Aircraft Transit Times

[coffindodger]

I have a friend he is returning back this weekend from his vacation in MNL however he has now been told he has a 17 hour transit in HKK.
I am sure that some where the airline are supposed to put them up in a hotel for part of this time.
Any one any usefull info please. Thanks

[PAXboy]

By 'HKK' do you mean Hong Kong? It's HKG.

Without knowing the specifics of the ticket - if someone has bought a two step journey, with a lay over, the chances of a hotel being included in the price are about 1%. Many agents sell these tickets as they have bought separate sectors and put them together. When buying, a look at the overall duration of the journey will give the clue. Of course, many people do not know how long the journey should take and also get confused with the time change.

Your friend should check with the agent (or carrier) and then book an airport hotel - making sure that he has a very good alarm clock, not to miss the second sector!

[wowzz]

Unfortunately HKG does not have a Yotel [eg Gatwick], where you can rent a room for a specific number of hours - minimum 4 hours. And no sniggering at the back!
To be more serious, why should your friend expect an hotel room? He/she booked a flight from A to C via B. The fact that there will be a certain amount of time to be spent in B is irrelevant.

[coffindodger]

Thanks for the replies. i am sure of the whole story its self, but 17 hours stuck in an airport inbetween flights and with no refreshements, being made for by the airline is a bit much i think.

[L'aviateur]

coffindodger, without further information it would be difficult to comment.

1) Which airline is the booking with?
2) Is the booking on a single ticket for the entire itinerary?
3) Has the airline changed the itinerary at the last minute or was it originally booked with 17 hours in between?

If it was booked with 17 hours in between, which can occur when its cheaper, then he'll probably have no recourse. Also if the booking is on seperate itineraries then he won't have any support.

However, if it is a single through booking, and the itinerary has been changed at late notice, then if it's with Cathay, they will probably help him out with accomodation.

If for instance it's a Cebu Pacific Flight connecting to something else, then not much that can be done.

[ExXB]

In the good old days, when IATA ruled, there was an industry agreement on sharing the costs of transiting passengers. There was a four letter acronym for this service which completely escapes me now.

Basically the receiving Interline carrier would absorb the costs, and then bill the delivering carrier for their share. I think it was based on the prorate value of the through fare.

This deal didn't apply in, or to from some important geographic areas (the Americas). It also didn't apply on short haul routes like within Europe.

The original idea comes from the days when direct flights were simply not available and overnight layovers were required. These days I would guess that only a few airlines would still offer this, and only for on-line, whenever they need to do it to get the business.

The IATA agreement ended in the early 90s.

Have your friend ask the agent or his airline, you never know.

[Hartington]

Even in the 70s there were a few flights that overnighted en route. I recall an aunt flying San Francisco to Tokyo on (I think) BOAC and they stopped in Honolulu (planned) and were accommodated by BOAC. Back in the mid 70s I got caught by a Cyclone which hit Hong Kong just before departure and BOAC put me in an hotel for the night.

These days, where the clamour is for the cheapest flight possible, the airlines don't even provide accommodation when there is a long delay (with a vanishingly small list of exceptions).

I'd like to reinforce what l'avaiteur said. With a stop that long it is possible that even though it is all one trip/reservation there may be 2 tickets involved. If that is the case the airlines take absolutely no responsibility of any kind. In particular if your friend fails to show for the 2nd flight the airline will likely impose quite severe penalties up to and including insisting he purchase a new ticket with no refund on the old one (and that is not to suggest that on a through ticket with a missed connection there might not be penalties if the problem is the fault of the passenger).