Tight Connection in HKG - Denied Boarding Because Bags Misconnect
 

My friend is connecting from KA to UA at HKG; her KA flight was super-delayed so a 3 hour connection turned into a 40 minute connection. She made it to the gate in time, but they denied her boarding because the bags did not make it. I have never heard of this rule. The last UA flight out is in a little over an hour; does anyone know anything in particular about this? The Gate Agents are telling her to talk to Cathay because it's their fault regarding the delay. I've told her to try again with the agents in the United Club.


Note: She had been upgraded to J, so this hurts a lot.

The late delivering carrier is responsible for rebooking her to her next stopover, IATA norm.

Yes, this is one ticket. Yes, she had her boarding pass (Cathay printed before first flight). It's 016 stock. Is there any help to be had by a different set of ears?

I am trying to see if we can get her onto the ORD flight - it leaves in an hour. I have suggested talking to people in the United Club.

So even if she is fully checked in, at the gate, they still deny people?

What's "in time?"

Given the 40 minutes you quoted, I suspect she meant "before the plane departed," which is not "in time." Nor, necessarily, is "before the doors closed." She needed to be at the gate 30 minutes prior to departure for an international flight.

While it's correct that positive passenger-bag match does not apply when the separation isn't caused by the passenger, UA is still within their rights to mark her as a no-show if she wasn't there at T-30. (If there was an upgrade list, you can rest assured that #1 on the list was counting down the seconds to T-30, also).

I'm not actually sure the exact moment she arrived, but it seems highly likely she arrived under the T-30. Of course, that wasn't what was quoted to her (she was told shec couldn't be separated from her bags). So if she had arrived 31 minutes before departure, she would have supposed to have been boarded?

The EWR flight went out with open seats in J...

From UA.com (https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...t/process.html)
HKG is not one of the other airports. I don't see anywhere it says you are required to be at the gate 30 minutes prior to departure.

Yes, and there's a good chance she would have been. (They would have had plenty of time to get her bags on at that point anyway).

Ouch. :( Then the GA wouldn't have even had to deal with downgrading anybody.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...-carriage.html

Rule 5(D)2(b):

They should update the page you linked.

Well that is a super-useful piece of information; I'm not sure I knew about that 30 minute requirement. I am assuming that UA is significantly more forgiving of itineraries on UA and partners?

As far as my friend, Cathay rebooked her via LAX; and she managed to convince them to upgrade her to J to LAX.

When the incoming flight is on UA, they'd have easier access to information about when the passenger is expected to arrive, but otherwise I don't know how much of a difference it makes. I'll withhold judgment on how surprised I am until we find out whether your friend arrived at T-29 or T-11, but the GA's statement doesn't really make a lot of sense. The reason for the 30 minute cutoff isn't to prevent people from arriving without their luggage; it's to give UA time to get their luggage off of the plane when they no-show.

That said, the positive passenger-bag match rule is widely misunderstood. It's entirely possible that the agent could have boarded your friend but didn't know it was allowed.

Definitely could have been worse. ^

So I got the exasperated "they are not letting me board" text at T-14. She said she was there "about 10 minutes" before she texted me. Apparently they super-expedited her through security from the connecting KA flight to try to get her onboard.

Either way, that puts the likely window somewhere between T-25 and T-18. Not a great look for UA.

I must say I too was unaware not this rule. This 30 minute deadline is also not reflected on the boarding pass of several international flights I have taken so have in many occasions strolled to the gate at T-20 to avoid the crowd and standing in line to board (assuming I choose not to board early). Indeed I was on a UA flight yesterday from an international origin and the boarding ends time is 15 min before departure. Also I don't get how check in time is up to T-60 if gate closed T-30. Many international airports if you get to check in desk at T-63, it would be impossible to complete check-in, get through security and immigration and then be at the gate by T-30.

Certainly the rule exists but is likely there just to protect the airline in situations like this, where they advertently or inadvertently deny a passenger boarding, as opposed to being an operational rule. Very likely some other reason (other than being under 30 mins) exists for the denied boarding. They probably just didn't think she could make the connection and just closed the flight early.

If she has been checked in then the UA flight DCS at the Gate would show that he has been checked in for the flight. It would also show that she has bags. The positive baggage reconciliation is actually the other way about. Bags do not travel if the passenger misses the flight. It is not that the passenger does not travel if the baggage misses the flight. In this case there would be a lot of passengers not traveling on each flight or certainly many flights.
In my experience the 30 mins is usually to correlate the number of passengers and the actual boarded figures. Also if any passenger did not turn up at the Gate then the baggage will be offloaded and hence the aircraft can still keep to the push back slot.
This is the first time I have heard is also but UA may have new set of rules now.

But she gets to fly Cathay in J *and* earning UA miles on ORC, I say it's a win-win.

Hence why they tell you to be at the airport 2-3 hours early to complete check-in procedures for international flights.

You're subject to offloading at T-30. Anyone who travels frequently should know this. That said, with empty J seats, sounds like the GAs were unnecessarily overaggressive.

I will add that with CX at HKG I've gotten used to showing up at the gate around 15 minutes prior to departure. They would never offload a J pax in this situation. It's a completely different attitude from UA.