Oasis Hong Kong Airline

I returned yesterday from Hong Kong on Oasis Airlines and was pleasantly surprised by the service and quality. I travel to China / Hong Kong about four times a year and usually travel Virgin Premium Economy. As the Oasis Business class fare was cheaper than Virgin Premium Eco%26#39; it made sense to give them a try. The cabin decor is a little dull and uninspiring compared to Virgin although they are somewhat ';neon'; anyway. The seats in business are excellent, wide with a great reclining range and plenty of space between the seat in front (not flat bed like Virgin Upper or BA first class but you will be paying four of five times the price). At £ 470 each way plus tax the total came out at just over £ 1000 which is great value compared to the others.

Moreover, the flight wasn%26#39;t at all full so on both outward and homeward legs there was space to move around the cabin so that you weren%26#39;t sitting next to somebody else. On the home leg the main business class cabin only had two people in it and around twelve people upstairs.

Food was O.K. and drinks plentiful if you wanted them. The flights took off and arrived on time and the cabin crew were attentive without being over bearing. The inflight entertainment was limited but with the flight times as they are most people slept on both legs of the journey (8.20 evening flight out and 01.30 flight back).

I didn%26#39;t see the economy class cabin but there were no audible complaints as we disembarked. As the flight wasn%26#39;t full it%26#39;s probably worth taking a chance on economy as there is probably space to spread around making the 11+ hour flight a bit more bearable.

I%26#39;m not sure how long they will last as an airline with such low fares and limited capacity but I%26#39;d certainly use them again with Business Class fares at this ';low'; price.

Oasis Hong Kong Airline

Hi,

Its good to hear pleasing comments, my daughter and i are flying to Hongkong with oasis [economy class] in sept ,thought we would give them a try,as like you say the price is very reasonable.

suzi

Oasis Hong Kong Airline

Glad to hear some feedback on Oasis.We have booked for October.

Economy class though!Thanks for taking the effort to inform other travellers.

Thanks.

We are flying with Oasis next month in economy, I will let you know how we get on, we usually fly to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific, we are hoping Oasis can%26#39;t be as bad as them!

Great to hear a positive report. Have been flying with Virgin for years, but as am living in Dublin, the transit through Heathrow is becoming less viable by the day. Missed the HK because could not connect due to foggy weather, also missed the return flight as the HK flight left an hour late :(

The %26#39;saving grace%26#39; on Virgin was the selection of entertianment channels - but it was reduced to about a quarter of the the normal selection earlier this month.

So, is it Oasis via Gatwick, or KLM via Amsterdam? Have not heard any one say a good word about Luftansa economy class for a long time....

PASSENGER REVIEW OF OASIS HONGKONG AIR

23rd Jan 2007, Flight O8 700 HKG - LGW

SUMMARY

This is a fantastic airline offering a great service at exceptional value. In many ways, Oasis should probably be charging a premium ticket price to other airlines! Where else can you get a flight with no check-in or immigration queues at both ends, get on board at midnight, eat a meal, fall asleep for 12 hours, wake up at Gatwick at 6am, and be out of the airport and on the road in a hired car in less than 20 minutes? If you are on holiday in Hong Kong, you are basically getting an extra FULL day in Hong Kong without having to pay for an extra hotel night (because the flight is so late at night).

TICKET BUYING EXPERIENCE

I had difficulties using Oasis%26#39; website to book the ticket. After completing the forms online and submitting them to go to the next page, the website seemed to get ‘stuck’ and brought up the %26#39;Error 404 website not found error %26#39;. This happened about 4 times over 2 days. I don’t know whether this is a problem at Oasis server or the circumstances at the time (I was using the internet in Taiwan during the time that Taipei had an earthquake which had disrupted internet connections around the region).

