Dr. HFH

You're right! Another great day for me, -- I've learned something!! Link.

aztimm

Just to follow-up... My AUS-ORD nonstop was CXL and AA re-routed me AUS-DFW-ORD. I arrived around 12:50, so I went right to the bus stop.
While the BA lounge was small, I found it more than adequate for my needs. The staff there were surprisingly nice; even printed out fresh boarding passes without me asking.

golfingboy

Wanted to chime in after flying ORD-HKG and HKG-ORD as part of my recent journey to SIN.

If you can fly out of a different CX departure port I would. ORD is probably CX’s worst port in North America (EWR?) and this is more of an issue with the airport than CX.

Terminal 5 is a dump and an embarrassment. Departure is slightly bearable but arrival is awful. I have Global Entry and this still took me close to 45 minutes to get through immigration because everything was backed up everyone was blocked from going into the main immigration area.

Focusing on issues within CX’s control.

Their ground crew is not good. They are only as good as a contracted out ground crew and anything more than very basic issues (i.e. seats) for the ORD-HKG flight they will largely defer you to deal with CX agents when you get to HKG. They were only as good as the contracted Air China agents I dealt with in CTU.

Lounges are bad, but I think CX is limited here as both space and options are constrainted although would be nice if CX could strike a deal with AA to depart from T3 like what JL and IB does.

Last issue, maybe CX could look into adjusting the flight times. Arrive in the evening before AA’s 7-9pm departure bank and depart at 1am. This will improve the experience at ORD somewhat without all the masses. CX’s current flight coincide with the TATL arriving and departing banks when terminal 5 is at its worst. The current flight time also sucks for connections beyond HKG - even to SIN.

QRC3288

i liked your points, particularly this one. I don't understand CX's ORD timing. Why not depart ex-HKG a few hours earlier, thus depart ex-ORD a few hours earlier, ergo arrive HKG at 6pm instead of 8pm and have a huge transit bank at HKG? (CMB, all India ports, and most SE Asia ports)? I can only guess there isn't that much demand from Indian heritage passengers ex-ORD, like there is ex-SFO?

So then I think, maybe this midday HKG departure has something to do with the ex-HKG departure timing needing to accommodate connecting traffic originating elsewhere in SE Asia. But if that's the case, why bother daytime at all? why not do the CX846 JFK / CX812 BOS / CX892 SFO style departures around 6pm (and upcoming IAD), which all then do midnight departure back ex-USA and land HKG early morning? This arrangement presumably would capture transit passengers on both sides in HKG: both passengers originating elsewhere in Asia transiting HKG, and passengers originating in the Chicago area and transiting HKG to elsewhere in Asia. The only group left out of this arrangement are non-Chicago based pax, who have an a crap arrival timing in ORD with no connectivity.

So I assume the timing had to do with CX feeding AA domestic USA traffic at ORD, so CX hits that specific arrival window. And CX has enough O&D traffic ORD to HKG they don't want to sit the plane on the ground in ORD for 10-12 hours for a midnight departure. That opportunity cost of sitting the plane for 12 hours might be higher than waiting to collect pax who would benefit from a midnight ORD departure, which would hit the massive early morning transit bank in HKG. In other busier ports CX is willing to sit the plane on the ground until midnight (CX892, CX882). But not at ORD.

Or maybe it has something to do with slots at HKG. But CX/KA has so many damn slots I doubt this is it.

jagmeets

Cambo

Of course, the important question is: Is this ORD flight pair sold out regularly at suitable yields ? If so, CX seems to be doing something OK with their choices........

Cambo

Looks to me, ORD-DEL would be the other way around. GC ORD-HKG-DEL is around 25% longer then ORD-AMS-DEL. This would apply for many India cities. So, assuming transit to India does look a bit out of place, for ORD originating passengers. Let alone, that ORD-DEL is around 6500 nautical miles, which makes it a feasible non-stop flight.

golfingboy

My outbound flight had a fairly light load and business wasn’t even half full. The return on the other hand was sold out in business and PE was almost full. Y was booked in the 90%+ range and F only had two open seats.

Then again, my return was on a Sunday which is probably the busiest Asia-US travel day for business travelers.

Maybe there is an issue with gate space at HKG early in the morning as I think the 6-8am bank is probably CX’s busiest arrival bank. I think ORD is also CX’s only feeder city in the US for the majority of the destinations east of the Mississippi hence the need to time the flight as such at the expense of connections in HKG.

Dr. HFH

My experience is different. Granted, I fly much less ex-ORD since they started 811 and 812. I've had excellent and attentive service from ground crew at ORD.

lixiaojuventus

Wow! Timing must be critical then. I arrived from HND on ANA at around 8:30 am, and I passed through ORD immigration in 5 minutes even as a foreigner!

Nicc HK

I arrived late afternoon, peak time for international arrivals. The place was a complete zoo. Never again.

sxc

What's the alternative?

Nicc HK

Connect anywhere but ORD!

Psychiatrist

I'm flying in and out of ORD in November.
The ORD-HKG flight departs at 14:00.

I don't want to do the T3 to T5 transfer (seems a bit risky if the driver decides to have lunch early!)
What time should I arrive at the airport?

Flying F if that matters. Can I cut the queue at TSA? Holding a non-US, non-Global Entry passport.

swingaling