HKG Transit - United airlines to Air Asia

[Explorer8939]

I am flying into HKG late at night from the USA, and rather than go through immigration and spend the night in Hong Kong, I want to take an Air Asia flight to DMK. Since Air Asia doesn’t interline, if I want to take a checked bag, I have to go through immigration, pick up my checked bag, go to a check in counter, deposit my bag, go through security, go through immigration, no way I can do that in 2 hours.so, I plan to travel without checked bags, simply tránsit at HKG, and use web check-in to get the Air Asia boarding pass.

i think there is only one terminal in HKG, so as long as I don’t go through immigration, i can get over to the Air Asia departure gate.

 

[Jake.houston]

Only challenge I see is sometimes the internal security checkpoint will require a physical boarding pass from your airline. I had this happen twice. I ended up going to the internal airline counter and had them print me a pass to get through the secondary security point.

My challenge was I couldn’t print out my boarding pass in the US before my flight in the US took off for Asia. Normally it is only available 24 hours before takeoff. 

When you land, you can’t leave without going through either the internal secondary security (for connections) or immigration.

Both these instances were in the last 12 months, so recent experience.

Hope that helps.

[Gnorman]

United lands at terminal 1, whilst AirAsia departs terminal 2. Not a big deal as their little automated train system runs great, and bm Jack.houstan gave a good description re security etc.

This link may help, it walks you through with/without a boarding pass. It seems that AirAsia doesn't have a transfer desk so you may not have a choice to go through immigration if you can't obtain your boarding pass before getting on your United flight.

https://www.hongkongairport.com/en/passenger-guide/transfer-transit/#1

My main concern would be how reliable your United flight is for time, if it lands on time you'd have no trouble having checked luggage in my opinion, without checked luggage you'll obviously be less stressed about time.

If you decided to take checked luggage, or can't obtain your boarding pass, the terminal 1 arrival, and terminal 2 departure areas, are along side one another, different levels obviously, but walk out of one and across into the other.

 

 

[Explorer8939]

On 09/01/2019 at 00:05, Gnorman said:

United lands at terminal 1, whilst AirAsia departs terminal 2. Not a big deal as their little automated train system runs great, and bm Jack.houstan gave a good description re security etc.

This link may help, it walks you through with/without a boarding pass. It seems that AirAsia doesn't have a transfer desk so you may not have a choice to go through immigration if you can't obtain your boarding pass before getting on your United flight.

https://www.hongkongairport.com/en/passenger-guide/transfer-transit/#1

My main concern would be how reliable your United flight is for time, if it lands on time you'd have no trouble having checked luggage in my opinion, without checked luggage you'll obviously be less stressed about time.

If you decided to take checked luggage, or can't obtain your boarding pass, the terminal 1 arrival, and terminal 2 departure areas, are along side one another, different levels obviously, but walk out of one and across into the other.

 

 

First off, no planes depart from Terminal 2, all departures are from Terminal 1. Terminal 2 is only for check in, which is precisely what I want to avoid. Some Air Asia flights depart from the Midfield Concourse, which is art of Terminal 1.

if I can go through Transit directly into Terminal 1, I should be good to go.

i won’t have any checked baggage, so I just have to worry about the United flight being on time. Except for the printed boarding pass issue.

 

[Ru4Real]

8 minutes ago, Explorer8939 said:

First off, no planes depart from Terminal 2, all departures are from Terminal 1.

 

[Gnorman]

7 minutes ago, Explorer8939 said:

First off, no planes depart from Terminal 2, all departures are from Terminal 1. Terminal 2 is only for check in, which is precisely what I want to avoid. Some Air Asia flights depart from the Midfield Concourse, which is art of Terminal 1.

if I can go through Transit directly into Terminal 1, I should be good to go.

i won’t have any checked baggage, so I just have to worry about the United flight being on time. Except for the printed boarding pass issue.

 

Yes you are correct re departure Terminal1/2, I only referred to the midfield concourse as Terminal 2 to differentiate from the main terminal.

The few AirAsia flights I have caught out of HKG have departed from the Midfield Concourse but of course that is no big deal.

Can I ask that you reply back to the thread with your experience once you've taken your flights, it may be useful knowledge for the future, thanks.

 

 

[Gnorman]

8 minutes ago, Ru4Real said:

 

Ru4Real, there are two terminals for check in but once through immigration you end up at the same area. The midfield concourse I class as Terminal 2 isn't officially named terminal 2, but it is a seperate terminal you need to catch an automated train to.  

 

 

[Ru4Real]

I haven't even transited through Hong Kong since around '92 so buggered if I know, just seemed a tadge strange they list them as T2.

[Gnorman]

Just now, Ru4Real said:

I haven't even transited through Hong Kong since around '92 so buggered if I know, just seemed a tadge strange they list them as T2.

Yes you are correct, but at certain times you know we must have all reply wording 100% correct. 

 

[Explorer8939]

20 hours ago, Gnorman said:

Yes you are correct re departure Terminal1/2, I only referred to the midfield concourse as Terminal 2 to differentiate from the main terminal.

The few AirAsia flights I have caught out of HKG have departed from the Midfield Concourse but of course that is no big deal.

