Originally Posted by
Cplusplus
Has anyone done this more recently? Still doable? I'm going from JFK>PEK>BKK. First flight is scheduled to land 3/23 in PEK at 18:40, connecting flight leaves an hour later at 19:45. I don't see any flights until the next morning. Both are Air China on the same itinerary. Should I let the FA's know that I have a short connection? The first flight doesn't have the best on-time performance. I've read that Air China puts you in a cheap hotel with another passenger in the case of missed connections. I can stay at night at the nearby Hilton but obviously would like to get to BKK sooner rather than later.
It's doable if the first flight is on time. The biggest potential time snarf is the security checkpoint that you have to go through. It does pay to know your options in the event of a misconnect, and to state your preference to Air China staff who need to rebook you. Realistic possibilities that CA would use are:
1) CA 975 at midnight 00:10 (technically 3/24) to Singapore arr 06:30 then Thai Airways flight SIN-BKK dep 08:15 arr 09:35. I've been rebooked on this maneuver and it's not bad. IMO, the best of the connecting Plan B options if you need to minimize lost time in Bangkok.
2) TG 675 nonstop to BKK dep 3/24 06:50 arr 11:05. IMO, the best of the nonstop Plan B options.
3) CA 757 nonstop to BKK dep 3/24 08:15 arr 12:30. CA will probably try to put you on this before option #2 , if space is available.
Hopefully you won't misconnect or if you do, won't have to go below these options since at that point, you'll be losing 2/3 to a full day in Bangkok on 3/24. There are nonstops on CA in the early afternoon, TG in the late afternoon, and CA again on your flight, 24 hours later. And there are other connection options though I'd rate them worse for hassle factor and they don't get you to Bangkok any earlier than mid-afternoon on the 24th.
If rebooking is needed, CA will prefer to rebook on their own metal or TG.