Is MCT at ICN really 1h 40 ?.

[MAN Flyer]

That seems a lot to me for what is a pretty decent airport.

I was hoping to connect from SQ15 arriving 1845 to OZ8531 to PUS at 1955. I also wanted to do OZ8536 from PUS arriving 1850 to OZ731 to SGN at 2010. I've been through ICN many times, including to and from PUS, and would have thought those connection times were doable, but was told it's 1 hour 40 mins MCT.

I know you can drop unlucky with immigration queue's at ICN, but I'm tempted to risk it.........

[SQFAN]

That long connection time seems long for an efficient ICN. Unless you have checked bag, I would say go for it. I would.

[Kiwi]

If you are on separate tickets you are bearing the risk yourself no matter what the MCT is. Only relevant on through tickets - some airlines refuse point blank to ticket illegal connections, while others will ticket but only on condition of pax signing a waiver of responsibility, and others still seem to ignore MCTs. I once had ticketed a 17 minute international to domestic connection at DEN before I spotted the issue, and this was not a case where the original connection was longer and schedules changed.

[stargold]

Short of a severe delay of your incoming SQ aircraft, 1h40m should be plenty for you to clear immigrations and collect baggage, especially as it will probably be priority-tagged to death Apart from the times when luggage went missing or the priority tags coming off, I can't remember the last time I've taken more than 30 minutes from aircraft door to the arrivals hall.

On your return, you will receive your BP at PUS and your luggage will be checked though to final destination (although I don't know whether the procedure will be any different if you have separate tickets) so assuming it all goes well at PUS, 1h20 should be sufficient, I would have thought.

[Kiwi]

I've just remembered that I've had shorter connections at ICN, although MCTs can vary by airline/aircraft type/over time.

SQ->SQ and a CX turnaround, both just over an hour. No problem with either of these being booked on a single ticket for SQ-SQ and another for CX-CX.

[lee_apromise]

My friend who works for CX told me that any passengers arriving at Concourse A has to wait more time to pick up the luggage given the distance from Concourse A to the terminal. The airlines operating from Concourse A want to increase their minimum check-in time to at least 1 hour prior to departure.

[N_Architect]

That seems a lot to me for what is a pretty decent airport.

I was hoping to connect from SQ15 arriving 1845 to OZ8531 to PUS at 1955. I also wanted to do OZ8536 from PUS arriving 1850 to OZ731 to SGN at 2010. I've been through ICN many times, including to and from PUS, and would have thought those connection times were doable, but was told it's 1 hour 40 mins MCT.

I know you can drop unlucky with immigration queue's at ICN, but I'm tempted to risk it.........

I did it two weeks ago. No probs whatsoever.

Connected from SQ15 to the Korean Air (to PUS) flight that leaves from the gate which is just beside the gate the OZ flight to PUS departs. Departure of my KE flight to PUS was 2000hrs, so it's the same.

Travel agent who booked me the KE flight was reluctant in booking the 8pm flight to PUS as (she said) I could possibly miss the connection, however I was there 35 mins prior to departure. The reward (avoiding going over to GMP) is worth the risk.

These two are the KE and OZ second and last flights of the day from ICN. The other ICN-PUS flight is the early morning flight, again for KE and OZ. For any other times, you'd have to take taxi or bus to GMP (40') and fly out from there.

[MAN Flyer]

Checked luggage is not a worry as I don't travel with checked luggage.

It's an SQ issued CRTWSTAR2 being reissued by SQ themselves. I think it's easily doable but unfortunately SQ are saying their system will not ticket it so I'm stuck.

[KeithMEL]

Per Sabre it is 1hr 40mins for international to domestic connections and vice versa at ICN:

STANDARD.D/D...[B]D/I[/B]...[b]I/D[/b]...I/I.                                 
ONLINE    .40  [B]1.40 [/B] [b]1.40[/b]  1.10                                 
OFFLINE   .40  [B]1.40[/B]  [b]1.40[/b]  1.10

[SQFAN]

Since you're stuck, maybe you when you arrive at ICN, just ask if you can take the flight you wanted as 'last minute' standy.

edit : ignore as I noted you wanted to connect to SGN from Busan,

[N_Architect]

Checked luggage is not a worry as I don't travel with checked luggage.

It's an SQ issued CRTWSTAR2 being reissued by SQ themselves. I think it's easily doable but unfortunately SQ are saying their system will not ticket it so I'm stuck.

What is actually CRTWSTAR2?
(Round the World Star, but what is the C and the 2?)
(Is the "C" C/Z/J class, and the "2" months perhaps?)

Per Sabre it is 1hr 40mins for international to domestic connections and vice versa at ICN:

STANDARD.D/D...[B]D/I[/B]...[b]I/D[/b]...I/I.                                 
ONLINE    .40  [B]1.40 [/B] [b]1.40[/b]  1.10                                 
OFFLINE   .40  [B]1.40[/B]  [b]1.40[/b]  1.10

The 1.40 is the time for intl connection at ICN. What is the .40 and the 1.10?

[KeithMEL]

What is actually CRTWSTAR2?
(Round the World Star, but what is the C and the 2?)
(Is the "C" C/Z/J class, and the "2" months perhaps?)

Yep the letter at the start indicates class of service, so business in this case.
The number at the end indicates the fare level which in turn decides your maximum permitted mileage. 2 = fare level tier 2, with MPM of 34 000. RWSTAR1 = MPM 29k, RWSTAR3 allows 39k, and there's the economy class-only Starlite fare that allows 26k.

The 1.40 is the time for intl connection at ICN. What is the .40 and the 1.10?

.40 is for domestic to domestic connection. 1.10 is intl to intl.

[SQflyergirl]

What is actually CRTWSTAR2?
(Round the World Star, but what is the C and the 2?)
(Is the "C" C/Z/J class, and the "2" months perhaps?)

The complete Matrix:

1st Alphabet: F, C, or Y for class of service
2nd and 3rd alphabet: type.
RW for round the world,
CA for circle asia,
CP for circle pacific

3rd-6th alphabet STAR

7th alphabet - MPM.
RWSTAR1 - 29K miles,
RWSTAR2 - 34K miles,
RWSTAR3 - 39K miles
CASTAR1 - 15K miles,
CASTAR2 - 18K miles
CPSTAR1 - 22K miles, and
CPSTAR2 - 26K miles

And of course, the aforementioned Y lite fare.

[MAN Flyer]

.40 is for domestic to domestic connection. 1.10 is intl to intl.

Is domestic to international only 1 hour 10 mins ??. Well I am within that coming back then, as OZ8536 from PUS arrives at 1850 and OZ831 doesn't leave until 2010!!. Even giving a domestic to domestic transfer time at ICN is laughable, there's hardly any domestic flights to and from there, a situation that has always baffled and annoyed me.

I had changed to go SFO-ICN-PUS-BKK-SGN (getting me to 33969 miles on a CRTWSTAR2 ) but will go back via ICN as that PUS-BKK is on an AB6 , and five and a half hours on one of those should be in emergencies only. It also means I don't have to leave PUS at 0845am so I can get at least one more meeting in.

[KeithMEL]

Is domestic to international only 1 hour 10 mins ??.

No - 1.10 is MCT for international-international. Domestic to international is 1.40. See post 9.

I think you could ask SQ to insert some sort of waiver of rights into your PNR if you really wanted to risk it. LH offered to do it for me one time when I was 5 mins short of MCT, but I chickened out and decided to while the time away in town.