Cathay Pacific is getting some bad press for how it handled a recent diversion. While inclement weather is outside a carrier’s control, the way that airlines respond is important, and I don’t buy Cathay Pacific’s excuse…
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Cathay Pacific flight diverts to Taipei over bad weather
This incident started on Monday, August 4, 2025, and involves Cathay Pacific flight CX883, operated by a Boeing 777-300ER. The flight was scheduled to depart Los Angeles (LAX) at 12:25AM, and arrive in Hong Kong (HKG) at 5:45AM on Tuesday morning.
The plane took off from Los Angeles at 12:55AM, starting the long 7,260-mile journey to Hong Kong. The flight across the Pacific was routine, and then the plane began its descent to Hong Kong, reaching an altitude as low as under 5,000 feet.
Unfortunately the weather in Hong Kong wasn’t cooperating, though — on Sunday night the Hong Kong Observatory issued a Black Rainstorm Warning, and then on Monday morning, that was updated to an Amber Rainstorm Warning. Because of this, planes couldn’t land in Hong Kong.
So the crew made the decision to divert to Taipei Taoyuan Airport (TPE), located 501 miles away. After a total flight time of 15hr13min, the plane touched down in Taipei at 7:08AM.
The plan was to wait out the bad weather, refuel, and then make the journey to Hong Kong. However, that’s not quite how things played out… at least not any time soon.
Cathay Pacific 777 stuck on ground in Taipei for 11 hours
Where this situation gets bad is when it comes to how Cathay Pacific handled the diversion once the plane was on the ground. Unfortunately the weather in Hong Kong remained bad for a long time, meaning the plane couldn’t reach its destination for an extended period of time.
In the end, the plane stayed on the ground in Taipei for nearly 11 hours, until 6PM local time. During that time, passengers had to remain on the aircraft, and weren’t allowed to deplane. Passengers claim that the captain said that passengers would eventually be able to disembark, but that didn’t end up materializing, with the crew citing “insurance reasons.”
Passengers also had access to insufficient food and drinks. The initial crew stayed onboard the aircraft until the mid-afternoon, and then there was a crew change, with a new crew taking over around 4PM (it’s not clear if they were flown in from Hong Kong, or if they were rostered to work another flight out of Taipei).
Finally at 6PM the flight took off, landing in Hong Kong at 7:17PM. That meant the flight arrived around 13.5 hours behind schedule. In total, the journey from Los Angeles to Hong Kong took around 28 hours.
Admittedly we don’t know the full background on why passengers weren’t allowed to deplane, or why sufficient food and drinks weren’t catered. One would certainly hope that every effort would be made to allow passengers to stretch their legs, and at least not be hungry or thirsty during the delay.
In the United States we have the tarmac rule, whereby airlines have to allow passengers to deplane after an aircraft has been on the ground for three to four hours (depending on the type of flight). That would’ve certainly come in handy here.
It’s a bit puzzling to me that Cathay Pacific couldn’t do more, since Taipei is a major station for the airline. It’s not like the airline doesn’t have staff there, which makes this all the more disappointing.
An experience like this really borders on cruel for those in economy. The flight already left LAX around midnight, so I imagine most people boarded the flight tired as could be. And then they were subjected to a 28-hour journey.
Bottom line
Passengers traveling on Cathay Pacific from Los Angeles to Hong Kong had an unpleasant experience, after bad weather in Hong Kong necessitated a diversion. The plane ended up diverting to Taipei, where it spent 11 hours on the ground, before continuing to Hong Kong.
The problem is that the airline didn’t let passengers deplane, and also didn’t cater sufficient food and drinks. In the end, passengers spent around 28 hours on the aircraft, which is very unpleasant.
What do you make of this painful Cathay Pacific diversion?
CX is now registered in China not Hong Kong and China and Taiwan are in a territorial dispute with imminent invasion of Taiwan threatened.
I presume this is "politics" and CX caught in the middle?
USA (Trump) Don't abandon Taiwan. It is not part of China.
Not sure what everyone is on about here regarding who holds what kind of passport and visa requirements. TPE has international transit like almost all bigger airports in the civilized world so passengers could have been disembarked and allowed into the terminal building without having to go through immigration. There wouldn’t have been any record of this for anyone.
Except those with final destination TPE could have continued to arrivals and immigration (regardless of...
Not sure what everyone is on about here regarding who holds what kind of passport and visa requirements. TPE has international transit like almost all bigger airports in the civilized world so passengers could have been disembarked and allowed into the terminal building without having to go through immigration. There wouldn’t have been any record of this for anyone.
Except those with final destination TPE could have continued to arrivals and immigration (regardless of any luggage they might still have on that plane).
Had a similar experience with Cathay years ago (2018), transiting in HKG, my midnight Cathey flight to SFO got canceled after boarding and waiting for hours, due to mechanical issues. They told us to get off the plane, and that's it. Once we are back to the terminal, not a word about their plan for taking care of the passengers overnight, no communication, no compensation, staff disappeared, we were left to care for ourselves in...
