Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - HKG today is a CF

Well, it seems Typhoon Trafalmadore struck with a vengeance (that's not its real name, but it could well be), deciding to sit juuust offshore instead of slamming into Western Guangzhou as it should have. At 5:00 PM, they cancelled everything, but they didn't tell anybody! It was entertaining when I told the Pier agent that CX had closed ops for the night, and she didn't believe me. At least, I only wasted two hours or so (the delay on CX500 before they cancelled the flight while everybody was onboard).

It was actually very funny. The pilot came on made an annoucement that the flight was cancelled, and nobody moved or made any particular noise of groans, or whatever. 3 minutes later, when the FA repeated the announcement in Japanese, then bedlam ensued. By that time, I was already at the plane door...

I am stuck in Taipei en route via HKG back to Germany.

All flights have been cancelled from TPE to HKG until 11:00 am on the 4th of August. I am currently booked on the 10:15 am flight which is also cancelled.

Can anyone PM me the CX reservations line for CX Diamond / OW Emerald ?
The general reservations line is totally busy - no chance in getting through !
I don't want to be stuck in Taipei... :confused:

I am stuck in Taipei en route via HKG back to Germany.

All flights have been cancelled from TPE to HKG until 11:00 am on the 4th of August. I am currently booked on the 10:15 am flight which is also cancelled.

Can anyone PM me the CX reservations line for CX Diamond / OW Emerald ?
The general reservations line is totally busy - no chance in getting through !
I don't want to be stuck in Taipei... :confused:
(852) 2747-5500 after you enter your membership no., press 0 for CSO

Yes, quite un-CX like the way they are handling this....

My GF is supposed to fly JFK-YVR on 889 in F tonight, and I had actually found out about the typhoon on CX's website. Even up until last night at 3:00AM EST they are still listing CX 888 as "Not Yet Departed" rather than "Cancelled"....

Usually, my experience is that CX will call me to notify me of any cancellations / delays (like the KIX incident, which they handled flawlessly)....

Perhaps because my GF has no status whatsoever on OW or CX......also the ticket was redemption with my miles.... :confused:

But leaving an "F" (or rather, Z) passenger hanging like this is not what I come to expect of CX.....

I'm proposing to have her routed to UA JFK-SFO and then QF SFO-YVR, at least she's able to enjoy true 3-class F..... but nothing like CX F.... :(

UPDATE:

CX was not at all accommodating....

They dare put a pax booked in "F" (Z) on an AC flight in J (319 aircraft to boot!)

They would not even put her on UA JFK-SFO (leaving same terminal, and 3-class F available), QF SFO-YVR (3-class F available).....reservation in HK was fine with it, ticketing came back and said.... "one coupon for one coupon"... absolutely would not budge.... AA was going to reroute / reissue the ticket, but no space on QF opened up....

:mad: :td:

Proves yet again, CX is unparalleled in inflight services, but ground ops and ticketing / reservations are just hopeless, especially at outstations....

At least your girlfriend got a seat to fly out of JFK.. I'm sure a lot of people in J or Y are stranded by this situation and with the flights being so full this summer, they have an even smaller chance than your girlfriend to leave JFK... just be happy that they got your girlfriend on a flight!

I am stuck in KIX after CX831 was diverted there... arrived at 10pm... all hotels are full, airport and city, because of some national sports championship being held in Osaka.. been sitting at the CX lounge for over 8 hours already, and our flight is not scheduled to depart from KIX to HKG for another 4 hours...

However, I must say that the CX ground staff here at KIX are very good. The CX lounge attendant has been up all night helping people with their reservations, and constantly refilling the food and snacks and keeping peoeple updated with the situation... people outside the lounge were provided with blankets, hot food and drinks... I have no idea of the situation elsewhere in other outports, but the KIX CX staff gets ^ ^

I was on HKG-NRT on CX504 on Aug 3.. We were so VERY lucky... WE were only 40 minutes delayed. But it was the most turbulent roller coaster that I have ever experienced. NRT weather was excellent. ALL flights from HKG were delayed or cancelled after our flight took off...

Well-treated in Bali after CX784 cxl - biz pax to quite-nice Conrad.

How they accomodate the F/J pax in HKG? Status don't count for jack when allocating for hotel? Its the class that matters?

