Using HKG departure-side lounges before clearing immigration
 

I have a scheduled 12 hour HKG (CX-CX) layover and plan to head into town later in the day for dinner with friends. What I'd like to know is whether upon arrival I can first proceed up to the departure concourse and utilise the Wing/Pier, et al, facilities for a couple hours, before clearing immigration and heading into town?

MTIA.

What cabin are you flying?

Since you're implying you'll have access to Wing/Pier.....If your flight arriving Hong Kong is J/F, you have access to the CX Arrivals lounge. No need for the hassle to go through back up to the departure side.

I'm in J and am BA Emerald. So in view of spending a couple of hours working on my laptop before heading into town, I'd much rather try the new Wing F than use the arrivals lounge. :)

Technically you can arrive
-> enter immigration
-> walk past luggage area...."enter" HK
-> head back up stairs to "departure" HK
-> go through security / immigration
-> enjoy the Wing
-----------> then "enter" HK again. There's a special route for this, but it's not the usual flow of traffic. But there is a way to get back out of airport again. You would have to inquire one of the airport staff.
-> Head into town for dinner
-> go through security / immigration / lounge / fly



Whether it's worth the hassle to go find that route to be allow out of the airport again...would really depend on you. How long do you plan to stay in Wing working for?

With some difficulty, yes. If you have the onward boarding pass issued and in hand, you can pass through security to departure hall. But then to get out, you will need to contact airline staff and have them arrange escort back down to arrivals/ immigration level, there's no "public" route from departures to arrivals

Well it isn't really that complicated... Upon arrival, I'd first head upstairs as a normal transit pax holding my onward boarding pass, and head to the Wing. I certainly wouldn't have to enter HK twice.

All I was really asking was whether there's a simple process to exit the departure level and then clear immigration just that one time... Which I agree with you is not the normal flow of traffic.

As I said, a good couple of hours, which I think to many people makes a slightly roundabout detour to the nicer lounge worth the hassle. YMMV.

If you get the BP for your connecting flight at your origination, in theory you could just go through transit security and not have to worry about immigration at all until you're ready to head into town. You should not need to go through the first four steps above. (At which point, I believe you'd have to find a lounge attendant to escort you out through some secret path down to the arrivals level to clear immigration and enter HK.)

Though it is an awful lot of trouble. Are you sure you can't get your work done in the Arrival lounge? Or, after a shower in the Arrival lounge, head into town and set yourself up at a coffee shop with wi-fi?

It is actually pretty easy.
When you arrive you do what a normal transit passenger would do: Go thru security upstairs to the lounge.
In the lounge then later you tell them you want to go to town. They will either escort you or explain how to do it. You go backwards thru transit security to the arrivals level, thru immigration, customs.
Advantage of doing this is that you can leave your carry on in the lounge. Not horribly complicated and time consuming.

Thanks for that. ^

And while I do genuinely appreciate all the input here, I fail to see the logic of why my plan would be such a hassle - unless it would hugely inconvenience me and/or CX staff to get me back down to the Arrivals level - which is something I've never done before and why I asked the original question.

I travel thru HKIA dozens of times a year, carry the HKIA frequent visitor pass, and am familiar with all the CX lounges (though I haven't yet visited the refurbished Wing F). So I'm pretty certain that given the amount of time I have on my hands, I'd rather check out the Wing F than the Arrivals Lounge.

You are correct - a escort will be required.

It does not mean you can do whatever you want.

while it is not a big hassle for the passenger, it is a big inconvenience for the CX staff in the lounge to make arrangements to take you back to the arrivals level.

the lounge staff cannot tell you how to do it, they must get another ground staff from outside the lounge to escort you to the arrivals level, which could take 1-2 hours or longer if they are short of staff or there is some irrops at the airport. this is different than in the past when they would just issue a 'transit advice' form.

If you're 101% certain about that, then I'll take your word for it and just use the arrivals lounge.

But rather doubt that you are... :rolleyes:

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

As usual you have no idea what you r talking about and do not have first hand info :rolleyes:

The op just tell the lounge CSO he needs to go landslide and they will issue his with a special ticket which states flight delay etc... And then he just take that and go back to the transfer point - use the elevators near Burger King and then just clear immigration and head back out

Not my experience at all. I did this a few times in the past - seems they escort when they have time and issue a special document and explain how to use it otherwise. Never had to wait.

