Consolidated PEK connections/logistics/lounges domestic/international
Dec 31, 2013, 1:16 pm
#31
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 210
Change award ticket with illegal MCT (50 min at PEK)?
Hi,
I booked an award ticket with United (SFO to MAA) and the itinerary involves this connection:
Leaving ICN at 3.10pm Reaching PEK at 4.15pm CA132
Leaving PEK at 5.05pm Reaching BKK at 9.20pm TG615
After reading some reports, it sounds like I may not be able make the connection. It looks like minimum connection time for international transfers is 60mins? If that's the case, can I ask United to change my itinerary without any change fee? (I have no status on United, or CA, or TG)
In case I am not able to change the existing reservation, can someone tell me what are my options if I miss the connection? Will United book me on any other StarAlliance flights, with different routings? Or am I restricted to flying TG via BKK?
Thanks.
I booked an award ticket with United (SFO to MAA) and the itinerary involves this connection:
Leaving ICN at 3.10pm Reaching PEK at 4.15pm CA132
Leaving PEK at 5.05pm Reaching BKK at 9.20pm TG615
After reading some reports, it sounds like I may not be able make the connection. It looks like minimum connection time for international transfers is 60mins? If that's the case, can I ask United to change my itinerary without any change fee? (I have no status on United, or CA, or TG)
In case I am not able to change the existing reservation, can someone tell me what are my options if I miss the connection? Will United book me on any other StarAlliance flights, with different routings? Or am I restricted to flying TG via BKK?
Thanks.
Dec 31, 2013, 1:23 pm
#32
Moderator: United Airlines
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If there is a MCT violation and appears it is, then there should be no change fee. The issue will be award space availability. If you see availability, offer that as a suggestion. UA can not force partners to open award space. Is there an all UA routing, say via NRT?
Do some research on options you would prefer before calling.
Do some research on options you would prefer before calling.
Dec 31, 2013, 1:28 pm
#33
Moderator: Budget Travel forum & Credit Card Programs, FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Probably not ...
Dec 31, 2013, 1:30 pm
#34
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The CA-TG II MCT at PEK is 2.5 hours - this connection is not legal or advisable. UA should change this ticket without fees if you can find open award space.
Depends why you miss, but with an illegal MCT and CA's general poor handling of award tickets you'll be up .... creek without a paddle.
Code:
STANDARD.D/D...D/I...I/D...I/I. ONLINE 1.30 2.00 2.00 2.00 OFFLINE 1.30 2.00 2.00 2.00 ** OR * ARE ALL CA-TG II 2.30 TRM 3 - 3 **-** II 2.00 TRM 2 - 2 **-** II 2.00 TRM 3 - 2 **-** II 2.00 TRM 2 - 3 **-** II 1.00 TRM 3 - 3
Dec 31, 2013, 1:32 pm
#35
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: SJC
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 609
Yes, the standard MCT for international-international connections at PEK T3 is 60 minutes.
How was the award booked in the first place? Was there a schedule change?
I'd get it fixed now rather than risk missing the connection. Since the MCT is illegal you could run into unsympathetic airport agents who won't do anything for you leaving you stranded in PEK.
How was the award booked in the first place? Was there a schedule change?
I'd get it fixed now rather than risk missing the connection. Since the MCT is illegal you could run into unsympathetic airport agents who won't do anything for you leaving you stranded in PEK.
Sep 20, 2014, 7:35 pm
#36
Join Date: Feb 2014
Programs: UA Gold, WN A-List, Marriott Plat, Hertz President's Circle
Posts: 68
Connection Time in PEK, United Missed Connection Policy
So, an award routing opened up that I prefer to my existing reservation to BKK, but only has a 1 hr, 25 min connection time in PEK. Is that doable and what happens if I miss it? It's United onto Thai.
I called the United Premier line and asked if they would issue both boarding passes when I checked in in the U.S. (to save time in PEK). She said "it depends and there's no way to tell ahead of time." Then I asked if I did end up missing my connection, is it United or Thai responsible for booking my on a new flight and how would that work (i.e. if it was United, could they get me on the Air China flight later that night - which currently has no award availability - instead of having to wait for the Thai flight the next day). She said that if I missed it due to immigration taking a long time, United will try to work with me to find something, but they are not obligated to do so, and I may be on my own to pay my own way...That didn't sound right at all to me.
I was going to HUACA, but thought I'd ask this board for opinions. She also said that she was seeing the MCT being 90 minutes, not 60 minutes, so it wouldn't be legal anyways and she was not seeing the availability of that routing in her system at all, so I shouldn't be able to book it (even though I could see it online). I said I saw 60 minutes as the MCT for a T3-T3 International connection on airport sites: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/city...t-transfer.htm. I see no 90 minutes as the MCT in the linked, but she insisted that's what it said in her system.
