Originally Posted by
jiejie
If one is travelling long-haul international from most locations to central or northern mainland China--and has no business scheduled for Hong Kong or southern PRC--than it makes little sense to fly through HKG. Particularly if paying for one's own ticket, as the HKG-mainland flight connections are not cheap. There's a reason most of us in northern China needing to get to HKG on our own dime, fly instead to Shenzhen and cross the border overland.
Not sure why you brought up the visa issue, I can't see any relevance.
there is no need to have business there to use HKG as a transit point, and you can afford to get there and have an entry visa should you need to go for an emergency. I found the cost of transit in PVG (no business yet in PEK areas) marginally different from the one in HKG and not enough in my opinion to warrant a switch there, especially considering the caos experienced in all the occasions, from check in to customs and a general indifference in attitude. Many I know have reached the same conclusions.