mkt80

Hello,

I would like to know what people's thought are on taking a quick trip to Macau during a 7~8h layover at HKG. Specifically:
1)If flight gets in at 10.30, would I make the 11.00 ferry?
2) If flight departs at 17.45, am I safe taking the 15.15 ferry back?
3) Would that allow me enough time to spend ~2hr at a casino?

I know it might seem crazy to want to do all this, but gambling at Macau is a bucket list item of mine. As of now, my flights don't work out for a long enough layover but I would like to know the feasibility of doing all this, in the even that the opportunity arises.

YuropFlyer

1) That will be very, very tight, if not outright impossible. Unfortunately the TurboJet website is broken right now for the "checkin deadline" (Passenger Information) website (it only shows it for the blink of an eye, then closes again.. ...) - it either shows 10 or 15min before departure as last checkin time.

In short: Not possible unless your plane arrives really early or something else happens.

2) Yes, that does sound totally possible. Even if the ferry takes a bit longer, you should make it easily assuming you've your onward boarding pass.

3) The 11.00 ferry would allow your plans (but really, gambling during the afternoon, I could think of more interesting things to do ) but you can pretty much forget about catching it.

I'd not do/try it, and rather enjoy some hours in Hong Kong.

The ONE thing you could do is IF your airplane arrives really early, you could try it (buy a ticket for the ferry on the spot), and otherwise just spend time in HK.

mkt80

Sounds like solid advice. Thanks a lot!
I'll update the thread if I follow through with my plan.

Cheers,
mkt

CrazyInteg

Sounds insane. Are your flights booked already? If not, post the cities and I'm sure a better option could be found.

I assume you do not hold a passport from HK, Macau or China? You should try to run off the boat first to get to the immigration lines quick in both HK and Macau.

mkt80

Flights not booked yet. Would be last minute if I find bkk-hkg landing @10.25 and then hkg-ewr departing at 17.45.

No local passport.dual US and EU.
I thought I didn't need to go through HK to get to Macau, if I just depart from the skypier?

number_6

You do not go through HKG immigration but you do go through Macau immigration and customs after leaving the ferry and sometimes this can take over an hour (longer than the ferry ride). On return to HKIA you go through an emigration checkpoint which also takes a few minutes (but pretty fast); more problematic is that the ferry from Macau to HKIA has strict checkin times (I took it a couple of years ago and from memory it forced me to be at airport 3 hours earlier than I wanted to be, more time in the F lounge but brutal for your kind of trip).
Where you land at HKIA is also a factor, some gates take 20+ minutes longer to get to the ferry check-in than others (and non-CX BKK flights seem to use some of the worst gates). You'll need to work out all these factors and get them optimal in order to make the schedule work. Finally what is the consequence of missing your flight leaving HKG?

mkt80

Well i would obviously rather not miss my flight! But if my flight are scheduled this way they would be J on CX. But would I be at risk of missing a 17.45 flight if I leave Macau at 15.15?

YuropFlyer

Based on my (not THAT extensive) knowledge about both the ferry transfer as well as HKIA in general I'd say UNLESS the ferry gets into some crazy delay situation you're fine. When you exit the ferry 16.45 (ie, 20min after schedule) you're going to make your flight easily (assuming boarding pass in hand and no checkin luggage, of course!)

Thus, the return to HKG/catching the flight isn't a problem in my book. Getting to Macao would be. (That's why my suggestion, to hope that your flight is really early, and in that case, try to get the ferry to Macao - but if this doesn't work, simply spend time in Hong Kong - well, I still think going to Macao is crazy on such trip, but each to it's own )