Receipts attached 4 sources

Sources

  1. Other source

    HK Express 13th anniversary announcement

    HK Express

    Advertised starting fare bands, booking and travel windows, terms.

  2. Other source

    HK Express anniversary campaign terms

    HK Express

    Round-trip booking condition, taxes, extras and inventory caveat.

  3. Other source

    HK Express anniversary sale local report

    The Standard

    Separate publication of sale conditions, largely derived from airline.

  4. Other source

    Air passenger departure tax

    Airport Authority Hong Kong

    Current HK$200 charge for qualifying departing passengers aged 12+, with exemptions.

Limits

HK Express establishes advertised fares and sale restrictions; the Airport Authority independently establishes the HK$200 Hong Kong departure tax on tickets bought from October 1, 2025, for departing passengers aged 12 or older, subject to exemptions. The Standard separately reports promotional conditions but appears to rely on the airline. The sale window remained open October 28 morning, but campaign access hit a queue; no live seat inventory or all-in ticket price was established.

Corrections

No correction notes have been added for this article.

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The HK Express anniversary sale opened on October 26 with a HK$13 headline fare for selected flights out of Hong Kong. There is a catch: that figure is a fare for one flight sector in an initial round-trip booking, not a standalone one-way ticket, and taxes and surcharges come on top. For a nonexempt traveler aged 12 or older, Hong Kong’s air passenger departure tax alone adds HK$200 to the departing sector.

The HK Express anniversary sale runs until 11:45 p.m. Hong Kong time on October 30, according to the airline’s October 26 announcement. It covers travel from January 3, 2027, to March 27, 2028, although the eligible dates differ by destination. Seats at the promotional fares are limited. A low advertised starting point is not a promise that a particular flight will still be available when a traveler searches.

HK Express anniversary sale: the three fare bands

The airline lists the lowest Lite fare at HK$13 per sector for selected routes to mainland China, Taiwan and Vietnam. The named destinations are Beijing Daxing, Changzhou, Ningbo, Sanya, Wuxi, Yiwu, Hefei, Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Da Nang, Hanoi and Phu Quoc. For Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur Subang, Penang, Clark and Manila, the published starting Lite fare is HK$63. Japan and South Korea routes in the offer start at HK$113. These are starting fares, not a uniform price for every destination or date.

Lite includes one small personal item and one piece of cabin baggage, according to HK Express. Its published Essential starting fares are HK$113, HK$163 and HK$213 for the same three destination groups, respectively, and the Essential fare includes one small personal item and one checked bag of up to 20 kilograms. That difference matters more than a headline number if a trip needs checked luggage. The carrier’s campaign terms say additional services, taxes and surcharges are outside the advertised fare, so the payable total must be read at checkout.

Why the HK$13 fare cannot be booked on its own

The promotion’s wording calls the prices “one-way fares,” but its asterisk does the heavier work. HK Express says the offer applies only to an initial round-trip booking departing Hong Kong, including an open-jaw itinerary, and does not apply to a standalone one-way ticket. The Standard’s October 26 report also makes that limitation explicit. A traveler cannot treat HK$13 as the complete price of an outbound journey, much less of the whole trip.

The Airport Authority says air passenger departure tax is HK$200 for tickets bought on or after October 1, 2025, and applies to departing passengers aged 12 or older unless an exemption applies. On a qualifying HK$13 outbound sector, those two components alone are HK$213 for a nonexempt passenger. That is not a ticket total: the return fare, other taxes, surcharges and any extras still have to be added. The tax makes the advertised fare only one component of the outbound cost for those travelers.

There is a practical distinction between the cost of one sector and the cost of the booking. Its published table lists starting sector fares, not final round-trip totals. The return sector, dates, extras, taxes and surcharges can change what the booking screen shows. The useful number is the final amount before payment, with the baggage allowance and both flights visible. Comparing that total with a regular fare is more informative than comparing two starting prices.

When to book and what to check

The booking window opened at 10 a.m. on October 26 and closes at 11:45 p.m. on Friday, October 30, Hong Kong time. The airline directs customers to its designated offer page or WeChat mini program, and says the offer is not available in the HK Express mobile app. The campaign page warns that if a flight cannot be found, its promotional allocation may have sold out. The Standard likewise directs readers to the designated page or WeChat.

The travel window is broad but not universal. For example, the airline marks Ishigaki as a seasonal service running from March 28 to October 30, 2027; those dates are narrower than the overall January 2027 to March 2028 span. Someone planning around a school break, a particular weekend or a fixed return date should search those dates first rather than assume that an advertised destination and a published travel window add up to a sale seat.

For Hong Kong travelers, this is a short booking opportunity, not a short trip requirement. The fare bands put the HK$13 figure in view, and the airline’s own terms explain why it is only the start of a calculation. The return flight and the final checkout total finish it.