The last time I went through Hong Kong - I had the priviledge of spending 12 hours in the airport with my family. We were one of the only flights checking in at the new terminal. It is a spacious building with well laid out shops and restaurants. They also have a lounge that you can pay to use that includes shower, internet, lounger chairs and TV. There is also food and drink there - but you will have to cough up about $50 for 3 hours use.

Hong Kong airport are trying to market terminal 2 as a place where you can come even if you are not flying, but to come and shop and use the entertainment facilities as well. And to be honest if my wife had to drag me out somewhere to shop - I would not be too upset, there is plenty to do that does not involve looking around shops! There are some nice places to eat, a cinema showing the latest films and an arcade that has a huge variety of games from golf to football to shoot’em ups.

The only thing I thought was funny is that at 8pm the shops started closing in the terminal, and this is about the same time that the check-in desks open for the flights heading to Europe, which are the only flights that left from the terminal at that time (May).

All of these facilities are avaliable before you go through security to the departure lounge!

I had an interesting experience at security once we had checked in. My bag was X-rayed and then I was pulled aside to find something in it that had caused a stir. Once I opened the bag the security officer took out my deoderant - because it had 10ml more than I was allowed to take on flight. Then once we had nearly landed in London I was looking through the same bag and found a long medical syringe and needle that we had taken while travelling, that security had not taken off me. It makes you wonder about priorities if you can get on a flight with a needle but deoderant is considered a risk!!

Once you go through security and a short train journey you get to the departure lounge. It is a lot more cramped than the terminal building, and again there is a plethora of shops and restaurants  on 3 floors in a central area . Then as you walk out to the gates there is free internet access areas as well as child play areas to entertain the little ones and hopefully get them to burn off energy before the flight!!

All in all it is a great airport (airport of the year for 2007 according to Skytrax), and if you are flying through dont be worried about a couple of extra hours there - you can spend them easily at the airport.

Then I found www.oasishongkong.com, a new low cost airline that started in November 2006 with flights between London Gatwick and Hong Kong. I could not believe the prices they were offering - it cost us £75 ($150) one way per person. So for 2 adults and an infant we paid about £550 ($1100) in total for our tickets.

Some people are put off when the phrase ‘low cost airline’ is mentioned, but with Oasis the service was great - much better than some non-low cost airlines - especially ones that originate in the USA. We had to pay £15 each way to guarentee that we got bulk head seats so that we could have a basinette for our daughter - but that was not big deal. Food, and basic drinks (tea, coffee, water and juice) are free, but if you want harder beverages you have to pay. But given that both flights are red-eye flights a couple of drinks of water are really all you need.

Oasis Hong Kong also offer in flight entertainment with personal TV screens with several movie channels - and while they may not be the latest movies like on some airlines - there were a few recent ones that I had not seen.

The one negative point to Oasis Hong Kong is their booking system on their website.  When you book the flight you have the option of booking seats and meals - but the problem is the website makes it feel like you must book the seats and meals,  when in reality it is just a optional thing. You do have to pay extra if you book meals - because they are specialty meals where as if you don’t book a meal you get a standard one.

Oasis have launched another route in June this year- Vancouver to Hong Kong and they have several planned other routes in Europe and North America.  the latest news is at www.oasishongkong.com.