Hong Kong Express Flight Report |
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Taiwan is a favourite weekend getaway for Hong Kongers, but the southern part of the island is often overlooked. I came across Hong Kong Express' alternating specials between various cities, finding a good deal to Kaohsiung. But having visited this place many times over the years, it would just be a springboard to new lands. I had initially shortlisted Kenting and Penghu just offshore for a short trip, but connecting to a separate set of domestic flights further afield could be a bit dangerous given my 4 day trip.I went to bed the night before with the black rain torrential rain signal, not knowing it would keep raining through the night and into the morning. I was surprised waking up still seeing the same warning signal, so I turned on the TV to see what's up. Hong Kong was battered by Super Typhoon Saola the week before, but this severe rainstorm wasn't so expected, originating from remnants of a much weaker storm that made landfall further away. So when the news footage showed severe flooding on the streets and officials calling it a "once-in-500-year-occurrence", I quickly checked my transport apps to find out that the airport bus was not running, but luckily the MTR still operated. There was no flooding in my area and the rain wasn't pouring too badly when I left home for the train station. The Tung Chung Line was operating at very reasonable frequencies and the airport-bound S1 bus from Tung Chung was actually running even as the rest of the city's bus network had shut down.
Luckily, there wasn't much flooding around the airport area either.
The airport didn't seem to be in shutdown mode at all and departures were continuing as normal. There was a small line for the Hong Kong Express check-in desk. The agent weighed my bag and affixed the cabin-approved sticker to it. I noticed my boarding pass showed a bus gate so this would be an interesting rainstorm departure.
I left ample time to get to the airport anticipating the worst given the storm but ended up having a lot of time to plane spot air-side.
The terminal held up quite well despite all that water pouring down from the sky. I saw a few leaks but they were rare and not too torrential.
Boarding started a little less than half hour before departure and we each got a plastic raincoat at the gate before boarding the bus. Apparently, you can't open an umbrella when walking on the tarmac to board the stairs, and of course, there wasn't a covered staircase to make the final leg up.
I clumsily put on my raincoat to make that climb to the plane. The crew collected them once we boarded so we wouldn't be fumbling around with it during the flight.
I had asked for a window seat at check-in and the agent asked if I was OK with the final row. The flight was full and we pushed back about half hour late, which is not bad given the nasty weather and many departures were delayed. The worst of the rain seems to have passed and we took off into a very cloudy sky for the short hop of under 85 minutes to Kaohsiung.
Hoping the weather would improve as we left the southern Chinese coast, it became apparent that this weather system would cover the entire region. We never went above the clouds for the entire flight, which is a bit odd because we weren't flying at a low cruise either. I caught sight of the Taiwanese coast as we progressed well into approach and it was a longer landing where we looped around and came in from the east.
Kaohsiung was also having a cloudy day and we pulled into a fairly empty terminal about 45 minutes late. This time, we got a jet bridge and there was only a small line for immigration. With hand-carry only, I was out land-side very soon.
All arriving passengers need to put their bags into the customs scanner with many staff around holding signs of dire consequences if you bring in banned food items which include remnants from your airplane meal. Their biggest issue is with pork products so to safeguard against swine flu.
Taiwan is dishing out all sorts of perks to welcome international tourists again. I pre-registered for the lucky draw, hoping to win TWD 5000 in consumption spending, and also went to their tourism office in Hong Kong to get a free data sim voucher. I didn't win anything in the draw though. I exited the terminal building and walked a short distance under the bridge to the metro's entrance. It is only a half hour journey into Formosa Boulevard in the city centre. This airport is very close to the city and without Taipei's crowds.
Having flown this route on China Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and now Hong Kong Express, I don't have a preference other than pick the one that gives you the best price. It's only an hour hop across the strait so you don't really need too many perks such as a meal. I paid only HKD $1217 for this roundtrip, a very reasonable price but this doesn't include any checked bags. The Next Flight - Kaohsiung to Hong Kong
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