In fairness to CX and other airlines trying to operate in and out of CLK yesterday, I strongly feel that our esteemed local meterological agency, the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) needs to shoulder some of the blame for the chaos.

Typhoon Warning No. 8 should have been raised, instead of theT3 which they maintained all day.

Hong Kongers and those familiar with HKG would then have fully appreciated the meaning of T8: that the conditions on the ground here were simply terrible yesterday. Everyone would then have known to check before heading out to CLK.

HKO continually played down the weather situation, which probably also caused confusion for airline staff. Typhoon Prapiroon sat 250km off to the west all day causing Gale force winds and higher, but HKO insisted on parlaying the line that Hong Kong was completely open for business. Disgraceful!

559 flights in and out of CLK yesterday were cancelled, delayed or diverted, the worst disruption since it opened.

I've now been on hold to CX res for 60 minutes and counting, trying to find out what is happening with scheduled flights out of ICN this morning. CX is clearly absolutely swamped. I really feel for them.

MrsDrD,

The criterion for a T8 signal is quite well-defined in terms of the sustained wind speed in Victoria Harbour. If the wind isn't that strong (in fact it held at about 5km/h below the T8 threshold for several hours) then the signal shouldn't be raised.

There have been a number of occasions in recent years when the T8 has been raised almost for "political" reasons and it's hardly been windy at all. The HKO really can't win, but I would prefer them to stick to an objective measure, and by that measure it was not a T8 yesterday.

CX's website was pretty up to date yesterday for status - when flights diverted they pretty much immediately seemed to have the info on the "Arrivals & Departures" screens.

But today the site does unfortunately seem to be overloaded - I can't get into it at the moment.

A bit OT but this outlander wonders that the typhoon alert scale seems to jump from 3 to 8. Do I misunderstand?

I'm well aware of the definition, christep.

Kai Tak weather station experienced 10 min average winds of over 62 km/hr between 1630 and 1800 yesterday. HKO themselves acknowledged that in their bulletins around that time - i.e. that there would be intermittent gale force winds inside Victoria Harbour, and yet they chose to contravene their own (outdated) criterion and remain at T3.

I stand by my original assertion.

We won't even go into whether or not the rider "inside Victoria Harbour" *should* be attached to the definition anymore, in an age where 49.8% of Hong Kongers live in the New Territories and Outlying Islands. That's an argument for another day and another forum.



JohnAx: the answer is historical definition. Today's Typhoon warning system only has levels T1, T3, T8, T9 and T10.

T1 signifies that a storm/typhoon has approached within an 800km radius and is expected to affect us further.

T3 signifies that "strong" winds (Force 6 or above, 40 km/hr or 22 knots) are expected or already being experienced within Victoria Harbour.

T8 is issued when that increase to Gale force winds (Force 8 or above, 62 km/hr, 34 knots).

T9 and 10 are even worse. Very seldom used now.

Some of the intervening numbers used to be used to indicate winds of equal strength but coming from different quadrants, e.g. 5,6,7,8 used to mean T8 strength but from the difference compass directions. This was dropped as too complex.

If Hong Kong is experiencing a T8, let's just say it's not a great day to be out. As HKO aptly demonstrated yesterday, a graet deal of care also needs to be exercised with a T3 nowadays, due to the various pressures they seem to be under not to escalate the official warning to that level.

Almost by definition, the winds inside Victoria Harbour are usually less than other places in Hong Kong. Obviously a large part of it's attraction as a trade base almost 200 years ago - a safe harbour for trade shipping.

Bringing this back to something relevant for FT, now that the airport is no longer at Kai Tak (inside Victoria Harbour) but exposed out on the western side of Lantau, it is quite common for the winds there to be much stronger than in the Harbour. Certainly that was the case yesterday.

no matter which cx line I call - always busy. Still stuck in Taipei with no information whatsoever !!

The airport departures site is a bit more accessible - http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/flightinfo/chkfltarr.html. It shows that Cathay has canceled a couple of morning departures to Taipei. Why not go out to the airport and bug them there?

(Well, the Cathay site seems available now, and doesn't match the airport departures information, so I've erased that stuff as irrelevant. CX785 is enroute to DPS and probably has become a 744, and CX784 has a realistic departure schedule. An extra section is being shown, too. EF shows both flights with zero's for everything - I wonder if Cathay has assigned stranded butts to all seats, or if they've zero'ed everything to keep the seats until they sort it all out.)