I would usually not want to risk a missed connection, but there are two huge advantages to this routing in my mind: 1.) Flying United on a 777 with access to Economy Plus is HUGE for me as I'm 6'3" and leg room is a big deal. I currently have a standard seat on Lufthansa for the 8ish hour flight with a six hour connection in FRA, and then a bulkhead seat on Thai for the 10 hour flight (at least I got that!) and 2.) Arriving late at night instead of early the next morning is a big plus, so I can get some good sleep before my day begins! (Don't sleep that well on planes). The overall travel time is also less as it's transpacific instead of transatlantic and the connection is shorter.
I'd definitely want to make the change if I was confident United would book me on the CA flight that departs 120 minutes after the Thai one in case I missed the connection, but sounds like I may be out of luck and would have to spend the night at the PEK airport, which is clearly NOT something I want to do, and even then I wouldn't be guaranteed anything. Wish the CA flight had availability, but I don't see award availability for it for basically any date, so am not confident it will open up.
Any advice or what would you do? Thanks!
I called the United Premier line and asked if they would issue both boarding passes when I checked in in the U.S. (to save time in PEK). She said "it depends and there's no way to tell ahead of time." Then I asked if I did end up missing my connection, is it United or Thai responsible for booking my on a new flight and how would that work (i.e. if it was United, could they get me on the Air China flight later that night - which currently has no award availability - instead of having to wait for the Thai flight the next day). She said that if I missed it due to immigration taking a long time, United will try to work with me to find something, but they are not obligated to do so, and I may be on my own to pay my own way...That didn't sound right at all to me.
I was going to HUACA, but thought I'd ask this board for opinions. She also said that she was seeing the MCT being 90 minutes, not 60 minutes, so it wouldn't be legal anyways and she was not seeing the availability of that routing in her system at all, so I shouldn't be able to book it (even though I could see it online). I said I saw 60 minutes as the MCT for a T3-T3 International connection on airport sites: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/city...t-transfer.htm. I see no 90 minutes as the MCT in the linked, but she insisted that's what it said in her system.
I would usually not want to risk a missed connection, but there are two huge advantages to this routing in my mind: 1.) Flying United on a 777 with access to Economy Plus is HUGE for me as I'm 6'3" and leg room is a big deal. I currently have a standard seat on Lufthansa for the 8ish hour flight with a six hour connection in FRA, and then a bulkhead seat on Thai for the 10 hour flight (at least I got that!) and 2.) Arriving late at night instead of early the next morning is a big plus, so I can get some good sleep before my day begins! (Don't sleep that well on planes). The overall travel time is also less as it's transpacific instead of transatlantic and the connection is shorter.
I'd definitely want to make the change if I was confident United would book me on the CA flight that departs 120 minutes after the Thai one in case I missed the connection, but sounds like I may be out of luck and would have to spend the night at the PEK airport, which is clearly NOT something I want to do, and even then I wouldn't be guaranteed anything. Wish the CA flight had availability, but I don't see award availability for it for basically any date, so am not confident it will open up.
Any advice or what would you do? Thanks!
Sep 20, 2014, 7:58 pm
#37
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: AADULtArer
Posts: 5,693
So, an award routing opened up that I prefer to my existing reservation to BKK, but only has a 1 hr, 25 min connection time in PEK. Is that doable and what happens if I miss it? It's United onto Thai.
I called the United Premier line and asked if they would issue both boarding passes when I checked in in the U.S. (to save time in PEK). She said "it depends and there's no way to tell ahead of time." Then I asked if I did end up missing my connection, is it United or Thai responsible for booking my on a new flight and how would that work (i.e. if it was United, could they get me on the Air China flight later that night - which currently has no award availability - instead of having to wait for the Thai flight the next day). She said that if I missed it due to immigration taking a long time, United will try to work with me to find something, but they are not obligated to do so, and I may be on my own to pay my own way...That didn't sound right at all to me.
I was going to HUACA, but thought I'd ask this board for opinions. She also said that she was seeing the MCT being 90 minutes, not 60 minutes, so it wouldn't be legal anyways and she was not seeing the availability of that routing in her system at all, so I shouldn't be able to book it (even though I could see it online). I said I saw 60 minutes as the MCT for a T3-T3 International connection on airport sites: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/city...t-transfer.htm. I see no 90 minutes as the MCT in the linked, but she insisted that's what it said in her system.
