Hong Kong Express launched a new flight to Beijing in March 2024. However, it was not serving the traditional Capital airport, but the new Daxing airport south of the city. With super specials on offer, I couldn't resist to try both a new route and a new airport for a fairly bargain basement price of HKD $1200 with hand baggage only.
Being spring, Beijing is susceptible to nasty dust storms, but the weather forecast called for sunshine for my entire 4-day stay.
With such a cheap fare, I was more than happy to splurge an extra $50 for a guaranteed window seat at the front of the plane during online check-in. Strangely, the airline didn't send me an email to remind check-in online a day earlier, but there were plenty of window seats upfront for me to choose from.
However, I couldn't download the boarding pass for some reason, so I would try my luck at the airport kiosk the next morning.
Arriving at 9:30am for my 11:05am flight, I went straight to the kiosk to print my boarding pass. While there are signs showing which destinations cannot be done this way, Beijing is not one of them, but the machine wouldn't recognize my China permit, the card Hong Kongers carry to fly, train, or walk into the mainland. We don't need to carry a passport to fly to Beijing. Flagging a staff down, she referred me to the long manual line as the machine won't work for this route. Sucks.
The manual line for online check-in had snaked outside the holding pen by now, although I see staff come out every now and then calling for specific flights whose check-in deadlines are imminent. It moved steadily but I got a bit nervous as the final 15 minutes came and I was only about half way through the line. I flagged another staff, who gave a bit more details on the kiosks not able to read our permit for this new route which is why I had to check-in manually. I guess this airline primarily flies to Japan now and not China.
I ultimately was rounded up by staff who were calling my flight as the check-in deadline neared, and ended up at the U-First line where my hand-carry was weighed and a printed paper boarding pass came. The agent didn't place the cabin-approved stickers on my backpack and case, but time was running out and I headed straight into security.
Security, like my previous few flights, was very busy and the lines snaked out to the airside gates. It seems all the lanes are open yet we're not even at full pre-pandemic capacity yet. Strange that before COVID, the lines were never this long.
After clearing the formalities, I had a much more comfortable 40 minutes to go before departure at 11:05am so I slowed down a little to reach the trains for the 200 gates.
I had received an SMS with a new boarding gate earlier, but it seems the gate had changed again as I emerged in the satellite terminal. I noticed a trickle of passengers and flight crew walk towards the new gate, 229, which is a downstairs bus gate. With this change and the crew waiting for their bus, I didn't think we'll be leaving on time.
Settled into an empty row at the back of the holding pen, I patiently waited until we were called for boarding just shy of 11am. Nobody further checked my bags and I was heralded onto the bus. There's no way we would depart on time at 11:05am.
We went around the airport, heading back to the main terminal's outside apron for our A321 to Beijing. Why couldn't we use a bus gate outside immigration instead of heading far to the satellite terminal to come back?
The doors closed at 11:29am and we pushed back 4 minutes later, almost half hour behind schedule. With a flight time of 2h45, we took off into the clouds and I never got the city aerials of both Hong Kong and Shenzhen on departure that I hoped the extra $50 seat fee could buy.
The flight was otherwise fairly good given the light loading. There was nobody next to me and only 2 on my side of the row, so I had some extra space to stretch. Staff were courteous and were busy selling buy-on-board food and duty free. Their standard announcement included not allowing us to consume outside food. Although it was the lunch hour, I opted to eat on arrival in Beijing and hopefully save some money.
We reached top of the descent at 1:53pm. Although the weather for Beijing was supposed to be sunny, it seemed smoggy and even a little cloudy outside. Since Daxing is south of the city, I didn't expect to see the city even on a clearer day.
We touched down at 2:30pm under a hazy blue sky and parked at an actual gate!
Entering the terminal, I was impressed with this new airport. While it was a long walk to immigration, it was all along the edge of the building with plenty of window views of local Chinese airlines. My international arrivals section was empty though.
I believe we were the only flight in and immigration was a breeze. With only hand luggage, I exited landside in no time.
The Daxing Airport Express Line connects the new airport with the rest of the subway network at Caoqiao just beyond the southern 3rd ring road. The 41 km line opened in September 2019 with an elevated section for 17km and the rest underground. These trains have a maximum speed of 160 km/h and takes less than 20 minutes from end to end.
Passengers can use the standard QR payment codes and Yikatong to board the train. However, it is also possible with your palm print and vein map. Passengers aged 14 and above can register their palm and provide payment authorization on their WeChat.
A train bound for Caoqiao in the southern outskirts arrived shortly after. While this train doesn't reach deep into central Beijing, the train to Capital airport doesn't either but slightly closer?
The train still had a new smell with plush wide seats. It looked like the interiors mimicked the high-speed train rolling stock but instead of a 3-2 configuration, it's only 2-2 here. There was also a guard on board who moved around during our short 20 minute ride.
Daxing airport is very nice and with a fast train connection to the city, definitely a place that I'd enjoy flying to in the future. At such a bargain basement fare for an almost 3 hour flight, I definitely have no regrets to fly to Beijing with them for a short getaway. There are still few international flights here so for such a massive facility, things moved fast like a small, cozy airport.
hkskyline 發表於 2024-6-12 17:39
While this train doesn't reach deep into central Beijing, the train to Capital airport doesn't either but slightly closer?
Dongzhimen is definitely WITHIN Central Beijing as per modern standard. It's on the 2nd Ring, while Caoqiao is on the 3rd Ring. Not to say that the AEL has been extened further to Beixinqiao in recent years.
But one thing I must mention is that AEL only connects to those usual lines (M2, M5 and M10) of Beijing Subway network. DAE connects to a RAPID line (M19), which significantly improves accessibility of the airport it serves.
