It was a cheap ticket, so I wasn't too fazed when I realised there wouldn't be a meal. (God knows what they would have fed you!) I was a little surprised, though, when I found out the seats couldn't recline – but it wasn't a long flight, so I could handle that.
It wasn't until my family of four were allocated completely separate seats, all away from each other, that I reached my breaking point. And to add insult to injury, I saw plenty of adjacent seats in the free‑seating section! I can understand charging extra for upgraded front seats, but at least have the decency to keep family members together!!
Cheap and mean to boot. Cheap is what you buy, but unfortunately with this company, LOW LEVEL CHEAP is what you get!
My experience with HK Express has been very good.
The flight on 1.3. HKG - CRK was in time, very friendly staff, no problems with luggage and clean plane - everything fine
There’s no other way to say this. The HK Express airline is shamelessly shaking down its customers in favour of selling commercial freight space. Its greed for revenue at all costs will be its demise. I hope this sort of review can catalyse that demise.
You are allowed 7kg of carry on without extra charge. My wife’s tiny bag was half that weight, but because it had wheels (she is frail and unable to carry by hand) the airline shamelessly charged her US40 to carry it on the plane. My bag was double the weight but had no wheels ( I am more mobile). No problem for my bag. We complained to the counter staff. The reply was shameful… “ What do you expect with a budget airline?” To which I replied- $240 each for a one hour flight is not “budget” the other airlines like Cathay charge a similar rate. We asked if we were to purchase a plastic bag and put my wife’s bag in it and then carry it, would there be an extra charge. The answer was an unequivocal and immediate “yes that would be ok”.
What a pathetic, ignorant and stupid policy this is. HK Express, you should be thoroughly ashamed of your prejudice against your older passengers. Learn some grace and your business may survive. From the ratings on TrustPilot, I doubt you will succeed. Good riddance to you and your rotten approach to customer service.
I tried to book tickets both on your website and your app in my iPad, and I tried with my European Mastercard, Visa and Apple Pay on my iPad. At least 6-7 times yesterday and today. All payments have been denied. It is really frustrating an international Flight company as you does not have control on your online payment agreement or technical system. I tried another HK based airline’s website and it works 1st time I tried. I really don’t understand what is wrong with your company. :(
HK Express Ignored Sexual Assault Report Despite Video Evidence
I had a deeply disturbing experience with HK Express that I feel others need to know about.
On December 25th, during flight UO627, I was sexually assaulted by a passenger seated next to me. I later submitted video evidence recorded onboard the flight to HK Express.
Despite the existence of video evidence, the airline dismissed my complaint. I was told by a customer service representative (Miss Lam) that because I did not report the incident while it was happening, they could not confirm it occurred. This completely ignores the reality that sexual assault victims often experience shock, fear, and a freeze response.
HK Express refused to provide a refund or any meaningful resolution. The only thing offered was a voucher for future travel with the same airline, worth only a small fraction of the cost of a single one-way ticket. Offering a future-flight voucher after a sexual assault is inappropriate and shows a lack of concern for passenger safety.
Separately, I was also charged extra baggage fees after being forced to weigh two bags at check-in, while another passenger next to me was not required to weigh any bags. When I raised this issue, the airline denied that it happened.
This experience reflects a pattern of dismissal, denial, and lack of accountability. I do not feel safe flying with HK Express and would not recommend this airline to anyone.
The airline’s system is terrible. It is extremely difficult to purchase a ticket online — I was only able to complete the purchase using Apple Pay.
In addition, the company is not prepared to serve passengers from different countries. My baggage exceeded seven kilograms and I had to pay an extra fee, but three different international credit cards were rejected due to the airline’s poor payment system.
It was a major hassle to pay the absurd amount charged for my 10 kg bag that had to be checked in. They only accepted cash in the local currency, and no non-local credit card was approved by the system. No one from customer service was able to help or reduce the stress of the situation.
There are 4 options when booking: Ultra Lite, Lite, Essential, and Max...
Ultra Lite: ($60 USD)
- Small Personal Item (7kg)
Lite: ($69 USD)
- Small Personal Item (3.5kg)
- Cabin Baggage (3.5kg)
Essential: (89 USD)
- Small Personal Item (7kg)
- Checked Baggage (20kg)
Max: ($108 USD)
- Small Personal Item (3.5kg)
- Cabin Baggage (3.5kg)
- Checked Baggage (32kg)
- Seat Selection (But if you choose a seat during the CHECK-IN process, you are charged $13 USD Extra. Initial booking selection ONLY)
These prices DO NOT include any airport fees or fuel surcharges. You only find this out halfway through your booking. This throws off results in Google Flights, so it's very annoying:
Thailand - Advanced Passenger Processing System Charge ($1.16 USD)
Thailand - International Arrival and Departure Fee ($0.50 USD)
Thailand - Passenger Service Facilities Charge ($24.23 USD)
Fuel Surcharge ($19.92 USD)
Then when you pay, there are payment fees:
E-Payment Fee (i.e. Convenience Fee): ($7.50 USD)
Total: $161.21 USD (Google Flights would say $60 USD)
The biggest gotcha is you pay for "Maxi" and it's advertised like you receive an extra carry-on luggage, but that means your personal item goes from 7kg to 3.5kg, as the combined total weight of both should be 7kg or less.
