JJBhoy

Hi,

I'm a regular on some of the other Fodors boards but this is my first time on the Airlines board.

I'd always thought that Asia was beyond my budget but I've come across some amazing prices between London & Hong Kong on Oasis HK - in fact, they seem almost too good to be true. Having done some digging on the web, I know that the airline's economy service is "no frills" & I also know that they had some difficulties when they started flying in October 2006.

On the other hand, based on comments I've read on TripAdvisor & Airlinequality.com, most people seem to think that they got good value for money. Are any Fodorites familiar with this airline?

As an aside, we're a family of 4 so, even with their bargain prices I would still be spending close on 1000 UK£ on the flights & I suppose I'm just a wee bit wary that such a new airline might not last the distance
(financially, I mean!!)

Can anyone advise me where I would stand if I made the booking & then the airline went out of business? Am I right in assuming that I'd be able to claim the money back through my credit card?

Thanks for your help - I'll post this message on the Asia board too.

Jim

Gardyloo

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=617798

rkkwan

Nobody knows about the long term, but in the timeframe you can book a ticket (within then next 12 months or so), they're definitely okay. They're adding new planes and new routes.

Startup airlines may fail, but most don't fail that soon.

W9London

JJBhoy,

Understand the budget issue, but you might want to check the seat pitch, leg room/seat recline (or lack thereof)... Doing non-frill within Europe for 2-3 hour flight is one thing, no-frill for 12hour flight is another.

JJBhoy

We've had a family conference & it looks as though I've been outvoted, so we probably won't be going to HK this year!

Thanks for your help, though.

Jim

sharinijman

heyy i'm flying to Hong Kong aswell and am hapily surprised by Oasis'fares! I hope that it will be alright, im a little concerned about safety because im scared of flying.
your messages helped me a lot but i wondered, what dus no-frill mean? (since im not englisch and can't find the translation)
can someone tell me? thanks!

sharinijman

---try again in better English this time---
heyy i'm flying to Hong Kong as well and am happily surprised by Oasis'fares! I hope that it will be alright, im a little concerned about safety because im scared of flying.
your messages helped me a lot but I wondered, what does no-frill mean? (since im not English and can't find the translation)
can someone tell me? thanks!

thit_cho

I recently read (in one of the popular travel magazines) that Oasis was to commence a HK-Oakland route.

rkkwan

Oasis is run by a former Cathay Pacific executive. I am sure it's a safe airline. Because they run longhaul routes, passengers get the same amenities and service as other airlines - meals, personal video screens, etc. So, there's basically no difference in the travelers' experience.

But it is a low cost airline, meaning it probably won't have interline ticketing and baggage agreement with other airlines. If they have a cancellation, you won't be rebooked on another airline. Either get a refund or wait, like what's happening with Jetblue's customers this past week. They also have just 2 planes right now, so if yours breakdown, they can't substitute another aircraft.

The pricing structure is that they set up a certain amount of seats at the really cheap fare. As those get sold out, you'll be paying for a higher one. Again, similar to other low cost airlines around the world.

Both of the 747-400s they have now were originally ordered by Singapore Airlines.

Both aircrafts (B-LFA & B-LFB) were delivered in 1989, and sold to Air Atlanta Icelandic in 2004. During the SQ years, B-LFA had been leased to China Airlines for a while; and during the Air Atlanta times, both were leased to Iberia. At 18 years old, these were some of the oldest 747-400 out there.