UO 703 Bangkok - Hong Kong
16 January 2024

Hong Kong Express throws out emails after emails of specials regularly. One email in early November 2023 caught my attention. It allowed redeeming up to 3000 miles for a one-way flight to Thailand for travel until the end of January. Although Cathay Pacific purchased the budget airline from Hong Kong Airlines in 2018, I didn't expect Asia Miles to pair up with them, so this was wonderful new*. I snapped up a roundtrip after the New Year's peak travel season for a mere 6000 miles plus HKD$949 in taxes, and there was surprisingly a lot of availability across multiple dates. It didn't include checked baggage but with only 4 nights in Bangkok, I didn't need to bring a lot with me.

Worried with Bangkok's rush hour traffic after a nasty drive out to Ayutthaya the previous morning, I took no chances and stayed away from taxis and Grab cars to head to the airport. Luckily, my hotel is close to the MRT and it is only a short ride to the airport line.

Bangkok's train lines are not integrated. The metro and skytrain run on separate fare systems, while the airport line is entirely different, too. I can't buy a through-ticket but at least the metro takes credit cards. Setting off at 4:30pm, the pre-evening rush hour traffic was not too bad, and I made it to Phetchaburi for the long transfer to Makkasan station on the airport line. I first exit to street level, where there are signs pointing to a long skybridge to cross the street. I then had to pay cash to buy a new ticket to enter through the fare gates again.

The airport line is just a simple commuter train with bench seats, but it is reliable and doesn't take long to reach the airport.

Unfortunately, the trains stop at the basement level, which is neither the arrivals nor departures floors. I had to go from B1 through a bunch of escalators to the 4th floor for the check-in counter. By now, it is only 5:30pm though. Suvarnabhumi's airport design is not so user-friendly. I had to fight through the huge arrivals crowd along the way and the departures floor wasn't much better. The infrastructure is showing its age and hasn't been well maintained. The floors looked quite scratched up and dirty while many travellers were sitting on the floor for some reason on the intermediate floors.

2.5 hours before departure is quite early indeed. There was barely a line for check-in and the surly agent weighed my hand carry case and affixed the cabin baggage tag to it. I asked if they have a window seat but instead of answering my question, she asked for my booking reference, which I wondered why she couldn't see in her system. Out spat the boarding pass with my aisle seat that I got at online check-in. No explanation provided. This lack of customer service is a good summary of the state of this airport, which never made the top ranks in the region since it opened not that many years ago.

Tourism has returned to normal in Thailand with many foreigners on the streets and this airport buzzing with activity.

With my boarding pass on hand, I went looking for dinner. There are few restaurants on the downstairs intermediate floor between departures and arrivals with familiar faces such as Starbucks and Subway. Prices are inflated from the city but still reasonable. If I wanted to get Thai food, expect to pay about 200 baht in a sit-down restaurant. Not satisfied, I asked about the food court, and was directed to gate A on the 1st floor, which is at the end of the terminal building.

After a long walk, I found a small food court but with quite a lot of options. The central seating area was tightly packed but I was able to find a seat quickly after ordering a pork fried rice for only 60 baht - city food court prices. Similar to the mall food courts, ordering and paying for your meal is grossly inefficient. You first buy a cash card at the counter, and use that card for payment. If they don't want the shops to handle cash, why not just put up a contactless payment device instead and fire the 2 cash attendants. Welcome to 2024.

Full from my rice, I headed back upstairs to see the sun setting, and a full departures board.

Not taking any chances again with such a huge crowd, I opted to clear security early hoping there won't be surprises. It surprisingly didn't take long, although everyone had to take their shoes off and for some reason, my shoes got rejected by the scanner, although the staff didn't do any additional screening on them plus my case and sent them all back to me.

Then I had to go downstairs for immigration. Staff were already on hand to direct people to the automated machines instead of the manual line. Similar kiosks in Hong Kong and mainland China let the next person scan their ID first while the machine is in use by the person in front, saving some time. These machines in Bangkok are a bit more stupid. The first lad needs to clear his/her face recognition entirely and exit the kiosk first before the next person can scan his/her passport. This adds a few seconds for each person's processing but when you multiply that across a huge volume of people, the delays will start mounting.

My kiosk experience was a fail and I got sent to the manual line. It is entirely a repeat of the arrivals experience. I had to scan 4 fingers on my right hand, 4 fingers on my left, then thumbs, then take off my glasses for the photo. I've never exited a country with so much processing.

Air-side was busy with lots of shops and restaurants. I saw a McDonalds and Burger King here but I filled up already so scanned around for last minute souvenirs. Prices are a lot more expensive than the Big C in the city so I held off from more shopping. Instead, I looked for a charging point to juice up my phone. Hong Kong Express is a low cost airline. There is no entertainment on board and no charging ports either.

I saw quite a few people on flight with bags of mango sticky rice to bring home. Hong Kong doesn't have a lot of restrictions for importing food, including fruits, but this pack is quite expensive compared to the city.

Connecting to the wifi, I saw a message that I have internet for an hour. What a stingy airport.

I was tracking the inbound flight during my long stay, which had a 20 minute delay to 7:20pm. So I was pleasantly surprised when they started pre-boarding at 7:38pm. I had arrived at gate F2 a bit late and there was a long line to board. Fortunately, since I sat in front of the exit row, I was able to find overhead space but the folks after me struggled. We eventually closed the doors at 8:09pm and pushed back 4 minutes later. Not bad for a 8pm scheduled departure.

The flight was uneventful but I knew it would be impossible to make the last airport bus home at midnight when we were scheduled to land at 11:45pm. I had fully expected to catch the Airport Express then transfer to the MTR, but even this backup plan is in jeopardy with what's in store.

We pulled into a remote stand just shy of midnight. WE boarded buses for the long drive to the 200-gates satellite terminal, then had to continue by train into the main building for immigration. I guess the airline was too cheap to ask the bus to drive us all the way to the main building.

At this hour, getting through immigration was a breeze and with no checked bags, I was back land-side in no time. I had missed a train so did a bathroom break in the arrivals hall. They have been recently renovated although getting the fancy technology to work such as dispensing a paper towel was a challenge. The old manual way was faster and not frustrating, and this is yet another example of how technology makes our lives worse when it shouldn't be.

Luckily, I was able to make the last train and made it home without an extra spend on a taxi.

I tend not to have any high expectations for a LCC. Hong Kong Express delivered on a cheap redemption ticket and both flights were good. I would probably think twice before flying home on a late evening flight as it may arrive at a remote stand to end its day, causing delays which may jeopardize your public transport connections.

But hey, this was a super cheap roundtrip redemption for only 6000 Asia Miles! It's a wonderful deal!