Hi All,
I am flying from Phoenix to LA to Hong Kong to Bangkok via Cathay Pacific. Arrival in Hong Kong is scheduled for 7:45am and take off to Bangkok is scheduled for 9:05am. Seems very short to me. Is this enough time to make the connection thru Hong Kong? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Warm Regards
I am flying from Phoenix to LA to Hong Kong to Bangkok via Cathay Pacific. Arrival in Hong Kong is scheduled for 7:45am and take off to Bangkok is scheduled for 9:05am. Seems very short to me. Is this enough time to make the connection thru Hong Kong? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Warm Regards
I don't think it will be a problem since both flights are on the same airline. If your LA flight was running late, they'd probably hold the plane for Bangkok until the LA passengers arrived. I've experienced even tighter connections at Narita (Tokyo) on United and never had a problem.
I don't think they will hold the flight if you are late. We also had a short connecttion time, arriving from Vancouver on Cathy Pacific with only a 50 minute connection time in Hong Kong before our Cathay Pacific flight to Bangkok. Cathay assured me this was more than enough time. Needless to say, it wasn't. We missed the flight by less than 30 minutes and they didn't hold the flight to BKK. You have more time on the ground so you may be okay. Just don't expect them to hold any flights if you're late however.
In my experience in the last 20 years or so, it is very unusual for a long-haul international flight to be late in arriving, they can usually make up the time in flight; so I wonder if laurieco's flight was very delayed at takeoff in Vancouver. I find that flights are, if anything, early in arriving. FYI, your flight from LAX today arrived at 7:35 am (I just checked the website). In any event, Cathay has like 6 flights a day to Bangkok so you should be able to get on another flight. There is an 11:30 am flight that you should be able to make, assuming it is not full.
If you arrive on time, as noted above, you will be "in transit" and will not have to go through immigration or customs and your bags will be automatically transferred so you should have plenty of time. Cathay should have issued you a boarding pass in the US for the Hong Kong-Bangkok flight, but if for some reason they could not, you will have to go to the nearest Transfer Desk and get a boarding pass, look for signs. (The LA flight appears to be a code share with AA and AA may not be able to issue you a Cathay ticket for the Bangkok flight.) Cathay tries to keep all its flights near the same gates, and Hong Kong is their hub, but they do have two main gate areas (one close in and one further out), so hopefully you will not have too go far between gates; so it is possible that your long-haul may arrive to one of the closer gates (closer to the arrival halls that is) but your short-haul flight to Bangkok may depart from one of the further gates and you may have to take the train out to it. This is not hard and will only add maybe 15 minutes to your transfer time at the most. Look for signs. The website for Hong Kong airport is http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/index.html, info on Transfer is at http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/aguide/transit.html
If it does appear that you have or will miss the Bangkok flight, as soon as you get off the plane, look for a Cathy rep at the exit doors as you come down the ramp into the main airport hallway, there will be several meeting the plane, and get them to help you get on the next available flight and to get your bags transferred as well.
If you arrive on time, as noted above, you will be "in transit" and will not have to go through immigration or customs and your bags will be automatically transferred so you should have plenty of time. Cathay should have issued you a boarding pass in the US for the Hong Kong-Bangkok flight, but if for some reason they could not, you will have to go to the nearest Transfer Desk and get a boarding pass, look for signs. (The LA flight appears to be a code share with AA and AA may not be able to issue you a Cathay ticket for the Bangkok flight.) Cathay tries to keep all its flights near the same gates, and Hong Kong is their hub, but they do have two main gate areas (one close in and one further out), so hopefully you will not have too go far between gates; so it is possible that your long-haul may arrive to one of the closer gates (closer to the arrival halls that is) but your short-haul flight to Bangkok may depart from one of the further gates and you may have to take the train out to it. This is not hard and will only add maybe 15 minutes to your transfer time at the most. Look for signs. The website for Hong Kong airport is http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/index.html, info on Transfer is at http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/aguide/transit.html
If it does appear that you have or will miss the Bangkok flight, as soon as you get off the plane, look for a Cathy rep at the exit doors as you come down the ramp into the main airport hallway, there will be several meeting the plane, and get them to help you get on the next available flight and to get your bags transferred as well.
