Connection time: An acceptable risk?
 

Firstly, I apologise if there was a more appropriate thread to place this in - I went through five pages and couldn’t find one.

I have a booking SYD-HKG* in February - CX110 that arrives at 3.10pm. My ultimate destination is Hanoi/HAN - but unfortunately CX had not released HKG-HAN schedule when I elected to book.

Now the flight I want to book is available - CX743 - which leaves at 5.10pm.

My choices are: book that with a two hour contingency - noting that bags will be checked through - but they are separate tickets, OR go through the rigmarole of visas etc and stay a night (or two) in HKG.

Ideally I would take the same day flight as most times CX110 is on time; but my head is saying not to.

Would you/should I risk it?

CX will check through on CX-CX itineraries.

The bigger question is whether you're a visa national since you mentioned about the faff of having to apply a visa.

2 hours is an acceptable risk. And long haul is seldom delayed that much unless the plane comes in late (which you can probably check for around check in) or goes tech for a while (which is really unlucky)

and once you through check your baggage (even on separate ticket) you are de facto in the care of CX and they will even have someone at the gate waiting if they see the connection becomes too tight. I would say they would even book you on a next flight if you miss.

qn is though what happens if you miss? where are you going to stay if you can't go landslide... if you are OK slumming it airside then I would personally go for it

I came to this thread expecting to see 35 mins on separate tix. ;)

This isnt risky!

Absolute no brainer. Low risk. Do it. Yes of course if your ex-SYD leg is 2+ hours delayed you may misconnect, but it's rare.

Otherwise, there's no better major airport in the world than HKIA for such a thing. For perspective I regularly connect CX to CX at HKG, my last 60 minute gate arrival to next departure connection, I spent 20 minutes in the lounge. (I also prefer to board last; CX gate closes 10 mins before departure, key to note). 2 hours is an eternity in HKIA connecting.

To help your case or if you're nervous, check in online for your second flight and have your BP ready so you neednt visit the transit desk. (Although this is pretty fast also if needed ) If for some reason you land from flight one with 35 minutes to spare, flag the people who will be standing at the jet bridge and ensure they know you've got a connecting flight (just on separate tix). They'll escort you thru transit and are in touch via their cellphones with whoever at CX holds flights for transit pax. I've had a few close calls but *never* missed a flight just due to dumb luck of a bad transit (I've had flights leave without me but it was known in advance and we were hours delayed, I was met at jetbrdge with my alternative).

Absolutely not an issue at all. Good luck (but you won't need it!!!)

I know right :D 2 hours is longer than most of my transfers at HKG...

I am a bit puzzled. You write that you currently have a SYD-SIN in February 2026.
Does that mean that your ticket is SYD-HKG-SIN on CX.
If so, you run the risk that CX in SYD will check through your luggage to SIN.

If that is a typo and you meant SYD-HKG, then it is plenty of time. However, February 2026 is very far away and schedules have a chance to change.
You seem to mention that you need a visa to get into Hong Kong. Then you'd better get one for the first flight SYD-HKG on a separate ticket.

CX110 (which he mentioned) is a SYD-HKG service that arrives at 3:10pm (which he also does mention), so the SIN bit is probably a mistake.

Sorry - totally a mistake - it is SYD-HKG. Just so used to go via SIN and not HKG.

Thanks all for your replies. I’ll make the booking with the two hours wait and then just hope for the best!

While I am visa free my partner isn’t (ostensibly transit visa free but requires visa to enter); so we would have to stay airside if there was any issue.

Wish the connection was longer purely because of lounge time though!


Really appreciate all of your thoughts.

I think that the advice about needing a visa for your partner is very sensible and required: My general understanding is that an airline can't check you in on the SYD-HKG leg, even with a separate different booking, unless they can see a visa for HKG as that is for that explicit booking. So I believe you need to plan this in. I'm speaking about this conceptually, as I've no idea if Cathay (or Hong Kong) will be more flexible.

Note: In hindsight booking 11 months in advance, it likely would have been easier to wait and book it all together, avoiding this visa trouble and missing your flights (Doesn't apply if you are flying at CNY when early booking makes sense). If you need to go airside or pick-up and drop bags then 2 hours at HKG isn't enough, see this thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hong...kg-2-45-a.html

An easy override for most airlines/countries..atleast for CX,SQ,UA,AA,QR,TG in my experience (I need a visa for many countries and have flown more than a fair share of ‘funky’ cross ticket itineraries)

That said however, I recall reading posts on FT about BA being problematic on this.

CX is really good for connections on separate tickets.
But I wonder what is their procedure is when your first ticket requires a visa for the final destination (Hong Kong).
I am not familiar with what HK immigration/CX requires.
Many airlines would not let you board unless you have the right to enter your ticket final destination.
Again, CX might have a different policy and accept the second ticket as transit for immigration purposes.

Thanks all - we would likely obtain the visa anyway just to be on the safe side.

Unfortunately I couldn’t book together as CX hadn’t released flights to HAN when I booked - while there was a good deal on SYD-HKG. I could have waited of course but the period of travel is close to Tet (the purpose of our travel) so just wanted to book it in.

Given that you have a lot of time, once you have bought the HKG-HAN tickets you could contact CX (assuming you bought the tickets direct from them) and ask if they could merge the two bookings onto a single PNR. That would mitigate any risk of problems at the initial check-in.

Thanks - will try that as it is direct.

Is it not possible to just change the first ticket you bought to end in HAN?

