Help with connection time
 

i have decided to fly my wife via CX.

I will forgo CI - I do not want her to do the extra stop in ANC and will also forgo BR- not flying on my first choice day & in case of bad weather, I do not want to go all the way to EWR.

These are the 2 options that I like:
1st flight CX 904 MNL HKG 0630 0830
CX 830 HKG JFK 0935 1210

2nd flight CX 900 MNL HKG 1230 1440
CX 840 HKG JFK 1725 2015

I love the first flight but is that enough time for her to make her connection?
She will be flying on a Saturday in early February.

The minimum connection time is 50mins
http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_...s?cityCode=HKG

HKIA is very efficient.
Her baggage will be checked through and she will have her HKG-JFK boarding pass. There will be someone waiting at the end of the jetway to point her to the gate. She will not be the only one taking connecting flights, as there are many at that time of the morning, so it will be highly likely that it will arrive on time and there will be no problems.

The worst bit will get getting to MNL for the 0630 departure - too early for some.

Connection will be sufficient for the 1st option. But as far as the timing, I much prefer the second option. Not because the connection time is 2hrs 45 min, but because of the evening arrival into JFK. I prefer an evening arrival after a long haul whenever possible.

Thanks for the reply guys.

I was more concern with the connection time & worried that #1 would not have sufficient time to connect.
She prefers the early morning and the 6:30am time suits her just fine. She told me to get her either an early morning or a late evening flight out of MNL. She just told me that she will be at MNL at 4:30 in the morning. :)

I frequently take the 6:30am MNL flight and you really do not need to be at the airport 2 hours ahead IMI.

If travelling in J/F one hour is enough. Sometimes immigration gets backed up (I've never seen it that bad at 6:00am) but so long as you have checked in 45 - 60 minutes before the flight the CX agents will yank you out of the security line and get you on the plane.

The airport and CX lunge at MNL are grim - one does not want to spend a great deal of time there....

No F cabin on the 6:30am flight :(

She will be traveling in Y.

We decided to go with flight #1:

CX 904 MNL HKG 0630 0830
CX 830 HKG JFK 0935 1210

She called back the travel agent she was dealing with & something didn't "seems right". First the TA said that the price was good until Jan 15 & then it will change, then she would need $100 deposit to "hold" that price.

I then send an email to the TA questioning the Jan 15th validity & ask if the price will go down because we are approaching the off-peak season.
The TA replied "no the price will not go down, that price is valid year round for first time immigrants on CX, it only goes down with other airlines" :rolleyes:

I told my wife to forget the TA & call CX office in Makati. She called CX & was given a better quote.
Then she went in person to buy the ticket -she was given a better price that what CX quotes her & about $75 less than the TA.

She was given a heavily discounted ticket (economy class N) but I do not mind as we got a good price (save me a bit), the date we wanted (Saturday Feb 5th) & the time we wanted.