Review of Oman Air flight from London to Muscat in Economy

Oman Air was one of the cheapest options for me on my dates to go to Europe and back from India, especially for flying out of London and returning to Mumbai. There wasn't really much of a choice for this particular flight as they're currently operating just one daily flight between Muscat and London.

I would have wanted to spend a few more days in London, unfortunately that wasn't possible. It was a bit sad leaving this early.

I could see the plane for this flight from the drop-off area outside the terminal: A40-SG, which I flew the other way around on this route in September. A 7 year old 787-9.

The outside of London-Heathrow Terminal 4.

The check-in area on this side of the terminal.

There was no line for Oman Air, it was about 1.25 hours before departure and most people probably went through earlier

While I was doing the bag drop, the desks apparently closed.

Most of security used the newer type of machines for which electronics and liquids etc stayed in, but I got taken down all quite a way to the end of the security area where they still had old machines. At least there wasn't much of a wait there.
And with no outbound immigration in the UK, there was nothing else to do before boarding.
T4 departures tonight and the next morning.

I got to the gate during boarding.
(I had to crop it a lot to get people out of the picture)

From the jetbridge I saw an El Al Israel Airlines 787, which was at the next gate.

I couldn't get much of a view of the Oman Air plane, though.

Business cabin on the left.

And economy.

Here's my seat.

Each seat had a screen, which itself had a (slow) USB-A charging port.

The seatpack pocket had a safety card.

And I saw later, a sickness bag.

Headrests were adjustable.
 There were personal lights, but no vents which was frustrating since it was extremely hot onboard (as on the last two WY flights).

Entertainment selection was unchanged from September.

Plenty of categories and subcategories, decent overall selection.

There were the standard earphones at each seat.

And a comfortable enough pillow and blanket.

Next to us was a KLM A321neo.

The plane finally cooled down during the safety video, shortly before pushback. The safety video took the form of a trip through Oman.

Unlike on the other flights, they apologised for the temperature after the safety video.
This was followed by ads for some Omani apartment company and the Aria inflight entertainment system.

And with some dark blue mood lighting, we pushed back.

Passing the same El Al.

And a Qatar special livery.

There were quite a few international planes, including Gulf Air and AZAL Azerbaijan Airlines 787s, an Etihad A380 and a Rwandair A330. But from the middle seat it was a bit hard to get photos.
There wasn't much of a view during takeoff.
Dinner service began with special meals about 15 minutes after takeoff and was quite slow. It stopped in between because of turbulence and I got mine around half an hour later.

Quite similar to the last two meals with Oman Air.

The main meal was good, the sides were ok but really could have been better.
The general service was also very slow and drinks only came by an hour later. Oman Air isn't very generous with their drinks.

It was more than half an hour again until the trays were cleared, after which there was a hot drinks and water service, and by this point the flight was close to half over. An extremely slow service that also made it harder to get proper sleep.

Just two hours later, the second service began. This was what I got with the special meal, same as on the MCT-LHR flight. I think the regular meal may have been a sandwich. No cutlery with it.

I was pretty tired and couldn't even finish it so I can't really complain about the quantity or anything.
I got some more water when the drinks cart came by.

Everything took so long I didn't even get a chance to ask the crew about amenity kits as I'd been planning to, though I doubt they would have been available. On the last flight, they were apparently "out of stock" and weren't available on any flights.
I must have been asleep when they collected the breakfast trash because mine was still on the tray table shortly before landing. I asked a crew member to take it when I was asked to put my tray table up.
They also collected everyone's blankets around that time.
Omani coast outside.

And welcome to Muscat!

There was a bit of a wait before disembarkation began.
Economy cabin on the way out.

And business.

Mostly Oman Air planes in this part of the airport.

No stopover in Oman this time, just a connecting flight to Mumbai. So I'll end this one here, thanks for reading.