Originally Posted by
driveswith
Thanks for the swift response. My connection time is 2h45m. I'm not sure what the minimum is but just did a quick search and found a flight sold by Cathay from JFK-SGN with 1h10m connection and LHR-SGN with a 1h connection, which Cathay show as short connection, so should be fine. Will report back in a few months.
If I haven't make a mistake, the MCT in HKG is 50 mins, under the situation that your luggage is through checked, otherwise a 2h connection may be needed (it could take up to 1h to get your checked luggage in rush hour in HKG in worse case)
Also, base on my previous experience with CX, it may have potential issue for you in JFK if request to check in to HKG only. Once a time I bought a return J ticket of PVG-HKG-HND, and I requested to checked to HKG only on my return trip in HND (drop the rest HKG-PVG trip and leave in HK). However, it was rejected by CX Japanese ground crew, as well as her supervisor, simply stated it was not allowed according to my fare rule.
Eventually, I got 2 boarding pass (HND-HKG and HKG-PVG) and my luggage was through checked to PVG. After landed in HKG, I went to the transit counter in HKG and requested to drop my last HKG-PVG leg, sweetly they were nice to help to took out my luggage and didn't charge me anything, and it took me around 1h to get my checked luggage after the request.
Therefore, it all depend on the CX ground crew in JFK, In best case, they will help you to get the JFK-HKG and HKG-LHR boarding pass and checked your luggage to LHR. But in worst case, they may simply rejected your request and you need figure out how to get your luggage out in HKG.