First...that was one HECK of a post! WOW and kudos.

Second, no I am very aware of the pax throughput #s at global airports. I think perhaps I didn't make my point clear. At FRA or BKK or some other less efficient airports, if you are not and elite or premium passenger, you can get totally screwed. Connecting at other less efficient airports - CDG and LHR comes to mind - can be a nightmare between two carriers. In particular at less efficient airpoorts security and immigration (both inbound at outbound) can be a real pain. Again, I'm speaking to pax without some type of premium, elite, etc. access.

Whereas at HKIA, the baseline for anyone - including non-elite/premium status is already very, very high. So my point is about the fact the airport is already quite efficiently laid out. My personal opinion here, but for me it isn't as necessary for CX to have fancy ground services due to the significantly higher (IMO) base of ground services and efficiency HKIA already offers everybody. So let's say FRA basic (non premium, non elite) passenger experience baseline is a 2/10. Of course this is subjective, but that's what I'd rate it. But if you get to use the LH F terminal, the experience becomes a 10/10. So you have a +8 in value points due to the FCT. Whereas at HKIA, I feel like it is already a 7.5/10 even for non-elite, non-status pax. Again, talking about passenger experience..lines at security, immigration, etc. So if CX were to build a FCT, they get +2.5 points of value in my opinion. Of course these scores are subjective. If you were to rate the baseline FRA experience a 8/10 and HKIA a 7/10, clearly we will come to a very different conclusion.

Finally, I suppose you're entitled to your own opinion about HKIA, but I personally struggle to find a more efficient and reliable airport than HKIA. It is indeed my home airport these days, and I know others indeed fly quite more than me, but I at least am on the road a bit, somewhere from 65-120 flights annually for the past 8 years. So I do see and transit a fair number of airports. At HKIA, if you are walking, my longest transit from South Immigration/Security is 15 minutes (out to gate 69). Sadly, I have timed this. If you take the train, it gets cut down to ~8-11 minutes depending how long you wait for the train. I am a middle-aged average sized male without any health problems so of course, folks with different health conditions may take longer. The other thing I love about HKIA is how predictable my schedule can get due to the efficiency of the Airport Express. In an extreme situation, I have caught a flight on the hour (say, 5pm) by taking the Airport Express departing 1 hour earlier (aka, 4pm). Obviously no bags to check, I have HKID. But This is pretty impressive considering CX offers no special immigration and security privileges. I routinely will take the Airport Express 1 hour 20 minutes before departure. That, to me is very impressive! And no FCT to boot.

Finally, there is the tarmac drive situation. I do enjoy being driven to/from the flight on the tarmac, but being honest you can get this service at many global airports if you know where to look. And I don't care what type of car it is. Ironically, however at HKIA, it is quite annoying to drive to the tarmac because you'd have to first drive over to CX City or the private terminal, then switch to the car or bus, and drive from there to the commercial gates. The ride is long! I've actually done this before (alas, not as a departing passenger but for another reason), it had to be over 10 minutes due to the southern location of CX City / private terminal / etc. Looooong. IME, it would be faster to just go through the main commercial terminal, haul azz, and go through the regular old jetbridge.