I'm in the Wing F side. Relatively calm in here, but the rest of the airport is a CF^2. Lines everywhere, frayed tempers, pretty tense. My story is actually one where CX (with an assist from AA EXP/CX Gold) came through, even when flying in Y.

I was supposed to be on CX500 yesterday HKG-NRT. I took the 3:05 flight because I didn't want to get up too early to catch the 9:10 or the 10:30. Well, those two flights did make it out, with only nominal delays. My flight was delayed for two hours, and then cancelled once we had boarded. We were only on board for a few minutes before they canned it. The plane, even while at the gate, shook quite violently, so I think that was the right decision.

When I got off, I immediately went to the Pier F lounge to get rescheduled. The CX agent there refused to do this, since she said that she hadn't had confirmation that the flights were cancelled. I then called my friend at Cathay Ops (no name, pretty senior guy, basically in charge of such things), and he said, that yes, they just had a management meeting, and they were cancelling everything for the rest of the day. She still wouldn't believe me (until 10 minutes later, when she got the same word).

I was flying as an AA EXP, but I called the CX MPC side, and asked for a reschedule. They said all flights the next day to Tokyo had already closed their waiting lists, but she would force me on the list, given my status. I gave her my phone number to keep me updated. A few hours later, they called me and gave me a choice of flights to be confirmed on. I chose the same one, and here I am at the airport, still scheduled on time, fingers crossed.

Today, when checking in, I used the power of AA EXP to bypass horrible lines in both J and Y, and then used it again to get into the lounge, where I write this.

This is indeed exactly the sort of occasion when a high status card (or two) is priceless.

This is indeed exactly the sort of occasion when a high status card (or two) is priceless.

I second that even I was not caught up in this mess... so they can force a seat open with status... now thats impressive...

Problem about Hong Kong's typhoon situations is that business and schools are extremely rigid about when to close their doors. Huge huge difference between T3 and T8, as T8 means business have to let workers off with pay, while T3 means going to work (regardless of how bad the situation is).

The newer red/black torrential rain warnings were supposed to help out, but more often than not, it's not helpful.

With this rigid structure/culture, the population basically always expect everything to be running at 100% at T3. And workers/students cannot leave or take off at T3 either. That's why they all head out to the airport without 2nd thoughts, assuming all flights will be operating.

Like others have said, the criteria is entirely technical, based on windspeed at the HK Observatory in Tsimshatsui. The world could have ended at Cheklapkok, but if wind speed has not exceeded the criteria at HKO, then it's still T3.

The airport departures site is a bit more accessible - http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/flightinfo/chkfltarr.html. It shows that Cathay has canceled a couple of morning departures to Taipei. Why not go out to the airport and bug them there?

(Well, the Cathay site seems available now, and doesn't match the airport departures information, so I've erased that stuff as irrelevant. CX785 is enroute to DPS and probably has become a 744, and CX784 has a realistic departure schedule. An extra section is being shown, too. EF shows both flights with zero's for everything - I wonder if Cathay has assigned stranded butts to all seats, or if they've zero'ed everything to keep the seats until they sort it all out.)

I finally got through to reservations. They said that at least all flights from TPE are now under airport control. Therefore all classes were zerod out.

I headed to the airport where they put me on the next flight to HKG at the First Class check in. They had supervisors running up and down the desks to decide who gets on which flight.

I am now in the F class lounge in TPE hoping that my flight will leave as promised...

At least at the airport they handled everything very well! The call centre however was totally overloaded all night.

These are the days when I love my BA Gold card / OW emerald !!! :D

A bit of a noob-ish question... but what is a 'CF' ?

A bit of a noob-ish question... but what is a 'CF' ?

One approach used in warfare is what is called "cluster bombing", where a particular kind of bomb would separate into multiple clusters on its way down, carpet bombing whatever area it happened to spread into. This thing is indiscriminate, and does all kind of collateral damage. Those innocent bystanders affected by these cluster bombs are said to have been CF'd. Hope that helps.

