SriLankan Airlines Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

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SRILANKAN AIRLINES review : 7 September 2008 : by C Roberts

Customer Rating : 2/5

BKK-CMB-TRV: Paid just under five hundred dollars for a 'last minute' Business Class ticket vs six hundred and fifty dollars for a Thai/Jet Airways through fare. A330 (BKK-CMB) was a bit worn, but seats quite comfy for the three hour flight. Service decent, with hot towel, pre-flight drinks, and a nice three-course meal. Overnight transit at Colombo was awful. Airline failed to provide "free hotel" as promised, forcing me to find my own room; this cost an additional one hundred and fifty dollars. Airline refused, and continues to refuse, any responsibilty for their error. The A320 (CMB-TRV) was well worn, and I was well looked after as I was the only passenger in Business Class. Full hot meal provided for this short flight. Airline is decent if all goes well, but loses major points when there is any sort of problem. Good price-point, but not an airline for (very) frequent flyers to rely on.

SRILANKAN AIRLINES review : 28 August 2008 : by James Sturt

Customer Rating : 4/5

LHR-CMB-COK. AThe aircraft on both legs was an old A340 but we did have personal TV screens with an OK choice of movies. The crew were excellent and friendly. Hot towels, menu with choice of 3 main courses, wine from a proper bottle served in a glass, and plenty of top ups. No extra charge for alcohol. Ice cream mid flight. Paid less than 400GBP return so very cheap (considering I only booked 10 days before). Only complaint, LHR-CMB was delayed about 45 mins and not much info from crew as explanation. COK-CMB had a tech problem and went back on stand after push back. It was 30mins after push back before we heard from the cockpit to tell us what was going on. all other flights early or on time.

SRILANKAN AIRLINES review : 16 August 2008 : by K Mia

Customer Rating : 2/5

LHR-CMB-CCJ Economy. I got the worst seat possible on the way there. The middle seat middle row with 2 huge box things restricting my leg room. The food was alright. On the way back my flight was canceled from CCJ to CMB and I had to wait until the next day. The flight from CMB to LHR was delayed by 3 hours. The seats looked very tired on the way back and IFE absolutely useless. You could barely see anything on the screen. I flew Sr Lankan in 2001 and it was a fabulous experience. Things have gone down markedly after that. I would rate this as a 2 or 3 star airline at a stretch.

SRILANKAN AIRLINES review : 7 August 2008 : by C Berry

Customer Rating : 1/5

Heathrow to Male supposed to be 7th July but didn't fly out until 8th July for our Honeymoon. Should have boarded at 9.35 and finally got on plane at 10.20. Sat on plane awaiting take off but due to technical problems on plane, it was finally announced that we would not be flying out that evening and we would all be accommodated in a hotel - at Gatwick airport! Disembarked from aircraft at 1.45 after sitting on plane for nearly three and a half hours. Granted, we were fed a rather disgusting meal and offered one small glass of water over this duration, but we were questioning why we were not let off the plane as soon as the plane had exceeded the legal flying times for H'row which is clearly way before quarter to two in the morning. After disembarking the plane our coach co- ordination to take us to Gatwick was dealt with by KLM ground staff, SriLankan representatives were nowhere to be seen - a complete sham. To cut a long story short, we departed at 5.20pm the following day. Aircraft had clearly seen better days as several seats were broken and plane was filthy. It was hardly surprising that staff were grumpy and rude. Clearly standards have slipped with SriLankan airlines and we lost a day of our holiday due to this sequence of events. I will not recommend SriLankan airlines to anyone - they have a lot of work to do in order to improve Customer Service, cleanliness and maintenance standards.

SRILANKAN AIRLINES review : 25 July 2008 : by S Sivarajah

Customer Rating : 4/5

LHR-CMB-LHR. Flight to Colombo was delayed by an hour and no explanation provided to the passangers. Two-third of the flight was empty, so lots of seats to rest/sleep. Food was better than Air Canada during my YYZ-LHR leg. The service was ok - not exceptional. Colombo to LHR wasn't that great - check in staff not that friendly and couldn't get a seat assigned next to my wife. But we sorted that thru when we boarded inside the flight. Departed on time and the food was better than our LHR- CMB leg. Overall, it wasn't a bad experience and the ticket I got was approx $500.

