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THE ALVIATOR'S VERDICT
This flight was quite no-frills, though I appreciated Hong Kong Airlines' branding elements on their shortest flights, and feel like the airline has a new lease of life |
3.5
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In December 2025, I had the opportunity to fly Hong Kong Airlines’ A321 economy class on the 1h 55m flight from Hong Kong to Danang. Hong Kong Airlines started flying to Danang in 2024, and now flies 13x a week to this popular holiday destination (the later flight of the day doesn’t fly on Thursdays).
This was a new flight for me – first of all, it was my first time flying Hong Kong Airlines since their rebound, after they had a skeleton operation over COVID-19. Secondly, it was my first time ever flying the airline in economy class. I’ve flown the airline in business class (once pre-COVID, and once after while they were going through a rough patch), though I was curious to know what they’d be like in economy. I knew coming in that we’d be receiving their ultra-shorthaul economy class service (basically being handed a snack onboard), though wanted to review them anyway.
There’s a new energy at the airline, and they have a pleasant onboard experience with good branding. However, the airline really needs to work on their IT, including their “manage your booking” process. While the actual process of booking is fine, the process of managing your booking is painful and long-winded, especially if you’re trying to select seats for a group.
Also, since I won’t be reviewing my return flight on a slightly different A320, I’ll touch on elements of the A320 experience in this post as well.
Booking Hong Kong Airlines’ A321 Economy Class
We booked our Hong Kong Airlines economy class tickets through the airline’s website, and this cost HK$3,036 (£284) per person. This isn’t the best roundtrip economy class fare I’ve ever seen, though was a fair rate for peak season, and we didn’t have much of a choice (as a family we check a number of bags, and this would’ve cost a lot if we were flying HK Express).
The frustrating thing is that you have to use the entire ticket number when you want to manage your booking (as opposed to the six-digit booking reference). This also means that if you want to select a seat after booking but before online check-in, you have to log into each passenger’s booking individually – yep, I had to do it four separate times in order to assign seats for us. Both the website and app also make you complete a fiddly CAPTCHA puzzle before you can access your booking, so assigning seats was a 15-minute ordeal.
The overall itinerary we booked was:
29/12 Hong Kong Airlines HX548 Hong Kong – Danang dep. 15:00 arr. 15:55 (Economy Class)
02/01 Hong Kong Airlines HX545 Danang – Hong Kong dep. 20:45 arr. 23:30 (Economy Class)
Hong Kong Airlines Economy Class Ground Experience at Hong Kong Airport
Vietnam issues eVisas for Hong Kong passengers, though as I understand, these aren’t embedded within the airline GDS (unlike UK eTAs). So I wasn’t surprised that online check-in wasn’t an option for our flight.
I was pleased to see at the airport that there was a separate queue set up just for passengers travelling to Vietnam, including the airline’s flights to Hanoi and Da Nang. Our documents were checked, and we also had no issue checking in our bags with the friendly agent.
Document Check Counter at Hong Kong Airport
Afterwards, we headed to the AmEx Centurion Lounge to enjoy a round of drinks. Following this, I decided to head to the Midfield Concourse just before 2 PM. This was because despite the fact that we were “only” on an A321, boarding was scheduled a full 50 minutes before departure, at 2:10 PM. In contrast, boarding for our return Danang to Hong Kong flight was scheduled a mere 30 minutes prior to departure, which seemed a lot more reasonable.
Hong Kong Airport Midfield Concourse
Unfortunately from the gate we didn’t have a great view of our A321, as it was hidden by the jetbridge.
Hong Kong Airlines A321 at Hong Kong Airport
As I’d expected, there was basically no action at the gate at 2:10 PM, when boarding was scheduled to begin. All we got was a “boarding soon” notification on the screen at 2:20 PM, and at 2:25 PM we had a welcome announcement that explicitly “wasn’t a boarding announcement”.
Boarding only began at around 2:30 PM, starting with infirm passengers.
Hong Kong Airlines Gate Area at Hong Kong Airport
This aircraft didn’t feature a business class cabin, so only Fortune Wings elite members received priority boarding – as you’d expect for a leisure route on a non-alliance carrier, not many were part of this queue. Boarding was then conducted in zones – zone C consisted of rows 51-67, zone B consisted of rows 42-50, and zone A consisted of rows 31-41. The plane was boarded back-to-front, which meant that zone C got to board first.
Priority Boarding Signage at Hong Kong Airlines Boarding Gate
My seat was located in zone B, so I waited until zone C boarding completed, then proceeded to board the aircraft.