A bit of a noob-ish question... but what is a 'CF' ?

i believe CF = cluster fck

I was extremely dissapointed with CX on Thursday. I was scheduled on a CX flight in F and the communication skills between the ground ops and pax was just appauling. I spent 16 hours at the airport on the 4th and 8 hours (not including the flight) on the 5th. That time could have been shortened dramatically if CX ground staff actually did their jobs. I knew early in the morning the chances of actually getting in the air was slim to none, yet CX insisted that we wait. The next day when pax stranded by the storm tried to rebook in other flights was handled dreadfully. I was waitlisted on a flight (remember I was on a Full F ticket) and they were too busy upgrading passengers from J to F on the flight rather than dealing with current stranded passengers.

:(

I was extremely dissapointed with CX on Thursday. I was scheduled on a CX flight in F and the communication skills between the ground ops and pax was just appauling. I spent 16 hours at the airport on the 4th and 8 hours (not including the flight) on the 5th. That time could have been shortened dramatically if CX ground staff actually did their jobs. I knew early in the morning the chances of actually getting in the air was slim to none, yet CX insisted that we wait. The next day when pax stranded by the storm tried to rebook in other flights was handled dreadfully. I was waitlisted on a flight (remember I was on a Full F ticket) and they were too busy upgrading passengers from J to F on the flight rather than dealing with current stranded passengers.

:(

Did they put you up somewhere for the night?

Did they put you up somewhere for the night?

Yep - Novotel just near CLK. Mind you I checked in at 11pm and out at 7am so I guess I should count myself as one of the lucky ones. Having said that, CX did initially try to get me to share with some other F passengers (yes, plural). :eek:

My ideal situation was to get into my partner's place in Central, however he was unfortunately stuck in Macau (where they hoisted a Force 9 mast) so there was no way to get into the place without a key (which I did not have on me at the time). :(

My main complaint with CX was lack of communication. Even the next day my flight was not posted on the boards, nor was the flight information even posted at the gate. All monitors in the Wing were also blank.

Staff at KUL certainly had problems dealing with the carnage down the line. What I found most interesting was that CX did not seem to be blocking seats with fellow carriers and assigning a single point to ensure control of inventory. Instead, my experience was going through multiple attempts at re-routes - based on supposedly available seats - only to find out each time that they had disappeared in the time it was taking the agent to type my info into the system.

Of course this would not have been a problem if the supervisors had not decided that first priority for seats to HKG should go to people terminating in HKG - not connecting passengers :rolleyes:. I would have made my originally reserved, albeit late, flight to LAX on Friday had I been able to get to HKG.

Anyway, in an effort to get something positive out it, I had been wanting to try the new TG direct service to LAX...and 7 hours in the Royal Silk Lounge. :D

My main complaint with CX was lack of communication. Even the next day my flight was not posted on the boards, nor was the flight information even posted at the gate. All monitors in the Wing were also blank.

Absolutely agreed. CX completely mishandled ground communications. I was stuck on the 4th for 12 hours. ...

1. No display of my flight TIME nor GATE info throughout the day. I was send to "service desk B", in which 3 human beings stood. 1 assigned for CX, 1 for Dragon Air and one for China Air. Meanwhile about 1000 passengers need flights info. No loud speaker for announcements. Absolute chaos. Have no idea if my flight is cancelled, or delayed or what. There is a big board behind them, but they didn't use it. Everyone asked staff to write down these info on the board, but nobody listened.

2. I eventually went to gates that staffed with CX. They can check the computer and tell me flight time. Even though it's not accurate, it's still better than nothing at all. Why can't they just write these info down on a big piece of paper and show the world? And if every gate staff can check computer, why send everyone back to "Service Desk B"?

3. 10am became noon, became 3pm, became 4p, then 6p. OK, I understand, they don't have a plane. Why not just tell me they don't have a plane, and say it'll take at least 4-6 hours to sort it out? Then at least I can rest for couple hours, instead of checking with someone every 30 mins.

4. Around noon, a friend outside was able to tell from HKAirport.com (or similiar) that my flight will leave at 6pm. Actual leaving time was 6:40pm, so that was pretty darn close. Why didn't CX staff / website know about this info?

5. The restaurant staff warned us to watch the display closely. They said tons of people missed their flights because they missed reading their gate info. Once the plane had a gate, it'll go immediately to "Final boarding". Sure enough, that's what happened to my flight. At 5pm, nothing shown; at 5:15pm, the flight is displayed with gate info and is already "Final Boarding". Had to run across the airport.