They can no longer issue the special document 'transit advice.' HKG immigration have changed the procedures.

just tried this last month. going from departure to immigration turned out to be more complicated because i flew united into hkg. the lounge sent me to the service desk near gate 21 but they needed a united personnel to take me to immigration. i waited nearly 2 hours at the desk/lounge but the UA staff never showed up. fortunately, one of the staff was going out to lunch and she finally agreed to take me to the immigration side. it is definitely doable and i think you will be better because you are flying with CX. keep your plans flexible though.

take the lift near the food court on departures across from Disney store to arrivals level. Explain to security staff you want to enter HK, they will let walk out passed screening area into arrival area.. and enter as you would normally.

Done.

The misinformation on this site is staggering some times.

I fail to understand why it seems it is so "easy" to do this.

In my opinion there should be a valid reason for this, like flight delay and the airlines need to send you to hotel.

Other than that why it should be allowed?

Well, the going to Wing part is like everyone said. You have onward BP, go through transit security, head on up, go to Wing.

As for Wing going back out to HK, very doable. Not as easy as he suggests thought. There will be security guarding going backwards, you have to convinced him/her and they will generally be annoyed and need to escort you, and you do have to go through customs, you can't just "walk out"

From "PERSONAL" and "ACTUAL" experience, it is easy:

1) tell the lounge u need to go out
2) They will give u a slip with their stamp on it
3) Goto the Route visa the Disney store lifts back to transit security in arrivals.
4) Hand the paper to the seucrity guard and I NEVER got even a wink or hinderance
5) Then you are back in Arrivals and just go through immigration and customs. Simple as that.

I just did this a few days ago.

I flew in from LAX in F, flight arrived at 6 a.m. I had a connection on KA in J to Phnom Penh at 4 p.m.

Exited the plane, followed signs for transit, went through transit security, went to The Wing. Asked for a cabana, used it to shower, change clothes, etc. Got something to eat.

Around 10 a.m. I told one of the lounge desk ladies that I wanted to go into town. She did act like it was an unusual request/imposition. She asked when my connecting flight was; I think if I only had 3-4 hours she would have argued that I didn't have enough time. She then asked if I was an F or J passenger, maybe they are less accommodating of this request for J passengers.

She told me to have a seat and wait for an airline staff member to escort me to immigration, which she said might take a while. I asked if I could just go down to arrivals myself and she said no I needed an escort. I asked another agent if I could leave my bag in the lounge while I went into town and he said no, then he said they did have a luggage rack where I could leave my bag but it wasn't secure.

About twenty minutes later, an airline staff lady showed up to escort me to arrivals, which didn't consist of anything more than walking me to the elevator and then telling the security officer at arrivals level that I was going into town, then we walked into the immigration hall. I left my carry on bag at the left luggage office and took the train to Central (same day return ticket costs the same as a one way ticket), took the MTR to the Museum of Art, then Star Ferry back to Central, and train back to the airport. Went back to The Wing and showed my boarding passes and asked if I could re-enter and that was no problem.

CX ground staff have a lot of these around. They love pulling long faces as if that will make the customer miraculously disappear. I'd love to tell her to just get on with doing what she's getting paid to do.

I have no experience. But I am not sure how this would be easy...
Unlike US, HK actually does exit "stamp" on passport, not sure how they do the exit stamp "without" immigration/visa (in) stamp on your passport??
If this is so easy, would it be a loophole for those travel to HK (using transit) without visa?? i.e. Taiwan passport holder travels TPE-HKG-JFK. Taiwanese needs special passport or register online prior to enter HK, or else they CAN'T go into HK without visa or entry permit.
Again, NO experience, but highly doubt it's "that easy".

FYI, when my son and I exit HK about 3 years ago, they can identify my son was using a different passport (dual citizenship) when he entered HK, and they demand using the same passport before allowing him to leave.

It actually is that easy....what I think you're missing is the pax needs to go through entrance / exit immigration just like everyone else. There is no special treatment here. You get the entrance "stamp" (I think nowadays it's technically a bar-coded piece of paper). If you are on a passport that doesn't allow visa-free entry to HK like you're referring to Taiwan, then you won't be able to do it. On returning to HKIA after your day in town, exit immigration does the same thing - check your "stamp" (aka, scan your barcode).

