
Is two hours enough time to clear customs and check into another flight in Honk Kong International Airport?
I decided to take a little side trip to Thailand and am now trying to connect back with my original flight. I currently have a Cathay Pacific flight from Honk Kong to San Francisco leaving at midnight. I am in Phuket, Thailand and am looking into flights. The budget airline (air asia) is the only really affordable option, but it is not a partner airline with Cathay pacific, which means I will have to pick up my luggage and recheck in at Hong Kong. The air asia flight is scheduled to arrive at 10pm. Is two hours enough time to clear customs and recheck in for the cathay pacific flight? I would love an answer from anyone that has traveled through Honk Kong a few times and knows how fast they are. Thanks!
The airport’s minimum required connecting time is 90 minutes. Two hours is more than fine.
Customs is insanely fast. If you take the green channel out they don’t even bother asking you questions, and you literally walk straight out into the arrivals hall. Just make sure you don’t actually have anything to declare. Immigration is similarly fast. If you’re arriving at night that makes it low traffic and bags will be out quicker too.
I would recommend you do an online checkin for your Cathay flight before you leave Bangkok, so you can skip the checkin line at HK and go straight to bag drop (aisle B).
You should expect 45 minutes between getting out of the airplane and into the arrivals hall, which gives you plenty of time for your next sector. I usually get out within half an hour, but then again, I clear immigration using my thumbprint…
Even if you have to do some walking or taking the train, it adds at most another 20-odd minutes. The train takes 60 seconds and one comes every 2 minutes. No need to fret, it’s the most efficient airport ever.
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