<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by rkkwan:
There is even more competition from hotel to airport. Basically, every local in Hong Kong knows that you can just flag down a taxi cab (or even call their dispatch) and negotiate a rate to HKG, instead of paying by the meter. Latest rate I've heard is HK$170 from Kowloon to HKG, which is about HK$100 cheaper than what the official HKG site estimates. It's illegal, but "everybody does it".</font>
as far as I know, it's NOT illegal if the passenger started the negotiation him/herself and asked for a lower price, and the driver accepts...but if the driver initiated this, then it's another story and it's illegal.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by rkkwan:
And, yes, basically all taxi drivers will offer to take you to HKG at a reduced rate if you tell them to go to a Airport Express stop, unless he's about to go off-duty. A HKG roundtrip is HK$600 of revenue - it'd take a whole day driving around the city to get that.</font>
interesting, I take a cab to the AEL every single week, but none of the drivers have ever offered to take me to HKG directly at a reduced rate. but, of course, even if they offer, I would probably still take the AEL because I think AEL is actually just as fast and convenient (given you don't have too much luggage) and of course also because of the Asia Miles (although not much, but it really adds up, especially I bought some 30+ roundtrips during the double-mile promotion)...