Day 28: Goodbye Laos hello Cathay Pacific to India. A whole lot of flying...again

I woke up this morning fairly rested, packed my bags, and hopped in the hotel car to the airport. The nice staff at the hotel, anticipating my departure, had packed me a "sack breakfast" of sorts including some fresh fruit, orange juice, and a ham sandwich...I enjoyed two of the 3 items during my 6am ride to the small airport in Vientiane, Laos. I will let you decide which 2 those were...

Today I was flying Lao airlines business class. I like to try these small, often unheard of airlines as often you end up extraordinarily surprised. I was not originally on Lao airlines however. Last night at about 6pm Bangkok Airways decided to arbitrarily change the time of my flight today from 11am to 1pm, meaning I would miss my Cathay Pacific connection to Hong Kong. Knowing this would not work, I had to scramble and book with Lao airlines as there was only 1 other flight to Bangkok that would get me there in time.

Anywho, checkin was easy that I was surprised to learn Business Class was full? Sensing my surprise, the nice Lao checkin agent responded with a smile that it was indeed rare, but that the Presidents(of Laos, not the airline) family was flying to BKK this morning so they bought 5 of the 6 seats. hmm, this should be interesting!

There is a small lounge for business class passengers in VTE airport that is more humorous then necessary. It had a good selection of Cakes, Pastries, and Ham/Cheese sandwiches (there they are again?). I boarded shortly before 7am to a full coach cabin and a completely empty business cabin. The cabin was nice and more than adequate for the hour flight down to BKK. Literally seconds before the door closed and after it was determined that the cabin was secure, the 5 presidential family members were ushered onboard. This was definitely how the "other half" (the other 3% is more like it..) of the Lao people live. These individuals all sported Louis V handbags, new Iphones, and excessive jewelry. Further, it was clear the flight attendants were slightly intimidated as all of them kept their electronic devices out and on the entire flight from gate to gate without regard to the "turn off" announcements.



While the flight was short, I will say that even for Asian standards (where a hot/full meal is always served on flights even under an hour in length), I was extraordinary impressed by the service. Tea and coffee were offered numerous times, bread was warm and offered every 5 minutes, attentive/polity/curteous/notoverbearing flight staff. And guess what was for breakfast-ham and cheese sandwiches with a side of fruit!

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with Lao Airlines. I did (unusual for me) check a bag for this sector and the bag was waiting for me by the time I got to baggage claim in BKK.