Hi all,
So, I've got a decision to make about air travel and I wanted to ask those more knowledgable than myself.....I have to be in HKT on 2/23 to pick up a diving liveaboard. Currently, I have SFO-HKG-BKK booked on Cathay Pacific and I'm in the process of booking BKK-HKT-BKK probably business class on Thai. If I stay with my current ticket, I'll arrive in BKK at 10:50 a.m. and then take a TG flight to HKT at around 2 p.m. to HKT arriving in HKT at around 3:30 p.m. (The liveaboard charter departs HKT at 9:00 p.m. but asks that passengers arrive in HKT by 4:00 p.m. the day of departure.)

If I stay with my current plans and transfer in BKK, I'll have to collect my checked bag and schlep it through immigration and then over to the domestic terminal. (Is three hours enough time?)

On the return, I'll leave HKT at approx. 11:00 a.m. and arrive in BKK at 12:30 p.m. and pick up my CX flight at 4:00 p.m. - arriving in HKG at around 8:00 p.m. This option will cost me roughly $250 extra.

Option 2 is that I cancel my existing ticket and go through CX and Dragon Air. I'll arrive in HKG at 6:00 in the morning and have a brutal layover until 2:30 p.m. when I'll fly directly to HKT from HKG. I won't get in until 5:25 p.m. (so that's cutting it a little close) and there is only one flight a day that would get me to HKT. On the return to HKG (where I'm doing a 4 night stopover) I'll leave HKT at 6ish at night and arrive in HKG at almost 11:00 p.m. As I'm traveling solo, I don't relish the thought of getting to my hotel in HKG at midnight.

The option would cost me only about $120 extra and would cut out going through immigration in BKK and the increased risk of losing bags due to the extra flight leg - but it would vastly cut down my flexibility as there is only one Dragon Air flight in and out of HKT a day.

What are your thoughts? Bottom line is that I absolutely need to be in HKT in time to catch my liveaboard -- all other considerations are secondary.

Thanks so much for your imput. These boards are invaluable to me.

--Sioux