So arriving at BOM, the first sign of madness is the mingling around the entrance gates. You need to provide evidence of your flight booking and a check of your passport to enter the airport. Or alternatively you can pay 70R upees and get a visitors entrance ticket. Considering many airlines offer on-line check in, its not surprising to see people now having to pull out laptops and devices as their evidence of the bookings. The inherent problem here is that the person doing the checking, is some local police officer - not someone trained in dealing with international visitors etc.
Watching foreginers try to explain their problem to someone who can't understand (let alone that they don't give a rats really), I always find amusing, but then I feel sorry for all parties involved. Anyhow, I had printed off my itinerary, had my passport open and breezed through. They have x-ray machines at each entrance, I think the theory is that every bag gets scanned upon entry. I saw some other travellers loading their bags onto these machines - and others not doing so. Considering there was noone official looking asking for the scanning, I joined the "screw you local Indian police officer" brigade. That'll teach you India...
Check in was completed quickly, no issues. Anyone travelling out of India must remember this "EVERY CARRY ON BAG MUST HAVE A TAG PLACED ON IT". Thats right, its part of the security process. Essentially, every security officed in the airport will want to check your boarding pass, passport and tags on carry on bags. Even if they've seen you being check by another fellow two metres away. See that way they can say they are doing their job well.
Another rule that travellers to India must bear in mind is "QUEUES and SIGNANGE DON'T HAVE ANY SIGNIFICANCE". See the diplomats line at Immigration - thats available for anyone to use. See the First/Business class lines - they're for anyone to use. See the Air Crew lines - thats also for anyone to use. Essentially, when leaving India, consider any signage as a recommendation only. Even the security and immigration officials themselves don't want to pay attention to them. So be prepared for people jumping queues, being in the wrong queue, essentially not knowing what queues are used for.
After wading through all that, I was surprised, only 30mins from check in time to time past security. Well done BOM! Rapidly moving India into the 1980's.
As a CX J passenger I was hoping to use the Oberoi Clipper Lounge, but given the demise of Kingfisher, the BA Galleries was the only option. Its a pleasant enough lounge, certinaly not in the QF/CX F lounge capacity. Perhaps the Air India F lounge at BOM is impressive, but I'm not game enough to even try F on Air India.
Here are some shots from the Lounge:
Flight boards at 12:50am local time, which is about 5:20am Sydney time. My plan is to try to get at least 3 or 4 hours sleep on the 6hr flight time. I have about 12hr layover in HKG, then the overnight CX flight to SYD to try to sleep on some more. Effectively my trip has been 5 days with 2.5nights in a bed (no a J seat doesn't count as a bed)
