Question about layover/transit in HK
 

Hi, I have a question about an upcoming flight I have on Cathay Pacific. I am flying from JFK to MNL and the flight has a layover in Hong Kong. I was wondering if I could change the connecting flight to a later time without having to rebook or reissue the flight in order to spend some time to see Hong Kong.

Someone had told me that it is possible to have a connection time of under 24 hours without problem. However, this was in reference to a frequent flyer award ticket. I bought my ticket through my travel agent who said the booking is in H class. I am not sure if the same rule applies to my ticket.

When I called Cathay Pacific to ask, the agent on the other line was pretty vague. First the answer was no, then it was that the ticket would have to be reissued and I would pay for the change and fare difference, and then finally the answer became that yes, I could take a later flight, but it had to be on the same day.

My flight arrives at ~2 PM and my current connection is at ~4PM. The last flight of the day is at ~10PM, but ideally I would like to change it to a flight the next morning without going over the supposed 24 hour transit rule.

Any clarification on what I could do would be helpful. Would it be at all possible to just take the flight and once I land in Hong Kong, as the agents there to change the connection to a flight the next day (still within 24 hours) or would the answer be that I could only take the last flight of the day or not at all? Thanks.

I just pulled up the rules for the H fare I see in the market between JFK-MNL and it allows a free stopover in HKG (so you are not bound by the <24 hr rule; stay as long as you like). The H fare has a $50 change/cancel fee, so you will need to have CX reissue your ticket for this fee if you want to change your flights. You also need to make sure that all of the flights you are taking have H class on them if you want to keep the same fare.

To add to the point, any stopover would requires you to pay extra airport tax...

Which is HK$120

Thanks
 

Thanks for the information. On a related topic, what is the longest amount of time I can spend in transit at HK without having it be considered as a stopover? I don't intend to spend several days there, but was curious if I could take advantage of any transit vs. stopover rules. Can I therefore change the connecting flight to a later one within 24 hours without having to pay the $50 rebooking fee, or would it have to be at most the last flight out of the same day, or will I incur this fee as soon as I change the connecting flight (regardless of whether it's the same day, next day within 2 hours, or as long as I want in HK)?

Thanks again.

A stopover is when the connection time exceeds 24 hours while a layover / transit is just under 24 hours.

Ok, so if say I change my ticket to one where the connection is less than 24 hours (but later than my current 2 hour connection), and it is on the next day - does the $50 change fee apply?

I'm thinking that if it will apply anyway, and it would now be a stopover, I should just stay however many extra days I want.

If however, it shouldn't apply because it is still a layover/transit (less than 24 hours), then I'd take advantage of it and maximize the time within 24 hours in HK.

In short, will I have to pay $50 + airport tax if I want to do the following:

a. Change connection to the last flight out of the day
b. Change connection to last flight within 24-hours (likely to be the next day)

And can I decide on doing this once I am in HK for my original connection?

If your fare conditions say "Rebooking fee of $50" then any change of flight, regardless of when incurs the fee.

The airport tax would be incurred if you stayed overnight in Hong Kong. I believe it is based on calendar days and you are only exempt if you depart on the same calendar day that you arrived.

It's not correct. It's base on 24 hours rule. I did it pretty often, no extra fee needed. You can go on CX.com and check out, i.e. JFK-HKG (overnight)-TPE vs JFK-HKG-TPE (same date) it's same fare including taxes.

christep is correct. The HKD120 HKIA airport tax is for overnight, not on a 24-hour rule. When I got a HKD120 refund for a connection on two separate tickets, I asked the agent if that could be for all transits. She said there would only be refund for same-day transits.

I tried your example, but the booking engine did not give me an option of overnight stay.

No it's not. The law is here and is quite explicit: http://www.legislation.gov.hk/blis_i...e?OpenDocument

See here for the CAD interpretation http://www.cad.gov.hk/english/apdt_exempt.html

The airline is obliged to charge the tax if your issued tickets are for a next calendar day departure, however, if you have a next day transit and remain airside then you can reclaim the tax paid.

2 weeks ago, I bought a ticket from SIN-HKG-TPE from CX office in Singapore. My CX flight scheduled arrival was in the night at 1155pm from Singapore. I stayed a night in Hong Kong and then took the first morning flight from HKG to TPE. I was not charged the HK airport tax as confirmed with the CX staff. I was told by the CX staff in Singapore that so long as it is less than 24 hours, they do not charge HK airport tax. Hope this helps.

Did you re-check in the next day? If you did, they should charge you.

Is it then possible to decide once in HK itself that I'd want to extend the connection and have the ticket rebooked there? Would that incur the same $50 fee or would it be more? Note that I purchased the ticket through a travel agent, but am still unsure if I want/can extend my short connection in HK into a full-day thing.

Nope. I have check through my luggage from SIN to TPE and got my HKG-TPE boarding pass in Singapore.

In fact, my friend who has bought a ticket and travelled last month from SIN to Xiamen via HKG did the same time and was not charged the HKG airport tax.

Also, since the airlines allowed Self Printing Boarding Pass, you can print it online without having to check-in at the HK counter at all so long as your luggage is tagged to final destination, in the event that you are not able to get your connecting BP.