I was at a departure-side lounge for a few hours (decompressing from 16 hours in economy) and asked to exit to immigration-side. I had a 12+ hour layover. At first they said no, then they said yes but I'd have to wait for an escort (1 hour quoted wait) and that I can't do 'this' again. I waited 40 minutes for an escort mid-morning, and then he escorted me to the train which was a less than 5 minutes process.

I'd done this once before at a similar time with almost no wait.

I don't qualify for Arrivals lounge, but this was a hassle. In the future if I had a layover, I might just spend money for a shower on the other side.