The causal relationship between how the bag got to HKG and the time it took to come out at the other end at SFO is not easily established. The fact that SFO is a 3rd world airport is a more likely culprit.

Heh.

I think from NRT, a lot of Filipino passengers boarded.

In any event, at the carousel, there were a ton of boxes from the Philipines and China which came out. An airport worker would pull these off the conveyor and put them to the side. I think in the past, those boxes being more bulky than suitcases tended to gum up the conveyor belt. Plus they're probably more prone to tearing open.

I think with a lot of recent work, SFO is nicer than what I saw of HKG, especially dining options. Duty Free was kind of pricey too as Remy Martin XO was around 1000 HKD and I knew back home, I could get it for $99.

We don't have anything quite as nice as AE but BART does go to SFO, although it's a general metropolitan train, not a dedicated airport to city service. So you don't have cars with luggage racks and the system is like 30 years old.

SFO has whole terminals where you only have a couple of gates occupied at any given time. HKG had a lot of gate activity on a Friday morning and of course, NRT was big too. But I guess SFO isn't a regional hub.

But what I want to know, and what really matters, does SFO have a Popeye's Chicken?

Heck with that, does Hong Kong have a Taqueria Andale?

Don't know, but it does have an Agave Tequila, which stocks 75 kinds of Tequila at reasonable prices. Does that count?

I'll be going to HK with my husband and 2 children age 4 & 5. Do each one of us, have to have 1 octopus card? or can we just buy 2cards, use it together, and recharged it everytime we need more credit.

Everybody needs his/her own. 4 cards for you.

Recharging card
 

You can set up automatic withdraw/recharging so that when octopus card gets to zero, automatically tops off with $200 (or $250). I just set this up for my son, who recently moved to HK earlier this month.

Otherwise, it's cash at the customer service counters. They provide a folder with all the relevant information; just ask for copy next visit.

I just looked at the tourist Octupus card info online. I can get an Airport Express ticket for 100HKD return by presenting my Cathay boarding card on arrival at the airport. Or I can buy this:

If I buy the 3 day card, I'm in effect paying 150HKD (since I get the deposit back) for 3 days of unlimited transport in Hong Kong. That doesn't sound like good value. Am I missing something?

Should I simply get a standard Octupus on arrival? How long can it go without use, and still be valid? (I'm wondering if I should turn it in after a trip if I have 9 months til the next visit.)

First of all, you only get unlimited MTR transport with the tourist card. Not on the buses, ferries, KCR trains, etc. You're given a stored value of $20 for those non-MTR use.

Not everybody flies CX to HKG, and not everybody knows about the $100 return AE ticket so that they can pick up a used CX boarding pass on the floor at HKG. So, you cannot compare a special deal to a regular travel card offer. So, in fact, the 3-day card gives you about 3 days of MTR travel for about $50 if you don't take out the discount. Which can be a good deal if one goes between HK Island and Kowloon a lot, or if one's planning a trip or two to Disney or Tung Chung for other attractions on Lantau.

According to the official guideline, an Octopus card is considered "inactive" if it's not been recharged for 1,000 days. You can supposedly recover your funds by paying a fee to reactivate the card.

And be aware that recently a charge has been introduced that if you turn in an Octopus for refund within 3 months of first issue then a "handling fee" of HK$7 will be deducted from the amount refunded.

(http://www.octopuscards.com/consumer...s/en/index.jsp)

Thanks. Then an Octupus card makes sense for me, as I get to Hong Kong at least annually.

Yeah, I think if you will definitely go there annually, then keep it. Save your $7, don't need to wonder what to do with the $50 deposit plus remaining value, and next time when you arrive you can go straight to the bus/train, instead of having to get cash and buy the card, etc.

Having said that, I've also had an Octopus go "bad" on me. It was mailed from my mom by US Postal Service from Houston to me in Rhode Island. Don't know how and when, but it just wouldn't work afterwards. Had to get another one and request a refund. I did get the stored value and deposit back, but it took like 10 working days or something like that.

so 4 octopus cards for us. What is the regular octopus card minimum value? and do we get money back for whatever credit left in our card when we turn in our card at the end of our trip?

adult octopus: $50 deposit+$50 "cash"
child: $50 deposit+$20 "cash"

and yes you'll get all you money back +deposit -the $7 per card if you return the card in the first 3 months.