1 hour enough for connection
 

Hi folks, i have just booked with cathay pacific for september and will be flying from lhr to bkk. But my connection time in HKG is only 70 minutes and as i have never been to HKG before or flown with CX i was wondering if this is plenty of time to catch my connecting plane to bkk?

Are both flights on CX? In general, you have enough time. MCT for CX flights in HKG is 50 or 55 min.

70 minutes should be fine, unless you hit a peak period in HKG transit. Peak periods tend to be in the morning, when Europe/Aus/US flights arrive with connecting pax onward to Asia; in the early afternoon (12-3pm) when the first batch of Asia flights arrive with connecting pax onward to Asia/US; and at night when Asia flights arrive with connecting pax onward to Europe/Aus/US. Using this as a guide, CX252 (7am) and CX250 (1pm) would arrive during peak times, CX254 and CX256 less so. But I am not sure whether there are any BKK connections from 254 and 256. If there are, that would be a good choice. If not, 70 mins is pushing it during peak hours, and sometimes the officers in transit security are less than pleased when you ask them to cut the line.

If the flight is arriving late, OP can inform CX crew of the transit. They may be able to arrange for an early disembarkment. Also, in the event of a tight connection to another CX/KA flight, there are CX ground staff greeting and helping passengers at the gate. If not sure what to do, OP can simply approach CX staff at the gate for help.

And, if your incoming flight is delayed, CX agent will have your new boarding pass for the next available flight to BKK at the gate, unless extreame condition(bad weather/all flights fully booked during holiday season...)

Thanks for the replies guys, i arrive on CX254 and leave 70 minutes later on CX703 so i hope these flights are during the quieter times and also good to know that there is a chance of priority disembarkment if my flight is running behind schedule. Also does anyone know if the plane from LHR which i think is is a 747 has got the new seats and entertainment system on board?

As far as I can see, this is actually a 20 minute connection, 254 to 703, which you won't make. I see 703 departing HKG at 1820, have I missed something?

OP is talking about September. If connection is shorter than MCT and on same itinerary, it will not be allowed anyway.

Ah, there it is. Listed as a legal connection. I've done 70 minute connections at HKG, and you should have no problem making this, including checked bags. CX desk at LHR will probably issue your boarding pass for 703, in which case, don't waste time at the connections desk at HKG, as you don't need to stop there if you already have a boarding pass for the onward flight. Just go through security back into the terminal, find your gate, and go there directly.

And if the lines at the main transfer security points are long then go up to the transfer point near gate 35 (or therabouts) - I have never seen any sort of line there.

OP, it will also help if you check the frequency of flights to BKK because if your 1st flight gets delayed, thats how long you'll be waiting. If BKK flights are back to back like HKG-TPE or HKG-PVG then you'll be fine. I've been delayed anywhere from 1hr up to 6hrs before.

We're flying ICN-HKG-SYD-CHC in January 2010. CX cancelled our ICN-HKG flight in the most recent cutbacks, and moved us to the earlier flight, 8:50 AM from ICN. This is rather early for me (especially since our positioning flights LAX-NRT-ICN arrives at 8:55 PM, and I don't think 12 hours allows enough time to clear immigration/customs, get to a hotel, check-in, unpack, sleep, get up, shower, get to the airport, clear immigration/security, etc.).

My TA suggested putting us on the 3:15 PM ICN-HKG flight, which is only 55 minutes to connect to the 7:05 PM HKG-SYD flight (which connects to the only SYD-CHC flight). She says it is a legal connection, and it isn't in the peak times listed by jumbojet19920711. It'll be rushed, and no lounge time of course, but if it's safe it's preferable to the 8:50 AM flight.

What do you think?