Originally Posted by
ACYYZYHZ
On Tuesday 17th February, I'm flying SGN-HKG on CX 766 arriving at 3:20 pm and leaving on CX 251 for London at 11:00 pm. I have a uni friend that I'm going to meet in the city for dinner and a drink before returning to the airport. I was wondering what time I should head back at the airport to catch my flight. I realise that it's Chinese New Year so this might throw a bit of a spanner in the works?
Do you have access to the priority security channel? (CX DM, basically; or else elderly / injured / pregnant or w young kids / VIP). And do you have a HKID card or passport that can go through e-gates? And are you familiar with HKIA? If yes, you can show up 45 minutes before. If no, I'd say arrive at least 70 mins in advance.
Worst case scenarios
Priority security can maybe save 10 mins.
Epassport/HKID could maybe save another 10.
Familiarity with the airport maybe 5. (Signage is excellent at HKG, hard to find a better airport in the world; indeed many major global airports, especially in Asia seem to have learned from and adopted HKIA signage techniques in the last 15 years).
Both 45 mins and 70 mins times above assume zero lounge time and just go straight to gate. It's like a minimum. CX gate closes 10 mins prior to departure and they don't pull stunts like close gates close randomly before the cutoff time. You can bank on 10+ minutes before departure being okay.
I know my numbers won't be attractive to many. But I think if you're really gun to your head, those are the numbers and you'd be safe with them. I regularly arrive at HKIA with 50 minutes or less before my flight and feel like I'm forever reminding myself I could cut even tighter next time, even for the far our (40+ and 60+) gates. I was at HKiA yesterday, start of the rush, and the airport was v busy but also heavily staffed to compensate and everything worked very smoothly. Visitor line for passports was maybe a 5-10 min wait and security line similar.