i missed my flight tonight because of car problem. I tried to call the office but its closed. What can I do to move this flight the ne t following day? I need to be in Phil within this week. Please HELP.

Others with more experience may be along later with a better answer, but since you seem to be in distress I'll try for a start:

Where did you miss your flight (what city are you flying out of) and where were you when you encountered the car trouble (ie, engine wouldn't start in your driveway, flat tire on the highway)? If I was flying out of an airport with CX flights departing after mine, like HKG, TPE, other places with multiple services, I probably would try to get to the airport if I could as soon as possible, if it's not hugely far from where you are. Assuming there are flights departing after yours, CX staff would still be around and you could try to talk to them directly and see if they could rebook you on a later flight. Even if it's inconvenient, it's better than having to wait on the phone for a long time given all the problems people are having getting through to an agent.

If you're flying from an airport with only one flight per day and you've missed that one, or if you live hours away from the airport, your best bet is probably to call as soon as their office opens in the morning.

A question for the experts -- does CX operate a flat-tire rule (sometimes airlines are lenient with change fees if they're convinced you tried to get to the airport on time but something went totally wrong) and if so, would the OP have to head to the airport asap to plead for a break on the no-show and/or change fees?

Anyway, OP, this is one person's opinion so you might also want to wait for some other experts to chime in with advice before deciding what to do.

Depends on your location and situation you can just go to airport the following day, explain the status and standby for the next flight out.

There may be some penalty but it's not the end of the world.

What if I miss a flight because of a late arrival from another airline (AA) on another ticket? (in this case CX flight is a reward ticket from a third OneWorld airline). Would CX likely be willing to accommodate me on the next flight without penalty or would they want me to go back to the airline issuing the ticket (note that the ticket is all on CX metal)

CX is usually very accommodating in this kind of situation, especially if connecting from an OW FLT. However, being on separate TKTs means that there is no guarantee.

That's good to hear. I am going to try to put in a very long layover (maybe 5 or so hours) to at least minimize the chance of problems and leave me some time to try to work it out with CX if things still do go bad.

Also, does it make any difference if the ticket although all on CX metal is an award ticket issued on BA stock?

Due to some uncertainties haven't booked my ticket to get to my flight on CX out of chicago yet. Now I am trying to book with miles an award ticket but the only flight available is an AA flight that arrives at ORD at 1 PM - that gives 2:20 until the 3:20 PM departure for the ORD-HKG flight and only up to 50 minutes to change terminals and check-in if the flight is on-time and uncomfortably less time than that if the AA flight into ORD is delayed (that is unless online check-in usually works to print out boarding passes ahead of time?). The CX ticket is on BA stock even though it is all CX flights. I don't like having this short of a connection - but might be willing to risk it if (1.) online check-in usually works, and (2.) CX usually will at least try to put me on the next flight (unfortunately a day later out of ORD) if I miss it because of AA irrops on the earlier flight. Opinions?

PS - I should add that I think I can get away without checking luggage for this trip, so that makes the connection a little easier to accomplish if I am delayed getting into ORD.

2 definately, not sure about 1 but an experienced AAgent should be able to print you the BP. MCT in ORD is 90 min. so it is a legal transit.

He means its an ILLEGAL transit !

What exactly am I looking at in that printout? This is altogether 2:20 time, so it is technically 50 minutes over the 90 min. connection time minimum (?), albeit on a different ticket. However, when I went to book it the availability had disappeared, so back to the drawing board for me.

If the transit time is 140 min, it is a legal transit.

1:30, which I have made bold for you.