Tag Archives for hong kong.
For April, July, August, and September 2022 there are plenty of dates with availability for two passengers on the Dallas – Hong Kong flight in first class at 84,000 AAdvantage miles apiece. Next year there may be hope of visiting Hong Kong, or of using this flight to connect onward in Asia on American’s partner Cathay Pacific.
Availability on American’s Dallas flight is great because it’s a useful connecting point for most of the country.
There’s a new Chinese airline forming out of Hong Kong, expected to partially launch in four weeks, with an explicit aim of celebrating – and fostering – the turn of Hong Kong away from the west and towards the Chinese Communist Party.
Greater Bay Airlines plans to make its inaugural flight – a charter to Beijing – on October 1, the 72nd anniversary of the Community Party takeover of China.
Cathay Pacific carried an average of just 774 passengers per day in May. Only around 2000 passengers per day used the Hong Kong airport. That’s only 1% of pre-pandemic volume. As a result, Cathay Pacific has just one lounge open – The Wing First Class lounge.
The Wing first class lounge joins Priority Pass effective Monday, June 21.
Indian airline Vistara was banned from flying to Hong Kong for two weeks earlier this month after bringing in passengers who tested positive for Covid-19 on two separate flights.
While four passengers initially tested positive on April 4th’s Delhi – Hong Kong flight, 25 people on that flight have now tested positive.
Over the weekend, Vivo Y20 cell phones and accessories which were made in Guangdong, China and headed to Bangkok caught fire as they were about to be loaded onto an aircraft in Hong Kong.
British Airways cabin crew who tested negative for Covid-19 on arrival were nonetheless rounded up from the SkyCity Marriott near the Hong Kong airport and taken to a forced 14 day quarantine in a government facility when one member of the crew tested positive. The airline’s pilots were allowed to return to London.
Back in May the process for entering Hong Kong was one of the most excruciating things I’ve seen in travel, taking the better part of a day. It involved being bused to the EXPO Center, long waits for testing and results, and receiving a monitoring bracelet.
While transit has opened up in some cases, the process for actually entering Hong Kong is still stringent – but has been substantially streamlined.
A Cathay Pacific passenger boarded a flight from Canada to Hong Kong back in March, intending to connect to Vietnam. Hong Kong transit was shut down March 25. Vietnam closed its border to arrivals. He lived inside the airport for three months.
Then he walked out.
Aircraft make great hiding spots for drugs, like when the nose of this American Airlines jet hid 31 pounds of cocaine.
But what on earth led Hong Kong Customs officers to do a full tear down on an aircraft engine leading them to an incredible haul?
After arriving in Hong Kong, it’s an 8 hour process involving quarantine forms, downloading a tracking app, and registering a tracking bracelet you have to wear – before taking a COVID-19 spit test and awaiting the results. This gripping report walks through it all, step-by-step.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
