I didn't notice, sorry, and have deleted the app so can't go back to check. Couldn't have been too much. Frankly, I think people complaining about such charges need some perspective. Must be in the order of a rounding error at best, in the context of most people's total travel costs.

I usually take the Elizabeth Line so can't recall what it's like coming off the Heathrow Express at Paddington and if you need a different ticket there but getting on at Heathrow the same platform is used so you tap in the same way.

The foreign exchange spread in the app is 5 to 6%. You can't select HKD as a top-up currency, so no way to avoid it. Octopus really need to change this if they want people to use their tourist app rather than buy a physical card when they arrive. Lots of travellers now have zero-fee FX cards.

Well the admin cost of trading back the physical card is HK$11. If you're just using it for public transport (because you use the zero fee FX card for everything else) you'd be hard pushed to spend more than $50/day on average. So in a stay of, say, 5 days that $250 and the 5% exchange spread would be about $12.5.

Amongst the thousands of HK$ that the trip is costing you, is a difference of HK$1.5 really worth making a fuss about?

I have an Octopus card from before the Covid crisis. Is it still valid for a trip in Feb?

After no transactions in 3 years it becomes an "Inactive Octopus". See https://www.octopus.com.hk/en/consum...pus/index.html for further details.

I just got back and with so many places accepting Octopus it simply made sense. I carried some cash for the "high street" shopping where cash is king, but otherwise I was able to use the card pretty much everywhere. It sure beat carrying around coins and figuring out change.

And maybe this is recent, but the Star Ferry takes Amex now. There were ads for it everywhere at the station. That was the only place I didn't use my Octopus card intentionally, because if you tapped with Amex they only charged 1 HKD ($0.13 USD). It's probably some kind of offer from Amex, not sure if the CC tap function is going to be there "forever" but I'd be surprised if they took it away. They will probably take away that 1 HKD deal at some point though.

Ha! I did that too! The big hurdle I faced last time I was there was not being able to access the star ferry during a short layover....so went for the tourist Octopus this time (which worked well) then found out I could ride the ferry for $1 with AMEX! Typical

Same experience for us in mid-January. I used cash a few times for shopping at street stalls (Apliu Street flea market and some tourist targeted stalls in Causeway Bay) and a CC for higher end stuff like a dinner buffet in a shopping centre. Thanks to this thread, my wife and I both used Octopus for Tourists on our iPhones and it worked flawlessly. Topping up via a US CC was also way better than the old way of going to a cash machine and then putting said cash onto a physical Octopus card via a machine at the MTR station.

This probably won't apply to most reading this thread but FWIW, the building that we stayed at was able to link my mobile Octopus card to my registration, so my mobile Octopus card also functioned as the "key" to get me into the building. I worried that this would only work with a permanent Octopus card (mobile or physical) but to my delight, it worked with my technically temporary mobile Octopus card.

for what it's worth
 

Jotting down some pointers as a reminder to myself and for those who might find it helpful.
(I have not read the entire thread so I'm sorry if some of these points are redundant)

* I had old Octopus card that had not been used in >1000 days, which means it was deactivated and had to be reactivated at a service counter (went to Airport Express ticket counter at HKIA arrival hall) at a fee of 50HKD (or was it 15?) each.

* I had a couple other old Octopus cards which were also inactive that I had just turned in and gotten the remaining values back (possibly minus some nominal fees).

* The only way to top up / add value to the standard physical Octopus card is with cash, at a top-up machine at MTR stations, MTR / ferry terminal ticket counter, some convenience stores. One nuisance is that you can only add values using $50 or $100 bills.

* I had considered the mobile app options: standard Octopus vs Octopus for Tourist. The former was not a viable option for me, as it requires HK-issued credit card to my understanding. The latter is certainly an option for any visitor, but I read that there's a 6% markup on foreign currency exchange built into each transaction, which I thought was a ripoff.

* All things considered, I thought the best option for me was to just stick to the physical Octopus card despite the nuisance of having to top up from time to time using cash limited to $50 or $100... I felt this way, because I have an ATM card without out-of-network ATM fees and I plan to be back in HKG certainly within the next 1000 days so as not to have to worry about returning the card or worrying too much about how much balance I leave on my Octopus card at the end of my visit.

* As mentioned by many, vast majority of taxis are cash only (no credit card, no Octopus card). Certainly none of the Crown Comforts would take anything but cash. I think we only had 1 or 2 taxi rides where credit card was accepted... they were newish cars.

* However, you can use Uber to hail/book taxis and so you technically could use taxis in HKG without having cash. You have preset and metered pricing options for taxis via Uber, and the preset pricing is usually not bad... usually turns out a hair more than if you had not used Uber, but it's what I opted for each time I chose to use Uber for taxi. The Uber booking fee was only 7.50HKD each time. (In one instance, the preset price including booking fee, toll and everything was 310HKD from Wan Chai to HKIA. The metered price would've been 304, plus there would've been 6HKD per bag in the trunk... so in that instance, the Uber preset price turned out cheaper than if I had taken a standard non-Uber metered trip.)

* Airport Express one-way between Central (HK Station) and HKIA is $110. If staying in Admiralty or Wan Chai (or TST with intent of catching Airport Express from Kowloon Sta.), taxi to the station plus Airport Express is still the economical option for 1 traveler but, for 2+, just doing a taxi / Uber from the hotel to HKIA just makes more sense generally speaking imho.

* I may not have enough data points, but I felt a world of difference dealing with HK taxis in the world of Uber this time around versus 6-7 years ago when I just had to deal with the taxis without help. I used to have to deal with taxi drivers trying to get me to change my destinations, refuse to drive me on the basis of my destination being too close, and other shenanigan. Catching a taxi during afternoon changeover was particularly tough. With Uber now, everything is so much easier and within my control.

* Back to Octopus card / cash vs credit card... still not a world of difference in terms of places that do and don't take credit card compared to 5-6 years ago. But a little bit of progress. For example, Tsui Wah finally accepts credit card! (but sadly, their number of location has plummeted)

The A21 bus takes about 15-20 mins longer than the taxi/AEX option from TST but costs $HKD34 vs $HKD150.

There are also group discounts on AEX eg group of 4 is $HKD250 from Kowloon which is quite good and line ball with taxi but if they aren’t offered then I agree with evergrn that 2+ travellers with luggage should take a taxi for convenience. Having done it earlier this month, the taxi was good particularly after a long day of travel.

The AEX is excellent though and stress free but economically, it’s quite expensive compared to other options.

At the machines yes, but you can use whatever cash you like at the staffed counters or convenience stores, and these are practically everywhere there are machines (and anyway a human is faster if there is no queue).

You can also try Klook or similar for cheaper AEX tickets.

7 Eleven I went to wouldn’t let me put less than $HKD50 when I had to top up.

I concur - convenience stores only accept $50 or multiples of $100 for Octopus top-up in my experience.

Ditto for Airport Express ticket counter.