Can I ask that you reply back to the thread with your experience once you've taken your flights, it may be useful knowledge for the future, thanks.

 

 

My United flight gets in about 20:00, and the connecting Air Asia flight leaves for DMK around 22:00 or so. I will book a hotel in BKK for that night, but I will be prepared to spend the night in Hong Kong if my United flight arrives late.

 

[Memurtle]

Also be careful of your carry on luggage, some airlines (most recent Qantas) have started becoming more stringent in checking for allowed weight and size of the bag. Saw a few people recently forced to check in their carry on.

[Explorer8939]

10 hours ago, Memurtle said:

Also be careful of your carry on luggage, some airlines (most recent Qantas) have started becoming more stringent in checking for allowed weight and size of the bag. Saw a few people recently forced to check in their carry on.

I am going to spring for a payment for 15 kg for a carry-on bag. Yeah, I know AirAsia may have a problem with my carry-on, but hopefully they will let me go through Transit without checking bags.

[Explorer8939]

I ended up cancelling my flight to HKG, and flying to Singapore instead.

[Explorer8939]

But I may try something crazier, fly UTP - MFM (Macau) and take the Air-Sea ferry on TurboJet, which bypasses immigration and customs in Macau.

 

[Gnorman]

I'm not 100% sure about the ferry terminal on mainland Macau. But if you catch the Taipa ferry, which is only a few minutes from the Macau airport,  you can check in for your flight, receive your boarding pass etc, and check your bag in through to your destination for most airlines from the Taipa ferry terminal before you board your ferry, great service.

[Explorer8939]

On 09/01/2019 at 08:42, Explorer8939 said:

I am flying into HKG late at night from the USA, and rather than go through immigration and spend the night in Hong Kong, I want to take an Air Asia flight to DMK. Since Air Asia doesn’t interline, if I want to take a checked bag, I have to go through immigration, pick up my checked bag, go to a check in counter, deposit my bag, go through security, go through immigration, no way I can do that in 2 hours.so, I plan to travel without checked bags, simply tránsit at HKG, and use web check-in to get the Air Asia boarding pass.

i think there is only one terminal in HKG, so as long as I don’t go through immigration, i can get over to the Air Asia departure gate.

 

I kind of ran into this in Kuala Lumpur today, I arrived there without having a boarding pass for my departing flight. I was hoping that Air Asia would allow me to print out a boarding pass somewhere in the transit area, so didn't have to go through immigration.

No luck. I barely made my connection.

[kansuwan]

On 14/01/2019 at 03:15, Ru4Real said:

I haven't even transited through Hong Kong since around '92 so buggered if I know, just seemed a tadge strange they list them as T2.

Small point: Kaitak airport closed in 1998, succeeded by the new Chek Lap Kok airport .....

[Gnorman]

11 hours ago, Explorer8939 said:

I kind of ran into this in Kuala Lumpur today, I arrived there without having a boarding pass for my departing flight. I was hoping that Air Asia would allow me to print out a boarding pass somewhere in the transit area, so didn't have to go through immigration.

No luck. I barely made my connection.

Two questions.

1. Did you fly into KL on a different airline, if not why didn't you have a boarding pass printed when checking in for your original flight?

2. Knowing you were transiting, and not being able to print a boarding pass, why wouldn't you check in online and and have an electronic boarding pass on your phone?

That messing around going to check in, and back through immigration, should be avoided where possible, as you found out it can take forever.

 

 

[Explorer8939]

1 hour ago, Gnorman said:

Two questions.

1. Did you fly into KL on a different airline, if not why didn't you have a boarding pass printed when checking in for your original flight?

2. Knowing you were transiting, and not being able to print a boarding pass, why wouldn't you check in online and and have an electronic boarding pass on your phone?

That messing around going to check in, and back through immigration, should be avoided where possible, as you found out it can take forever.

 

 

I flew in on AirAsia, and was flying out on Air Asia.

The outbound flight was a different PNR than my inbound flight, and AirAsia would not give me a boarding pass for the second flight at my originating airport.

The AirAsia web site will not provide electronic boarding passes.

 

[Gnorman]

4 hours ago, Explorer8939 said:

I flew in on AirAsia, and was flying out on Air Asia.

The outbound flight was a different PNR than my inbound flight, and AirAsia would not give me a boarding pass for the second flight at my originating airport.

The AirAsia web site will not provide electronic boarding passes.

 

Cheers, I could have sworn I used an electronic boarding pass with them a few years back, but I may be mistaken.

Pretty bloody terrible customer service not allowing you to get all your boarding passes before your first flight. I understand you had two PNR's, but with no checked luggage it's just crap service creating a whole lot of messing around you have to do for nothing. 

I will most definitely keep this in mind for future travels through KL, or any connection on AirAsia for that matter with different PNR's. 

 

[Explorer8939]

For the record, the check in machine at the first airport would not print a boarding pass for the second airport.

[Explorer8939]

I am going to try this in reverse next month - fly one airline from BKK to HKG with only a carry-on bag, use an app to check in for the next flight, and so I won’t have to go through immigration at HKG.

i hope.