Hi all, I have searched the forum but found little info for my case. Wonder if I have any right for any compensation.

I booked a single itinerary from SIN to MAN(economy class) with about 50min layover which I managed to do from MAN-SIN earlier.

About a month ago, in SIN, I took CX636 from SIN to HKG on 25/8. It was initially meant to depart at 2010 and on check-in it had changed to 2030. When I arrived at the gate, there was a further delay on that flight for almost 45 minutes before it took off at about 2115 and I had a connecting flight CX357 to MAN at 0100 on 26/8. I asked ground staff at the gate and they told me it would be sorted out in the plane. In the plane, I was identified to have a connecting flight at 0100 but no assurance was given whether I could arrive on time for my flight.
I eventually arrived in HKG at 0115 and was given a hotel room overnight with breakfast and to take another flight CX279 to Paris-CDG at 0950. CX279 took an hour longer than what CX357 would take to MAN and at the end I was frustrated because after all of that I still did not reach my destination and had to go through security again.
I then had to take another flight AF1168 to MAN and eventually arrived at 1830, 12 hours later than the original itinerary and 2 transits instead of 1 which left me extremely tired and I could not do anything I planned on that afternoon.
Unfortunately, after waiting at the luggage belt for 45 mins I realised my luggage was not coming and the lost baggage service for AirFrance informed me that it was still in Paris. It was inconvenient without my laptop charger in my luggage which I did not want to purchase because the guy had told me it would come latest in 2 days and I was afraid I would not get compensation.

After many calls which cost 10 GBP I received my luggage 5 days later.

Since I came from SIN and the delay happened there and Cathay is not an EU airline the EU guidelines do not apply right? I am wondering what I can expect in terms of compensation? I'm not sure of the cause of the delay but that was 1 or 2 days before a major typhoon that closed HKG for a few hours.
Is the hotel some form of compensation as well? Is the luggage a separate issue since it was under Air France?

Thank you.

Welcome to Flyertalk It certainly sounds an incredibly frustrating experience, but sadly very common as far as air travel is concerned.

In a nutshell: no. Getting you there on time isn't part of the contract you entered with the airline when purchasing the ticket. You could always write to them, and they might give you a small amount of miles as a gesture of goodwill, but sadly you don't have the right to demand anything.

CX messed up, and they did what they had to: got you a hotel room with breakfast and put you on the next best option, which I presume was HKG-CDG-MAN. Nothing more, nothing less.

The CX flight to MAN isn't daily, so waiting for the next direct HKG-MAN flight may not have been an option. And I doubt you'd want to wait that long for a direct flight, anyway. There's also not a whole lot of CX HKG-Europe flights that leave during the day, so I can see why they routed you via CDG.

And this is why you don't put your essentials in your checked luggage. Unfortunately, this complaint won't get you much sympathy.

CDG, much like many European hubs, is not known for its efficiency. From this point on, this becomes an AF/CDG complaint.

I believe so. Even if EC261/2004 did apply, good luck pursuing it.

Yes, it totally sucks that you had to go through that, but sadly CX doesn't owe you any compensation. It might sound unfair, but that's air travel for you. Hopefully you had travel insurance, because your case is a perfect example of why it's needed.

At most you have a baggage delay claim against AF as the operating carrier if you had to purchase anything that was in your luggage. If they gave you a delayed baggage receipt/acknowledgement at the airport you can use that to file a claim with them.

You can also try for some paltry amount of miles from CX but I wouldn't hold my breath since they technically got you to your destination and already set you up with a hotel in HK.

All right thank you so much for the replies. I understand they did get me to my destination but yes it was quite an unfortunate journey for me. I'll send them an email and see what they say.

You may put in a claim with AF for necessary expenses during the five days. Include the receipts and expect anything reasonable to be reimbursed. That is a reimbursement, not compensation.

The call cost is on you. Same information is available free online from WorldTracer and I would make a point of getting Skype or a similar service if you travel overseas regularly.

While the routing was inconvenient, what alternative did you propose to CX which was better?

Better look at this as a lesson learnt that.
1. 50 minute connections are just tight. Better be safe with at least two hours (or longer, for your own peace of mind)
2. Don't put anything you can't afford to lose in your checked luggage.
3. The moment you realize your connection is in danger, start googling alternative flights before departure. You could have asked to be rerouted via the late departure flights to MXP/FCO/BCN/LHR. You might have had a chance!

4. Be aware of your situation and get clear answers from agents. The agents in Singapore who told you it will be dealt on the plane are the ones who fooled you. No way you'd make a 50 minute connection after a 65 minute delay! Nothing would be done in the plane.

The MAN flight is one the last of the European flights to leave for the night/early morning. The others leave around the same time or even earlier. How could the OP make those flights if he/she was going to miss CX257?

The issue is that he is complaining about the reroute. Having misconnected, the question to OP is what his preferred reroute was. I presume that CX would have rebooked him, space permitting, onto its next nonstop if he wished to wait a few days. But, barring that, what is it that he wanted?

50 mins connx is asking for trouble if u need to get there. Its good for getting a free night of stay in an hotel however.

I got 8,000 AM compensation for 45 min delay on 636 earlier last month. Doesn't hurt to try...maybe

Yea, 0pct chance I'd book that if I needed to be somewhere. I'd just chalk the experience up to a relatively infrequent flier at least for this type of itinerary.

It's tough from all angles. There are passengers who legitimately have no clue and expect everything to work out because the airline sold the ticket.

​Then there are others who know damn well 50 mins is tight, sXXX can happen, but book it assuming they can play the card in the paragraph above because the airline has no way of distinguishing who is phony in their argument and who is genuine. I could see more than a few family members making a dumb connection like that.

I definitely feel for the OP that reroute sucks, although CX did a good job proactively offering the free hotel and rebooking to CDG, which as implied above is definitely the fastest reroute given the circumstances. MAN is nearly the last longhaul of the night.

i don't really know what could be done better. For ex-China flights I think it's a real shame the MCT isn't increased. Mainland China is simply a joke with delays. But for most other routes, CX is very good about keeping schedules, although sXXX happens from time to time.

As a HK resident I fully support this. Make transit less attractive (and more honest).

Although academic, I beg to differ this.

It is true that OP is not appeared to be covered by EC261/2004. However, Canada has extended EC261/2004 through a ruling of its own to cover all EU-bound passengers from Canada, citing that passengers should be treated equally.

Given that Singapore is:

a. A Commonwealth country; and,

b. A common-law country

It is possible that Singapore is willing to to extend EC261/2004 in light of Canada's ruling. So while OP is not appeared to be covered, if OP is willing to pursue it, I bet Singapore will come up with a similar conclusion and force CX to pay up.

But again - it all depends on how OP is desperate for the compensation.

P.S. See the link if anyone is interested:

https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/ruling/442-c-a-2013

SIN doing that..
possible- yes..probable-no!

Whilst still in SIN, OP could've asked to be put on the direct SQ52 to MAN (or any other connecting flight for that matter). Sometimes CX is quite good with this and it definitely helps if you have status. Only problem being that it seemed like there were multiple, staggered delays for the OP for CX636 so it would've been hard for both the OP and the gate / check-in agents to make the call.