I initially called Cathay at their North American 800 number and booked the first two segments (CMB-HKG-LAX) and probably laid out the rest of the trip and got a PNR, but the Colombo staff was so easy to communicate with and so helpful it would have been just as easy to deal with them via email.

We arrived at CMB on the Cathay inbound from BKK. It arrives around midnight; I don't remember what day of the week it was, but it wouldn't matter. We were indeed paged - actually recognized and approached - and signed a c/c slip in exchange for the tickets. (c/c was faxed and verified ahead of time). The process took five minutes. If you arrive on a different carrier Cathay may not have airport staffing and you'll probably need to make your way to the CTO during normal business hours.

At any rate, it was a piece of cake. Cathay staff speaks excellent English the world around - take *that*, Singapore - and they were their usual very knowledgeable selves regarding the OWE rules.

I'll pm you the email address.