There was a promotion specifically for Australia to Hong Kong - I’m not sure what the fare difference will be. I can check but don’t think to would work. I also may just use Asia Miles for the Hanoi leg - just waiting for them to release it - as they seem to have high J fares for that route.

Yield management software (for revenue and award) know full well when CNY and Tet are and the expected load on the flights.
Don't expect bargains if you travel near those dates.
Linking the PNRs won't achieve much. It is just a note in the PNRs.

I know. It’s why I locked in my fare early from SYD. I suspect they’ll release availability for HAN any day now…

I don’t know why you suggest I’m looking for bargains.

That's not what I suggested -merging PNRs would work if CX will do it for you.

I miss real Travel Agents for whom these things were trivial.

I dont think that a merge is an actual merge once you already booked separate tickets.
It is just note in the s2 PNRS.
Some TAs can sell you a ticket by stacking together separate tickets. The outcome and risks can be unpleasant. The best approach is to try to change th first ticket to a SYD-HAN. That could be impossible om a promotion fare , or vey costly, or less given that SYD-HAN are often Cheaper that SYd-HKG.
But ticket needs to be changeabe or refundable. Despite of the change/refund fees, and the high fares in CNY/TET busy holiday season.
That would be my first action to get full protection.

Second option would be to buy a secondH KG-HAN ticket as you planed and hope for the best.
You have to compare the two costse, risks and decide accordingly

I think brunos and I have the same thought. Ignore the misconnection risk and just fix the visa risk in advance. It sounds like you're used to this and also got a good deal on the original fare (maybe? I'm still not convinced but you can look in a few weeks and see if that's the case. It's rare that a direct flight into hong kong is cheaper, but I mentioned CNY and with Tet you've the same challenge, though for a single country).

Indeed, we are in agreement.
Like you said, I would have waited till fares SYD-HAN had been made available. Whatever promotion you got on SYD-HKG (including a lot of restrictions),it is likely that you will end up with a larger cost to book separately the HKG-HAN. Anyway HKG-HAN is a very short flight (flight time less than 2h0, so Y is quite bearable.

CNY and Tet always fall on the same dates (2026 17 February), so it is an extremely busy travel season in Asia.

Is syd-han during February a market that commonly sells out a year in advance? What's the source of that demand?

Tet

I flew from NNG to HAN and back during CNY (same days as Tet) in 2019. While I know the markets aren't not apples to apples, that ticket was dirt cheap one weak out and the flights were 75% full, at best.

Well yes, but the Vietnamese population of New South Wales is rather bigger than the one in Nanning!

I believe the CX check-in counter at SYD can also print the HKG-HAN boarding pass.
It is not possible to merge 2 PNRs after these PNRs have already been created, period. TAs cannot do that, either. This is nonsense.

While TAs can sell separate tickets within the same PNR, it is not possible to do that on a CX-CX connection. As long as the 2 flights are within 24 hours, they become married segments. On Amadeus, ticket cannot be issued on only some but not all of the married segments. On Sabre, this is technically possible, but once CX detects it, the booking will be cancelled, and the TA will be expected to pay a fine.

Well I guess things have changed. My TA used to do this sort of thing regularly back in my road warrior days. Perhaps not "merging" the 2 PNRs as such, but replacing them with a single newly booked PNR against the same tickets.

With paper tickets, assuming availability exists (not a problem back in the day if you were GO or DM, given seat guarantee, or TA can ask CX to release seats), yes you can create a new PNR and re-associate the old tickets in the new PNR. This is technically also possible with e-tickets, if you have fully flexible ones, but much more difficult in execution (still, possible, so long as the flights are not within 24 hours and not married, or if the flights are marketed by different airlines). Alternatively, TAs can book "Ghost Confirm (GK)" segments in a PNR to present a single itinerary for you, but these segments are "passive segments" in the sense that, in the airline's reservation system, the 2 PNRs remain 2 PNRs. A single PNR is just created to make it easier for you and the TA to see things. At the airport, they will still see 2 separate PNRs.

I don’t disagree with you - I’m just hoping and suspecting they will release some reward seats on the flight I want. The sale was going to end before they released onward connections to HAN for some reason.

Unfortunately there are few very good options to get to HAN from SYD as there are few direct options - and ones I would consider paying J for - and the price was good via HKG.

Re the booking in advance - we found Tet did book out early this year - so I did want to book early.

Finally, I do appreciate everyone that has provided advice. It has been really informative and I thank you for sharing your knowledge.

What about a transit in HKG of less than an hour?

Looking at CX983 to CX725 which on one particular date gives only 55mins on the ground in HKG

55 minutes is fine at HKG.
Of course, if you first flight is delayed by 30 min, that is another story.

thanks mate! that's reassuring

JOOI, is there a cutoff for the number of remaining minutes, for a ground staff to be arranged / standby upon deplaning for the transit?

There are ground staff waiting for the pax with tight connections. Should be no issue. If staff are waiting for you, there are one of two realities: either 1.) you're pretty much guaranteed to make it (since they'll call ahead and the gate will be kept open for you, while the staff escorts you through transit security to the gate to ensure you arrive), or 2.) they've decided on your behalf you're missing it. If nobody is there move quickly but that means they presume it's no issue for you to make it easily. It's not like where you need to run a thousand miles an hour through the airport and your speed determines if you'll make it or not, which is common at other airports but not HKG with CX.

Even if you're 35 minutes late (late to the gate not touchdown....landing on the north runway now makes for some atrocious taxi times to the gate), I expect you'll make it. I can't think of another airline I fly or major airport with such seamless connections for such a large international airport.

And the checked bags usually make it too.