Boarding Hong Kong Airlines’ A321
Hong Kong Airlines Flight HX548
Monday, December 29, 2025
Origin: Hong Kong (HKG) Gate: 218 Dep: 15:00 (15:00)
Destination: Da Nang (DAD) Gate: 7 Arr: 15:55 (15:55)
Duration: 1 hr 55 min (1 hr 55 min)
Aircraft: Airbus A321 Reg: B-LPR
Seat: 42B/42A (Economy Class)
Hong Kong Airlines A321 Economy Class Cabin and Seat
Our Hong Kong Airlines A321 featured 220 economy class seats. While some of Hong Kong Airlines’ A320s feature a business class cabin, all three of the airline’s A321s (all delivered in 2024) are in a one-cabin configuration. This was B-LPR, the airline’s first-ever A321 delivered in May 2024, and featured brand new seats – funnily enough the plane actually used to belong to Vietnam Airlines, before being transferred over to Hong Kong Airlines in 2024.
Hong Kong Airlines A321 Economy Class Cabin
These are Recaro BL3520 seats, which you’ll also get on Lufthansa or Eurowings‘ older fleet. While the A320s and A330s feature bright red economy seats, these are a much more muted grey.
Hong Kong Airlines A321 Economy Class Cabin
I’d actually assigned us seats near the exit row, in rows 41 and 42.
Hong Kong Airlines A321 Exit Row
Specifically, I assigned my mom seat 42A, the window seat behind the exit row (due to the amount of legroom it had). I then assigned myself and Hailey (my sister) the middle and aisle seats next to it, and assigned my dad the seat closer to the exit row door. None of these seats were free – mine and Hailey’s seats cost HK$60 (£5.63) each, whereas my parents’ exit row seats cost HK$180 (£16.9) each to assign.
Hong Kong Airlines A321 Economy Class Seats 42A, B, C
The seats don’t have adjustable headrests or anything, though do feature a minimal amount of recline.
Hong Kong Airlines A321 Economy Class Recline
The tray table folded out of the seat in front, and was a good size (unlike what you’ll get on the newer Recaro SL3510 seats adopted by easyJet, British Airways, Aer Lingus etc.).
Hong Kong Airlines A321 Economy Class Tray Table
After sitting in the seat for a while, my mom actually offered me the exit row seat. This seat had a bi-fold tray table, which I also found to be sturdy.
Hong Kong Airlines A321 Economy Class Tray Table at Exit Row Seat
These seats are bog-standard, though I found them to be comfortable enough for short flights. I wish the seats had at least USB charging or some form of in-seat power, though for a 1h 55m flight this wasn’t too much of an issue.
Hong Kong Airlines A320 Economy Class Cabin and Seat
My return flight was operated by an A320, and specifically was operated by B-LPT. This plane had seats that used to operate for Tigerair. If I’m honest, these seats were much less comfortable – although the seats were thicker, they didn’t feel cushier or more well-padded. The recline also wasn’t any better than on the outbound.
Hong Kong Airlines A320 Economy Class Cabin
Legroom was okay, though was definitely a bit tighter than on the outbound (even before I moved to the exit-row seat). Typically I’m happy to trade off some legroom for better seat padding, though this seat didn’t feel well-padded, so…
Hong Kong Airlines A320 Economy Class Legroom
The tray table folded out of the seat in front, and at least was sturdy.
Hong Kong Airlines A320 Economy Class Tray Table
However, Hong Kong Airlines has other A320s that they’ve owned for years, and I believe those planes feature much more well-padded seats. This was just one of the two A320s that the airline had inherited from Tigerair (they feature 180 economy seats, whereas the non-Tigerair one-cabin planes feature 174 seats).
Overall, Hong Kong Airlines has a bit of a hodge-podge of a fleet, especially on shorthaul routes. One aircraft (B-LPU) even only has 150 economy class seats with 34″ pitch, as they inherited that aircraft from Japanese carrier StarFlyer, and didn’t refurbish it.
Taking off from Hong Kong Airport
At 2:50 PM, the captain welcomed us onboard the aircraft, and announced our 1h 35m flight time. This was followed by a safety briefing.
We pushed back more or less on time at 3 PM. Taxiing to runway 25C (where we’d be taking off) took around 15 minutes, and involved going round the midfield terminal and part of the main terminal.
Taxiing at Hong Kong Airport
We took off at 3:15 PM, with a view of the airport’s cargo bays. This was a westbound over-water departure, so we didn’t get much in the ways of views after this.
