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Oman Air retired its First Class product back in 2024 but it kept the cabin on select 787-9 Dreamliners and rebranded it as Business Studio. This Business Studio section still sits as a separate cabin from the standard Business Class seats and here are the ways that this cabin can be booked.
The product
The Business Studio cabin is made up of six suites in two rows set out in a 1-2-1 layout.
Each suite has walls which are 55″/140cm high, a sliding lattice door, a personal closet space, a 23″ HD touchscreen display, universal power outlets, USB-A ports, extra storage in the suite’s ottoman, and a chilled minibar.
The seats are 25.5″ (~64.5cm) wide and they convert into a flat bed that’s 85.5″ (~217cm) long.
Booking Business Studio with cash
Oman Air sells the Business Studio at a premium over standard Business Class on its own site. The premium varies significantly by route.
On the London to Muscat route on a randomly selected date, the premium (over standard Business Class) is £137/~$185 for one sector of a return trip.
In the reverse direction, the premium on a randomly selected date is noticeably higher on the same return trip booking (£604/~$810)
And on the Muscat to Bangkok route, the premium on a randomly selected date is just OMR30/~$78 for a single sector of a return trip.
Clearly, being selective with which sectors you book the Business Studio is going to be important.
Upgrading to Business Studio
Passengers holding a standard Business Class ticket can bid to upgrade into the Studio, or buy the upgrade outright at online check-in, but both routes carry the same critical restriction.
The ticket must start with 910, Oman Air’s own ticket stock. That excludes any tickets issued by other airlines, including partner award tickets and codeshares.
The rest of the rules:
- The flight must be operated by Oman Air and must have Studio seats released for upgrade. The bid feature runs on selected routes only.
- Bids can be changed or cancelled up to 12 hours before departure. After that, neither is possible.
- Offers start being accepted from 72 hours out. Confirmation arrives up to six hours before departure, and the card is charged on acceptance.
- Instant Upgrade buys the seat outright at a fixed fee, available from 48 hours out and up to three hours before departure. Non-refundable once purchased.
- Miles are earned on the original class of service, not the upgraded one.
- An upgrade does not guarantee a specific seat number.
- The UK, India and Pakistan collect additional taxes on top of the upgrade fee.
Status also plays a part. Sindbad members (members of Oman Air’s frequent flyer program) receive a bid booster that improves the rating of an upgrade offer, and this booster gets better the better a flyers Sindbad status.
In addition, Sindbad Gold members receive two complimentary upgrade vouchers a year.
At the time of writing, elite members from Oman Air’s partner airlines (e.g. the Oneworld airlines) don’t get any special help to upgrade to Business Studio.
Also, Oman Air standard Business Class awards cannot be upgraded.
Link to Oman Air Business Studio upgrades
Booking Business Studio with miles and points
Using Sindbad miles
Oman Air’s own frequent flyer programme offers the Business Studio cabin as a separate redeemable cabin on the routes that the product is available.
The number of Sindbad miles needed to redeem for the Business Studio will vary depending on the length of the flight and you can use the Sindbad mileage calculator to check the prices for various routes.
Examples (one-way):
- Muscat to Bangkok: 48,000 miles (vs 40,000 miles for regular Business Class)
- Muscat to London: 55,000 miles (vs 46,000 miles for regular Business Class)
- Muscat to Frankfurt: 55,000 miles (vs 46,000 miles for regular Business Class)
For context, this is what the Sindbad program’s earnings rates look like:
- No elite status (Blue) – 4 miles /USD spent on base fare
- Silver elite status – 5 miles /USD spent on base fare
- Gold elite status 6 miles /USD spent on base fare
Using partner miles & points
This is where things get a little vague.
Most partner programmes sell Oman Air Business Class awards, but those awards mostly only book into the standard Business Class cabin and not the Business Studio.
That being said, Finnair publishes an award chart that shows Business Studio as a separate bookable cabin and I have confirmation from Finnair’s Platinum elite team that these awards are genuinely bookable.
Unfortunately, Finnair.com does not yet allow members to book Oman Air awards online, so you’ll need to call Finnair’s reservation line to check if they’ll allow you to book the Business Studio
Related: Finally! Oman Air flights now bookable with American AAdvantage miles
No other partner programs appear to list the Business Studio as a separate booking option, but there are unconfirmed (by us) reports that there may be two other programs that will let you book a Business Studio seat as a result of poorly updated technology.
Quick background: Oman Air retired the First Class name but, the rumors say, that not every partner system was updated for this, so in some systems, Oman Air is still shown as having a First Class cabin.
Apparently, both British Airways and Qatar Airways still offer Oman Air First Class awards which, when booked, get you a seat in the Business Studio. Unfortunately, despite numerous award searches, we still haven’t found any evidence that this is true, so we cannot confirm the rumours nor can we provide any examples of the cost of such awards.
Needless to say, as Avios can be transferred with relative ease from British Airways or Qatar Airways to Finnair, the ability (or lack of it) to book the Business Studio via Privilege Club or the British Airways Club shouldn’t matter to most flyers.
Bottom line
There appear to be four confirmed ways to book into the Oman Business Studio cabin.
- You can pay a premium on top of the regular Business Class fare at the time of making a regular cash booking.
- You can upgrade an Oman Air standard Business Class fare via the Business Studio Upgrade program (only tickets issued by Oman Air can be upgraded).
- Book the Business Studio using Oman Air Sindbad miles.
- Book the Business Studio using Finnair Avios (you will have to call the reservations line as Oman Air awards are not bookable on Finnair.com).
If any readers know of ways to book the Oman Air Business Studio that aren’t covered in this article, let us know in the comments and we’ll look into it and update this article as required.
Related: Be careful which Oman Air routes you book (award value is there, but it’s not all good news)
