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Oman Air may now not be expected to join the Oneworld Alliance before the middle of 2025, but that doesn’t appear to be preventing the airline from expanding its partnerships to include more airlines from within the alliance.
Oman Air already has a limited partnership with Qatar Airways which, technically, only allows for the earning and burning of Avios on the Muscat – Doha route (in reality, other Oman Air routes appear to be bookable with Qatar Airways Avios as well) and now, it also has a partnership with Qantas.
Earlier today, Qantas confirmed that it has launched a new partnership with Oman Air which “will provide more ways for frequent flyers to access Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East using their points“.
Note: There’s no mention of points earning on Oman Air bookings in the press release.
Helpfully, Qantas has also provided a few examples showing how many points will be needed to book select routes flown by Oman Air.
Taxes and surcharges will also be added to the cost of each award and, as an example, these are some of the surcharges that we’ve spotted so far:
Economy Class
- Muscat – London: £122/$158
- London – Muscat: £232/$301
- Muscat – Milan: £122/$158
- Milan – Muscat: £118/$153
- Muscat – Bangkok: £123/$159
- Bangkok – Muscat: £113/$147
- Muscat – Paris: £122/$158
- Paris – Muscat: £146/$190
Business Class
- Muscat – London: £122/$158
- London – Muscat: £360/$467
- Muscat – Milan: £122/$158
- Milan – Muscat: £118/$153
- Muscat – Bangkok: £123/$159
- Bangkok – Muscat: £113/$147
- Muscat – Paris: £122/$158
- Paris – Muscat: £193/$250
Overall, that’s not a bad set of surcharges.
Sure, $0 in surcharges would be better, and the fact that the surcharges out of London are higher than on any of the other routes that we’ve checked continues to be a little annoying, but ~$408 in surcharges for a round trip Business Class award between Paris and Muscat doesn’t seem too outrageous, and in a world where a lot of airlines seem to get a kick out of gouging passengers who book award travel, ~$306 in surcharges for a round trip Business Class award between Muscat and Bangkok looks very reasonable.
How you feel about the number of points needed to book each of the routes will probably depend on how easily you can collect Qantas Points and what else you would use those points for.
In the United States, Qantas is a transfer partner for Amex, Citi, and Capital One and we occasionally see transfer bonuses being offered for transfers from those banks to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program.
The last Qantas transfer bonus we recall seeing was back in August/September and was set at 20% and was offered by Capital One, so is a Business Class award for travel between Paris and Muscat good value at 51,000 Capital One Points + $250?
Probably, yes.
That seems ok to us for a 7 hour flight on an Oman Air 787-9 featuring the highly rated Collins Aerospace Apex Business Class suites when round trip the cash fares are usually no cheaper than ~$2,400 and when one way cash fares are usually no lower than $1,400.
Given how expensive Business Class fares are for departures out of London, even 62,500 Capital One Points + $467 will probably be a good deal for a London – Muscat Business Class award so, on the whole, this new partnership may have promise.
Yes, the value on offer may not be stunning, but we can certainly imagine scenarios where the ability to book Oman Air awards with Qantas Points will be useful … at least up to the point when Oman Air joins Oneworld and currencies like American Airlines AAdvantage miles come into play.
Note: At the time of writing, we don’t seem to be able to persuade the Qantas booking engine to price up awards that include a connection in Muscat (e.g. CDG-MCT-BKK), but when we do, we’ll write an update to this article.
Bottom line
Qantas and Oman Air now have a new partnership which allows for Qantas Points to be used to book Oman Air Economy and Business Class awards on all routes that the Middle Eastern carrier operates.
A quick look a the cost of select awards alongside the surcharges that will be added to each award would suggest that for some (those who have easy access to Qantas Points and those who have access to transfer bonuses to Qantas Frequent Flyer) these new award options may be useful and given that this is just a precursor to Oman Air joining the Oneworld Alliance in 2025, that’s good news.
