Quick ride from the Hilton in their shuttle bus, and I was at Malabo ready to check in. The only problem was, the check-in area was total chaos. Dozens of Chinese everywhere, each with several bags, busy saran wrapping them, tying them up with twine, you name it. The room was chaos. Since I couldn’t see a line, I just pushed my way to the front of the mass of humanity, and eventually found a check-in desk. Yes, it was for Ethiopian, and yes, I could check in. No checked bags, so should be a piece of cake. I had tried online checkin, but it said it didn’t work, however, the seat I’d selected took. Bulkhead aisle…not bad for a 30 minute flight.
Couldn’t figure out where to go next….tried one door, there was a woman at what looked like a passport check…nope, this is domestic flights…she waved her hands and pointed in another direction. After wandering around looking lost for several more minutes, I finally found the right passageway, leading to international passport control and security. Piece of cake, and soon I was in a large waiting room. Time to have a seat.
There was a hallway marked “VIP lounge” but there was a security guy guarding it. He wouldn’t let me past. So, when he disappeared a few minutes later I just went down the hall, and followed some stairs upstairs….and did a little plane spotting:
Found the door to the VIP lounge, and it was unlocked…so I went in. Nobody was in there. Hmmm…there was a flight board though!