Now is an excellent time to book a trip to Hong Kong from London – with oil prices having dropped fares on the route are now lower (sub-£400) than for some time – at least since Oasis Airlines was flying.
Qantas Airlines is aggressively pushing their Hong Kong hub on the long hop to Australia. A special offer LHR-HKG fare of £378 return is available for travel dates 11 Apr 09 to 21 Jun 09 and bookable by 27 Jan 09. Travel between 06 Jan 09 to 02 Apr 09 is priced at £408.
Fellow Oneworlder British Airways is currently holding their worldwide winter sale until 27 Jan 09. Return fares to Hong Kong are set at £429 return, although we found lower BA fares (£406) on some of the major online agents. Don’t forget though – you only earn 25% miles for discounted economy tickets with BA.
Air New Zealand have a similar fare offer to Qantas with LHR-HKG available for just £376 return for travel 11 Apr 09 to 21 Jun 09. Book by 28 Jan 09. They also offer a business class return for £1,698 to November 09 but you must book by 07 Jan 09.
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific have a fare of £379 for travel 13 Apr 09 to 11 Jun 09, bookable until 28 Feb 09.
There are some Virgin Atlantic fares in March and April around this level – the lowest we found was £386.
If you live in the UK regions then you could consider flying with KLM via Amsterdam. Flights from Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle are all offered at just under £400. Depart between 5 Jan 09 and 15 Jun 09, return by 15 Jul 09. Emirates also offer departures from the regions via Dubai, but prices are a little higher at the £420 – £475 level.
The lowest price to Hong Kong is £359 with Qatar Airways, book by 31 Jan 09 for travel up to the end of June.
On the downside for UK travellers is that the Hong Kong dollar is pegged with the US dollar so due to sterling weakness, your expenses in Hong Kong will be higher than 12 months ago.
