Sri Lankan Serendib Lounge at CMB

OK, I've been to a lot of airports around the world. But CMB entrance and check-in has to rank right up there on the most disorganized airport lists.

No less than two security checks before you even get to check-in. After you show your ticket or boarding pass (or buy an airport entrance ticket... I kid you not) you enter a pleasant concourse...

That leads to a chaotic pre-check-in area. And a queue and security check to enter the check-in area.

Since I already had my CMB-MLE boarding pass from earlier in the day, I bypassed the counters and went thru a third security check to get to passport control. And finally to the Serendib Lounge.

Open less than a year ago, it is a pleasant lounge with good food and drink options. But lounge dragons have pretty limited authority to do much of anything, other than check member credentials. A last minute equipment swap meant two class service instead of the original single class. Buy ups were available and I decided to pop for the US$150 upgrade fee. The only problem was the only place I could pay for the upgrade was.... back downstairs at cashier desk at check-in. Oy. After telling the agent to forget it, she insisted that another (very attractive) agent escort me back downstairs (by passport control with a wave) to buy my upgrade. Seriously? So I played along more out of morbid curiosity over how ridiculously inefficient a One World airline could possibly be in 2014. Twenty minutes later and $146 (after exchange) lighter, I was back in the lounge awaiting my MLE flight. Most of these pics are from the next morning (long story) when there were no pax in the lounge.