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stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

This TR covers a quick (and last minute) trip to Male and in my usual style more pictures less typing.

DXB-MLE on Emirates EK658 (77W)
MLE-MCT on Oman Air WY384 (738)
MCT-DXB on Oman Air WY609 (E 175)

I had 7 days off, not quite sure how but decided to make the most of it. R and I were looking at Greece for a week, Athens + Santorini/Mykonos leaving on the 21st. Then we realised R had to be in BLR on the 25th so there goes that plan. Where could we go which was quick? Hmmmmm options were thrown around and I was thinking a beach vacation. I'm not much of a beach kinda guy, Id prefer jungles/mountains etc but I've owed R a beach holiday since before we got married (I took her to Mongolia for our honeymoon so a MLE/MRU holiday is long overdue). Besides after 2.5 years its high time, and after this beach holiday we can plan somewhere new/adventurous Wink

Getting to MLE is simple enough, EK flies double daily one 773/77W and one 77W.
For the return I wanted to go to BLR for the friends wedding as well, but getting back to DXB was a pain. End of August travel rush it's very tough to get tickets out of India going West (at a reasonable price that is). Not ready to fork out an arm and a leg getting back to DXB I would skip the wedding and fly back to DXB from MLE while R would do MLE-TRV-BLR on AI.
The EK flight on the MLE-DXB leg was looking full. The morning one was full and the evening one overbooked so I needed options. Truthfully I didn't want to fly EK anyway since I was flying alone, I wanted to fly a new carrier so looked at Maldivian but no help there. Korean/BA/Turkish fly to Colombo and I could fly out of there .... interesting. QR/EY/WY also fly to MLE and I have been on the first 2 so after considering the options Oman Air it was via MCT of course.

Thanks to Raj for giving me updates on loads since these were standby tickets and Ojas for giving me route ideas.

DXB-MLE EK658 eventually left about 45 minutes late. It was an early morning flight 0325 so we had been up all night.

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Cabin crew were very nice (trying to be unbiased hehehe.) When we sat down the crew in charge of our section informed us breakfast would be served 1.5 hours before landing and asked if we wanted anything to drink. We were both tired so no drink- just sleep. The crew said she would wake us up for breakfast = good plan!

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We boarded on time but departure time came and went. A few minutes after ETD the crew came and told us there was a medical case on board (she gave us more detail) therefore the delay. Literally a minute later the captain came on the PA to explain the situation. Basically a passenger boarded and wasn't feeling well so it took a while to get doctors to check on her (and convince the family she couldn't fly/offload her bags).

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We pushed about 45 mins late. As I sit down the headphones come out and I start a movie or in this case a documentary. The departure delay didn't bother us the IFE was on of course, watched the TO on the camera and the show finished soon after. Jumbo- the plane that changed the world. Good fun, would watch it again obviously. Since I wound up watching most of the show on the ground I was ready to sleep 15 mins after TO.

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Breakfast menu

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A few hours later we were woken up for breakfast. I like the fruit/yogurt combo and the croissant was good, warm and not hard which is the main thing. Good but not great - Ive had better ones on EK. Had the waffles which were very nice. They are warm and soft ..... if I had to nitpick I would say they were a tad too sweet but after a few bites I got used to it.

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Sunrise and great views during approach.

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Landing card- obviously some countries are careful with what you can bring in but this was .... strict. Maldives is very open to tourisms yet remains in many ways a conservative Muslim country.

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Landed on Runway 36 and backtracked to park. An Oman Air 330 was there, wish I could get that instead of a 738! Others included a 777 (sky team- Aeroflot?) Srinkankan 330 and Austrian 767.

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View from baggage claim

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I am not the biggest fan of this J seat. It doesn't go flat it's angled flat. IMO it's fine for a short/regional leg (was fine for this flight) but not up to the mark compared to what a long haul product should be. A lot of legroom but could use more storage space at the side. The food/crew were great.

Was met at arrivals by a hotel chap who helped us check in for the transfer flight.

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They weighed our bags (and hand luggage) issued out tickets and off we went in the bus to the seaport terminal on the other side of the airport
The drive there ....

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Runway

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One of their multiple dailies to CMB

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Getting ready for the flight back.

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The Hotel (Dusit Thani) had a lounge at the airport, we were taken there for a little over an hour. They had juice/tea/coffee/few cakes + Wifi and ......

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...... most importantly a balcony with a great view!!

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About an hour later we were called to board. The flight would stop somewhere to drop off a few people then drop 6 of us heading to Dusit. All of us Dusit pax luggage couldn't make it (weight) they promised to bring it on the next flight which would get in a few hours later.

