Review of Oman Air flight from Muscat to Mumbai 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 were two options on the return: the same London flight that got to Muscat in the morning, and then either connecting straight through or getting around 19 hours in Muscat. I'd already had a stop on the way to London and an all night flight followed by a late night/early morning onward flight wasn't ideal, so going straight through it was.

After arriving from Heathrow I had to clear security before boarding the flight to Mumbai. It was the same walk towards arrivals that I'd done a few weeks earlier after arriving from Mumbai at the beginning of the trip.

Nice decor in the airport.

This looks nicer than just having normal signs (though they had those too).

Transit security was almost right next to immigration. It was fairly efficient and the gate for the next flight hadn't been assigned yet by the time I was through. I found a bathroom and when I came out, I happened to be right next to the newly-assigned gate.

The actual gate area was closed, and so the seating downstairs by the gate wasn't used. There was still plenty of seating outside the gate, luckily. Nothing fancy but a nice enough place to wait.

People started trickling towards the gate and then a line formed, there were maybe 50 people queing for half an hour before the gate actually opened. The airport wi-fi didn't work without an Omani phone number.
Unfortunately there wasn't much of a view of the planes, but there's a bit of ours, A40-MA. A 737 MAX 8 just under 8 years old, replacing the originally scheduled 737-800.

When they did open the gate, either they let in very small groups at a time and then stopped for a bit or it was just extremely slow, because the line just kept getting longer and was barely moving. I didn't join it, there wasn't much point.
By the time I did go, the line was coming to an end and boarding of the actual plane had already started, so no stay in the waiting area.

A marginally better view of A40-MA on the way down.

An Oman Air 787 next door. Not the one that brought me from Heathrow.

And A40-MA again.

Not the fanciest of business classes, but much better than on the 737-900 I flew BOM-MCT.

Economy was exactly the same, though. As with the 787.

My seat(back).

USB-A ports and screens at every seat, and two of these for each row of three seats.

Personal lights and vents. The plane wasn't as unbearably hot as one the last three Oman Air flights before takeoff.

Terrible reflection, but entertainment content was the same as on the other flights. Decent though not extraordinary. After three flights with them there was still plenty of stuff to watch.

There were earphones at some seats, but not mine. Luckily I had some from the last flight.
Headrests were adjustable.
There was a safety card and sickness bag in the seatback pocket; Oman Air doesn't have a paper magazine.

They announced onboard upgrades from economy to business were available but I didn't bother asking about the price, I don't think there's much point upgrading once you're already seated.
And, with the now very familiar Oman trip-themed safety video and then ads…

…we pushed back.

A couple of different colors of light were turned on during the taxi.

Passing SalamAir and SalamAir cargo with Oman Air taking off.

This part of the terminal was eerily empty.

Here, less so.

And then we were off, with an excellent view of Muscat. I wish I had been able to see more of Oman… maybe another time.

The service was extremely slow, as always with Oman Air (the whole thing took about two hours, so almost the whole flight). I did get served a bit early because of my special meal.

Pretty much the same meal as the last three flights, though with one less side than the flights to and from London.

Decent meal, nothing amazing but not bad.
Beverages came long after the meal.

I got some water while the trays were being cleared.

And that was pretty much the whole flight.
The crew were a bit more friendly on this flight than previous ones.
Soon we were flying over India.

We went past Mumbai and flew over some massive green hills that I'd never seen before. It really didn't feel like it was anywhere near Mumbai.

Before long, we circled back.

Welcome to India!

Some old former Air India and Go First planes.

Azerbaijani cargo airline Silkway, one of the few non-Indian planes on the ground in Mumbai.

We parked next to an Air India 777.

People had already started getting up during the taxi and had to be told to sit down again for a few minutes.
Cabin view on the way out.

And that's the end of my significant amount of travel with Oman Air.

It was a long walk to immigration and an extremely long line for Indian nationals, but there was almost no one in the non-Indian line so it didn't take too much time for me. Bags also came fairly quickly.

Not a whole lot of international arrivals at this time of day.

I've been to Mumbai quite a few times especially in the last few years and I can't remember the last time I got out of the airport during the daytime, it was a surprisingly strange experience because of how different it was.
Anyway, I'll end this one here with just one last flight left in the trip. Thanks for reading.