Will I make this connecting flight at Hong Kong International Airport?

Planning a trip to Asia. Will this work: Arriving on Cathay CX 829
to Hong Kong at 8:00AM and need to make a connecting Cathay flight CX
717 for Singapore leaving at 8:55AM. I'll be arriving in Hong Kong
from Toronto. I've never flown to Hong Kong before, so I don't know
if 55 minutes will be enough to catch my connecting flight to
Singapore.

Do I have to worry about customs, distance between terminals or
checking in?

Many thanks,
Jim

"Jim Louis" wrote in message
m...
Planning a trip to Asia. Will this work: Arriving on Cathay CX 829
to Hong Kong at 8:00AM and need to make a connecting Cathay flight CX
717 for Singapore leaving at 8:55AM. I'll be arriving in Hong Kong
from Toronto. I've never flown to Hong Kong before, so I don't know
if 55 minutes will be enough to catch my connecting flight to
Singapore.

Do I have to worry about customs, distance between terminals or
checking in?

Many thanks,
Jim

I wouldn't try it if I were you, especially if you're buying 2 separate
tickets. Cathay uses gates all over this huge airport and there's no way to
know far in advance which gate the Cathay flight will use. Also, you still
have to transfer upstairs and sometimes wait in a line to do so.

I did something similar last year and Cathay was about an hour late. I
missed my UA connection and Cathay treated me like sh*t. First, they made
me wait almost 6 hours for another CX flight, when they could've booked me
on a number of other carriers. Then, they exchanged my business class UA
ticket and gave me an economy seat on an 11 hour flight to YVR. They told
me to get a refund from UA after I got back. Then, they didn't want to let
me use their business class lounge during the layover, since, after all
Cathay had already downgraded me to economy class. I did get some recourse
later on but not enough to get that bad taste of terrible Cathay service out
of my system.

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 04:24:57 GMT, "Blake S"
wrote:

Also, you still
have to transfer upstairs and sometimes wait in a line to do so.

I assume this is the same security rescreening between floors that
they used to have at Kai Tak.. for the OP, no customs, no immigration
when just transiting an airport between international flights almost
anywhere except in the US. I'd be surprised if you couldn't do it in
an hour. It's online, and assuming it's on one ticket, CX sold it and
thinks it's OK.

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 04:24:57 GMT, "Blake S"
wrote:

Also, you still
have to transfer upstairs and sometimes wait in a line to do so.

Jim Louis wrote:
Planning a trip to Asia. Will this work: Arriving on Cathay CX 829
to Hong Kong at 8:00AM and need to make a connecting Cathay flight CX
717 for Singapore leaving at 8:55AM. I'll be arriving in Hong Kong
from Toronto. I've never flown to Hong Kong before, so I don't know
if 55 minutes will be enough to catch my connecting flight to
Singapore.

It's one ticket, and they sold it to you that way? I'd guess it's fine. It's
a pretty efficient airport.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Site remodeled 10-Sept-2003: Hundreds of new photos, easier navigation.

"Jim Louis" wrote in message
m...
Planning a trip to Asia. Will this work: Arriving on Cathay CX 829
to Hong Kong at 8:00AM and need to make a connecting Cathay flight CX
717 for Singapore leaving at 8:55AM. I'll be arriving in Hong Kong
from Toronto. I've never flown to Hong Kong before, so I don't know
if 55 minutes will be enough to catch my connecting flight to
Singapore.

Do I have to worry about customs, distance between terminals or
checking in?

Many thanks,
Jim

Hong Kong is a very efficient (usually hassle-free) airport. On one
occasion I was booked on the 21:35 Qantas flight to Sydney. My late running
China Southern flight arrived at 21:20. I had not checked in for my 21:35
Qantas flight to Sydney because through check-in to Qantas flights ex-HKG is
not available in China. However, Qantas knew I was coming because I had
checked my luggage through to Sydney and this information had obviously been
relayed to Qantas by China Southern's computer system. A Qantas person was
waiting for me at the arrivals gate and checked my ticket, and relayed the
info to the staff at the gate, as we ran to the departure gate. I just made
the flight. My luggage didn't make it (the ground staff at HKG had told me
it wouldn't make it), but was delivered to my office in Sydney a few hours
after I arrived (it must have come on the later Cathay flight).