Had a similar experience with Cathay years ago (2018), transiting in HKG, my midnight Cathey flight to SFO got canceled after boarding and waiting for hours, due to mechanical issues. They told us to get off the plane, and that's it. Once we are back to the terminal, not a word about their plan for taking care of the passengers overnight, no communication, no compensation, staff disappeared, we were left to care for ourselves in the terminal overnight, and wait for the rescheduled flight the following day. The only passengers getting some care are those on the business class. My conclusion: Cathay could be great if there is no disruption to the flights; Cathay is horrible in customer care during flight disruptions, especially if you are flying economy. I've been avoiding Cathay since then.
Cathay is a shadow of what it once was. This is no surprise and their service has also been steadily going downhill. Very poor handling in this case and no public announcement or apology from CX here in HK.
I think this is a very bad PR for the airline and pitty the passengers, especially in the Econ section. CX used to be one of the best airline next to SQ to do over and beyond for the interest of the passengers, especially in a force majeur situation. I hope they got some sort of compensation for this 13,5 hrs delay.
This is an international flight, and Chinese passport holders are not allowed thaos enter Taiwan or even transit through Taiwan without a permit. It would be a chaos if they have to determine who may be deplaned.
Why? All have passports. Non- Chinese should be allowed to disembark
Where between black rain and amber rain is purple rain?
you only get Purple Rain in Paisley Park ;)
It remind me an experience in December 2010 when I went to JFK to pick up a friend of mine who flew Cathay from HKG. Originally scheduled an evening arrival yet due to an huge snowstorm (already stopped by then) all passenger are stuck in the plane for the entire evening until something like 7am in the morning. Exact same situation with what happened for this flight. Probably before the 4 hour limit on tarmac...
It remind me an experience in December 2010 when I went to JFK to pick up a friend of mine who flew Cathay from HKG. Originally scheduled an evening arrival yet due to an huge snowstorm (already stopped by then) all passenger are stuck in the plane for the entire evening until something like 7am in the morning. Exact same situation with what happened for this flight. Probably before the 4 hour limit on tarmac delays international flights applied. Poor myself has to hang on the JFK terminal overnight!
Obviously Cathay haven't learnt anything from that....
CX has a hub at TPE - even though scaled back compared to what it used to be in the past, still should be able to handle this better.
"Passengers also had access to insufficient food and drinks, as nothing was catered during the time on the ground."
That's a completely FALSE statement, where did you get your source from ??? As from multiple local Hong Kong media (of course in Chinese no English), they did cater and served a full meal + snack on the ground at TPtE
I like the fact check, but please site your source.
*cite
I imagine the fact that this is an international flight has something to do with it. I'm curious, in a situation like this, where the vast majority of passengers are not going to be nationals of the airport you've diverted to, how do you handle immigration controls?
Are there hold rooms where passengers can be kept contained without allowing them to wander the rest of the airport?
Especially in a situation like this, where the...
I imagine the fact that this is an international flight has something to do with it. I'm curious, in a situation like this, where the vast majority of passengers are not going to be nationals of the airport you've diverted to, how do you handle immigration controls?
Are there hold rooms where passengers can be kept contained without allowing them to wander the rest of the airport?
Especially in a situation like this, where the two governments (China and Taiwan) aren't exactly on friendly terms, Cathay might have decided it would be easier to just keep everyone on board, especially if weather might clear at any moment and they don't want to lose a possible landing slot.
All of this isn't to excuse what Cathay did. When Air India diverted to Russia with a bunch of US citizens, they still let everyone off for as long as it took to get another plane in, so it can be handled. I'm just curious if people know the details of how these type of international diversions are handled.
Most passengers can enter Taiwan visa free. For those that can't, remaining on a plane less than half full is a lot more comfortable.
I don't think "Most" is true. A lot of people flying CX are transfering passengers. Chinese and Many Southeast Asian nationals needs visa to enter Taiwan.
Even worse.. There were a number of passengers onboard with a final destination of TPE. They weren’t allowed off and forced to fly to HKG, then take another flight back to TPE. Ouch.
Total nonsense handling by the airline!!! If you get a crew off the plane, you can also get the pax off, even to sit by the gate for hours.
Ben - that 3-4 hr rule in the US may be valid for CBP airport. Once on UA's MEX-IAH diverted to CRP and stayed on the plane 6 hours. It was claimed there was no CBP so not even the main door could be open. After 4 hrs or so water ran out so then door was finally opened. Will never forget that experience
And then after all this they ended up in Hong Kong ... Yuck!
Their original destination was Hong Kong. If the passengers didn't want to go to HKG, they shouldn't have gotten on the plane in the first place.
They didn’t buy a ticket to spend 11 hours on the ground at TPE. They bought non-stop LAX-HKG. Short of an infectious disease outbreak, no reason to hold for that long. TPE is a major airport and CX flies there routinely. Badly handled.
A whole lot of planes was diverted and/or delayed on that day.
Could it have been that they have somehow overlooked this particular plane during the chaos? What happened on the other planes that got diverted to Taiwan?
Human error do happen especially when a lot of planes weren't where it's supposed to be at a time it should have been.
PS. Saw a video footage of a CX plane coming in to land on Hong Kong, the lightning outside the window sure was scary.