I am booked in a few weeks on the CX889 YVR-HKG connecting to CX139 HKG-SYD.

Scanning Flightstats.com I am nonplussed to find that in the February 15-April 15 frame, 889 left JFK on time only 62% of the time, and the onward YVR-HKG segment ran on time only 34% of the time. Average delay for CX was said to be 35 minutes. CX and AC combined stats for YVR-HKG performance: the flights "very late" 16% of the time and "excessively" late 35% of the time.

I am wondering if your actual experience mirrors these stats and if you think them trustworthy. My connection time in HKG is about 90 minutes and if I miss CX139 the next flight, CX111, isn't for ten hours. Should I be prepared for/resigned to missing the connection? If 889 pulls in very close to 139's departure time, will CX ground staff expedite my transfer (I am flying J)?

Thanks very much.

I generally don't fly YVR-HKG precisely because of this problem -- the ontime arrival performance is abysmal. It is worse in the winter (due to winds) so there is some prospect for improvement for your flight dates, but the SFO and LAX flights are consistently better. All of my flights YVR-HKG have been over an hour late (however I didn't have a tight connections). CX is superb at handling tight connections -- really amazing how good they are. I've made a 10 minute connection time (and they would have held the flight if it had taken longer). There are ample staff meeting the flight to escort connecting pax to their gates or to make reroute arrangements.

I couldn't agree more with this statement. I've also had 10-15 minute connections on Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong and there is always someone waiting with my name and/or connecting flight #... They whisked me off through security and on to the connecting flight in just a few minutes. The service there is just wonderful.

For a flight to be considered "delay", I think it means the flight has departed over 15 minutes after departure time. However, it doesn't mean the flight is delayed arrival. There could be possiblities such as less head-wind or the captain managing to catch up and arrive on-time.

Rats. I had surmised the reverse might be true -- that OT performance would be better because the sector length is shorter. (I've done LAX-HKG in the past and had to put down in TPE for fuel due to winds.) Much as I'd like to haunt the Wing for a whole day and clean out the noodle bar, I really want to make CX139 because I'd like a night's sleep in SYD before having to do a raft of errands the next day... thanks for your help.

FWIW, I flew the JFK-YVR r/t sector twice recently -- once in mid-January and once in late March/early April. I had been monitoring on-time stats for both trips in the days prior to my own departure, on the CX website, including the incoming HKG-YVR flights. I definitely noticed that the flights were almost always late in January, but were almost always ontime or early in March. My actual experience with the flights mirrored that -- late both ways in January, ontime or early in March/April.

Well, I'm sitting in the CX lounge at YVR. It's 0320a local and the CX889 is running two and a half hours late... they're estimating departure at 0510a. So we will have pulled an all-nighter, then start an 11-hour flight...

And I have already been deemed to have missed my onward HKG-SYD and given a BP for the CX111, 705p departure, which means an unwanted 10-hour daytime layover followed by another overnight flight. I'm not really a terribly happy camper right now.

Looking at the flight status boards it appears this is all a knock-on from the CX888 getting away from HKG about two hours late yesterday. The whole 888/889 itin's been running late since the word go. Was there weather in Hong Kong?

FWIW, the check-in staff here at YVR was pretty hopeless tonight working on missed/endangered connections... kind of frustrating. Lounge staff very nice and competent though.

Sleepy...

You were warned in post #2. As for the YVR staff working on connections being abysmal, don't worry about it -- the real work is done in HKG and they do work very hard to make anything feasible happen. That is one advantage of having such a long flight, gives lots of time for the back office to work things out. With a 2 hour delay you may still make a close connection so don't give up hope and don't rely on what the YVR agents say. CX is one of the few airlines that really does keep working on your routing even when you are not standing in front of an agent.

You're quite right about having been warned of course...

I'm back home. Didn't make the connection, but saw quite a bit of successful, high-energy service recovery. Filed a trip report in the appropriate FT forum should anyone find it of interest.

Thanks for the trip report, that is always appreciated. Too bad you didn't have any Oneworld status (that would have given you lounge access in Australia for the domestic QF flights).

Sadly I have cast my lot with Skyteam for the moment. But should I develop a transpac habit that would have to change.

I was on CX888 from YVR to JFK last week, and the flight was delayed by some 5 1/2 hours. About half of the delay was from the flight arriving in late from HKG, and half due to bad weather at JFK, which necessitated making a refuelling detour to Toronto. The lounge staff in YVR was fantastic.