Third round of free tickets from Hong Kong Airlines causes frustration again as users complain of 2-hour wait
- Third round of return trips covers flights to mainland Chinese destinations, Japan and Taiwan, with 8,500 tickets up for grabs from Monday morning
- Airport Authority says average daily passenger numbers reached 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels last month, as city continues ‘steady recovery’
A third round of free tickets in a Hong Kong Airlines promotional campaign has again left some online users frustrated amid attempts to land trips to mainland China, Taiwan and Japan.
The Hong Kong Airport Authority said the total number of passengers passing through in July reached 3.8 million, equivalent to 57 per cent of the figure for the same month in pre-pandemic 2019.
But the 20.4 million passengers the airport handled in the first seven months of the year was still well below the 44.6 million recorded during the same period of 2019.
Internet users earlier in the morning had rushed to secure free tickets under the third round of a promotional drive by Hong Kong Airlines.
The local carrier made 8,500 complimentary return tickets available from 10am on a first come, first served basis, after a frenzied response to two earlier rounds this month and in late July prompted the company to apologise for long waits.
Users needed to enter a portal via the airline’s website to queue for a ticket to their preferred destination in the latest round. Applicants had only one choice for cities such as Tokyo, Shanghai, Haikou, Taipei, Beijing, Fukuoka or Okinawa, for departures from September 1 to March 24 next year.
But they were required to pay applicable taxes, surcharges and other fees and their length of stay at the destination must be between two and seven days.