Will I need a visa if I'm connecting though Hong Kong en route from the US to Bangkok (on Cathay Pacific)? My layover time is only 1.5 hours, and I would appreciate any tips you can give me to make the connection go more smoothly. I'll arrive in Hong Kong around 2:30 PM on a Friday afternoon. I don't make a lot of connections when traveling internationally, so I'm not sure whether I need to go through customs and immigration, or claim and recheck luggage, etc. Thanks!
Transit through Hong Kong
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No, as a US citizen you wouldn't need a visa for Hong Kong even if you were spending a couple of weeks there.
Cathay Pacific will check your baggage through to Bangkok when you board in the US. Always make sure you baggage tag has your final destination on it: BKK, in this case. You do not need to pick up your luggage or go through passport control. Follow the signs for transit passengers.
You will not have to go through Immigration or Customs here, and your bags will be transferred automatically (but see below). All you will be doing is changing planes. If your airline in the US was not able to issue you a boarding pass for your connecting flight (which would be the case if they are different airlines) you will have to get the boarding pass for your onward flight here. That is easy to do, you just go to the correct Transfer Counter and get the boarding pass. Hong Kong is a major transit airport and thousands of people transfer flights here every day. For information on transit counters and being “in transit” at Hong Kong Airport generally, go to hongkongairport.com, and in particular, http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/tbu/transit.htm. If you can tell me what airline you are connection from and to, I may be able to provide some more information on connecting.
Your airline in the US should have no issue with checking your bags all the way through to Bangkok; don’t confuse an inability to issue boarding passes between airlines with baggage-handling arrangements which virtually all airlines have in place. Cathay will be quite familiar with the procedure. If for some very very strange reason there is no baggage transfer, then IMO 1.5 hours would be cutting it very close, as you would have to go all the way into the main arrivals hall, go through Immigration, go to the baggage claim area, wait for your bags, and then go upstairs and re-check in everything for the flight. I cannot imagine that this would be the case, and I personally have never had to do it in 20 years of connecting internationally, but you might want to check on this to make sure.
There are restaurants and shops in the Transit area, so if you find yourself with some time, I don’t think you will run out of things to do.
Thank you both.
Cicerone, I'm flying on Cathay for both flights (JFK to HKK then HKK to BKK).