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.

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.

"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).

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?

"Whytoi" wrote in message
...
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?

CX claimed there was a weather delay. It was a little foggy, but my guess
is that they had 2 planes lightly booked and they could easily fit everyone
on one plane. You are right, something should've been done at check-in. I
made it clear my itinerary and they confirmed that I would make my
connection. CX was fully aware of the situation and they either lied to me
or just didn't communicate very well with UA or the CX people in HK. The
first flight to HK was cancelled so they booked me on the second flight
leaving 45 minutes later.

My luggage made it to the UA flight. I didn't. Next time I am going to get
the names of the staff ahead of time.

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.

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.