katiesmum

Hi, we are considering booking flights with Cathay Pacific from Beijing to Hong Kong and then Cathy Dragon from Hong Kong to Da Nang. They are giving us 1 hour 35 minutes between flights, would this be enough time to get from one flight to the other not knowing what the airport at Hong Kong is like.

Thank you

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

I assume this is all on one ticket?

If so then theoretically it is plenty of time .However there have been posts here regarding China-Hong Kong flights being delayed due to ATC restrictions ( not sure about recent performance) but if on one ticket and the PEK-HKG flight is delayed then CX would have to get you to Da Nang on the next available flight.

Hong Kong is an excellent airport to transit through ( there may be some distance to walk to the next gates though)

Regards

TBS

Unterwegs

HKG is a great airport for connections. Even with some delay of the inbound you should be able to make it.
Bit check sites like flightradar24 how often and how long your inbound is delayed. This will give you a good idea if yo can make it. If you have around 40 min chances are good in my experience.

katiesmum

Thank you both for taking the time to reply. I think there are other flights out of Beijing about 30 mins and an hour earlier, maybe we should think about one of those just to be sure. There is only the one flight to Da Nang. I will have a look at flightradar24 tomorrow to see what it says.

Our other option is a flight that leaves similar time but with Vietnam Airlines and then changes in Hanoi (2 hours 30 mins) but we thought Cathay Pacific might just be a little better and the price is similar for business class with both airlines.

lixiaojuventus

1h35m is plenty of time for a normal transfer in HKG. The main problem is with PEK. Recently on a couple of days I've seen long delays and also cancellations in PEK-HKG flights due to ATC/weather in Beijing. So in theory if one is really unlucky, a 3h connection may even lead to misconnections. With that said, there are many PEK-HKG flights. If the flight you are booked on is delayed, you can always ask CX/KA to move you to an earlier flight. In conclusion, if I were you, I would feel comfortable booking this 1h35m connection for PEK-HKG-DAD.

bhyq

brunos

Remember that the KA DAD flight usually departs from the North Satellite (Dragon island), so it takes time to get there by bus. If you flight is delayed by 45 minutes, you will have problems (unless the new bridge opens). I assume that you are flying on days with the evening DAD flight. Might be risky.
Personally I would never risk it. I would rather take a PEK flight 1+ hour earlier.

kaka

moondog

If the origin wasn't in mainland China, I'd say go for it. The thing is, there's a 10% chance that PEK-HKG will arrive after HKG-Dad departs, and an additional 30% chance that it will get there within 30 minutes of departure. If you happen to catch a semi bad weather day, 9+ hour delays are not uncommon. Flying out an hour or two earlier won't help if you encounter such.

If I were you, I'd either plan on spending a night in HK, or go with the VN option. There are two reasons I like the VN option:

1. The PEK-NNG flight path is MUCH less congested than PEK-HKG
2. There are more flights HAN - Dad than HKG-DAD

As for KA v VN business class, imo it's a wash these days.

katiesmum

Wow thank you all so much, need to have a discussion with my daughter today as we were hoping to book all our flights today. I think we assumed as Cathay was a bigger airline then it would be better to fly with them also they arrived into Da Nang at a much better time than VN, but we don`t want to get stuck in HK for 24 hours. We are hoping to travel on the 144 hour visa free transit so would need to leave Beijing on the Tuesday, we are not travelling until August.

Are there any other airlines doing that route that anyone can recommend?

Thanks again everyone for your great advice, really appreciate it.

moondog

I've never flown VN, but my boss did 3 months ago, and told me he was quite impressed (a350).

If the fare is reasonable, I would book VN, simply because no other airlines have as many flights to DAD (well, actually not using the PEK-HKG flight path is also a BIG carrot).

What many people don't understand about PEK-HKG, is that tons of flights (not just China) clog it up. In fact, PEK-SGN uses it, but PEK-HAN does not.

katiesmum

Thanks moondog, thought I had replied but it seems to have disappeared. The VN flights are a B787 for the main flight then A321 for the shorter one. We never thought about the number of flights into HK. The fare is similar with both airlines. As mentioned it was the landing time in DA Nang that made us look at Cathay but since everyone's great advice think we will go back to looking at VN unless we find another carrier not routing through HK.

Aussienarelle

I flew VN last year and was impressed. However, my expectations were low.

clubeurope

I think the latter says a lot

brunos

I think that you are overreacting.
VN can be a decent experience, but also a bad one., especially if irrops.
Unless there is a significant price difference, I would never prefer VN over KA.
If there are delays, it won't make a difference between VN and KA.

VN513 from PEK arrives at 6:30pm and connects to the last flight to DAD at 9pm, arriving really late at 10:20pm.
Remember that you will have to clear immigration and custom at HAN. It can be quite long depending on your visa situation. With VOA, lines can be quite long. Then you have to transfer to the domestic terminal. I am not sure but I think that you need to recheck your bags. Again, not sure. If your VN513 is well over an hour late, you might miss the connection (last month typical delay was 50min). Then you send the night in HAN.

If you book an earlier CX/KA flight to pad your transfer time in HKG, you will be fine. If all flight experience a delay from PEK, KA/CX will usually put you on an earlier flight that is delayed. VN cannot do that.
Also note that Wednesdays KA flight departs at 7:55am, so you won't spend 24h in HK.

The only reason I would choose VN is the 787 with longhaul busines class seats, much better than CX/KA regional seats, but that is not a long flight.
All other factors are in favor of CX/KA (earlier arrival, better handling of irrops, same price)
.