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Domestic departures .... Chennai-Athens Smile

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New aircraft, new airline. The largest seaplane airline in the world.

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A familiar view for us airliners people, seen a lot of these pics online

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Big big blue runway to line up with Surprised

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There's our hotel

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Does this count as an airport Wink

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We spent 3 days at the Dusit Thani, very nice hotel. Secluded, just the hotel on the island that's it. Big comfortable room + even bigger bathroom with outdoor plunge pool/shower. The front opens out onto the beach. Diving was fabulous, I haven't done a scuba course (yet ... keep planning) but went snorkelling. No water sports in the protected area but they had sail boats/canoes etc. The plus was the seaplane to get there, never been on a de Havilland 6 (float plane this one). Food options were limited, they had a buffet breakfast/dinner area, then the pool had a bar and restaurant and there was a Thai restaurant + another bar. Food was very very nice, the poolside had a small menu tho.

A few hotel pictures

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Guarding a room

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Went diving with manta rays ..... boat view on the way out.

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After 3 days it was time to leave. The Oman Air flight looked full, I had EK as a backup an hour later which had 5-6 seats free. R was taking AI an hour after that (we managed to get a not too expensive ticket just a few days before) which got to BLR thru TRV.
Early morning departure on the way out. This time we flew straight to MLE without any stops.
We had to leave the hotel very early- they basically get your departure details a few days before and organise the sea plane. It would get us in an hour early for my flight which was OK ....

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flew by this small airport

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Reached the airport and grabbed a bite to eat. Thai food it was, no breakfast tho it was lunch for breakfast we just shared a beef kwetiau (is that even thai?).

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I was the last to get checked in but they had a few seats open so WY it was goodie! I got an emergency exit row isle seat as well.

It's quite sad how India completely flops at air travel. It seems wherever you go even smaller countries can get their act together but not our airlines. Oman Air (just to give one example out of ten+) is going double daily out of MLE and indian carriers can barely manage a couple of 320s and Q400s Embarassed

Then again instead of blaming bad policies and governance its easier to blame competition.

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Immigration and security check were small and quick.

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Small ramp = good views

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She looks pretty good- surprising for a 737 Laughing

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Neighbour rolling in

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My first Oman Air flight ....
Aircraft was clean and the flight left/arrived almost 30 mins early. Food was very nice! IFE fron drop down screens nothing special.
A few weird observations- during the meal service the trays were handed differently to all 3 of us in my row. Generally they are served the same orientation if you get what I mean, here mine was sideways and the gentleman at the window got his upside down. Not a big deal at all makes no difference it was just weird to see.
The cabin crew- maybe got one smile from the crew the whole flight. No on expects it all the time and it probably was a night turnaround (so I can sympathise) but a few happy faces would go a long way.
They were very strict about iPhones/cameras out for to/landing. I thought that rule changed for most airlines guess not this one. A lot of airlines now allow you to keep it on airplane mode so you can listen to music etc. It's a stupid rule but if it's WY procedure what to do, crew could be a bit more friendly about it tho they were walking around scowling at ppl to put their cameras (not even phone cameras) away.
For the landing secure cabin check 2 crew were walking around with her apron still on. Funny to see.
No briefing for my emergency exit (guess that's procedure ? haven't sat in one in a while)

My pet peeve .... double headphone jack why O why!!!! This forces you to use their silly headphones or you use your own and get audio in one ear.

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The IFE guide was a bit confusing. It had these codes D2 A1 etc and then you had to look for which movie it was and it wasn't sorted well and hmmmm. They were drop down screens but it showed a newish movie (forgot which one) so it was all right.

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Food was very nice. It wasn't even 10am and it was prawn/fish curry and the other option was lamb. Anyway it tasted great.

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Seat/cabin view

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Landed early and went to the transfer desk at Muscat airport. Once you pass security the airport is a lot better inside than it is from the outside, but the whole arrivals/transfer area seems like what BLR/TRV/HYD airports would have been 7 years ago.
Airport has remote stands for departure of course, no aerobridges.
At the transfer counter only 1 of 9 were open which led to long lines when a flight landed. Long as in 10 minutes so was very manageable. They opened a second counter when I was leaving.
There were constant boarding announcements. WY663 to DOH was called at least 15 times I think everyone dreamt about it that evening.

Transfer pax show boarding pass only, no need for visas/passports etc very civilised.

View from transfer desk. The new terminal + ATC tower is in the background.

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Hahahahahah. Valuable thing's

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MCT duty free. Just walked thru and sat by my gate.

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Time for the last leg, WY609 back to DXB.
It's been ages since I was on an Embraer .... she is a bit good looking....

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.... but nothing compared to this Wink

Now THAT looks great in those colours.

