Review – Hong Kong Express Airbus A320 Hong Kong – Clark, Philippines, May 2025.

This is my most traveled route, I normally fly betweeen Hong Kong and Clark 3 times per month, as my family lives there. Cebu Pacific has two daily flights, and Hong Kong Express has one, and genrally speaking, Cebus flight schedule suits me to most, but this time I had to fly in the afternoon, so I decided to go with HK Express instead.

I booked the ticket online for my May 4 departure about 2 weeks in advance, and the total cost of the ticket was HKD890, including a 215 HKD charge for emergency exit seat selection. This is just the light fare, including one small personal item and one cabin baggage weighing no more than 7 kg. I brought just a backpack, and that was not weighted at check-in, so they didn’t appear too strickt on the weight rules.

I did the online check-in 2 days in advance, however, as I was on a one way ticket I was not able to get an online boarding pass, and still had to go to the check-in counter at the airport to get my boarding pass.

My flight departed from gate 218, which is in the mid-field concourse, and just a short APM ride from the main terminal. The train takes less than 5 minutes, and is quick and easy to use, There are, however, no lounges in this terminal, as it is mostly used by Hk Express, Hong Kong Airlines, Greater Bay Airlines and Air Asia. I did instead go to the Plaza Premium lounge close to gate 11 in the main terminal. I will do a review of this lounge some other time.

Gate 218 is the furthest from the entrance to the midfield terminal, but only a few minutes walk, so no extra time needed for this really. Boarding started 45 minutes before departure, and priority were given to families with kids, elderly and those with U First availed on their tickets. I had U first as part of my ticket as I had paid for emergency row access (so no need to pay extra for that), and was one of the first ones to board.

The aircraft that I was on was BHSN, which is a 20 year old air frame, but it must have been recently re-furbihed, as the seats smelled new, and everything looked new and fresh. I was a bit disappointed though to see that the seat-row had a wall in front of it, quite significantly limiting the leg-space.

The seat themselves were very comfortable, soft, and surprisingly wide, in particular considering that the tray table was in the arm-rest as this was row number 1.

During boarding I spotted one of my daughter’s classmates, which was a bit of a surprise, and possibly the first time I met someone I know on an international flight. Fun.

On thw wall in front of me there was a seat-pocket, with the normal collection of emergency briefing cards and menu for the flight. On Hong Kong Express food and drinks are not included in the ticket, ut they do offer a decent menu for those who need something on those short flights, and more options are available to order online while chcking in.

For ‘safety reasons’ HK Express doesn’t allow you to bring your own food or drinks on the plane, but I am not sure how strictly enforced that really is. The menu has a decent selection, and prices are reasonable, so no real need to bring your own food anyways.

We pushed back exactly on time, and after a quick taxi out we were on the runway and heading towars the Philippines.

While taxying out, we were racing another HK Express place on the parallel taxiway, and we departed ahead of them, good job by the boys and girls in the tower giving us priority 😀

After reaching cruising levels, the cabin crew came around and took our orders for food and drinks from those who wanted some, and of course I had to have a beer – it was evening time after all. Surprisingly, they offered a discount for Airport Staff, so total price for a beer and a small can of Pringles was 59 HKD. Not bad.

The rest of the flight was un-eventful, and although we landed on Runway 02 in Clark we still arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule. It was a quick taxi to gate 13, from where it is only a 3 minutes walk to immigration.

Clark only has a few international flights each day, so immigration there is quick and easy, and within 10 minutes of exiting the plane I was through immigrtion, customs and outside waiting for my driver to pick me up. I always use Rem Matibag’s service. He has great drivers, are alwyas early, and 10/10 customer service and replies to any queries within minutes (I don’t think that man every sleeps.) Highly recommended, contact him on Facebook if ever you need transport to, from or within Algeles City. Airport pick-up and drop-offs are currently 600 pesos, which has been the same since I started using him 2-3 years ago.