short flight connection in HK on the way to Guangzhou

[TLB]

Hi friends,

 

I'm going to Guangzhou later this month, just now buying ticket; all the search engines are putting me into Hong Kong at 8pm (from Chicago, mostly), and then catching an 8:50 flight to Guangzhou. Both flights are on Cathay, which seems to have a good reputation, but that 50 minute connection seems very risky to me.

 

Does anyone here have experience with this? Will the Cathay flight to GUZ wait? I'll bet I'm not the only one on the Chicago to HK Cathay flight who will go on to GUZ.

 

Will customs be in HK or GUZ? If in HK, this seems insane; even if not, it seems risky.

 

Advice is welcome.

 

Tim

[dnoblett]

You can always fly into HK, then use ground transportation to GUZ, Train or Boat, both cities are in the Pearl river delta.

 

Most connections in international airports are so you don't clear customs until reaching final destination. I flew to GUZ once connecting in Tokyo, no customs in Japan.

[Beachey]

50 minutes is a tight connection for a domestic flight. Hong Kong to Guanzhou is such a short distance there likely isn't a big demand. It looks like Cathay Pacific has two flights a day at 8 AM and 8 PM. So it looks like if you miss it, you would be stuck at the airport for 12 hours.

 

I was going to suggest taking a ferry from HKIA to Guangzhou but it looks like you would have to wait until next morning.

 

http://www.turbojetseaexpress.com.hk/eng/route/service.asp

 

I think you best option might be taking a bus from Hong Kong to Guangzhou.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[warpedbored]

Since you don't have to clear customs you should be able to go from one gate to another and reboard. I would find a map of the terminal and see where the two gates are in relation to one another. Sounds tight but doable. I would also contact Cathay Pacific and ask them if the flight will wait.

[Beachey]

Since you don't have to clear customs you should be able to go from one gate to another and reboard. I would find a map of the terminal and see where the two gates are in relation to one another. Sounds tight but doable. I would also contact Cathay Pacific and ask them if the flight will wait.

 

Keep in mind that International Flights almost never land when they are supposed to. You might get lucky and it will be early but just as likely it can be late. Especially flying to China, the flight is often a little late. Coming back to the US, a good tailwind can cut an hour off the flight.

 

My guess is they would hold the plane for maybe 15 minutes but not much longer plus don't count on your luggage making it.

[cjr818]

Hi friends,

 

I'm going to Guangzhou later this month, just now buying ticket; all the search engines are putting me into Hong Kong at 8pm (from Chicago, mostly), and then catching an 8:50 flight to Guangzhou. Both flights are on Cathay, which seems to have a good reputation, but that 50 minute connection seems very risky to me.

 

Does anyone here have experience with this? Will the Cathay flight to GUZ wait? I'll bet I'm not the only one on the Chicago to HK Cathay flight who will go on to GUZ.

 

Will customs be in HK or GUZ? If in HK, this seems insane; even if not, it seems risky.

 

Advice is welcome.

 

Tim

 

Tim, that is insane, you'll never make a connecting flight at Hong Kong in 50 mins. You'll need to disembark your current flight and then proceed through the Hong Kong arrival baggage check to get to the departure hall. Plus once you are at the departure hall, you'll need to get to your gate, considering the gates at Hong Kong are quite a distance away, as I recall there is about 100 gates, if I recall correctly??

[NickF]

Considering the short timeframe, I'd consider taking the HK light rail train from the HK airport to Shenzhen, then catching a train to GUZ. By the time you factor in a possible late flight, collecting luggage, clearing Customs, and getting to the departure gate 50 minutes isn't doable.

 

The train ride to Shenzhen should take about 45-60 minutes, and wneh you arrive in Shenzhen you basically walk across the plaza to the train station. If you can time it right you can take the high-speed train to Guangzhou. On that train it takes about an hour, and you don't end up having to take the 45 minute bus or taxi ride into town from the airport.

[Tom2009]

My last flight was from JFK to HK. When I arrived at the HK airport, I took the bus to GZ. A few hours ride. When you leave Hong Kong the bus stops at a customs building. It was late at night and by the time I got through and exited the building on the other side, my bus left me. A real adventure! My cell phone losing power, not many there speaking good English, a young police officer took care of me and got me on a local bus. I had no idea where I was going from there, but I made it to the bus stop at a big hotel and went inside to call my fiance and the clerk spoke with her, got me in a cab and told the driver where to take me. haha. I was very exciting.

 

Yea, 50 minutes isn't enough time between flights. If you decide to take the bus from the airport, just be sure the driver doesn't leave you at customs. Other than that, it would have been smooth sailing.

[TLB]

Thanks for everyone's comments; some interesting stories were revealed!

 

I finally found a website (Hotwire) that showed me lots more flight combinations, and I got a ticket with 2-3 hours between each flight without having to pay much more than the cheapest flights. Seems something happens every time I go over, and my blood pressure with a 50 minute layover would have been sky high. I'm amazed that the web search engines at all these places would allow this; they probably have something like a 45 minute layover minimum, so it passed the audit; for international flights they really should have about a 2 hour minimum. Geez, we're in the hands of computer programmers...

 

On my way this Friday! Woohoo! B)

Edited September 18, 2011 by TLB (see edit history)

[tsap seui]

Thanks for everyone's comments; some interesting stories were revealed!

 

I finally found a website (Hotwire) that showed me lots more flight combinations, and I got a ticket with 2-3 hours between each flight without having to pay much more than the cheapest flights. Seems something happens every time I go over, and my blood pressure with a 50 minute layover would have been sky high. I'm amazed that the web search engines at all these places would allow this; they probably have something like a 45 minute layover minimum, so it passed the audit; for international flights they really should have about a 2 hour minimum. Geez, we're in the hands of computer programmers...

 

On my way this Friday! Woohoo! B)

Have a good flight and a great time Tim....brang that girl home wit'cha.

 

You guys will be fine at the interview.

 

tsap seui