Asia News Desk » Lao Airlines

Lao Airlines hacked

Prahok — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 08:54:20 +0000

ITNews reports that internet security firm Sophos has intercepted malware on Lao Airlines.com — the official website for Lao Airlines. According to Sophos, the malware is embedded at the bottom of the Laoairlines.com web page in invisible java script code. Users who simply embark on the site will automatically be redirected to another site in China which then attempts to run an exploit and download an executable.

Lao Airlines adds Luang Prabang to Siem Reap

Prahok — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 23:10:50 +0000

Dpa reports than in a further route expansion, Lao Airlines is to commence flying between Luang Prabang and Siem Reap. No word yet though on when the flights will commence or how much they will cost.

Lao Airlines to fly Luang Prabang to Hanoi

Prahok — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 21:37:56 +0000

Vietnam Net Bridge reports that Lao Aviation is shortly to begin flights between Luang Prabang and Hanoi. Flights will commence on October 26 and will cost US$100 one way, plus $15 tax. Initially there will be two flights a week.

Lao Airlines — which site is the real site?

Prahok — Sat, 24 Sep 2005 05:00:13 +0000

The Lao national airline, Lao Airlines, has a single official website, http://www.laoairlines.com/, yet if you do a Google search, you’ll often find a second website, http://www.laos-airlines.com/ which is a far more professional looking site than the admittedly amateurish effort that the Lao Airlines has made — one certainly hopes that their real planes fly a bit steadier than the animated ones on their website. But who is behind this second website? It turns out to belong to a French travel agent, who having snagged a few handy domain names is impersonating the websites of three regional airlines (Lao Airlines, Air Mandalay and Yangon Airways) and making a tidy commission on any reservations it receives.
So what is wrong with that? In the free-wheeling internet, probably not too much, until you notice that nowhere on the laos-airlines.com site, does the agency identify itself as being a travel agent rather than a national airline. Working on the assumption the customer thinks they’re booking with the actual airline, there is no mention anywhere (that we could find) that they’re an agency. While deceptive, this practice probably isn’t illegal, but now reports are surfacing that they’re not only deceptive, but have also been late paying their bills (see comment #3) resulting in considerable inconvenience and anxiety to customers who didn’t realise they hadn’t booked direct with the airline until they showed up and found out their tickets were not valid!

We’d suggest staying well clear of this agency, and instead, despite the amateurish appearance, use the official Lao Airlines website.