This post is long overdue because I owe Steve Miller, CEO of Oasis Airlines, a huge thank you. It all started early August at Fintry, a few days before we began our trip back to Hong Kong. With a total of eight people, including four toddlers, this is a major undertaking. In the days leading up to our departure all the trappings of our vacation slowly migrate to one room, where they are packed into suitcases. Then there is the planning for how everyone will get to Vancouver… most major car rental companies don’t rent eight seat vehicles large enough for all eight people plus luggage, especially one way. One way rentals are extremely expensive, too. This past summer we decided that Tess and I would drive (with a one way rental) the four kids to Vancouver, and fly Lita & De to Vancouver via WestJet. This would give Lita & De a break from the kids before we all loaded onto Oasis Airlines back to Hong Kong. (Above: Lake Okanagan as seen from Fintry on our last night there... sniff.)
Oasis is a new “no frills” airline sprouting up from Hong Kong. Everything the airline does is oriented around fast, efficient and low cost. To reserve seats when you book your tickets costs extra, but you can login to reserve your seats starting from 72 hours before a flight’s departure. This is exactly what Tess and I did. One evening, during the gradual trappings migration, Tess and I made the twenty minute drive to Lake Okanagan Resort. Piggybacking off the resort’s wireless we made an Internet connection. Frugal Blake and I had done this enough times that I knew exactly where to find the best connection. With eight passengers – and me arriving separately after the rest of the family – our Oasis tickets were held under three bookings. The trick was to quickly login, reserve a seat where we saw a block of eight (rows 42 & 43), logout, login with the next booking and go after the remaining seats in the block of eight. We completed this successfully and all-in-all was relatively simple. (Above: Oasis Airlines crew pose with Sebastian and The Terrific Trio.)
Satisfied and relieved that we were all sitting together in economy, Tess and I drove back to Fintry. On the way Tess said, “We need to talk about food plans. I guess we’ll just take a load of peanut butter sandwiches?” Tess was actually trying to point out that while reserving the seats online, I had neglected to click the “Child Meal” button for the kids. Argh! While there is limited connectivity at Fintry, my Blackberry still works intermittently. I quickly fired an e-mail off to Steve Miller, who attends our church, asking him if he could forward my request for child meals to the appropriate person. Steve wrote back, “Don’t worry, Charles, we’ll make sure the kids have some good grub.” I gave Tess the update and we were happy – but still took peanut butter sandwiches.
The countdown clock continued until it was time to leave. The kids had been quite good that morning, eating breakfast, running around to get some exercise, helping us pack items into the car and doing last minute wee wees. Team Caldwell left Fintry by 8 AM at the exact time of expected departure. Yeah! (Later Blake and Maureen drove Lita & De to the airport for their WestJet flight.) Another round of luck: there was no traffic in front of us on the 45-minute winding road from Fintry to Westbank so we sailed through the morning air at a nice clip. Sebastian had the whole thing worked out: Mom and Dad were the pilots up front – he and Jasper were in Business Class in the middle – Sela and Carys were in Economy class in the back. Everyone was happy and we had a great start to our journey.
Except for the people in Economy Class. About ten minutes from the end of the winding road Sela made a sound. Then we heard Sebastian announce in a loud and concerned voice, “Sela threw-up!” That was just the precursor. As I tried to find a safe place to pull over Sela really threw-up a second time – all over herself, her car seat, the seat in front of her and even past that onto Jasper’s car seat nestled into that seat. Troubled by this sudden development and the notion that her sister was unwell, Carys erupted into tears. We spent about fifteen minutes cleaning up but the smell was outrageous… and we had 4 – 5 hours of driving ahead of us. When we were finally back underway I flipped a few buttons at my armrest that automatically pushed the rear windows of our minivan out like trim tabs. (Very cool!) Fortunately this helped with the smell but we still made a mad dash for the Vancouver airport. Every decision – where to stop for wee wees, coffees, gas, the works – was based on “get rid of this car as fast as possible.”
Once in Vancouver we unluckily hunted for a coin operated car wash where we could vacuum up the remaining elements and moisture. Discouraged and eventually giving up, we found a park where the kids were able to run around and eat some lunch. Tess and I took turns cleaning here and there. Needless to sat, it had been a stressful morning. We drove to the airport where we found Lita & De promptly waiting at the car rental drop-off. By the time we left the car at Budget it smelled more like a package of baby wipes than vomit. At this point the kids were getting stir-crazy and Tess & I were stretched pretty thin. We made our way to Oasis to check-in (a good two+ hours early, by the way.) Tess & Lita changed the kids into the airplane clothes (a good time waster and distraction) while De and I handled the checked bags. We planned on taking three car seats on board for the trips and at one point the mild smell of residual vomit wafted past my nose. “Oh that will be popular on this flight,” I thought to myself. Tess beckoned to me, “Check to see if the seats across the aisle from our seats, next to the seats we have reserved, second in from the aisle, are empty.” I knew what she meant: we had six seats together and two in the same rows across the aisle.
“Grrr,” I thought, “are you kidding me? This is a flight heading to Hong Kong right before school starts. This plane will be FULL!” But, trying to be a loving and supportive husband to my wife I asked anyway. The agent didn’t understand me, then turned the screen towards me, “you are in rows 19 and 20.” I immediately assumed something went wrong when we checked-in online 72 hours earlier.
“That’s not right! We’re supposed to be all together in rows 42 and 43. There are eight of us, all traveling together with FOUR children.”
“Yes sir, I understand that. You are all together in the first two rows of the plane.”
“Huuuh… ah huh,” I bleated out like Jim Carey or Steve Martin might sheepishly do in a silly comedy. “In that case, we’ll be checking these other three car seats, please, and thank you very much... and we'll just... no problem you just keep doing what your doing and I'll wait here nicely.” (Above from left: Carys enjoys the good grub, Sela takes in a movie and Jasper thinks he is in heaven with a comfy seat, fascinating subject matter and PB sandwich!)
“God’s grace,” I thought to myself and nearly cried.
I walked over to Tess to whisper in her ear, “Steve Miller must have upgraded us when I asked him about the kids’ meals.”
“How many of us?” Tess inquired. “All of us,” I said, “In Business Class.”
Oasis Airlines uses refitted planes from Singapore Airlines, which was one of the first airlines to introduce fully reclining seats in First Class. While Oasis doesn’t have First Class, they do have the first class seats in the front of Business Class. (Small print: not all Oasis Business Class seats fully recline! ) About two hours later there we sat. It could not have been a better ending to a crazy, chaotic and tense day. (Above: Sebastian was delighted to discover Superman Returns playing on Oasis and watched the movie three times in a row!)
In 2006 we spent over HK$ 125,000 in flights with Air Canada and WestJet despite booking a special deal with AC months in advance. Admittedly we had more sectors, since we also went to Toronto. This year our total flight costs were less than HK$ 40,000 with Oasis Airlines and WestJet. We’ve now tried economy, business class and business class “fully reclined” on Oasis Airlines. This is a great, great airline that offers tremendous value and very friendly service. Can’t recommend them enough. And Steve, thank you so, so much!
Regular readers probably want to know what went through my mind on that flight… lots, but that’s another blog for another day.