This is a scam.
Charged me extra HKD300 for hand carry luggage which is under 7kg and 20inchs. Has been told my little face-size bag is the hand carry luggage which is included in the fee and my suitcase is not. Had a feeling of being scammed, cause never been treated like that in other airways.
Missed my flight because of HK Express absurd procedures
HK Express denied me check-in on my flight to Taiwan under the pretext that my passport was too damaged to get through immigration on arrival. I had to book another flight with another airline on the same day on my dime and, as was to be expected, had no issues getting my entry visa in Taipei. HK Express offered absolutely no refund although I missed my flight because of them. Do yourself a favor and avoid this company.
Paid extra for seat selection and carry on baggage for non paying customers to have taken over my seats and over head. Staff did nothing about it and also allowed the other passenger to touch me and hold me down to stop me from getting my luggage. Total fee was the same as a non budget airline. Seats could not be reclined and had no tv, chargers or phone holders, plane was poorly ventilated, no visible safety demonstration in my area and no information was given re customs or baggage collection. UO623
Scammer airline. You will end up paying luxury airline price for the poorest experience, worst of all budget airline.
Other budget airline, you would have expected poor experience because of the price you pay. Hkexpress will find ways to scam you for extra fees and you would have no choice.
Sorry to report that I agree with most of the negative comments here!
Their cabin bag policy is from the dark ages, nobody travels without some type of cabin bag, but some of their fare categories preclude cabin bags, my ticket specified a cabin bag, booked through an agency, but their Tokyo checkin adamanyly refused to accept the bag, and insisted I check it in. They are totally inflexible, even if its their mistake, and their attitude at checkin is all about how to make more money!!
In addition, having now to check in my bag, I offered them four credit cards (one being HSBC) to pay, each one was declined & they insisted I withdraw cash to pay. I called two of the card companies to ask about the decline, only to be told that they did not decline the transaction. Obviously they prefer cash so as not to pay the CC fees.
A passing comment to finish, HK Express is a wholly owned subsidury of Cathay Pacific, an excellent airline but seems they choose to ignore the huge number of negative reviews of their low cost daughter!!
I booked a flight with skyscanner Bangkok - Hongkong flying with HK Express. Found out you can't bring a carry-on or you have to pay obscene fees to do so. If you check-in online you can't choose a seat, or you can but you have to pay for that as well.
So checking in online is a big no no... bcs if you do something wrong you have to pay obscene fees for that as well.
The flight itself was ok
Charged extra ¥6,700 for ‘name change’ whilst checking in for baggage drop off because middle names weren’t included in ticket booking. A lot of other customers in the line were forced this too. The app doesn’t allow you to update this so be warned at the time of booking. Have travelled with 6 airlines in the past 2 weeks and only HK Express had an issue.
Also could do better with atleast serving water on a 5 hour flight.
There is no priority check in nor boarding for handicapped passengers. At check in, I told the staff that my husband is handicapped (though it was obvious as he walks with a cane) and she directed me to the line that everyone else was lined up in. I told her again that he’s handicapped and it’s very hard for him to stand a long time in such a long line and she replied, “it won’t take long.” At the gate, even worse. I asked for priority boarding because my husband is handicapped. First I was told that he needed to ask his supervisor first. Then they said okay but let about 25 people, families with kids board first, then started boarding all the others. When I asked why we are not allowed priority boarding, I was told he will board LAST! I said no way and went on board with my husband anyway. Never been treated like second class customers like this!
Book HK Express if you like travel stress and surprise charges
A ‘low cost’ airline that claims its money back from you through a multitude of scams. I spent an hour trying to book the ticket with various forms of payment, and the when I was finally able to get through of course it was double the price. I and many other people got called out on not having my middle name in the booking resulting in a large fee. Supervisors are cold and uncaring. A complete waste of time and money- I should have spent more at the outset and would have come out the same financially and would have been a lot happier. Book elsewhere unless you want to be stressed when travelling
My experience with HKExpress has been quite disappointing. The overall service has fallen short of expectations. Their customer service is virtually non-existent and highly inflexible, making it extremely stressful to resolve issues. Moreover, there is no clear way to escalate matters to senior customer service managers, leaving customers feeling unheard and frustrated. Their business model is to charge fees and penalties as much as possible, and customer service doesn't even feature in their company values.
Affordable pricing is important, but so is a standard of stress-free travel. Sadly, HKExpress does not seem to deliver on this. As a result, I will be using other airlines in the future for peace of mind and better overall service.
Cathay Pacific Airways
Jetstar
AirAsia
Trip.com
VietJetAir
Ryanair
Hongkongairlines.com
Thai Lion Air