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CMB SriLankan Serendib Lounge

CMB SriLankan Serendib Lounge
August 2014

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.  

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The best I could do of my lovely "escort" that took me downstairs and back to process my upgrade.

December 2013

The newly renovated and attractive Serendib Lounge.

And other contract Lounges.

At around T-50, we headed to Gate 12 to wait for our SriLankan flight to Kuala Lumpur