Originally Posted by
lsquare
Why not book a later flight in the first place?
Because TPE is so easy to turn back in practice. Another consideration is that the CX472/CX473 pair is almost a guarantee. If I were to take an earlier HKG-TPE flight, there is a chance that the earlier flight would be delayed so that I cannot catch CX473. In contrast, no matter how delayed CX472 is, I can always catch CX473.