I would usually not want to risk a missed connection, but there are two huge advantages to this routing in my mind: 1.) Flying United on a 777 with access to Economy Plus is HUGE for me as I'm 6'3" and leg room is a big deal. I currently have a standard seat on Lufthansa for the 8ish hour flight with a six hour connection in FRA, and then a bulkhead seat on Thai for the 10 hour flight (at least I got that!) and 2.) Arriving late at night instead of early the next morning is a big plus, so I can get some good sleep before my day begins! (Don't sleep that well on planes). The overall travel time is also less as it's transpacific instead of transatlantic and the connection is shorter.
I'd definitely want to make the change if I was confident United would book me on the CA flight that departs 120 minutes after the Thai one in case I missed the connection, but sounds like I may be out of luck and would have to spend the night at the PEK airport, which is clearly NOT something I want to do, and even then I wouldn't be guaranteed anything. Wish the CA flight had availability, but I don't see award availability for it for basically any date, so am not confident it will open up.
Any advice or what would you do? Thanks!
I called the United Premier line and asked if they would issue both boarding passes when I checked in in the U.S. (to save time in PEK). She said "it depends and there's no way to tell ahead of time." Then I asked if I did end up missing my connection, is it United or Thai responsible for booking my on a new flight and how would that work (i.e. if it was United, could they get me on the Air China flight later that night - which currently has no award availability - instead of having to wait for the Thai flight the next day). She said that if I missed it due to immigration taking a long time, United will try to work with me to find something, but they are not obligated to do so, and I may be on my own to pay my own way...That didn't sound right at all to me.
I was going to HUACA, but thought I'd ask this board for opinions. She also said that she was seeing the MCT being 90 minutes, not 60 minutes, so it wouldn't be legal anyways and she was not seeing the availability of that routing in her system at all, so I shouldn't be able to book it (even though I could see it online). I said I saw 60 minutes as the MCT for a T3-T3 International connection on airport sites: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/city...t-transfer.htm. I see no 90 minutes as the MCT in the linked, but she insisted that's what it said in her system.
I would usually not want to risk a missed connection, but there are two huge advantages to this routing in my mind: 1.) Flying United on a 777 with access to Economy Plus is HUGE for me as I'm 6'3" and leg room is a big deal. I currently have a standard seat on Lufthansa for the 8ish hour flight with a six hour connection in FRA, and then a bulkhead seat on Thai for the 10 hour flight (at least I got that!) and 2.) Arriving late at night instead of early the next morning is a big plus, so I can get some good sleep before my day begins! (Don't sleep that well on planes). The overall travel time is also less as it's transpacific instead of transatlantic and the connection is shorter.
I'd definitely want to make the change if I was confident United would book me on the CA flight that departs 120 minutes after the Thai one in case I missed the connection, but sounds like I may be out of luck and would have to spend the night at the PEK airport, which is clearly NOT something I want to do, and even then I wouldn't be guaranteed anything. Wish the CA flight had availability, but I don't see award availability for it for basically any date, so am not confident it will open up.
Any advice or what would you do? Thanks!
Sep 20, 2014, 8:03 pm
#38
Join Date: Feb 2014
Programs: UA Gold, WN A-List, Marriott Plat, Hertz President's Circle
Posts: 68
Ok, thanks for the input. It is an 85 min connection, but sounds like that's still too tight. Do you happen to know what the policy is for a missed connection? I'm just curious for the future. Is United on the hook for booking you on a any *A flight or the airline the flight was on?
Sep 20, 2014, 8:45 pm
#39
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I have done 90 minutes in PEK without issues, and 100 minutes. As long as there are no delays - 85 mintues is enough. MCT is indeed 60 minutes.
They will not strand you - they ll get you to your destination somehow, since you dont violate the MCT
[KVS Availability Tool 7.4.2 - Reference: Minimum Connection Time [MCT]: PEK/UA-TG]
Code:
DD DI ID II
STANDARD: PEK 090 090 090 090
TERMINAL: PEK 1 TO 1 050 --- --- ---
1 TO 2 090 120 --- ---
1 TO 3 120 160 160 ---
2 TO 1 090 --- 120 ---
2 TO 2 090 120 120 120
2 TO 3 120 160 160 120
3 TO 1 120 160 160 ---
3 TO 2 120 160 160 120
3 TO 3 050 120 120 060
---------------------------------------------------------------
[DD] Domestic To Domestic [DEP] Departure Airport
[DI] Domestic To Intl [ARR] Arrival Airport
[ID] Intl To Domestic [A/L] Airline
[II] Intl To Intl [TR] Terminal
[EQP W] Wide-Body Aircraft [EFF] Effective Date
[EQP N] Narrow-Body Aircraft [SUP] Suppressed/Prohibited
Sep 20, 2014, 9:20 pm
#40
Join Date: Feb 2014
Programs: UA Gold, WN A-List, Marriott Plat, Hertz President's Circle
Posts: 68
Hmmm, I guess opinions differ. 
