CX Lounge Question - Airside Vs. Landside
 

Flying CX business class from LAX arriving HKG 7.40 AM. My sister and elderly mother fly in on non-CX flight into same terminal at 9.55 AM. I would like to spend a couple hours at a lounge and meet them at the gate. Is that possible? I also have access to the Priority Pass lounges if that makes a difference.

I figure that i could use the landside CX arrival lounge and have them meet me there or i could forgo lounge access and meet them at the gate. I am hoping the experts on here can come up with a better option as it would be nice to get a shower after a 15 hour flight and meet the family at the gate. Any help is appreciated!!

You can't get airside without same day BP departing HKG,so the only option is the CX arrivals lounge landside. Shower,have breakfast and then go and meet them when they clear customs.

You also can't go to the CX lounge first and then go back to the gate.

If you want to meet them at gate, then you will need to wait in the arrival area, without clear customs. If you've got checked in luggage, then it will be another problem.

Wait at the arrival lounge might be the only option for you in this case, unless if your flight is delayed for 2 hours.

just to clarify what Rami Tamimi is saying....

what you - the OP is asking for is virtually impossible, although there are a few caveats.

You:
a.) cannot get to the airside level (where the departure lounges are) without a BP. So that idea of yours simply won't work.
b.) you cannot hang around in the airside arrivals area, nor can you walk freely to most other arrival gates. access flows are restricted and arriving pax are shooed away from arrival gates, fyi. this is particularly acute for the 40+ gates.
c.) even if you have an onwards BP, you still cannot freely access most arrival gates. this movement is also restricted. You need two things here, 1.) get airside, and 2.) get to the airside arrivals gates. "1" is possible, but for the reasons described in "b" above and elaborated below, "2" is very difficult and often simply impossible. To have the best chance with "c", the best you can do is be in a departure lounge (see point "a" above, you'd need a departing BP), say you need to go landside, at which point an escort will walk you down to the departures level. There could be a substantial delay as this is not a normal request. Usually they escort you all the way to immigration but not always. If they escort you all the way to immigration you're already kinda screwed. But if they deposit you in the mid-concourse area, you would possibly have access to arrival gates 20-39. Even then, I really don't recommend this.
d.) fwiw, it is simply impossible to reach all satellite concourse arrival gates, gates 1-4, gates 16-19, and usually gates 40+. There is a security barrier on the arrival level before gates 1-4 and 16-19, and security agents shoe wayward passengers away at 40+.
e.) You would need to know your mom's arrival gate for some of the scenarios above, which is almost impossible to know.

There is an exception here, but I strongly recommend against it and it probably won't work regardless. That is, if you can somehow figure out your mother's arrival gate when you land - nearly impossible IMO - then you could hang out around arrival gates 20-39. These gates presumably have flights coming so often that you *might* not be shooed away by security (then again, you could be kicked out by security), and if you hit the jackpot and your mom's flight lands at one of these gates (which you will need your mom to tell you in advance when she lands, because HKIA doesn't make the arriving flight gate public. Or you'll need to listen to ATC, or have a friend at the airline, or be looking at FlightRadar live to see the most likely parking bay, all rather extreme actions IMO).

I think the best solution if you very badly want to meet airside at arrivals is you wait 2+ hours by the duty free area, prior to immigration near the main transit area. Or sit around in the transit area on the seats provided. This won't be comfortable, that's for sure, but I highly doubt you'll get shooed away here because you'll blend in. You could kill a few hours this way.

Long story short, you can't really do what you want to do.

Even then, this is most likely impossible. Gates 40+ are inaccessible due to security staff kicking people out...you cannot just wait around at the arrival gate area for 2 years. You will get booted out a few minutes after the flight finishes deplaning, let alone 2 hours. Gates 1-4 and 16-19 are physically roped off with barriers (you can only flow one direction, and security staff are stationed there), and all satellite concourses are not possible either.

The only hope is between gates 20-39, due to the volume of flights and proximity to the transit areas mean the passenger can possibly blend in with arriving pax. But I've seen security staff kicking people out of there as well.

I really don't recommend it, although technically it is possible if you dart around security staff.