6. Ran to that gate. Gate staff had no clue, saying it's not our plane and wanted to send us back to gate 1 (opposite end). Took some time to sort that out.

I'm going to write to CX to complain. Typhoons hit HK all the time. I just cannot believe they do not have procedures in place. Staff was trying their best, but they just did not have enough info to do their jobs. Very frustrated indeed, esp seeing mothers with young babies running back and forth for nothing.

Won't bore with the details of husband's delayed travel or those of colleagues, but just an overview comment.

Have to agree with PPs, it seemed that whatever crisis management planning had been done was woefully ineffective. Specifically, the airlines seemed not to be liaising well with the airport authority, who also didn't liaise with ancillary services (MTR Corp, bus companies). We'll just leave HKO out of it completely - useless.

Large numbers on inbound pax on Friday 4th, landing late (around midnight) found baggage handling not working, the MTR stopped and late night bus services on their usual timetables. Now, the airport authority knew that the airlines were trying to reposition as many planes as possible back into CLK late that night - why not communicate that with the services needed to get those people away from the airport.

Methinks back to the drawing board for ops planners.

Just out of curiosity, where was the MTR going to get a whole new shift of train drivers, signalmen, etc? Or would you prefer to travel on a train driven by someone who had been working for, say, 16 hours?

It's one thing working til you drop if you are on customer service at the airport, quite another to be doing so in a position which directly impacts safety.

Ah, see, that would be where I would suggest "planning" and "liaison" would come into play.

Do you suppose that the decision to continue landing aircraft at higher numbers than usual late into the night happened on the spur of the moment? Good grief, it would have been known all day that there would be extended operations on the 5th as airlines tried to reposition their aircraft. I would expect that given 12 hours notice, MTR corp could indeed find crews for the airport express to run for an additional 3 hours.

On the subject of safety: by not alerting bus companies that late night passenger volumes would likely be high, some of them scheduled their usual overnight mini-buses instead of the coaches used for when the airport is usually open. Result: passengers crammed in to mini-buses in standing positions not designed to accomodate standing passengers, and many others left behind, at 2:30am.

Again: communication and scenario planning. Regardless of what they had actually done in those areas, it just didn't come off on the day. Personally I think we can do better. YMMV.

Ah, see, that would be where I would suggest "planning" and "liaison" would come into play.

Do you suppose that the decision to continue landing aircraft at higher numbers than usual late into the night happened on the spur of the moment? Good grief, it would have been known all day that there would be extended operations on the 5th as airlines tried to reposition their aircraft. I would expect that given 12 hours notice, MTR corp could indeed find crews for the airport express to run for an additional 3 hours.

On the subject of safety: by not alerting bus companies that late night passenger volumes would likely be high, some of them scheduled their usual overnight mini-buses instead of the coaches used for when the airport is usually open. Result: passengers crammed in to mini-buses in standing positions not designed to accomodate standing passengers, and many others left behind, at 2:30am.

Again: communication and scenario planning. Regardless of what they had actually done in those areas, it just didn't come off on the day. Personally I think we can do better. YMMV.

Fair point. This was station-specific. At NRT, both of the afternoon HKG-NRT flights were delayed and arriving close to the end of scheduled train and bus service (with the later flight being less delayed and hence arriving before the earlier flight). In that case, CX actually chartered a bunch of buses to take everybody out of the airport and into Tokyo station in an orderly manner.

Think in other ports Cathay could make arrangements themselves. But in HK, looks like there is no clear responsibility - who should talk to the bus companies, the AA or the airlines? If it is CX - should the extra buses be for CX boarding pass holders only?

But looks as if AAHK dropped the ball a bit with all the extra flights coming in. Same happened when the airport opened (gate allocation) that it seems when the airport is overwhelmed, the ATC assign departures, arrivals and gates on a first come, first served basis - and the airlines don't know where the gate will be until about 80-90 minutes before departure. It then takes time for the information to get around the systems, result, chaos

I still blame the problem on the Hong Kong Observatory not hoisting the number 8 signal, even when winds are strong in numerous spots. When trash cans were flying around, it is not no. 3 wind. A system built for the 70s should be constantly evaluated... perhaps immediately... anyway, that is for another non-aviation/airline/FF thread.

