Help! I need my quick response team (QRT):

Wanted to change (on last years RTW, flying this Friday):

NRT-HKG 14th
HKG-ICN 14th

to

NRT-HKG 14th
HKG-ICN 15th (much less than 24 hours between flights)

CX Tokyo office says I "MIGHT" be slapped with a reissue because there was no stopover on the original ticket and they need to add/calculate airport tax.

So I say, "Ok, add the airport tax, but I am NOT stopping over. Since less than 24 hours I don't see a need to reissue ($75USD)".

So they say, well, we can't say......

Am I right, or completley wrong?

RDP

Many thanks as usual.

I LOVE answering my own questions!

And it's good for the boards history.....

CX just called me back (Great service by the way, AS USUAL, other airlines could learn a lot).

Less than 24hrs, no reissue.
Tax paid at airport.

Thanks!

RDP

So you have to pay the airport tax even if the stay is less than 24 hrs?

I have done HKG stops within the 24-hour window several times, deliberately stretching it to the maximum, staying overnight in HKG, etc. on CX and they never collected taxes. The tickets had x -- no stopover designator.

I hope this hasn't been changed.

I am almost certain that the rule for HKG is you must pay the tax if you leave on a different calendar day then which you arrive. Technically, this means those connecting from OZ or wherever to the 12:50am flight to London must be the tax. However, I have never seen it collected by CX. BA, on the other hand, did collect it when I overnighted in HKG before a trip to TPE.

rich

Often do SYD/MEL to HKG and connect overnight to BKK or DPS on CX. On the last trip check-in desk wanted to collect tax since it was not on the ticket. I pointed out the less than 24 hour rule and a supervisor was called. She said, as Rich indicated, that it was a calendar day not 24 hours and departed with my credit card to collect the tax. She returned a bit later, said she as wrong and that no tax was due in any connecting period of less than 24 hours. Hong Kong airport literature also has the wording "no airport tax due for any stay in HKG of less than 24 hours".

Have to agree with RichLond on this one (mainly because he'd throttle me if I disagreed with two of his posts in the space of one week) The HKG security tax has I am sure been levied for departures not on the same calendar day even if the stay is less than 24hrs. I have seen that in writing but can't recall where. Maybe this has changed if HKG airport literature says otherwise.

3554quebec,

You may disagree with my without fear of flame or throttle if you so desire!

jrussel, unless this has changed since I was there in February, there is a HUGE sign in HKG as you enter the immigration area that indicates the calendar day rule. However, anyone with experience in these RTWs can probably get away without paying the tax. For my own curiosity I looked at the HKG Airport web site and could find no mention of any tax info.

I must admit I like the rule I read in SIN where airlines are only permitted to collect the tax at ticket issue. They cannot collect the tax at a later date.

Rich

edited to add:

http://www.hotels.com.hk/airport.htm details the calendar day rule under "Airport Departure". It is not an official site, but variations of the same calendar day theme can be dound on other sites.

[This message has been edited by RichLond (edited 06-11-2002).]

Rich you may be entirely correct. My experience was in Decemeber and predates your more recent experience. The only reason I took it up with CX was that QF had not collected it on the ticket along with other taxes and I assumed they knew what they were doing. This particular trip had two overnight less-than-24-hour connections in HKG and neither attracted a tax.