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Comments about this leg.
WY609 was on time maybe 10 mins late.
Clean aircraft. 11 J seats.
Nice size seats but still the same weird headphone jacks 😁 which meant I could hear thru my left ear only.
It was drizzling in the cabin, actually just over the window seat. I had the isle (B) but obviously wanted the window (both were free) for TO/Landing so had to put up with drips on my shirt.
Leaky AC crew plugged it with a few paper napkins.

IFE was very very slow, ok touch interface not the best. By slow I mean very slow to respond. When a PA was being made it kept playing the video for 7 seconds before it said paused and then took a while to recover. Fast forward rewind wasn't smooth as well.
Quite a few Omani TV things, Environmental society of Oman + Islamic art in Oman + Religious tolerance in Oman
Did I mention I only got audio in one ear 😡

Crew stuffed the leaky part with paper napkins to minimise the rain.

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For the quick 45 minute hope we got sandwiches and juice, was good.

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Cabin crew charging her phone in an empty seat next to a taken seat .... I figured it was hers but had to ask Wink

Hope it doesn't become a habit hehehehe.

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Nice cabin, nice seats. Just the IFE setup wasn't that great.

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eP007

jbalonso777

Nikhil, great to read from you! Very Happy

Great pictures, and I trust you had an awesome experience in the Maldives!

A correction though - although there is a TK flight between CMB & MLE, it isn't a flight with fifth freedom rights. So the unfortunate folks heading for CMB have to stop over at MLE anyways... This could've worked well as a triangular flight, but that's just me..

I see you got A6-ENI on the flight to MLE - the one with the newest IFE system...but its a surprise to see you criticize EK! Shocked

But about the J class seats, I really hope EK are looking into a new product since 2-3-2 is a bit cramped...

Hmm, no alcohol into the Maldives...I'm assuming its the ones NOT in duty free? Or a no no as a whole?
Yup, that has to be an Aeroflot 777.

Chennai-Athens Laughing

I want to see that happening!

Any differences between Trans Maldivian and Maldivian Air Taxi? Other than the livery, hehe, but I'm curios....

Does the 'airport' even count as 'international' is another question, lol Razz

Nice pic of the lizard! Good light falling on it!

Agreed - the A330 looks stunning Smile

Looking forward to more!

Regards
Jish
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http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

Theairplaneguy4ever · Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 7:35 pm Post subject:

Great.. everyone's flying everywhere having a great time and I'm just sitting at home. Lucky me. Mad

I'd considered going to the Maldives for a while, but wrote it off as just a pure beach destination, me being like you and not being a beach fan. Can't say my opinion's changed after your TR, but the sights do look mesmerizing!

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Sir, you are one happening couple. One one trip, you jump out of the sky from a plane, and in the next one, you jump out of a boat to snorkel. I must complement both of you for all your slash-bang planning, exotic routes, locales, and great trip reports for us! Further, correspondence among the two stellar front office bearers on the forum, you and Capt Raj: wow, and you flying on his airline, and his aircraft type, this is only what legends are all about.
All things which I love: nice food pics, nice airline interior pics, nice locale pics, what more could I ask for? (Except possibly requesting you to send your wife's review of the AI MLE-TRV-BLR flight. This is one flight for which they on occassion, delay the BLR-DEL flight, to accommodate connecting pax from MLE to DEL). The Oman Air livery is one of the most soothing to the eye, and it suits the B738 and the A332 perfectly, IMHO. Wow, so many Twotters! Lovely pictures of the hotel, and the silhouettes, and the lizard! Nice views of MCT, and...the Jungle Jet back to your workplace.
Thanks for sharing a lovely report with us.
Cheers, Sumantra.

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Thank you for posting this report from your busy schedule. Good to see your perspective as a passenger Smile

.

Oman Air seems to be getting there but they will never be the likes of Emirates, Qatar or Ethiad. At least they managed to get out of the shadow of Gulf Air but only time will tell if that was a smart move.

Also the sea planes of Maldives was an interesting insight it must have been a choppy ride before take off. Smile

Sri_Bom

Nimish · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 4:12 pm Post subject:

Nikhil - great TR and the Dusit Thani looked gorgeous. I'm very much of a beach and beer guy - so keep thinking of a vacation to the Maldives. How expensive was the beer/ drinks at the resort?

WY looked pretty shabby actually - esp all the mess on the IFE. I thought WY had got some rave reviews recently - perhaps that's on a different a/c type?

Abhijeet - Maldives is a Muslim country and any alcohol import is completely banned. The only alcohol available is what the resort serves you.
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We miss you Nalini!

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

Ahhh that explains why I couldnt find TK on MLE-CMB.

Nimish