Review of Oman Air flight from Muscat to London in Economy

Copying the background from the last flight-report:
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.

Outside the departures area in Muscat/Seeb International Airport.

The only line to get to the check-in counters was the self bag drop line, everything else was closed off even though no one was using the self drop.

I was already late and the line was long and extremely slow, so it was getting a bit stressful. They started calling people going on certain flights to the front of the line, "Bahrain," "Riyadh," "Kuwait," then "Paris," they seemed to be getting closer and closer to calling London (KWI and CDG were only 5 minutes earlier than LHR) but it never happened and I got to the counter less than 10 minutes before boarding time. The lady at the counter said it was plenty of time, though.
After check-in there was a boarding pass check with e-gates, then immigration, then security. The first two were very fast and there was a short wait in security. Besides check-in, departures was a lot quicker than arrivals. From there it was a short walk to the gate.

All the staff there were relaxed. There were a lot of checks, one to get into the gate area and then scanning the boarding passes just a few steps further, then after going downstairs to the waiting area another check. There were still lots of people boarding after me.

There was an excellent view of the planes on the way down.

flydubai 737 taking off.

There was a seperate bridge for the premium cabins, the economy one was closer to the middle of the plane.

Our own plane, the 7 year old A40-SG Boeing 787-9.

More views of the parked aircraft.

And here's business class.

And here's my seat.

Bit of a different seat design from the usual one.
There was a USB-A port in the screen, which was incredibly slow to charge anything.

Bi-fold tray table.

As on the last flight, no magazine in the seatback pocket.

Headrest was adjustable.

There were personal lights, but no personal vents, which was frustrating since it was quite hot in the cabin.

At each seat, there were earbuds…

… and a pillow and blanket. I didn't really use the pillow but the blanket was quite comfortable later on.

Entertainment selection seemed to be pretty much the same as on the last flight (there are a few photos in that flight report). 

Not an extraordinary number of options, but plenty to stay entertained for this flight.
The windows were all set to the darkest level, but weren't locked so it was possible to change the brightness.

Nice safety video showing Oman's geographical beauty and diversity. There was also an ad for the entertainment system.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines 777 heading to Dhaka via Sylhet.

A40-SJ, another Oman Air 787-9. This one heading to Paris-Charles de Gaulle.

On the way out we passed a FitsAir plane even though they don't fly to Muscat.

And takeoff! With a great view of Muscat.

The windows, after being locked on brightest for takeoff, for locked on darkest for most of the flight as they tried to pretend it was night outside. As on the last flight, the cabin cooled down and became quite comfortable after takeoff.
My special meal was served very hot around an hour into the flight.

The meal was exactly the same as on the last flight except for one extra side, the veggies.

The meal was decent, while it was basically the same thing as on the last flight it didn't taste quite as good. Drinks were served a little while after I finished, and I got mango juice. It was nice to have another option besides the classic orange and apple.

It was nearly an hour after then that the trays were cleared, and hot drinks and water were served at the same time. I got some water.

There was quite a long line for the lavatory but it was completely clean, surprising since so many people used it right before me.
Oman Air on its website says it offers amenity kits in economy but recent reviews online indicated that they had stopped. I asked a crew member about it and she apologised and said they weren't available, even on night flights as they were "out of stock." I'm not sure if them not being available on night flights is a new thing, as someone on the French flight-report site had said that they were a few months ago.
There was no service between meals, but exactly two hours after the last water a flight attendent was walking by. I asked him for some water and he got me a bottle immediately.

The crew were helpful, but not really friendly. Besides that, a beverage run once or twice in between would have been nice.
Nothing really happened for the next few hours, and the second service, a snack, began over Hungary.

Here's my special meal.

I got mango juice again.

I'm not sure what the dressing was, it didn't have much taste. Overall it tasted nice and fresh, and it was surprisingly filling, though it would have been better to have a heavy snack thing with a side or two, one salad is really a bit underwhelming. The non special meal option seemed to be a sandwich and cookie.

Cabin view after the second service.

After clearing the trash from that service the crew came through with bottles for anyone that asked (they walked through a little quickly).

50 minutes before landing the crew collected the blankets, I'm not sure why. They did seem to ignore people that were sleeping and let them keep their blankets. About the same time the windows were locked on the brightest level.

As we crossed the Channel, I saw a few other planes in the sky.

We started going down through a fascinating cloud display… or so I thought, it took a lot longer than I thought it would to get beneath the clouds.

Hold on, are we heading back to Oman?

Nope, just London air traffic congestion.

I like playing strategy games and this was the best one they had. I was trying to beat my record before we landed and then I finally did, absolutely destroying the computer 56-8 in two minutes.

And then we broke through the clouds after all, though it was still a cloudy, foggy, rainy day… welcome to London!

It started getting dark but with no sunset colors or anything. Some interesting planes on the ground which I could see with varying levels of clearness because of the rain and fog, including a parked Saudia 787 (or maybe 777).

Etihad A380 heading to Abu Dhabi.

Gulf Air 787.

A few Asian widebodies.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines 787.

Which we ended up parking next to.

It didn't take long until we could get off the plane. I got some more (rushed) pictures of economy on the way out.

And of business.

The terminal wasn't very nice, felt a bit like a warehouse and very drab. But it was quite efficient. Once the mass of people got shaped into clear lines for immigration I looked at my watch and prepared for an hour long wait like my last Heathrow immigration experience - in six minutes I was through with the e-gates.
Bags were already arriving when I got to the baggage claim and there were people taking random bags off the belt and putting them on the side (including mine). I'm not really sure why, but it did help getting out quite fast.

That concludes this flight report and the India to Europe segment of this one month trip, but the whole journey is just beginning. Next stop, Tunisia!