I used to think I was a genius because I managed to book a round-trip ticket from Hong Kong to Tokyo for $1,100 HKD. I felt like I’d beaten the system. I told everyone at the office. I was the ‘flight guy.’ Then 2019 happened—well, specifically, a rainy Tuesday in November 2019—and I realized that being the flight guy is actually just a fancy way of saying you enjoy suffering for a few hundred bucks.

The flight was UO622. HK Express. It landed at Narita at 1:30 AM because of a ‘minor operational delay’ which is airline-speak for ‘we don’t care about your sleep.’ By the time I cleared immigration, the last Narita Express was a distant memory. The buses were done. I ended up paying $1,400 HKD for a taxi into Shinjuku. My ‘cheap’ flight ended up costing more than a premium economy seat on Cathay. I sat in the back of that Toyota Crown, watching the meter climb, feeling like the biggest idiot in the territory. It was a total disaster.

The trap of the midnight landing

Everyone in Hong Kong is obsessed with the price tag. We see a $88 fare to Da Nang or a $200 fare to Taipei and our brains just shut off. We forget that Hong Kong International Airport is basically a shopping mall with runways attached, and it’s designed to extract money from you at every turn. If you take a 7 AM flight to save money, you’re paying $350 for a taxi to the airport because the MTR isn’t running yet. If you take the midnight flight back, you’re a zombie at work the next day. Is your productivity worth less than the $400 you saved? Mine isn’t. Not anymore.

What I mean is—actually, let me put it differently. We treat travel like a transaction when it’s actually an experience of time. I’ve started looking at the ‘all-in’ cost. That includes the Uber to the airport, the meal you have to buy because the LCC doesn’t feed you, and the inevitable massage you need because the seats on budget carriers are essentially plastic slabs designed by someone who hates human spines.

The cheapest flight is almost never the best value. It’s just the lowest number on a screen.

My completely unfair hatred of HK Express

I know people love them. I know they are the backbone of the ‘I go to Japan every weekend’ lifestyle. But I honestly can’t stand them. I refuse to fly them anymore, even if they’re the only ones flying to a specific destination like Ishigaki. It’s not just the cramped seats. It’s the predatory baggage policy. I once saw a gate agent in Terminal 1 make a grandmother cry because her carry-on was 0.5kg over the limit. It was 7.5kg. She had to pay $500 on the spot. It felt like watching a mugging in slow motion.

I might be wrong about this, but I feel like the budget airlines in HK have become significantly more aggressive since the pandemic. They know we’re desperate to leave this rock. They smell the FOMO. I’ve tested this: I tracked the HKG to BKK route for 22 days straight using a VPN set to Singapore and another set to HK. The prices for the budget carriers fluctuated by as much as 40% based on nothing but my search history. It’s like playing a slot machine where the house always wins.

Anyway, speaking of the airport, has anyone noticed how the food in the new Sky Bridge area is actually decent? I had a bowl of won ton noodles there last month that didn’t taste like sadness. But I digress.

The math that actually works

I’ve done the research. I tracked 12 trips over the last three years, comparing ‘Budget’ vs ‘Full Service’ from HKG. Here is the data point that changed my mind: on average, once you add a 20kg checked bag and a decent meal, the price difference between AirAsia/HK Express and Cathay/Greater Bay is usually less than $600 HKD. For $600, I get a seat that doesn’t vibrate every time the person behind me sneezes, and I get to land at an hour where the trains are still running.

• Cathay Pacific: Often cheaper if you book exactly 18 weeks out. I don’t know why, but 18 weeks is the sweet spot for their ‘Fanfares’ leftovers.
• Greater Bay Airlines: They are… fine. They’re like the plain white rice of airlines. Nothing special, but they don’t seem to have the same mean streak as the other budget guys.
• Thai Airways: Always the best choice for Bangkok. Period.

I used to think that Skyscanner was the Bible. I was completely wrong. Now I use it to find the flight, then I go directly to the airline’s website to see how they’re trying to screw me on the ‘extras.’ If the extras cost more than a nice dinner in Soho, I bail. Total scam.

Where I might be wrong (and a risky take)

I know people will disagree, but I actually think flying out of Macau or Shenzhen is a waste of time for 99% of Hong Kongers. I hear people say, ‘Oh, I saved $2,000 by flying from Bao’an!’ Great. You also spent four hours on a bus, went through two sets of customs, and probably aged three years from the stress. Unless you live in Tuen Mun and have a death wish, it’s not worth it. Your time has a dollar value. Stop pretending it doesn’t.

Maybe I’m just getting old. Maybe I’ve lost the ‘hacker’ spirit. But there’s a certain peace in knowing that I have a confirmed seat, a bag that isn’t being weighed by a teenager with a power trip, and a flight time that doesn’t require me to wake up at 4 AM. Cheap flights are a young person’s game. I’m 34. I’m tired.

I genuinely don’t know why we’ve made travel so competitive in this city. It’s like we’re all trying to win a prize for the most miserable journey. I saw a guy on a forum bragging about a $600 flight to Cebu that had two layovers. Why? Why would you do that to yourself? Life is too short for a 14-hour journey to a place that is three hours away.

Just pay the extra $800. You’ll thank me when you’re not crying in a taxi at 2 AM.