I am thinking from the other perspective... yes airline is scheduling additional flights, but with some advance notice, as they need to file with the HKIA, but then those advance notice is perhaps hours, not even a day notice. Also the HKIA is forced to use the "first come first serve" gate system because of the line of planes arriving, but then that creates lots of rushing on the ground handling agents, which occupy a cluster of area. Agents, and machines have to run around. I think we need to be a bit more grateful for the poor staffs, who do not really have more information than you think.

Gate is assigned last minute... although gate should be posted earlier, we need to give them some breaks here.

The fundamental problem is perhaps not the lack of a contingency plan (which can use some changes though), but the HKIA and various arilines under-estimate the typhoon situation, as number 3 is hoisted. For us folks in HK, no 3 signal is fairly typical and most people do not anticipate the impact on the airport. Perhaps if number 8 is hoisted, most folks will not head to the airport without calling ahead and/or preparing for some disruptions. They underestimate the situation.

To correct the problem:
1. CX needs to address its contingency plan especially in handling connecting passengers, which have increased much. Then it should increase staffing at the calling center, so people will not head to the airport. Most importantly, it needs to install a better plan for typhoon number 3 signal, especially the Hong Kong Observatory is "reluctant" to hoist number 8. If the calling center is fully staffed, folks will not head to the airport. Communication needs to be reevaluated.

2. Rebooking process -- putting every seat under airport control is not working... because the way to reduce the queue size is to allow the call centers to handle the rebooking too.

3. About the arrangement of ground transportation, I doubt the airlines can do anything with it... it is up to the transportation companies. But then CX gave each local departing passenger $500, which cover a cab ride comfortably to most part of HK and even some spare money. Even for other passengers, a cab ride is still within a reasonable range... it is just hard to force the AIrport Express to extend its operating hours because MTR does most of the maintenance in the middle of the night and the Airport Express tracks cover many other tracks now too, so I don't think Airport Express can extend its operating hours. However, the bus companies are more flexible, and they should have extended their hours and replaced the mini buses with the normal buses, even increasing the schedule to cover the Airport Express' inevitable closure in late night hours... But I don't think CX can charter buses like NRT out stations... with CX volume, it needs to charter hundred and even thousands of buses in the middle of the night, or within a day notice.

However, I think CX does try its best to comfort its passengers -- people are given food vouchers, water, and various amenities, that I can't imagine getting it in US in similar situations. Snowstorms and thunderstorms... AA, DL, CO, UA don't really care much other than rebooking you. The difference is that these US airlines have call centers not in the cities affected, so they can rebook more quickly. Nonetheless, CX tries to make peace with these amenities... and even $500 for local pax to go home. My friend, who flew KE, got $390 food voucher for their party of four, so most airlines try their bests.

I hope everyone can be more understanding, and while writing to CX, just don't yell and scream, but give some solutions to the problems and what you think CX should do. The staffs are overworked and under pressure, and they also have not as much information as you. Gate numbers possibly don't come up at their screens till last minute. The gate agents have to work at unfamiliar gates all over this rather large report... not to mention coordinating the ground equipments, catering, security, cleaning staffs...

I hope HKIA, CX, and Hong Kong OBservatory learn their lessons and reevaluate their contingency plan.

Carfield

Is the typhoon still an issue? Do they anticipate anything next week? Thanks.

Just to clarify, Carfield, we were talking about the need for the Airport Express on the day *after* the Typhoon day, Friday. Departing pax were not given $500 to get home then!

And from friends' reports, the wait for taxis was impressively long after midnight, simply not enough to go around.

Gate is assigned last minute... although gate should be posted earlier, we need to give them some breaks here.

Sorry but even when gates were assigned, they were not posted on either the main terminal information screens nor the gate itself. When a plane is sitting at a gate for 2-3 hours it should be possible to properly load the information into the computers so the relevant flight information is displayed at the gate. Are my expectations too high? :confused:

Last Thursday's issues come down to poor communication and no contingency plan in place. You would think that HKG as one of Asia's and the world's biggest airports of all places would have such a plan in place.

