Like some members of this forum, I collect airlines. In March I left Marsha in Saigon to make her way back to BKK on AF and eventually to PDX on NW. I struck out for PQC (Dong Duang for the initiated), Phu Quoc (for those not) for a couple of days of exploration. Said exploration consisted of beach-sleeping and food eating. Oh yes, most of the town was viewed on the transfer to and fro. I met up with Marsha for 3 hours at the Holiday Inn Silom (Priceline because she wanted to be near the silver shops) in Bangkok until she left at 3 a.m. to endure NW home.

Now the tale of Lao Airlines.

Lao Airlines is the former Lao Air. In earlier times, it had a somewhat negative reputation due to falling frequently out of the sky. It also had a non-functional web-site and one could not buy a ticket even though some former Lao citizens currently living in the U.S. had their telephone numbers listed on the non-functional pages. I believe one must either get a haircut or fill up the tank, but not buy a ticket. They were honorary ticket agents.

Having been to Laos before on Bangkok Airways and wanting a somewhat less expensive way to get there, I did a web search. One city I wanted to visit was Vientiane. Having read Shawn's (B747.***) reports of his day trip to Vientiane, I explored recreating it. Since I had a knee replacement less than 6 months ago, it is tough to sit in the back of a pick-up truck for over an hour, thus his route of BKK-Udon Thani, songtao (or maybe, bus) to Nong Kai, Tuk tuk to the Freedom Bridge, the truck across and tuk tuk to town sounded like agony and it appeared that I might save only 400 baht for the experience.

So I explored the web further. The plan was to visit Vientiane and go on to Luang Prabang to stay at my favorite hotel there and to see if anything had changed in the last year and a half. Google got me to a functional (somewhat) Lao Airlines web-site that had a great rate for airfare VTE-LPQ-VTE and 2 nights at the Villa Santi. After finally figuring out how to get the timetable function to work, the LPQ-VTE flight arrived after the BKK departure. In all honesty, there was an evening departure on the TG codeshare, but this would have meant over 8 hours at the VTE airport. So I decided on an over-night both going and coming. There was also a $180 round-trip BKK-VTE offered which was half of TG's fare.

Now to book it. Hm, no on-line booking. So I emailed the Villa Santi as to the dates, special and flights. A return e-mail arrived stating that they had gotten my request but I had to contact Lao Airlines to determine if everything could be done. Here is part of the correspondence edited for brevity.

To: [email protected]
Cc: [email]opushomes
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 1:10 AM
Subject: FW: Special Package Air & Hotel VTE-LPQ-VTE



-----Original Message-----

Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 10:01 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Special Package Air & Hotel VTE-LPQ-VTE

January 4, 2007 (January 5, 2007 - Laos Time)
Gentlemen:
Please reserve round-trip airfare and room per the response from Villa Santi below. Reservation must be at the hotel, not the resort for a deluxe single room. My preference for air is QV101 from VTE and QV102 for the return. Please confirm booking and provide me with information as to method of payment and ticket pick-up.

Sincerely,
opushomes

Dear opushomes

Warm greeting from Villa Santi Hotel and Santi Resort & Spa, Luang Prabang.
Thank for your interested. I am pleased to inform you that we have room available on Mar 22-24,07 please contact to Lao Airlines for issue this package as below:

Tel: 856 -21 212 054
Fax: 856 -21 212 056
E-mail: [email protected]
Best regards
Khemkham SOMSAMONE
Local Sales Manager

Sales & Marketing Department
Villa Santi Hotel and Santi Resort & Spa

Website: www.villasantihotel.com

----- Original Message -----
From: opushomes
To: [email protected]

Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 9:55 AM
Subject: Special Package VTE-LPQ-VTE
January 3, 2007 1400 PST
I am interested in booking the special $US215 rate including round-trip airfare from Vientiane. Planned Arrival is March 22, 2007; departure March 24, 2007. I previously stayed at the hotel in October, 2004. Is Naga Design still in Luang Prabang?

opushomes

I then continued the research as to the best way to do the RT to VTE and settled on 2 flights, one the day before and one the day after the Luang Prabang excursion. Again I contacted Lao Airlines via the e-mail link. They confirmed the flights and the package as shown below.

Dear Sir,
Here is your booking reference BKK-VTE-LPQ-VTE-BKK
1. opushomes RMKPK
2. QV 424 Y WE21MAR BKKVTE HK1 1510 1630
3. QV 101 B TH22MAR VTELPQ HK1 1120 1200
4. QV 102 B SA24MAR LPQVTE HK1 1230 1310
5. QV 414 Y SU25MAR VTEBKK HK1 1250 1410
6.EMAIL EASY PACKAGE
7.TL/1200/20MAR/VTE001
8.RMK CFM VILLSANTI HOTEL BY MS MEE

Regards/QV ticketing

I realized, that no one had mentioned how to pay for the tickets. I searched the web-site and came up with an e-mail address in France to send 50% of the deposit. Oh yeah, e-mail my credit card info. to an address in France for a company based in Laos. Not a chance. So I whipped off yet another e-mail to Lao Airlines asking how to pay. The came back and told me I could pay at their office in Bangkok