A few years ago I was flying MH into HKG,I was held by immigration for about 2 hours (1:30 wait+30 minutes questioning)because they thought my passport was suspicious. I had 1PCS of checked baggage. Obviously when I cleared immigration there was no baggage at the belt,so I went to the customer service desk,explained what happened to them,they asked me for my bag tag and quickly brought my bag out.The agent was not surprised at all and told me this happens all the time.

To add to QRC3288's post,there is a smoking area at the intersection just below The Bridge lounge. So after my 14hours flights from AMM I often go there,light up a cig while connecting to the wifi and updating myself to the real world (emails and simmilar),sometimes I unintentially chill there for over 40 minutes,no one cares much.

There is also a waiting area just before immigration (next to transit desks) and I assume it's legitimate to wait there,as there are people who don't want/can't land themselves in HKG ,waiting for their airline's transit desks to open before being able to clear immigration.

In regards to your comment about the gate info publishing,again you are absolutely correct. A few months ago I was waiting for a FTer with whom we arranged to meet at The Pier. He was transitting in HKG and I was tracking his flight on FR24 and HKIA app. I asked the lounge agent what gate is his flight arriving (to estimate how long would it take him to arrive) and they had to call someone to check. Outside of the lounges I am not sure anyone would entertain such a request.

Just to make it clear I am not trying to say that staying in the arrivals area (before clearing customs) is not a good idea,quite the opposite.

You could tell them to meet you at the immigration area after their arrival. In the interim, you could go to the toilet and then do some duty-free shopping and have a meal at the Noodle place which is prior to immigration.

http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/s...astf/supr.html

Provided you can waste 2 hours by eating and shopping then you'll be fine. I'd be doing silly time wasting things like last one off the plane, maybe some photos with the pilot and that sort of thing before you slowly make your way to the toilet. Then you could go and get something to eat followed by some shopping...

When your family arrive get them to meet you near immigration and then you can meet up and maybe have some more food together.

EDIT
Review of the place in the arrivals hall.
http://roseschan.blogspot.com.au/201...ongee-set.html

Turns out their is also a coffee shop so you can try out both places.

I think there is a pacific coffee there too but it's after the temperature check and that's a one way channel I believe.

What's really the difference to meet before or after clearing immigration?

There is a unofficial android app which sometimes (but not always) show the arrival gate gate.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...light&hl=zh_HK


Also, since it is a non-CX flight, depending on the turnaround time, there is a reasonable chance that the departure gate of the aircraft of the same airline at around 11am is the arrival gate of the OP's sister's flight. Worse case is OP checking the FR24 to see which gate the air craft eventually goes to.

I doubt if there is security checking if people are staying too long or barring people from walking to a gate - i thought they are department of health people. (Of course if the arrival gate is in the mid-field or the satellite, OP probably have no access.

YMMV, but I would rather spend two hours at the arrival lounge and meet my family at the arrival hall rather than hang around in the restricted area for 2 hours and search for the arrival gate of my sister. (Although i have done something similar, but without that 2 hours wait)

This relates to my mom not travelling very much. She will have a much higher level of comfort if I go with her through customs and immigration.

Thank you and everyone for sharing your knowledge of HKIA! As always, your responses are very valuable to me. Meeting in the immigration hall is a good Plan B but I think the most straightforward option is for me to go to CX Arrival Lounge and meet them landside.

In the interim I am going to print off directions to the lounge for them (there is a nice one on FT with photographs) and also let them know what to expect at immigration and customs.

Again, thanks much!!

HK Immigration and customs is one of the most painless I have ever encountered,they almost never ask any questions,so hopefully your mum will be alright.

Besides meeting at the arrival lounge, you can also greet them at the waiting area outside customs. There are two exits A & B. Tell them to exit from the one (A or B) closest to the carousel for their luggage (I think usually B for CX). There are posts outside the custom exit, and you can wait there.

There should not be a problem getting through immigration and custom, especially with your sister traveling with her.

I don't think going backwards in arrival level is a problem, I've done this many times, during transit for the shortest route to the Pier F (with no traffic). And I think if you're going to a certain gate with the proper reason, no one would actually stop u. Wait in the arrival lounge will be best for op yourself, and wait in the arrival area and go to the actual gate to pick up your mum will be a very nice touch and it is doable.

Best option would probably be to kill time and shower at the CX arrivals lounge and meet your family post immigration. You could kill time prior to immigration and try to make your to their arrival gate but you'll likely be stopped by airport staff.