Just days after it was announced that Oman Air would become a full oneworld member later this year, the Muscat-based airline is back in the news, albeit in conjunction with airlines in a different alliance this time around.
As of June 6, 2024, you can earn and redeem Air France KLM Flying Blue miles with Oman Air, and with this development, Flying Blue has added another airline to its growing roster of partners.
Air France KLM Flying Blue Adds Oman Air as New Partner
This week, it became possible to earn and redeem Air France KLM Flying Blue miles with Oman Air.
While there hasn’t been an official press release sent out, information about earning Flying Blue miles on Oman Air flights has been published on the Flying Blue website, and Oman Air flights have also been loaded into the Flying Blue search engine.
When it comes to earning Flying Blue miles on Oman Air flights, you can now earn up to 275% in miles of the actual distance flown. The full breakdown of the Oman Air earning scheme is as follows:
Oman Air is based in Muscat, and operates a modest number of routes primarily across the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent, as well as to a handful of cities across South East Asia and Europe.
The airline has been going through some changes in 2024, as it retired some of its aging A330 fleet, cut service to some destinations, and implemented seasonal operations to other cities.
Most importantly, it was recently confirmed that Oman Air will join oneworld as a full member later this year, which makes this announcement even more interesting.
On some routes, Oman Air offers an excellent business class experience, both when it comes to a hard and soft product.
Redeeming Flying Blue Miles for Oman Air
With this new partnership, it’s now possible to redeem Flying Blue miles for flights with Oman Air.
Recall that Air France KLM doesn’t publish an award chart for flights with partner airlines, which means that you’ll have to manually look up redemption costs depending on which route you’d like to book.
Looking at some short-haul flights out of Muscat, we see the following sample pricing:
- Muscat–Delhi: 15,500 miles plus $81 (CAD) in economy, or 34,500 miles plus $161 (CAD) in business class
- Muscat–Amman: 16,000 miles plus $188 (CAD) in economy, or 34,400 miles plus $268 (CAD) in business class
Moving further afield to destinations in Asia, some example prices are as follows:
- Muscat–Bangkok: 21,000 miles plus $85 (CAD) in economy, or 42,900 miles plus $165 (CAD) in business class
- Muscat–Manila: 30,500 miles plus $76 (CAD) in economy, or 61,900 miles plus $156 (CAD) in business class
And for flights to Europe from Muscat, we can find some example prices as follows:
- Muscat–London: 26,500 miles plus $189 (CAD) in economy, or 61,900 miles plus $269 (CAD) in business class
- Muscat–Frankfurt: 23,500 miles plus $137 (CAD) in economy, or 48,400 miles plus $217 (CAD) in business class
As with other bookings with Flying Blue miles, there’s a moderate amount of carrier-imposed surcharges on redemptions, and you’ll pay more in taxes and fees as you fly in higher classes of service.
In terms of pricing, the cost of booking Oman Air through Flying Blue appears to be competitive with other programs, including Aeroplan.
For example, the same Muscat–Frankfurt flight that costs 23,500 miles or 48,400 miles in economy or business class with Flying Blue costs 25,000 points or 45,000 points, respectively, with Aeroplan. However, the taxes and fees on Oman Air flights booked with Aeroplan are much lower.
Fortunately, award availability for Oman Air flights is great, with multiple seats available on many dates throughout the next year.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the partnerships Oman Air has with Air France KLM (SkyTeam) and Air Canada Aeroplan (Star Alliance) as it becomes a full-fledged oneworld member airline later this year.
Conclusion
Air France KLM and Oman Air have launched a partnership, through which it’s possible to earn and redeem miles with Oman Air.
It’s not yet clear if the partnership is reciprocal, as no updates have been posted on the Oman Air website.
As of now, you can redeem Flying Blue miles for flights with Oman Air, which is great news for Flying Blue enthusiasts looking to fly to or through the Middle East.
