You are missing the point. This is not about CX or their lounges (necessarily) people who don't fly CX nor have lounge access need to sometimes leave the airport. They arrive on a connection. Go to departures, sit at starbucks and then get an email that necessitates them to leave.

Well no one has a problem with that. The problem is with people who go thru security to access the lounge,knowing that they will ask for an escort later.

Last time I arrived in the morning on a J ticket the CX arrivals lounge was so full (15 pax in shower queue) that I just used my company's HSBC Credit Card to use the Plaza instead. I had to actually chuckle when the attendant at PP told me 'no queue'. I asked myself if (with a big probability) other people could have done the same but probably felt too entitled to the CX arrivals so they sucked up the 90 minute waiting time for the showers.

On another note, they (CX) could really make it bigger since the PP is nearly triple the size of the CX arrivals lounge.

I understand that this could be frustrating and I guess it could maybe be solved from an airport standpoint.

On the other hand, If someone might get an email that necessitates them to leave (so Im saying if you expect this to probably happen): Theres a Starbucks, Mcdo, 'Yam Cha' and many more restaurants landside! So I don't see the problem, especially if your luggage is checked through to the final destination, going through immigration takes way less time than going through transfer.

Interesting to note it's only quite recently that some posters started projecting a very negative view of the "departure lounge then exit through transfers" process.

Until a year or so ago, the response to questions on this topic simply used to be "ask for an escort", not "how dare you even consider such an idea?" that is prevalent now.

Funny how the general mood can shift over time.

ha, interesting observation. i've tried to answer the questions politely but i've definitely always been in the camp of this isn't cool.

my main rationale is occasionally we actually need the "service". i think in my 8+ years of CX, I have departed HKIA on average once every 7-10 days, and except for a handful of situations i've used the commercial terminal each time. I'm probably in the neighborhood of 300-500 departures since moving here. I've needed (and executed) this "strategy" three times to my memory; twice for business and once for a serious emergency. I ended up returning to fly in 1/3 cases; 2/3 I skipped my flight.

My main fear if this gets abused in ever increasing #s is that this legitimate need - say 1% of pax or so who actually go airside but then must return landside - will be delayed. Fwiw, I come into contact with the airport authority from time to time. One proposal I heard was delaying passengers who need this escort 30-60 minutes, which would be an utter disaster if you actually have an emergency. And the reason would be straightforward: pax abusing this concept in ever-increasing #s. I last saw the folks a few months ago, right before the CY Leung / family situation that put the airport under way more scrutiny. Even then, I was asked jokingly why so many Cathay passengers are heading the "wrong" flow (they mean airside to landside). They jokingly asked if passengers are just using the lounges....my takeaway is this is totally an unintended flow from the airport authority, yet they don't *yet* realize it's precisely the joking reason they proposed - a bunch of lounge crashers basically abusing the spirit of the system, which is technically supposed to avoid movements like this but can't completely. I just laughed it off. But the second they realize people are abusing this, and ask CX for the numbers, bye bye it will be a pain in the butt. I can guarantee that.

And the pain in the butt will fall hardest on those of us who actually use HKIA frequently. For the infrequent award traveler, maybe flying via HKA for leisure 1, 2 or 3x annually, who cares? They've got a 12 hour layover anyway. If they are delayed 30-60 minutes but can crash Pier J for a few hours before heading to the city, I think they still might be up for it.

So all in all, I wish it wouldn't happen because selfishly I stand to lose...if some draconian measure gets put in place due to the lounge crashers, and then we lose the legitimate ability to exit airside in a hurry should the genuine need arise.

Agree, but at that time they didn't have the amount of flights they have today.

I think the only time that lounge is packed is in the morning. On the rare occasions that I've gone in during the afternoon and evening, the place is dead.

Actually 3 years ago someone already pointed out how difficult and could cause unnecessary inconvenience to the staff....I guess some people here, myself included have grown tired with people asking about it....

Im curious to what happenes to your ticket? Say its a fully flexible Y/J fare ticket and you go to the airport, use check-in, use the lounge and then leave. Does it still get refunded? Maybe you could comment on it since you've skipped twice. Did you get it refunded?

Also, please elaborate on the CY leung / family situation? I don't read local news / apple daily news so Im not up to speed on the CY drama...


Absolutely true, so there must be a way to fix this. The only real problem is the shower situation. You can actually still manage to grab a seat even during the morning rush for your breakfast/coffee but the shower wait times are ludicrous!

I have no experience of this,but I don't think the lounge usage impact the ticket refundability/penalties. At the end of the day,those folks who buy fully flexible tix,use the lounge,change the date,use the lounge every day,they still normally get a refund.

For the arrivals lounge,I think CX should offer vouchers for PP lounge next doors when their own lounge is full. This is what they used to do,giving vouchers for Louis Tavern when their own lounge was too busy.

I was at JFK BA lounge (flying CX) in Feb and decided to change my final destination and was told to exit to the CX counter which I did without any escort in 2 minutes. After re-ticketing, I came back to the lounge after going through security again. Not sure why it is such a big deal to exit to the landside at HKIA that escort is required.

So for those who have long layovers at HKIA and decide to spend sometime in HKG, there shouldn't be any problem going straight out to the city (wo going though transfer) and then 8 hrs later going through security/custom and continue their flights, right?

I guess the reason being that HKG along with most Asian airports, you clear immigration prior to departure unlike the U.S., you just pass through security.

Correct. That is the SOP, and I would like to think that everyone reading this thread understands such by now.

At HKIA, you can't go directly from departures airside to landside because you need to clear HK Immigration. To get to HK Immigration you need to get to the airside arrivals level which I don't think you can DIY.

Maybe it's time for CX to have a better arrival lounge so frequent flyer will not even consider going to Pier/Wing and come back out.