CX332 landed on time in PEK today Sept 16 but CX331 cancelled after check in time closed, one hour before boarding. Any insights as to what happened ?

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/b-lam

Was told it's mechanical related short turn around time , not enough time to fix it

So a new part needs to be flown in from HKG tomorrow ?

Probably just needed extra time

Some of the pax moved to my flight 393

Can 393 and 337 take all passengers from 331 is the question.... Plus the anxiety of having to do entry immigration, claim bags, go back to check in counter, go through the whole exit procedure again... yikes....

The cancelled flight was full house. Originally they wanted to move me from 393 to the cancelled flight. Luckily didn't happen or else I ll have to reenter immigration and re check in

Yes its a pain needing to go back out to check in instead of being issued a new boarding pass. Many ppl were either confused or slightly unhappy. The ambassadors and her team did a great job to suss it all out. Not sure about the Y pax/ non status pax. I was in the lounge having tea and watching it unfold

What's the reason for this? Is it a Chinese requirement?

I actually asked. The answer was

"Because it is Beijing" hahaah

I suspect it has something to do with the data they received from scanned passport , face and the boarding pass. Must be a security thing since it's the central gov city. Eg during covid Beijing entry requirement was next next level.


My wild guess anyway. She said she was happy that the flight was full and didn't manage to switch me to the cancelled flight cause I would have to walk twice 🤣

I had that happen 14 years ago exactly in Beijing. Checked in for flight. After aircraft landed from HKG, was told the flight was cancelled. Forced to go through entry immigration and bla bla bla and back to check in counter, get assigned the new flight, and go through the exit procedure again. Felt like Amazing Race to see who would get to the check in counter first. Obviously if you have status and no checked bags, you land a better chance getting on to the next flight.

Now granted if you have checked in luggage, yes you would have to go through the whole ordeal to retrieve your bags. But for passengers without checked bags, surely this can all be done at the gate area I would like to think. I am beginning to suspect that as standard operating procedure, there has to be a stamp from airport security on your boarding pass, so everyone has to re-enter and then exit..... ?

As of 1058am the next morning, the aircraft is still on the ground in Beijing. My other guess is a spare part has to be flown in on CX334.

Yes. One is not allowed to change flights past security, no matter if it�s voluntary (on a flex flight) or involuntary (flight cancellation). Flight changes can only be done at the checkin counter. This has to do with the border and immigration control.

As a result, if there is any flight cancellation leading to change of flight, one has to enter China again, change the flight at checkin counter and clear customs/immigration again regardless of whether you have checked baggages. You cannot move to an earlier flight at the lounge if there�s a delay.

I wonder how that works if you're on a single entry visa?

From my experience from 14 years back, everyone from the affected flight queued up at a dedicated passport control line set up for this flight. As we re-entered, what happened was that the earlier exit just got "cancelled" as if we never left to begin with. Realistically, those from Hong Kong using the Mainland China Travel Permit essentially got waived through, and we just got asked as we exited again how come we were exiting without entering, and we all said "we were on the cancelled flight".

Is the airplane STILL STUCK in Beijing ? https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/b-lam

Just incase u are wondering. There is also one stuck in jfk 😂😂 delay for 12 hours (maybe)

FR24 shows the frame operating CX964 (to HGH) tomorrow, so chances are it might return to HK tomorrow. Tho FR24 scheduled aircrafts are usually not trustworthy for CX so it might be stuck there for a while