If we did miss the connection, the flight the next day wouldn't obviously need AWARD availability, right? That is, if there were two seats available for any reason, they'd for sure book us on them. The other option is to book that next morning flight right now to not have to worry about the short connection (6:50 am departure), and spend the afternoon/night in Beijing (flight scheduled arrival is 3:30pm). Looks like you can now leave the airport and actually go into Beijing for free now for 72 hours without a visa:
http://en.bcia.com.cn/server/notice/...e_policy.shtml
Anybody go through that process? Looks like you don't need to call the consulate ahead of time and can just do it at the airport as long as you have proof of your onward ticket from Beijing.
Ideally, I'd really like to get to BKK that same night, but the worse case scenario would be missing the connection in PEK, the flight the next morning being full and not getting a seat (2 of us), and then not getting to BKK until late the next day or even after that...not sure how much of a risk that is, though. I am traveling during the height of tourist season. If we stay in Beijing overnight, at least still can spend the night in a hotel bed instead of on the plane or the airport.
Tough choices.
Other opinions?
If we did miss the connection, the flight the next day wouldn't obviously need AWARD availability, right? That is, if there were two seats available for any reason, they'd for sure book us on them. The other option is to book that next morning flight right now to not have to worry about the short connection (6:50 am departure), and spend the afternoon/night in Beijing (flight scheduled arrival is 3:30pm). Looks like you can now leave the airport and actually go into Beijing for free now for 72 hours without a visa:http://en.bcia.com.cn/server/notice/...e_policy.shtml
Anybody go through that process? Looks like you don't need to call the consulate ahead of time and can just do it at the airport as long as you have proof of your onward ticket from Beijing.
Ideally, I'd really like to get to BKK that same night, but the worse case scenario would be missing the connection in PEK, the flight the next morning being full and not getting a seat (2 of us), and then not getting to BKK until late the next day or even after that...not sure how much of a risk that is, though. I am traveling during the height of tourist season. If we stay in Beijing overnight, at least still can spend the night in a hotel bed instead of on the plane or the airport.
Tough choices.
Other opinions?
Sep 20, 2014, 10:14 pm
#41
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,050
Looks like you can now leave the airport and actually go into Beijing for free now for 72 hours without a visa:
http://en.bcia.com.cn/server/notice/...e_policy.shtml
Anybody go through that process? Looks like you don't need to call the consulate ahead of time and can just do it at the airport as long as you have proof of your onward ticket from Beijing.
http://en.bcia.com.cn/server/notice/...e_policy.shtml
Anybody go through that process? Looks like you don't need to call the consulate ahead of time and can just do it at the airport as long as you have proof of your onward ticket from Beijing.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...er-thread.html
85 minutes is a comfortable connection from UA to TG, but not necessarily the reverse because flights coming up from the south that join the HKG-PEK corridor are delay prone while inbound transpacs are usually on time (or close to it).
Sep 20, 2014, 10:18 pm
#42
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Sep 20, 2014, 10:42 pm
#43
Join Date: Feb 2014
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Ok, thanks. If I did end up missing the connection, would United be able to book me on a CA flight two hours later (PEK-BKK) or would it have to be with TG the next day because the original reservation for that leg is on TG? (I would book the CA flight instead right now, but no award availability.) Just want to make sure I understand the protocol in case the circumstance arises.
Sep 20, 2014, 10:57 pm
#44
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Ok, thanks. If I did end up missing the connection, would United be able to book me on a CA flight two hours later (PEK-BKK) or would it have to be with TG the next day because the original reservation for that leg is on TG? (I would book the CA flight instead right now, but no award availability.) Just want to make sure I understand the protocol in case the circumstance arises.
If your UA flight is late, and that results in a misconnect, UA should do what it reasonably can to rebook you, including on CA if seats are available. There's no requirement that you await the TG flight the following day. But no one can guarantee that you won't spend the night in PEK.
Sep 20, 2014, 11:15 pm
#45
Join Date: Feb 2014
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Posts: 68
If moondog says 85 mins is comfortable, I'd go with that.
If your UA flight is late, and that results in a misconnect, UA should do what it reasonably can to rebook you, including on CA if seats are available. There's no requirement that you await the TG flight the following day. But no one can guarantee that you won't spend the night in PEK.
If your UA flight is late, and that results in a misconnect, UA should do what it reasonably can to rebook you, including on CA if seats are available. There's no requirement that you await the TG flight the following day. But no one can guarantee that you won't spend the night in PEK.