Review of Oman Air flight from Mumbai to Muscat in Economy

A few months ago Oman Air had some incredible multi-city fares, from India to London and back from Milan for just under $300. But for a number of reasons it couldn't be booked until August, and while it was still in the $300s I had to fly out of London to Mumbai and there wasn't enough time to go to back to Milan in between.
After a checked bag and stopover in Muscat was added and returning to Mumbai instead of anywhere else, it was in the mid $500s for Mumbai or Bangalore to London and back. BOM had better times than BLR.
It was much cheaper to do multi-city than roundtrip even though it was really a roundtrip, and Oman Air automatically added a priority boarding fee which could be removed. The final price was around ₹50,000/$570, a lot more than what it was before but not a terrible price.

Welcome to Mumbai Airport.

To get into the airport, there was a ticket check (as in all Indian airports). All the lines seemed to be for people with the Digiyatra app which I don't have, but even those lines did the normal check as well. There was a bit of a wait to get in.
Outside there was a statue of the emperor Shivaji, a regional hero in Maharasthra state.

There was a short, but very slow, line for check-in.

Nice airport.

Check in was very slow, it took over half an hour. Security also took a while because there wasn't enough space for everyone to put their stuff in the trays and not enough trays either. I got through around a minute after boarding time. Immigration didn't take too long (around 10 minutes) and I got to the gate right at the final boarding call.
And there's our plane, A40-BY, a 10.5 year old 737-900ER which according to Planespotters is on lease from Sun Country and it seems like the lease is overdue, which doesn't seem right.

Air India 787-8.

There was a bit of a wait on the jetbridge, with great views of the plane.

Etihad A321neo at the next gate.

Air India A320neo going by.

And back to Oman Air, it's really a great color scheme.

Now here's the somewhat sad-looking business class.

And economy.

Here's my seat. While some seats didn't have blankets, my row did.

No window in this row! This was pretty annoying and very bad luck that I got the only row on the plane without a window.

A screen and USB-A port at every seat.

My cupholder was broken.

Also personal lights and vents.

And the headrest was adjustable.

In the seatback pocket there was an air sickness bag and a safety card. I don't think Oman Air has a magazine.

Also the standard headphones at every seat.

Now onto the entertainment. There was a good selection, in my opinion a bit better than Qatar Airways (though of course QR I'm sure has more options overall) but not incredible or anything.

The atmosphere on the plane wasn't great, it was quite hot and there were people listening to things on their personal devices without headphones.
The person in the aisle seat seemed to be flying for the first time and he was struggling to put his seatbelt on since he was trying to put it in the wrong way, so I helped him with that.
There was an announcement that onboard upgrades to extra legroom economy and business were available, but without announcing the prices. I thought of asking about it but I don't think there would have been much point upgrading by that point in time.
The safety video was a trip through Oman and showed the incredible diversity of Oman's landscapes.

It was followed by a video advertising the entertainment system.

And then we were off, a few minutes late. During takeoff the cabin cooled down finally and became a lot more comfortable.

There was one more ad, for some apartments in Muscat.

After some time, the meal service began. I thought it might be breakfast but it seemed to be lunch instead. With a special meal I got served early.

The breadroll package said "enjoy!" on it.

The full meal:

The meal, especially the main course, tasted great. But portions were a bit small and there should really have been one more side and more of the main.

The service was quite slow, and by the time the cart with the regular meals and drinks got to my row it had been nearly half an hour since I finished. I got apple juice.

By the time trays were cleared, we were already beginning our descent into Muscat.

There were some more ads during the descent.
Because there was no window, I couldn't see much of the landing though I did try to look through the windows of the rows ahead and behind me.
The person in the aisle asked me how to unbuckle his seatbelt and I told him to wait, it turned out the wait took a little while and it got hot and uncomfortable quite fast. There was pretty much no AC, just a tiny bit coming out of the vents.
Once the seatbelt sign was turned off I showed him to take the seatbelt off, but he was a bit uncertain about standing up so it took a while for me to get out.

Some of the planes next to us.

The AC in the airport was so nice and refreshing, there were also some interesting displays. But because of it taking a while to get off the plane I was trying to get through immigration as fast as possible, unfortunately there was a long line by then. Once I got through the bags had already arrived.

Almost everyone who went through the "nothing to declare" area in customs was sent to scan their bags anyway (including me) but only some bags.
Nice airport and arrivals area.

And with that, this short hop across the Arabian Sea finished. Thanks for reading.