Cathay Pacific Help?!

[FreqYoungTraveller]

Hi everyone,

Long time reader, first time poster, so forgive me if this has already been asked. I tried to do a search as best I could!

I am booked onto CX 170 from PER to HKG (with a friend, on same itin) and am about to book CX 368 onwards to Shanghai.

As it worked out cheaper to book as two separate legs and Cathay state that you must allow 50 mins to transfer as a min, my question is, if I book this flight am I able to call Cathay and ask them to link the two trips onto one booking so we can go straight to the transfer desk in HK and not have to go landside?

Also, do you think we would be able to check our bags all the way to Shanghai Pudong from Perth if this is the case?

Appreciate any feedback! Cheers.

 

[infinity]

You should be able to link the bookings and also check bags all the way through. Have done many times. Good luck and welcome to AFF

 

[mannej]

Linking doesn't automatically offer protection if you don't make the connection, as it only tells the airline you have two separate bookings, it doesn't make it one booking.

I'd honestly be surprised if you weren't checked in the whole way at PER

 

[Mwenenzi]

Welcome to the forum

As above linking does not offer protection if you don't make the connection.
If your first flight is late CX has no obligation to get you to Shanghai on a later flight. You are taking the risk
If made as ONE reservation/PNR and your first flight is late CX has an obligation to get you to Shanghai on a later flight. CX are taking the risk.

50 minutes is not long if you have to go through immigration/collect bags then check in & go through immigration again.
Worth asking CX by phone if they will tag bags for both flights in Perth. Personally if CX would not tag bags I would be booking as 1 PNR. 1hr 50min would be different. Is there a later Shanghai flight you can book ?

 

[yohy?!]

Only way to guarantee you won't have any hassles is to book it on one itinerary.

if you must do it on 2 then leave at least a few hours or overnight in HK otherwise you run the risk of being stranded.

 

[infinity]

I have been lucky and made flights with short gaps on separate bookings. It can be risky for reasons stated. Came through hKG last Thursday. Would say you need more than 50 mins for sure. You don't want to travel on a knife edge timetable. Bags can definately be checked all the way.
Not sure what happens to bags if you missed second flight!!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi everyone,

Long time reader, first time poster, so forgive me if this has already been asked. I tried to do a search as best I could!

I am booked onto CX 170 from PER to HKG (with a friend, on same itin) and am about to book CX 368 onwards to Shanghai.

As it worked out cheaper to book as two separate legs and Cathay state that you must allow 50 mins to transfer as a min, my question is, if I book this flight am I able to call Cathay and ask them to link the two trips onto one booking so we can go straight to the transfer desk in HK and not have to go landside?

Also, do you think we would be able to check our bags all the way to Shanghai Pudong from Perth if this is the case?

Appreciate any feedback! Cheers.

yes you can call cathay pacific and link the two bookings.

cathay will also through check your bags from Perth (just show them the connecting ticket) and they will also issue you with the onwards boarding pass, so you can simply go up through transit security once you land in Hong Kong.

while technically you are on two separate tickets... i have little doubt cx will accommodate you on another cx flight if you are late arriving into hong kong on a cx flight. however... that being said... I don't know whether cx would protect you onto KA metal, or would make you wait for the next cx flight (there are only three cx flights a day between Hong Kong and shanghai, the rest are dragonair). you would also be up for a hotel if you required one.

would you lose all your money if you miss the connection? I'd say no. however I'm not sure what the arrangemes for an alternative will exactly be (cx or ka).

 

[wandering_fred]

I would say that I have no complaints with CX when irregular operations affected our connections with separate tickets. Having been on one business and one economy ticket may have helped.

YMMV

Fred

 

[Mal]

I have had similar bookings, as long as cx knows the bookings are connected, they should do many amazing things to make it happen.

 

[ermen]

Yeah CX to CX plus the fact that they are a full service airline means you are de-facto protected even on different PNRs.
If it was LCC, thats another story!

 

[HKGNZL]

CX is one of the best airlines to look after you from that regards.

 

[JohnK]

You should be able to check your luggage through from PER even on separate itineraries. Assuming they did not check luggage through in PER you can go to transfer desk in HKG and show them the luggage receipt and they are able to transfer the bags to the next flight.

Linking bookings is nice to tell the airline what you are doing but not necessary to be able to use the transfer desk in HKG.

Hope all goes well for you.