not that i am particularly fond of 75% of my offspring at the moment (3/4 woke up at 3.30am all perky and excited and loud wanting to go swimming and kayaking…where do they think we are, canada?) but i do feel the need to defend them.

on the way back to hong kong, we were upgraded. all of us. steve miller, the owner of oasis, proved that he cares less about profits and more about kindness by upgrading all of us. the business class section of the plane also includes the first class section of the plane, which has the 180 degree seats, but the same service/food as business class.

there were 13 seats in the first class section, we consumed eight of them.

when i saw the faces of my fellow travellers i simultaneously felt embarrassed, uncertain, and defiant. my kids are pretty good travellers…usually? they would be fine..wouldn’t they? no need to look so angry.

the man behind us, who had also been upgraded, got up and complained to the stewardess. our kids were going to ruin his "flight experience" or something. he demanded that he be moved. but the only other seats in business class were next to infants (HA! HA HA HA!) and he decided he would rather stick it out with our kids.

the flight left at 6.15pm. for the first two hours, our kids were kids. they exclaimed over books, meals, talked back and forth to each other, to us, and were happy. there were no tears. there was jasper, thinking his personal reading light was a microphone and singing, but it wasn’t annoying whinging kids stuff. there was masses of space between us and the other passengers (we were in the first two rows), and they did not address them. we didn’t let them run in the aisles unless they were going to and from the bathroom.

after the meal, the lights turned out, and within 30 minutes, jasper, sela and carys were asleep. sebastain lasted longer, enthralled with superman returns. but the youngest three slept until the cabin lights were turned on.

our complaining friend found it quiet enough to get some sleep, and began snoring. our fellow passengers looked at him, and each other. this guy was LOUD! lita and i could barely snooze he was so loud.eventually i slept with the music channel on, but i mean really, how dare he complain about my family while lights were on, when during the time lights were off and we were meant to be sleeping, he was sawing more logs than leonardo dicaprio mentions in the eleventh hour?

at the end of the flight the other four people congratulated me on the behaviour of our kids, as did the flight crew. not mr grumpy.

i didn’t let him ruin my upgrade though. i had forgotten how nice those 180 degree seats are. i will write a review of oasis’ hong kong-vancouver-hong kong flight soon, but to sum it all up – economy is just as good as air canada, the service is as well, food is airline food (never going to be fantastic, and we don’t expect it to be), and the price is about half of an air canada flight. and the departure times are brilliant. i would go with oasis and will do so again. we had no problem with our economy flight.

don’t snorers, by the time they are in their late 40’s, know that they snore?