Transfer in Frankfurt – I am never, ever doing this again!
I enter the Schengen area of Terminal 1 in Frankfurt at 09:05. I have an hour before my departure on Oman Air from the D concourse of Terminal 2. I follow the signs to the D gates, and before I know what’s really happening, I’m landside again. Which is of course not so good, because it means that in addition to passport control, I will also have to go through security again.
Is there a strike on or a go slow that nobody has told me about? I follow the sign for the fast track to immigration, where the gentleman supposedly checking boarding passes descides to completely ignore me. I’m standing right in front of him. Well, two can play this game. So I decide to just walk through, which certainly gets his attention, “Sie können nicht einfach davon laufen”. So he scans my boarding pass and allows me access to the e-gates for biometric passports.
On the D concourse the gates are grouped together so that four gates share a security checkpoint with three separate lanes. Two are for Economy Class passengers and one is for priority passengers. Not that anybody has even the littlest of shits to give here. The checkpoint for my flight is an utter mess. Only one of the Economy Class lanes is open, and halfway through the process the staff manning the priority lane decide it’s time for their break, so they literally just close the door and walk off. Behind me people are pushing and shoving. A group of French travellers is full of indignation, because their flight to Muscat has already started boarding. They ask to skip the line to which I tell them that I’m on the same flight and another guy tells them his flight has already closed. In future I am certainly going to make any effort to avoid Frankfut. It’s not just that the process is very unpleasant and tedious. I’m also raising into question just how safe the screen process actually is. Clearly, the staff are too busy complaining and arguing among themselves to actually watch what was going on.
I’ve managed to stay surprisingly calm. It’s 10:15 and my flight has officially departed by the time I’m through security. I help and old Serb heading for the Belgrade flight hold his dog while he collects his belongings, and then I make my way to gate D8.
Boarding
The flight is still there. Apparently they’re still missing 38 passengers in the queue and figured it was easier to wait than have to dig around for 38 suitcases. At the gate I exchange my electronic, Lufthansa-issued boarding pass for an old-fashioned Oman Air branded one. And then I step on the plane. I try to take a photo, but the angle just doesn’t work.
The Cabin
I’m greeted at the L2 door and guided to my seat on 11A, which is the last row in the larger Business Class cabin that is located between the First Class cabin and the L2 galley. I really like the Oman Air seat. It’s elegantly designed, very comfortable and sufficiently long when extended into a bed. The only downside of course, is that you have a passenger sitting next to you – which is particularly problematic on this flight, because I’m stuck next to a gassy Frenchman. He starts before we even get airborne, which kind of has me wondering what will happen as we start climbing. Won’t the gasses start expanding with increased altitude? But I digress, the seat. The beauty of this layout is that the aisle seat is staggered slightly behind the window seat, which means that all passengers have direct aisle access.
There is a partitioning screen, which works sufficiently well in that it is high enough. Although it doesn’t really do anything to protect me from the depraved and gazeous stench that keeps wafting across throughout the flight. What on earth was this guy eating…?
When I reach my seat there is already a pillow, a thick blanket and a comfortable mattress, a bottle of still water, the vanity kit and the earphones. I do not use the earphones, so I don’t know what brand they are.
The Service
As soon as I am settled in my seat, one of the cabin crew comes to ask me if I would like to have either an orange juice or lemon juice with mint.
Shortly after, they bring me a warm wet towel.
And the menus.
Once boarding is completed, the crew pass through the cabin with packaged dates and cardamom coffee.
Eventually, we push back with a delay of one hours.
On our way to the runway we pass this ugly thing. Although, it’s not really ugly. Just perhaps a bit ridiculous.
The Meal – Lunch
The meal service is quite extensive, with an à la carte menu and a broad selection of dishes to choose from.
For the amuse bouche there is a warm, grilled scallop in a sesame crust.
Next, the table is set for lunch, and I am brought a bowl with warm bread as well as butter and olive oil.
I start with a trio of beetroot, tuna and balik salmon on crème fraîche, which is very flavourful and delicious.
For the main course I have the fish, which is served on a lovely, creamy bisque.
And then comes the cheese dish. The description of the cheese on the menu is not very clear, but I think perhaps that’s a cultural thing that the French or the Swiss tend to be a lot more concerned about than others.
And then for dessert, mercy! I shouldn’t, I really shouldn’t. But cinnamon and strawberry bread and butter pudding served warm with custard and pecan crumble are hard to resist. This is just so, so good. That’s what I call grade A1 comfort food!
The friendly male flight attendant working on my aisle comes to clear the table. He asks me there’s anything else I’d like before he looks up at me. He notices the look on my face, smiles and just says “okay, maybe later”. Yes, probably better. Ta!
The flight time to Muscat is just over six hours, so there is no second service. At some point though, I do order a cup of coffee with milk.
Arrival
We land in Muscat with a delay of 45 minutes. The airport is quite busy.
This is my first time back in Oman since the new airport has opened, and I must confess my heart breaks just a little. The old as-Seeb terminal was kind of cool, even if it was way too crowded and hardly big enough to handle half the traffic flying into Muscat these days. But there was just something so typically and endearingly Omani about the old place. As Heraclitus said, you cannot step into the same river twice.
Conclusion
My last trip on Oman Air was a few years ago, when I flew them from Zürich via Muscat to Kuala Lumpur. I remember that the trip had not been so nice, especially the red-eye from Zürich to Muscat. So I’m glad to see that things have improved again at Oman Air. The crew were very friendly and just seemed happy. The service was swift, attentive, and well-paced. And the food was very good. Alas, my return will not be on Oman Air, so it remains to be seen whether the airline has gotten its act together again or if perhaps this was just a flash in the pan, as they say.
As for Frankfurt, that was really scandalous and nothing else.
