Thanks all for the comments. I just wanted to reply to some of the points raised.

Firstly you say that the airline needs to think about it’s passengers before feeding well sort after meal choices to the crew…from personal experience as crew, this is never the case. We get totally different meals from the passengers (sometimes they are the same or very similar to the pax meals but usually they are totally different)

I am aware that crew are served different meals to the passengers but the meal finally offered to me had a ‘chicken’ label on top, an identical coloured foil lid to other passengers eating the same dish and it looked identical too. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that the meal given up by this member of crew was actually intended for a fare-paying passenger. I can only assume that the crew meal wasn’t up to much on that occasion and a spicy chicken curry dish had much more appeal.

The second point about having three choices in economy…I can see the argument both for an against. At the airline I fly for, we also offer 3 choices in economy; 2 meat and 1 vegetarian. Your right in the sense that passengers are left feeling disappointed, however ALL passengers – if they they so wish – can pre-order there meal choice when making their booking, whether it’s vegetarian or a meat choice. Since I started working onboard, I was surprised at how many different types of meal that passengers can pre-order.*

Few, if any, airlines will not ask about a passenger dietary requirements during the online booking process. The same is the case with travel providers like Ebookers, Expedia etc. And as you point out, there are a surprisingly high number of special meals available – British Airways appear to offer 18, for example.

When the crew reached me and again explained that my preferred choice of meal had run out, I was left feeling disappointed, but this was becoming a regular occurrence. Behind me, there were still at least 8 rows of passengers in need of feeding, so as many as 45-50 passengers were offered vegetarian meals or nothing at all. If this many passengers do not get a choice of meal, then it suggests problems with the airline’s catering calculations. If passengers with dietary requirements order a special meal at the time they book their flight, the third option of meal could be eliminated altogether, allowing meat-eating passengers their choice of a meaty dish.

With all vegetarians getting a meal to suit their needs and all meat-eating passengers getting a meal containing meat, it is a win-win situation. It would surely mean less ‘aggro’ for the crew to deal with as well.

One point I would like to make, and this isn’t aimed at you, is that sometimes passengers forget their on a plane…if we run out of something, we cant just pop to the local supermarket.*:rolleyes:

I think that all travellers accept that at 35,000ft, little can be done to please them if their preferred choice of meal is not available, but the airline should surely set off with an adequate number of each type of meal? Based on my comments above, approximately 25% of the economy passengers did not receive any choice of meal, despite having been offered a menu with three meal choices at the beginning of the flight. If this situation had occurred on only one of my four flights with the airline, then fine, but it was a regular occurrence. Only on the fourth and final flight (Muscat to Heathrow) could I choose between all three meal options.

Oman Air doesn’t seem like a very good airline to me. True, some things it appears to do well but the meal choices were a mess and to be told by a stewardess that you could not sit in your allotted seat because some person decided he needed to sit by his wife would mean that I would never, for that reason alone, fly the airline again.

Thanks for the comments.

I suppose that the crew member saw little harm in asking the question. The worst I could do was to answer “no” and she had at least tried to work something out for the man and his wife. I simply made the point that I had selected my seat at the time of booking the flight, knowing that the Easter period would almost certainly see full loads on the once-daily service. Had the gentleman not have made my seat his upon boarding, I might have been a little more accommodating! But the minor criticisms aside, Oman Air were excellent, and I would highly recommend them.

Thanks for taking the time to post such an informatve report. Been looking at flights to BKK, and Oman Air always seem to come out at a good price, so this has been quite useful to me. Cheers.

At the time of booking (mid-January), Thai Airways were available at the slightly cheaper price of £635.00 and it was a tempting offer as they are another carrier that I am very fond of. The service is consistently of a high standard and the catering is unbeatable but the absence of a personal TV screen on an 11-12 hour flight is something I can no longer do without. It’s great to see that the Airbus A340-600s are gradually being utilised on the Heathrow route and, judging by an advertisement I saw only a few days ago, all passengers travelling to Thailand with them now benefit from a personal 9″ screen. I can only assume that a number of the 747s have also been refitted.

In the low season, however, Oman Air are more often than not one of the cheapest carriers (usually beaten only marginally by Air India and Jet Airways). If you can get a cheap flight with them, then be sure to give them a go. You will not be disappointed – assuming you get your first choice of meal and that you are not asked to give up your seat for another passenger!