When I was asked if I wanted to reserve my seat online, I decided to go for it. I normally use a website www.seatguru.com to find seat configurations in commercial aircraft - but I didn%26#39;t need to - Oasis provide a map of the seat configuration for you. However, I was a little alarmed when I chose a seat (with no seats in front) and it added HK$800 to the price!!! My thoughts then were that this airline was just going to be another RyanAir or EasyJet that wanted to squeeze every penny out of the customer...

CHECK-IN EXPERIENCE AT HKG

I checked all my bags in at 11.am on the morning of the flight at the Hong Kong Station check in. This is all handled by the Jardine group so has nothing to do with Oasis. My luggage weighed in at 26kg which is 3kg above the 23kg allowance (I was fearing an excess baggage surcharge – but nothing was said).

BOARDING EXPERIENCE AT HKG

At this time of night (11pm) the airport is practically deserted (there are only two other flights shortly after the Oasis flight – and no more flights until about 5 or 6am. Getting through immigration and security was very quick – no queues whatsoever!! Best experience I have ever had at HKG airport.

AIRCRAFT

The Aircraft is a 747-400 and was formerly owned by Singapore Airlines so it has a superior service and maintenance history behind it (reassuring for those who have a fear of flying). All the main bits that should be there are there (4 engines, 2 wings etc...)

AIRCRAFT INTERIOR

The aircraft interior still retains the old Singapore Airlines purple upholstery and is clean - but far from new. The seats are comfortable, have a good pitch and good legroom. The cabin temperature on the parking apron (and throughout the flight) was a very comfortable 25 degrees (previous reviews had said that temperature control was a major issue).

HKG DEPARTURE

The aircraft was off the blocks and was pushed back from the terminal at 1.20am (exactly on time). The safety demonstration was carried out manually (no video). The demonstration was very clear, and easily understandable (In English and Cantonese). The cabin staff were extremely polite, professional and very courteous at all times.

The captain announced that there would be a safety video - but this was never shown (I can only assume that he thinks he is still with his previous airline and hasn’t got out of his well rehearsed lines!! Well, at least we know we have an experienced pilot here!

Roll out at 1.43a.m

As there are very few aircraft departing HK at this time of night, taxi-ing time to the runway is very quick. We were airborne in 20 mins.

AIRCRAFT CAPACITY

Economy class was about 40% full (or 60% empty for pessimists), so there are plenty of empty seats! Many people (including myself) were fortunate to have complete rows to themselves for the entire flight.

PASSENGER PROFILE

Passengers mostly seemed to be HK Chinese students and British holidaymakers. 60% Caucasian, 40% Asian. Main age group was between 20-40. Very few business travelers. During the flight, I did have a peek behind the curtain and had a walk around in business class on the lower deck. Business class seats looked just as good as any other airline.

IN FLIGHT MEALS

An evening meal was served 30 mins after takeoff after reaching cruising altitude. There was a choice of fishcakes or noodles with pork. Plastic knives and forks are used. The meal is quite light but who needs a big meal this time of night anyway? Water and drinks are offered continuously throughout the flight. Snacks are also available at surprisingly VERY reasonable prices (about HK$15 I think).

IN FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT %26amp; SUNDRIES

Each seat has its own monitor. They all seemed to be working fine (previous reviews suggested not). However, there is not a great deal to watch. There are about 16 classic movies (dont expect new movies) and some music channels as well as the moving map. However, very few people were actually watching anything as after the meal, its already 2.30 am HK time, the lights in the cabin are off, and most passengers are only concerned with sleeping.

INFLIGHT COMFORTS

Each passenger is given plastic earphones, a blanket and a pillow. For the earphones, the sockets are the 3 pin type, so if you want to use your own headphones, then you need an adapter. As for the blanket - it%26#39;s amazing! It%26#39;s the only one I%26#39;ve ever had on an aircraft that doesn%26#39;t actually cling to you and emit that horrible static!!!

GATWICK ARRIVAL

The aircraft arrived at the gate at 6.28am (on time). There were no queues at all at immigration (straight through for both EU passport holders and foreigners). The luggage came off the carousel at 6.40am (I would call this a miracle by British standards!).