QANTAS: Returning to Hong Kong from January 2022

According to ET, starting Monday, January 20 2023, Qantas returns to Hong Kong from Sydney with QF127/128 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with an Airbus A330.

From Sunday, 26 March, flights between Melbourne and Hong Kong return with QF29/30, using 2 class Airbus A330s with 28 lie-flat seats in Business.

However, there won’t be a Hong Kong Qantas lounge anymore (pity, it used to be one of my favourites). That closed back in 2021. Instead, you’ll have to ‘slum’ it at OneWorld partner Cathay Pacific’s premium lounges according to your travel class and OneWorld status.

Cathay Pacific Lounges

Hong Kong has slowly been re-opening since September this year, with various regimes of testing and isolation, and an airport divided into international travellers and those travelling into and out of the rest of China. This segregation also affects lounge access – so check which lounges are open and you have access/eligibility to use.

Cathay Pacific Flights

Cathay Pacific will also return to Australia at about the same time, with 2 flights a day to Sydney and Melbourne using 3 class Airbus A350s (Economy, Premium Economy and Business). All those aircraft parked outside Alice Springs will slowly get re-activated.

COVID and Hong Kong

Provisions for testing and isolation change regularly for Hong Kong. Best to check here for the latest provisions. At the time of writing, entrants to Hong Kong need pre and on-arrival testing and are restricted on where they can go for the first 3 days. That’s anywhere that requires a vaccine pass check which includes restaurants, beauty parlours and gyms, amongst many others.

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

Hong Kong is one of my favourite destinations, but with the current political climate in China, the COVID provisions, and a general caution about travel, you won’t find me travelling there any time soon. Transiting, maybe, but not as a destination.