Had a few minor issues with my pickup in CMB.

Flew in from SIN in the morning, day in CMB then out on the 12pm/1am flight to HKG.

Was met at the gate in CMB by a person with a sign and my name saying I need to pickup the tickets when I checked in later that evening.
Came back around 9pm and spoke to security. After looking at me blankly for a while, they eventually managed to call the CX office inside the building and I was escorted through security into the innards of the airport to collect my ticket, all 19 printed segments, then taken back outside.
Picked up my luggage from left lugagge and checked in.
Unfortunately check-in at CMB only opens about 3h before so had to sit on my ... waiting in the check-in area which is a dump at best with limited food and very average chairs.

Finally got through check-in 3 hrs before flight.

The new terminal and affiliate OW lounge at CMB is great - some of the best hot food ive seen at a lounge. Unfortunately no showers in the lounge - need to go to the pay showers (which only accept USD btw)

SanDiego1K was charged the 3% cc fee because her ticket was a specially discounted ticket on CX and it was not a full fare published ticket as it is the case of Oneworld tickets. So the latter would not charge teh surcharge.

I have personally dealt with the AA GSA in CMB. Nice people but that office is HUGE and they have many GSAs in the same office! A bit confusing. but they have received my messages I sent via my CRS and emails. My last contact with them was in 2003. Though I did send them a Christmas card some time ago.

Rather than just do 'turnarounds' and complain that the airport is a dump.. think about what the country has gone through in the past few years. Spend a couple of hundred of dollars and stay overnight and contribute to the economy for a change. Appreciate the fact that Sri Lanka has come out emotionally intact and that the countrymen soldiers on in the face of turmoil and now, close to civil war.

See how the country's religion is infused in the everyday life, and people live on. Appreciate that life goes on ... and even though we like to fly for the miles and can afford it. Make the effort and help a country less fortunate than the ones we come from.

Well said..

Firstly the new part of the airport is definitely not a dump and the food in the lounge (Lotus Lounge?) was very good.

More than happy to spend some time in the city - and I must say that parts of Colombo are quite beautiful. The Galle Face Green, the Galle Fort Hotel, the Wolvendhal Church, Jami Ul Alfar are well worth a visit - albeit not taking more than a few hours. I recommend a tuk-tuk tour around the city...

However the number of times I was approached to donate to a school for the blind by a teacher who had recently received donations of Braille machines from my country and had a sheet full of recent donations (x4) or to follow a person to a special festival, once a year only starting in a few hours, with elephants, just around the corner (x3) over the space of only 12 hrs left a bad taste in my mouth.

For a real experience even caught the local buses (ridicuously cheap even after I paid 3x the normal price) back to the Airport (although it doesn't actually go to the Airport, just drops you outside).

I stayed a few days last time - having read that it was the "emerging Bali" in terms of tourism - and found it very disappointing. Other than "the people are poor and need your money" I can't think of any reason to be there. Now that the insurgency is heating up, I can think of one more reason not to. Send a check to a Sri Lankan charity.

Wow. There is so much to see/do. Did you go to the historic cities? The cultural center at Kandy? World's End? The tea country? Beaches? Galle? The wildlife reserve?

I find it much more interesting than Bali, which has become far too commercialized (and the touts are unbelievable).

It's much a matter of "compared to what?". There is much to see/do everywhere on the planet. I enjoyed the place on my first visit, when it was called Ceylon and was very rural and very tropical and I was a kid on my first rtw.

Hmmm. When it was called Ceylon... that was when? 1969?

JohnAx supplied the Email adress via a PM to my query in this forum. (Thnx John) Here is the first reply I received from Columbo:My total fare was ~USD6000, I wired the funds to save the 3%. If they have discontinued the 3% levy, that's very good.

Their service has been excellent; they have even booked me an ex CMB flight on CX at ~30% less than I could attain anywhere else.

Dulani has been handling my issues more recently.

That really is an interesting interchange, Serfty. I would have been buying a ticket from them at exactly the same time - it was issued 7 Aug - and no surcharge was mentioned or applied. The only thing I can think of is that even though it was ticketed after 1 July I'd been in contact with them for quite a time before that, and probably they'd already given me a price without surcharge they felt obliged to honor. Here's my interchange:

In May of this year I asked "Also, some travelers have commented that Cathay has instituted a credit card surcharge - is that true?" and Dhanya replied "The surcharge that most of travelers have mentioned is not a credit card surcharge but the courier charge of the ticket which is sent from the town office to the airport after issuance since there is no facility at airport for issuance of Oneworld tickets. We charge a nominal amount of LKR2100 regardless of it's 1 or more tickets."

I note that she didn't say "we never have charged 3%" nor did she exactly say she wouldn't charge me 3% this time, but I think it would be difficult to read that email exchange without inferring that there would be no such charge.

FWIW the price quoted now was exactly what's in the star file plus a list of taxes (looks okay) and an appropriate amount for fuel surcharges (about USD250 for CMB-HKG-LAX-LHR-HKG-CMB). Presumably they could tag 3% onto the slip they give me to sign, though, although they seemed willing to announce it ahead of time to you.

I haven't paid them for the unfortunate reason that their current whimper is that they're not allowed to ticket unless I assure them I'll be on hand to sign the c/c slip personally within 10 days. That leaves me at risk for the next price increase.

I was quoted the LKR2100 fee to have a ticket sent to the airport next month, but as I'm staying in town, (I did the turnaround once; not in a rush to do it again) I'm picking it up at their offices:No mention of the 3% so this has been discontinued (if it ever took off).

I went to the AA GSA in CMB today. They are now in a small office with 3 reservation people and 1 in accounting. There was another AA office several doors down; I'm unsure of their role. The person with whom Guy Betsy dealt left AA a month ago.

The person to whom I spoke said that they issue roughly 1 RTW per year. Dublin does the pricing. He does not know what kind of fuel surcharge is added. I have an email address for the office should anyone care to contact them for a quote.

SanDiego1K, you have a Private Message.

Thanks.

What a pity... she was sooo nice !

I'm seriously thinking about doing a DONEx from CMB this Christmas. I also plan to stay in a resort around there for a few days too. Any suggestions?

Anyway, my main question is - I'm thinking of getting a one-way ticket to Sri Lanka. Presumably I'd have arranged a ticket for pick up when I arrive, and therefore have documentation to support this, will I still encounter any problems with the airline (on my way to CMB) and/or immigration at CMB?