Of course, you can't always rely on that level of service, but Hong Kong is
an efficient airport and I have always found the ground staff to be helpful.
I've connected through Hong Kong about 12 times in the last two years, often
on tight connections without a boarding pass for the onward flight, and I've
always made the connection.

Martin

In article , MS
wrote:

"Jim Louis" wrote in message
m...
Planning a trip to Asia. Will this work: Arriving on Cathay CX 829
to Hong Kong at 8:00AM and need to make a connecting Cathay flight CX
717 for Singapore leaving at 8:55AM. I'll be arriving in Hong Kong
from Toronto. I've never flown to Hong Kong before, so I don't know
if 55 minutes will be enough to catch my connecting flight to
Singapore.

Do I have to worry about customs, distance between terminals or
checking in?

Hong Kong is a very efficient (usually hassle-free) airport...

I concur. Major Asian airports are very efficient and security checks
are far more sensible and better staffed than N American airport
procedures. And for passenger with tight connections, airline staffs
(especially at their home hub airport) typically would wait at the
arriving gate and escort/direct you to the departure gate.

Given that CX is selling you both the inbound and outbound flights on
the same ticket, you are almost guaranteed to be safe. And trust me,
you won't be the only passenger on that itinerary. Even if there's
irregular operations, CX would take care of any further arrangements
before you can open your mouth.

In article . net,
Blake S wrote:

I wouldn't try it if I were you, especially if you're buying 2 separate
tickets. Cathay uses gates all over this huge airport and there's no way to
know far in advance which gate the Cathay flight will use. Also, you still
have to transfer upstairs and sometimes wait in a line to do so.

I did something similar last year and Cathay was about an hour late. I
missed my UA connection and Cathay treated me like sh*t. First, they made
me wait almost 6 hours for another CX flight, when they could've booked me
on a number of other carriers. Then, they exchanged my business class UA
ticket and gave me an economy seat on an 11 hour flight to YVR. They told
me to get a refund from UA after I got back. Then, they didn't want to let
me use their business class lounge during the layover, since, after all
Cathay had already downgraded me to economy class. I did get some recourse
later on but not enough to get that bad taste of terrible Cathay service out
of my system.

You can't really blame CX for that. CX has no alliance with UA and you
can't expect CX to bump a scheduled passenger just for you on what
sounded like a sold-out business class. There's nowhere in the contract
with the airline to say that they have to replace a business class seat
with another on another airline. Well, that's where a) your travel
insurance comes in, and b) you should have booked all your sectors on
the same airline so they can take more ownership of you. As a minimum,
stay with two airlines that has a good alliance.

Thanks for all the replies so far. It's not one ticket; it's actually
part of the All Asia Pass that we're working on. My travel agent did
contact Cathay with our preliminary flight itinerary and Cathay
approved it so that's why I'm assuming an hour is enough time.

Since it's my first stop I don't mind so much if my inbound Hong Kong
flight is late and Cathay has to put me on another Singapore flight.
As long as they'll cover the costs and not shirk the responsibility
I'll be fine. There are a couple of flights later in the day to
Singapore and those are what I guess they'll put me on if the inbound
Hong Kong flight makes me miss my original Singapore flight.


Thanks again,
Jim L.

What you will have is a normal CX connection in HKG. I have flown CX quite a
few times through HKG, and have even had one extensive trip using the All
Asia Pass. Some of the connections that I had in HKG were on the order of 45
min to 1 hr. There was only the security screening to get upstairs to the
departures level to go through, and it really doesn't take that long to get
to any gate from that point (if you don't dawdle...). Almost all of my
trans-Pacific crossing flights were early (from LAX). So, you should be OK.
Enjoy your trip.
Cheers,
Bob

"Jim Louis" wrote in message
m...
Thanks for all the replies so far. It's not one ticket; it's actually
part of the All Asia Pass that we're working on. My travel agent did
contact Cathay with our preliminary flight itinerary and Cathay
approved it so that's why I'm assuming an hour is enough time.

Since it's my first stop I don't mind so much if my inbound Hong Kong
flight is late and Cathay has to put me on another Singapore flight.
As long as they'll cover the costs and not shirk the responsibility
I'll be fine. There are a couple of flights later in the day to
Singapore and those are what I guess they'll put me on if the inbound
Hong Kong flight makes me miss my original Singapore flight.


Thanks again,
Jim L.