Yes, there is another typhoon heading to Hong Kong and I beat CX and HKIA are not too happy about it. Thankfully, they have learned their lessons last time, and this time, the track of the typhoon looks awfully closed to Hong Kong. Anyway, it is too early to tell. No typhoon #3 for time being...

About HK Express, I don't think they will increase the hours on Friday as well... they are simply not prepared and the track has to be maintained during the late night hours. However, I agree that the bus arrangement should be better.

Unfortunately, contingency plans don't seem to be implemented on any HK governmental departments these days. Hopefully they are more prepared this time.

Carfield

In 2001, I was returning from Hangzhou and was stuck there for an extra 12 hours due to a typhoon in HKG. That typhoon (forgot the name) was the worst HKIA had ever experienced then and I saw how unprepared HKIA was. People were still sleepingon floors, litter strewed all over, the whole place looked like a war zone.

I guess they still had no contingency plan after that experience.

Yes, there is another typhoon heading to Hong Kong and I beat CX and HKIA are not too happy about it. Thankfully, they have learned their lessons last time, and this time, the track of the typhoon looks awfully closed to Hong Kong. Anyway, it is too early to tell. No typhoon #3 for time being... I'm afraid you need to take more care reading the weather data. That weather system (BOPHA) is already downgraded to a Tropical Depression, and it was never rated as a Typhoon.

Is this the typical typhoon season for Hong kong?

Is this the typical typhoon season for Hong kong?

Yes - start of May through end of September

Is this the typical typhoon season for Hong kong?Yes. http://www.hko.gov.hk/informtc/historical_tc/cdtc.htm

Well it is raining cats and dogs and heavy thunderstorms are going on as of now 12:49am Thursday morning.

For the most up to date tropical information in HK, here is the website...
http://www.hko.gov.hk/contente.htm

The Amber rain signal is hoisted now... nothing much will happen as it is late night hours... but things may get a late start tomorrow at HKIA. Hopefully nothing too serious...

Carfield

PS. I am not a meterologist... but here is the website for Hong Kong Observatory and folks can read all the data... http://www.hko.gov.hk/contente.htm

UPDATE:

CX was not at all accommodating....

They dare put a pax booked in "F" (Z) on an AC flight in J (319 aircraft to boot!)

They would not even put her on UA JFK-SFO (leaving same terminal, and 3-class F available), QF SFO-YVR (3-class F available).....reservation in HK was fine with it, ticketing came back and said.... "one coupon for one coupon"... absolutely would not budge.... AA was going to reroute / reissue the ticket, but no space on QF opened up....

:mad: :td:

Proves yet again, CX is unparalleled in inflight services, but ground ops and ticketing / reservations are just hopeless, especially at outstations....

After this incident, I wrote a polite letter to Customer Relations in SF, and my GF received a voucher from CX good for a one segment flight upgrade either from J > F or Y > J on the day of departure on any CX flight.

OTOH, my flight downgrade from ICN-HKG 2 months ago also resulted in the same upgrade voucher after I wrote to Customer Relations in SF......

Took CX a while to respond to the complaints, but the end resolutions were acceptable and resonable in both cases.

Took CX a while to respond to the complaints, but the end resolutions were acceptable and resonable in both cases.

That's good to know CX can come to an equitable resolution. I didn't have much trouble as I flew on the Saturday, but the CX staff were running a bit ragged by then.

I am a bit surprised that to claim miles flown during the wake of the typhoon requires me to post them my boarding pass even though my MPC number is printed on it. Their systems (and people) were definitely overwhelmed....

After this incident, I wrote a polite letter to Customer Relations in SF, and my GF received a voucher from CX good for a one segment flight upgrade either from J > F or Y > J on the day of departure on any CX flight.

I wonder if this is going to be subject to availability ie it is essentially the same as requesting to upgrade with miles on day of departure.

I wonder if this is going to be subject to availability ie it is essentially the same as requesting to upgrade with miles on day of departure.

This cert is not a confirmed UG cert like AA's VIP or UA's SWU.....the T&C on these CX certs clearly state the upgrade is "subject to availability [of the higher cabin] on the day of departure"...

Oh, and these are not transferable... unlike AA's and UA's certs...

I would imagine J > F is easier to use than Y > J.....which is also a better value IMO, since the mileage requirement for J > F is higher than that for Y > J...