This is not a loophole; I think you might just be confused about what's going on. All that's happening here is a pax (who holds a passport / visa that entitles him to enter/exit HK as a tourist or businessman) decides to pop down from the departures area to arrivals area. You technically don't even need an escort like the lounge agent told the poster above; when I've done it I just had a piece of paper the lounge gave me. The only "fancy" part here is just talking to security who guards the elevator between the departures and arrivals area, because this down elevator movement is an abnormal flow of passengers (most are going from arrivals to departures). You exit the arrivals level like everyone else who is arriving - through immigration. Immigration treats you just like you're an arriving passenger. There is no special backroom door or anything.

Then, upon your return to the airport, you'll need to re-clear security and exit HK immigration. Pretty straightforward.

I wish I saw this thread a few days ago. I arrived at HKG at 6 am with a 4 hour layover and decided to wash up a bit at one of the lounges first. Then I was going to go back out to meet with some of my FA friends from the flight for breakfast at the arrivals terminal. I initially looked all over for an exit out to the arrivals, but couldn't find anything so I went to the information desk to ask about going back to the arrivals hall. After giving me a surprised look she asked why I wanted to go back out, and after explaining she told me if I wanted to go back out they would have to cancel my ticket and boarding pass. I gave up after that.

Well, now I know.

Yup I am confused, now I got the picture. Thanks.

HKG: Exiting the airport after going to the lounge
 

I have a long layover in HKG next week ( arrive 7am, leave midnight ).

I'll be coming in on an overnight flight, and my thought would be to go to the cabanas at the Wing to rest for a few hours before going into the city. However, thinking things through tonight, I realized this might not be possible.

To get to the Wing I'll have to go through international transit security, and won't clear HKG immigration. I assume I'm stuck, then? You can't get to HKG immigration (to get into the city) after clearing transit security, can you?

Yes it is possible actually, but some reports of CX staff being a little surly when asked to do it. But I think this is more exception than rule.

You can have a look at this thread for previous discussion, and I'll add these details to the lounge FAQ: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...migration.html

As you don't have a great deal of time in Hong Kong, go into the city and have fun! Never mind the lounge. If you are tried, try out of one the many massages for relaxation. Some people like foot massages too.

By the way are you flying in J or Marco Polo gold or oneworld emerald, and arriving on CX? You will have access to the arrival lounge in that case.

Flying in on CX F.

I might just do the arrivals route; but there's no place to take a nap there. I figure a cabana at 7am will be good for a short nap ( although somewhere on here I read they're limiting those to 1.5 hrs now ).

Sounds like going to the Wing and then exiting is possible, but is going to be a pain in the arse.

I think CX F will be good for a decent nap before landing :)

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0700 till midnight. Either do long lunch n dinner before heading to the airport or get some rest first otherwise ud be good as dead starting at 5pm

Sorry, I've nothing useful to add, just happy with the way you've spelt 'arse'.
Bit of a rarity on FT.:)

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I'd go into town and show up in the evening for some lounge hopping such as the QF lounge that opens in the afternoon.

Last time I did this was around 1 month ago. Long layover, went to Wing (F) first to freshen up and then asked how I can go to town. Somewhat less than enthusiastic reaction from the lounge personnel - even trying to discourage me. Insisted. They told me they have to get an escort. Took around 10 min before somebody arrived who escorted me down on the elevator to the arrivals floor and the backwards thru security. In the past (more than a year ago) i was possible to do this without an escort. They just check of you have your passport and your boarding pass. There is a luggage storage room right at the entrance of the F side of the Wing.

I was recently told (April 2014) that they could only do this if they cancelled my forward ticket. Be aware that you may not be allowed to leave the airport. I would strongly recommend just using the arrivals lounge to freshen up and forgoing the nap. FWIW I was flying on an F award ticket but I don't imagine that should matter much.

This is nonsense. You need to ask someone else.

I had a HX MX two years ago. My flight was rescheduled to depart the day after the scheduled date.

I'm a 3* HKID holder. I still had to be walked out by HX (JAS) staff. Well, I didn't get my reissued BP til I walked back to island K.

I also had an unfortunate incident with KA GA in TPE (BR) where my TPE exit stamp had to be voided. Complicated too.

Sure my cases aren't transit, but this isn't like SIN with its arrivals and depatures on the same level.

Yes, but your ticket wasn't cancelled. That's the only part I was saying is nonsense.