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



 
 
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  #11  
Old September 17th, 2003, 04:31 PM
Miguel Cruz
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Default Will I make this connecting flight at Hong Kong International Airport?

Jim Louis wrote:
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.


That's one ticket.

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.


If they approved it, they approved it.

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.


They will get you there. This is Cathay Pacific we're talking about, not
RyanAir.

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.
  #12  
Old September 17th, 2003, 05:28 PM
Peter L
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Default Will I make this connecting flight at Hong Kong International Airport?


"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?


It'll be really tight. HKG is where all the 747's of the world get together
for their daily coffee club meetings. The immigration line may be very
long. You'll have to take a short shuttle to and from your terminal. But
since you'll be connecting to another CX flight, you may want to check with
the airline just to make sure.


Many thanks,
Jim



  #13  
Old September 17th, 2003, 05:54 PM
Blake S
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Default Will I make this connecting flight at Hong Kong International Airport?


"Whytoi" wrote in message
...
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.


Actually, that was the condensed version of the story. That trip started
from Taipei, and I confirmed with the Cathay respresentative at check-in
that I would make my connection. They cancelled my connection anyway.
Basically, they lied to me. They could've re-routed me from Taipei if they
knew I was going to miss my connection. Business class on the connecting
flight wasn't sold-out.

I still wouldn't try it. Last time I tried this kind of thing with EVA and
I missed my connection (though the arriving flight was delayed by weather).


  #14  
Old September 17th, 2003, 08:10 PM
Blake S
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Default Will I make this connecting flight at Hong Kong International Airport?


"Whytoi" wrote in message
...
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.


CX escorted me to the ticket counter and cancelled my flight.


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.


You would think so. My experiences have been mixed.



  #15  
Old September 17th, 2003, 08:13 PM
Blake S
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Posts: n/a
Default Will I make this connecting flight at Hong Kong International Airport?


"AJC" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 09:28:41 -0700, "Peter L"
wrote:


"Jim Louis" wrote in message
om...
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?


It'll be really tight. HKG is where all the 747's of the world get

together
for their daily coffee club meetings. The immigration line may be very
long. You'll have to take a short shuttle to and from your terminal.

But
since you'll be connecting to another CX flight, you may want to check

with
the airline just to make sure.



Sigh. What immigration line? The passenger will be in international
transit arriving from somewhere (Toronto?) and departing to Singapore,
he never enters Hong Kong. Furthermore Hong Kong only has one
terminal, so he can't take a shuttle to and from his terminal. There
is a shuttle running the length of the main spine of the terminal
which he may or may not use in one or other direction depending on
which gates he has to transfer between. 55 minutes is enough to
transfer between two CX flights at HKG.
--==++AJC++==--


CX flights arrive at gates scatted throughout the airport. I would agree
that 55 minutes is probably enough time to connect if you know where to go
and do it quickly. My late arriving flight left only 45 minutes left for
the connection and Cathay cancelled my flight.


  #16  
Old September 18th, 2003, 01:23 AM
devil
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Posts: n/a
Default Will I make this connecting flight at Hong Kong International Airport?

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 19:10:49 +0000, Blake S wrote:


CX escorted me to the ticket counter and cancelled my flight.


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.


You would think so. My experiences have been mixed.


Strange story. Are you saying you got a single ticket, business class,
TPE-Hong Kong-YVR on CX. With a short but apparently legal connection,
which *they, CX* had sold you, but that, enroute, they canceled your
reservation?

(I assume it's not the flight that was canceled?)

Sounds like they had oversold their business class and that they needed a
scapegoat, and they picked you as the victim? Using the short connection
as an excuse?

I would say this was a case to stand firm and not go along with them. If
you had a reservation, you had a reservation after all.

If they really needed to bump someone, at the very least they should have
accomodated you in business class on another flight/airline.


  #17  
Old September 18th, 2003, 01:56 AM
Whytoi
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Will I make this connecting flight at Hong Kong International Airport?

In article et, Blake
S wrote:

In article . net,
Blake S wrote:


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


Actually, that was the condensed version of the story. That trip started
from Taipei, and I confirmed with the Cathay respresentative at check-in
that I would make my connection. They cancelled my connection anyway.
Basically, they lied to me. They could've re-routed me from Taipei if they
knew I was going to miss my connection. Business class on the connecting
flight wasn't sold-out.

I still wouldn't try it. Last time I tried this kind of thing with EVA and
I missed my connection (though the arriving flight was delayed by weather).


I don't get it. Did you "miss" your UA connector or did they "cancel"
your connector? For some of the reasons, check-in reps may not be aware
of any late evolving factors that might delay your flight. Was there
already a delayed flag on your flight at check-in? Given the short hop
b/n TPE and HKG, did you know there's a major delay before you boarded
the plane? Did you try to contact UA or CX once you are aware of the
delay? Or did you wait until you got to HK?

In my experience, airline would rebook connecting flight passengers in
the order of their own FF program tiers, then passengers flying with
them, and finally passengers who are going with another carrier.

And what was the reason for the 1 hour delay in CX's inbound flight?
Weather, late flight crew, equipment delay, airport congestion,
security scare?
  #18  
Old September 18th, 2003, 01:59 AM
Whytoi
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Will I make this connecting flight at Hong Kong International Airport?

In article , Jim Louis
wrote:

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.


it's no problem to have on two tickets. The key is to be on the same
reservation locator or you can ask CX to have the two tickets linked.

Whether CX would put you on a SQ flight, that's up to them. But there
are also enough CX flights b/n HKG and SIN. I don't think a few hours
of lay-over in HKG is such a bad thing.
  #19  
Old September 18th, 2003, 02:07 AM
Whytoi
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Will I make this connecting flight at Hong Kong International Airport?

In article , Peter L
wrote:

It'll be really tight. HKG is where all the 747's of the world get together
for their daily coffee club meetings. The immigration line may be very
long. You'll have to take a short shuttle to and from your terminal. But
since you'll be connecting to another CX flight, you may want to check with
the airline just to make sure.


What are you on about? Not thinking of some weird European airport eg.
FRA or LHR, are you?

There's no immigration for connecting passengers in HKG and no shuttles
unless the airport is packed to the brim (hardly ever). And there's
only one terminal building for passenger traffic.

Don't scare the poor guy.
  #20  
Old September 18th, 2003, 02:09 AM
Whytoi
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Will I make this connecting flight at Hong Kong International Airport?

In article , AJC
wrote:

Sigh. What immigration line? The passenger will be in international
transit arriving from somewhere (Toronto?) and departing to Singapore,
he never enters Hong Kong. Furthermore Hong Kong only has one
terminal, so he can't take a shuttle to and from his terminal. There
is a shuttle running the length of the main spine of the terminal
which he may or may not use in one or other direction depending on
which gates he has to transfer between. 55 minutes is enough to
transfer between two CX flights at HKG.


Further, CX hardly uses any gates at the top end of the Y.
 




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