Any recent experiences about going airside and back landside?
Arrived on CX from CGK this morning in HKG, got a flight HKG-TPE (CX) but also HKG-LHR (BA) this evening. Was not able to get the BA boarding pass online but already had the one to TPE. As I didn't want to hang around in transfer areas for about 10 hours (as BA had no staff available until about 3 hours before my flight is departing), I made it to CX's The Pier First lounge (with the HKG-TPE boarding pass) to get some work done (well and get some food as well).
Now my idea was going back landside to do the check-in with BA which seems a bit tricky. Any other suggestions on what to do to get the boarding pass for tonight's flight without causing any trouble? Thanks!

Any recent experiences especially after the closure of arrivals lounge? Will try this tomorrow and report back.

Last week I went back to landside from the Wing F during an F-J long transit - a little bit of a lecture at first, but no questions asked much so. Took around 1 hour from making the request to the arrival hall

19-hour layover at HKG — can I have breakfast in lounge before exiting?
 

I have a reservation that will bring me from SYD to HKG at 5 AM, continuing to Europe just after midnight. I have a day room booked at an airport hotel, with a 9 AM check-in. Assuming that I will be checked in straight through to Europe in SYD, is it possible to start the morning as a transit passenger in the terminal, and have breakfast in the lounge, and then exit through immigration and head for my day room?

Hi,

Reports here say it could be done but it can take a while ( effectively you have to be escorted towards immigration),.

Assuming it is CX from Australia, bags will be checked through to your european destination

Regards

TBS

Sorry Pal, that's not possible to access lounge from the arrival level unless you enter the departure level after clearing security which means you won't be able exit the airport from the departure level once you enter unless you got arrested for something. And sorry to say the arrival lounge has been closed since last year which is kind of sad.

This is a fairly common topic here; it's not necessary to get arrested in order to leave from the departures level, but getting escorted out can take 60 minutes or more.

Thanks and apologies for repeating an old question. Could you explain the process for requesting an escort to arrivals, or direct me to a thread that does?

I'm posting from my phone now, so searching threads is not convenient, but following are my thoughts:
1. if you browse the first 3 pages of both this forum and the HK forum, you should be able to find relevant threads
2. the "process" honestly just entails asking a lounge person to escort you out, and then getting a clearance from immigration
3. since the value of the breakfast is worth less than the time/money wasted on helping you leave, I strongly advise you to give up on this plan

Thanks. For me this is less about desperation for an extra glass of free champagne than a desire to have somewhere comfortable to spend the four hours before the official check-in time for my day room. I think what I'll do is to give the hotel a call after landing to check whether they can be flexible with this.

How about a quick shower at the complimentary shower facility once you land and then going through immigration to get into the city on the airport express? Get some breakfast, walk around for a bit, that's 4 hours well spent. Might not suggest it for other cities but, airport express is just so ridiculously convenient you can get to and from the city in about 48 minutes (24 minutes each way!). Happy travelling! :)

These: Complimentary Shower Facilities, Airport Facilities & Services - Hong Kong International Airport

I understand that you either need to bring your own towel or purchase a simple one from a vending machine there.

as much as i like CX, i cannot stand the attitude of the greeters at the HKG lounges. everyone else in the lounges is great; but the girls all have this homecoming queen vibe that seems to miss the mark in terms of the reality of their position. i got nothing but attitude like i was asking the world when i arrived and expressed my plan to shower then head into the city. the girl finally got past the gravity of my request (hey- i didn't close the arrivals lounge) and told me to come back when i'm ready to go and someone will escort me. so i do that and then i'm told it could be a couple of hours to find staff. ... didn't you tell me that when i arrived? ugh. it's been 90 minutes and, hence, enough time to find this thread. my window to leave is closing and, well, i'm venting. all the while the 2 of them stand there playing with their phones doing a job that requires only 1 person (or an above average chimp who happens to look good in CX colours).

Ha but mate, you're asking for something that is technically not allowed! And I don't think the greeters deserve your vitriol. To be honest, no offense but you said the dumbest thing possible - literally word for word, you told you them you want to do what HKIA recently warned CX about not permitting their passengers to do. A translation of what you said is "I entered airside without the intention to fly." HKIA is aware passengers for the most part are returning to the airport, but they still consider this first entry to airside "no intention to fly".

If CX really wanted to play the correct way, they are supposed to call security if they know for certain you've entered without intent to fly...which you basically said to them. But of course they're in a pickle, because you're paying customer, and in practice this rarely happens and would get them a lot of negative publicity. But just a heads up you said the thing that probably earned you the longest possible delay.

The airport authority has been aware for years the practice of passengers entering airside without the intent to fly, and then exiting immigration. Of course, the problem is there are legitimate reasons people would intend to fly, but then have to leave: emergencies, etc. So HKIA cannot fully curtail the process, or at least they haven't found a way yet. What sucks is their practice is now to essentially delay everybody. Some reports on here say as long as 60-90 minutes, although other folks report faster.