Takeoff at Hong Kong Airport
Hong Kong Airlines A321 Economy Class Snack Service
Air time on this Hong Kong-Danang flight is quite short, so Hong Kong Airlines doesn’t provide a full hot meal service (as you’d expect in intra-Asia economy). Instead, there’s a snack service, which the flight attendants distributed through the cabin within 15-20 minutes of taking off.
This was served in a cute little Hong Kong Airlines-branded paper bag, and featured a cake, some biscuits, and a bottle of water.
Hong Kong Airlines A321 Economy Class Snack Service
There was also an antiseptic towelette, which had a cute cockpit graphic on it.
Hong Kong Airlines A321 Economy Class Towelette
Would I have wished for a more elaborate meal service? Yeah – I remember having a hot pork chop bun snack on an ultra-shorthaul Hong Kong Express flight many, many years ago, before they became a low cost airline and got acquired by Cathay Pacific (and rebranded as HK Express). I wouldn’t say this offering was quite as good. However, I noticed the energy of the brand, from the branded paper bags to the towelette, and I’d say these things make a difference – it doesn’t read “financially struggling airline”, as things did back during my last flight with them in 2023.
Hong Kong Airlines A321 Economy Class Lavatory
Hong Kong Airlines has four lavatories on their A321s – one at the front and three at the back. This makes for a 55:1 passenger to lavatory ratio, which is respectable for a narrowbody aircraft. The lavatories themselves, as you’d expect, are bog-standard, and don’t feature any additional amenities.
Hong Kong Airlines A321 Economy Class Lavatory
Hong Kong Airlines A320 Economy Class Streaming Entertainment
Hong Kong Airlines doesn’t have WiFi onboard any of their fleet at the moment. On their A321s, they don’t have streaming entertainment either, so download a movie or get some thumb cream (so you can twiddle them without drying them out).
On the A320s, the airline does feature streaming entertainment. On my flight there was a QR code label on the seat in front. Sadly, the QR code didn’t actually work (though the link below the QR code did).
Hong Kong Airlines A320 Economy Class Streaming Service QR Code
The inflight entertainment was enabled at cruising altitude, and there was a small selection of movies and TV shows to watch, with a focus on Chinese movies.
Hong Kong Airlines A320 Economy Class Entertainment Selection
The airline does now have a full entertainment selection on their A330s, though even then I don’t remember the selection being great. If you’re up for watching a wildcard movie, though, you won’t get bored.
Landing into Danang Airport
The flight time on these flights to Danang were quite short, and at 3:20 PM local time (1h 5m after we’d taken off) the captain came on to announce our imminent landing into Danang.
Approach into Danang Airport
I’ve passed through Vietnam before, though it’s always been a country I’ve been so keen to visit. So my eyes were glued to the window as we descended into Vietnam, seeing patches of water with mountainous backdrops, as well as rows of buildings of varying heights.
Landing into Danang Airport
We landed on Danang Airport’s runway 35L at 3:50 PM, five minutes before our scheduled arrival time. From there, it was a very short taxi to our gate, where we were able to deplane via jetbridge.
Taxiing at Danang Airport
Shortly before we parked, I saw an A320 belonging to Moldovan carrier FlyOne, which was painted in a livery promoting Turkish luxury resort Cullinan Belek. This aircraft was being wet-leased and operating flights on behalf of Air Cambodia at the time – aviation is so interesting!
Taxiing at Danang Airport
The immigration queue at Danang Airport took around half an hour, though I didn’t mind this too much, as I was waiting with family. Afterwards, we collected our bags, and were picked up by a driver from the Five Villas & Resort Quangnam.
Conclusion: Hong Kong Airlines A321/A320 Economy Class
Ultimately there’s nothing special about this ultra-shorthaul A321 flight I had on Hong Kong Airlines. It was priced not too far above what I’d get on HK Express if I was checking a bag (especially over peak season), and honestly, there wasn’t too much differentiation to the onboard experience. Nevertheless, I’m happy to see the airline back on its feet again, and that was evident on this flight.
The airline needs to get better IT. Perhaps it doesn’t have a choice – Chinese airlines are never known to have good IT, and Hong Kong Airlines is owned by the mainland Chinese HNA Group (and the experience using Hong Kong Airlines’ website was very similar to my experience flying mainland carrier China Eastern). However, there’s just something cheap-feeling about the booking process, which isn’t reflected once onboard the aircraft.
I’d be keen to see what the economy experience is like on one of their “flagship” A330s, which feature better seats with in-seat power and inflight entertainment. Perhaps I should try their economy class on a longhaul flight.
