https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/press/pr...20230602a.html
The defendant's biggest mistake was she intentionally mislead immigration officers. But still she was charged 2 counts of offense.
The second offense was "remaining in the restricted area of Hong Kong International Airport (Airport) without reasonable excuse", as "defendant never planned to leave Hong Kong for Thailand".
I'm not legal expert but one could argue that the poster above never intend to leave Hong Kong on the day he brushed his teeth in the Wing. He planned to leave restricted area after brushing his teeth and only intended to board his flight some time later (after he re-entered restricted area). Thus, the reason he was in restricted area at that moment is "to brush his teeth" which clearly is not a "reasonable excuse". But of course immi is not likely to arrest some foreigners who claim themselves not familiar with HK law.

That being said, one of my friends once gave up his ticket and try to leave airport restricted area due to personal reason. Although access was granted and he was not arrested, the officer lectured him a bit and he waited for like 15 minutes for the officer to complete necessary procedures (understandably the officers would hate those ppl as they increase their workload).

Exit airport after using the lounge, during a long layover
 

I am planning to book a J ticket with a 15-hour layover. The flight conveniently arrives in the morning and the next flight is late night. I see the arrival's lounge is permanently closed. Is it possible to use one of the J lounges, exit the airport and come back later in the night?

I saw there are couple of threads on this topic but they are 6 years old and are closed now.

Short answer: no.
I believed we have talked more than enough about this.
Entering the departure area with no intention to fly is a criminal offense in Hong Kong.

That said, and only because I did the below last week. Were on CX844 (0320 departure) after a long transit, where we had ‘entered’ HK.

Got back to HKG early for a bite & to get the kiddos a longish nap after a tiring day- to start working their body clocks back to EST. Got a late night notification for a significant delay for 844, which put paid to all plans.

While it was a hassle and took a fair bit of time, we got ourselves rebooked at the lounge & did leave the airport to catch a bit of proper shuteye at Regal airport hotel.

(part of the delay on account of my insisting that CX somehow figure out seating so that I could be on the same aisle as the kids- flights were jam packed, and the other part was because of a delay at immigration that was vaguely explained to me to be due to my past status as an HKID holder and having entered HK via the eChannel earlier in the day- apparently no such issue for kiddos who haven’t ever had any HKIDs)

I do wonder if CX will ever reopen an arrival lounge? But my impression is that there are less arrival lounges in the world.

IME, HK isn't as much of a "go straight to work" city as many places in Europe or Japan/Korea.

Long layover vs no intention of flying is a long stretch.

Not sure about other places like china but having a shower in Japan off a flight is normal and is provided for free in Japan by the Japanese airlines when flying in from premium cabins.

FRA, LHR, ZRH and CDG also have arrivals lounge so not as "go straight to work" as you make them sound like.

So contrary to above, it is (still) possible to enter Hong Kong after clearing to departures...?

Yes (presuming you meet any necessary entry requirements) but it is a faff and - as endlessly discussed in prior threads - is only meant for exceptional circumstances (e.g. once in departures your outbound flight is cancelled and you rebook for another day).

You’ve just proved the point of the poster you were trying to refute.

The point is that you arrive, have a shower then go into the office.

I don’t think “Go straight to work” was meant as literally get off the plane, go through immigration and walk into a taxi/train and turn up at the office.

By "straight to work", I actually was referring to showering at the airport so you don't need to stop by home.

That poster said HK hasn't got the same culture, and those places have arrivals lounge and showers. People are looking for showers. So, people DO want a shower, unlike what the poster said - it's just that CX removed them.

Either I am correct, or that poster had the wrong impression.

People do that, otherwise at the CX arrivals lounge it wouldn't have shower queues back when they had one.

It was under consideration t'other year but my understanding is that it's been ruled out. That doesn't mean an arrivals lounge might never return, but right now (which spans the next several years) it's not on the roadmap.