I have a flight booked from FLL to Bangkok, Thailand on Nov. 15, 2016. FLL to JFK to PEK to BKK. Flight from JFK to PEK arrives at 6:40pm. Connecting flight to BKK departs PEK at 7:45pm leaving me only 65 minutes to make the connection. I have never traveled internationally and am very concerned over this short connection time in such a large airport. The original booking allowed for an 85 minute connection time but Air China just changed it by 20 minutes to a 65 minute connection time. I am arriving at PEK on Air China and departing PEK for BKK on Air China as well. I do expect to have one checked bag. Any thoughts or advice on this short connection time would be appreciated.

The international-to-international transfer process on CA at PEK T3 is abbreviated--you need to deplane, walk (fast) to Immigration area and use the International Transfer corridor to get to security checkpoint and back to airside. There will not be a formal Immigration process to pass through, and you will not need to claim Baggage, it should be tagged through and routed to BKK. If you do not get the PEK-BKK boarding pass beforehand, then you'll need to stop by the Airline Transfer desk which is before the Immigration area, and get them to issue this or you can't get back airside. Assuming the 19:45 departure is not delayed, they'll last call for boarding the BKK flight around 19:30. So you have less than 65 minutes.

If the flight in from JFK is bang on time at PEK, you might make it. The problem is that on-time arrival doesn't happen too often on this flight. So you need to contingency plan for the misconnect and have suggestions for rebooking to give to CA staff--they aren't necessarily that proactive or creative. Fortunately mid-November travel is not all that busy so there should be seats on some sort of combination to get to BKK but earliest you'd arrive would be next morning. Remember you'll cross date line and arrive at PEK evening of 11/16. IMO, best options to play for Plan B's are in order of preference:
1) TG nonstop flight departing 11/17 05:55 arr BKK 10:10.
2) CA midnight flight to SIN dep 00:10 arr 06:30 connect TG dep 08:15 arr BKK 09:35.
3) CA evening flight to HKG dep 21:00 arr 00:40 connect TG dep 07:50 arr BKK 09:35.

CA's preference will be to book you on their own metal but they can usually be persuaded to put you on some of the Star Alliance carriers. Non *A options, probably won't have any luck but there's not a lot of advantage on timing or convenience with those anyway--all would require connections somewhere. This sort of rebooking will be done out at the main desks on the nonsecure side of the terminal, so in the event of a misconnect, you'll be directed to go through Immigration (Transit without Visa if you have no Chinese visa) instead of the International Transfer Corridor, and then get your bags at Bag Claim, which will be offloaded from the flight you misconnected. Then deal with CA desk.

Thank you jie jie for that very comprehensive reply to my question. I agree with you that I should definitely have a "plan B." The connecting Air China flight out is scheduled to depart at 7:45pm. However another poster to another similar question, said that flights out of PEK are routinely an hour or more late. This of course, might give me more time to make my connection, even if my arrival from JFK comes in a little late. Again, thank you for your very helpful information. DH

You also have to make sure the carriers can interline.

Thank you, cxfan1960, Not sure what you mean by "interline."

Check through.

CA is the same carrier for both segments.

Thanks to all who kindly replied to my question. I will keep an eye on CA's scheduled flights as time proceeds toward my November departure date. does anyone know what happens if CA again posts a later arrival time in PEK dropping the MCT to BKK below the 60 minute legal threshold for connection??

Don't make the assumption that if the PEK-BKK flight is delayed, that they will also change the normal check-in cut-off time in a way that benefits you. Doesn't usually happen that way. I've tried this gambit on this very same flight with CA and the original cut-off for check in remains in force even if there is a delay. Understand that they may load the plane, shut the door, and push back from the gate then sit on the tarmac for the delayed period.

CA would need to proactively rebook you before you even start the journey. Suggest that if you check and find this sort of schedule change, that you contact CA with your rebooking routing preference rather than wait for them to bestow something on you.

Thanks again, jiejie. This is very helpful information!

At least with MU (which I fly the most often), the current SOP is to send SMS/Wechat notification about delays (when possible) to formally acknowledge the new departure time (and other times that are tied to it). I kind of like this system because it has already spared me of a great deal of wasted airport time.

I flew HKG-TNA on ZH in May. The flight was delayed for more than four hours. I didn't receive any message from them. The check-in counters open on time and the agent checked my luggage and gave me lounge invitation and a meal voucher. The wait was too short to go back to the City for high tea. I ended up waiting in HKG for another 4 hours after checkin. They had my Phoenix Miles # so I suppose they had my mobile number... but they didn't message me.

ZH, SC, CA all treated me very well on flights, but I wished they notified me so I could have enjoyed several hours in the City rather than waiting in the airport.

Maybe MU is the only PRC airline that has this policy?

As much as I despise MU, here's the way I think it works (behind the scenes):
1. The airplane that is taking you from SHA to SZX at 5p isn't going to arrive in Shanghai until 6p
2. As such, the original flight plan is no longer valid
3. We have a new flight plan with a 935p take-off slot
4. All passengers must be on board before 905p in order for us to achieve this

The "935p take off" honestly does happen. Sure, it sucks landing in Shenzhen at 1130p, but me showing up at SHA at 8p (instead of 4p) is a pretty nice improvement.