Speaking only for myself, I have no interest in trying to connect through an Indian airport. They're just too crowded and chaotic for me. When I'm looking for a connection in the western half of Asia to increase mileage, I use CMB. It's a small and manageable airport, and there's no transit security. (Each gate has its own security, so you're going through the same security whether you're in transit or CMB was a full stopover.) You get off your inbound flight and just go to your outbound gate. All gates other than bus gates are on one hallway. Yes, it can get crowded, but the airport is so small that it doesn't feel so bad, at least to me. UL is a perfectly respectable airline, at least in business (I've never flown it in Y). I somewhat regularly do long hauls between NRT/ICN and CMB. Not surprisingly, there are several shops selling various types of tea, so you have a good selection if that's your thing. The only downside is that the airline lounges are, to put it nicely, somewhat wanting. I won't use the showers there. The nicest lounge is the UL Serendib lounge, which I would rate as a C/C-, and it goes downhill from there. I believe that there is (or used to be) an EK lounge upstairs, but I've never used it, never flown EK in or out of CMB.