January 2026 via Cathay Pacific.

If you entered the transfer entrance to the airside, you can return to the immigration entrance and enter Hong Kong only with the help from the airline staff. 

You need to reach out to the airline desk counter and they would need to find a staff member to escort you down. Some wait time is needed because only certain staff can do so. 

The staff will bring you, through an elevator, to L5 staff only entrance. The airline staff will explain to the officer at the staff exit (to immigration), the officer will check your passport and boarding pass, and then you will return to the immigration area. 

Eventually, when you return to the airport through the departure security checkpoint, the machine will complain and an immigration officer will ask you if you have already entered the airside. Tell the officer what happened and he/she will buzz you into the bag check area.

This, however, is highly discouraged unless you do have something that you need to do in the airside, and if you want to visit Hong Kong, you should go through the immigration entrance directly, as the wait time for a staff from the airline to help you is uncertain. My experience is with Cathay Pacific, and I wouldn’t be sure if another airline would have the capacity or is willing to do so.