivals page has a scheduled time of 20 Dec, 18.10hrs, an ETA of 27 Dec, 19.50hrs and a status of arrived). I should send them a cable of felicitations.