SRILANKAN AIRLINES review : 15 July 2008 : by Michael Scott

Customer Rating : 4/5

London-Tokyo return via Colombo. A long routing, involving an overnight stop in Colombo in each direction, but exceptionally low fare made it worthwhile. Punctual flights, very good legroom, excellent inflight service and efficient cabin crew. Personal seat-back videos, although the entertainment was somewhat uninspired and not on-demand. SriLankan Airlines paid for hotel accommodation and meals for the overnight stop in both directions. The airline is let down only by its slow and generally chaotic check-in and boarding procedures, particularly at Colombo. I'd have no hesitation in flying with SriLankan again.

SRILANKAN AIRLINES review : 28 June 2008 : by M Kloetzel

Customer Rating : 3/5

FRA-Colombo-Kuala Lumpur return. Always delayed, plane in a bad shape and too old. Seats uncomfortable and old. Crew is friendly, meals pretty good. poor cleanliness! But good value for money, because we paid only EUR 437!

SRILANKAN AIRLINES review : 21 June 2008 : by Russell Barr

Customer Rating : 5/5

Heathrow-Colombo-Bangkok return in economy, our first flights with Srilankan. LHR-CMB half empty, four seats to myself, FAs excellent, food superb, IFE OK. CMB-BKK flight full but still OK. BKK-/CMB flight full, but again CMB-LHR flight half empty and four seats again! Bargain price £355 about half what Emirates charge, but it's swings and roundabouts, I would much rather have a long layover in Dubai than Colombo.

SRILANKAN AIRLINES review : 20 June 2008 : by P Karunaratne

Customer Rating : 4/5

CMB-AUH Economy. The last time I took this flight it was a nightmare. The e-ticketing and online check in through their website was fairly easy. Though at the airport there was no luggage drop off counter so had to be in the normal line which moved at a snails pace. A330-200 was in much better shape than their A320s. FAs were friendly in a chatty mood (not really a hallmark of Sri Lankan). The onboard meal again was below par. Overall, Cheap tickets, very friendly crew, average IFE, and if in a bulkhead seat, it is a pretty good flight.

SriLankan Airlines - by Kurt Müller

10 June 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

BKK to CMB in Y class. I chose this flight for its convenient schedule, as after pulling out of the Skywards program, UL holds little attraction for me. Another issue is that UL has dramatically cut its number of flights, particularly to Europe. This flight, which was almost full, was punctual in departing BKK and slightly early arriving at Colombo. Nice service, still with proper hot terry towels, and a tasty and well presented meal. Drinks plentiful. IFE quite good with some new releases. However, can someone explain why their IFE program repeatedly inserts advertising for the Skywards frequent flyer scheme when you can actually no longer earn miles on UL? Overall impression let down by crew not being able to distribute immigration cards, something that is not infrequent on UL. It simply means they can´t be bothered to stock up on these leaflets at their own home base. Ours was the only flight being handled at Colombo airport, yet the luggage took 30 minutes to arrive on the belt.

SriLankan Airlines - by L Rowlett

5 May 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-MLE and MLE-CMB-LHR in Economy Class. Cabin staff were on the whole fairly friendly but more business-like than anything else, A340-300 offered better leg room than Virgin equivalent, but internal appearance was a little tired and unloved. Food was good in my opinion, with regular snacks and drinks offered, particularly on CMB-LHR leg. Information at gates in London and Columbo pretty poor, with delays both times and no explanation offered. Sound quality of in-seat entertainment pretty bad, with crackling throughout on movie channels. Range of movies and TV ok, but would benefit from on-demand. If you're looking for the little extra touches that makes flying SIA economy so pleasant, then you'll be disappointed. A 3-4 star airline I'd say, but certainly not an unpleasant experience.

SriLankan Airlines - by V Mielke

15 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Return flight FRA-CMB-BKK. Checkin in FRA and BKK was fast and friendly, in CMB slow and unfriendly. Airplane rather dirty, food was really bad. Beer was warm. On the other hand Sri Lankan was about EUR 400 cheaper than other airlines for the flight from FRA to BKK on the same date, that is EUR 1600 for our family.

SriLankan Airlines - by D Shepherd

15 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-CMB Economy. Attentive staff, food as good as other airlines. Flight was on time. Leg room was good at 32". CMB-Male 2 hour flight, snack, nothing to get excited about, but edible. MLE-CMB 70 Min flight, the crew attention system was faulty and kept ringing. They crew were aware before boarding and did nothing. Seat back cover was held up by tray table and fell down when it was used. Minor cosmetic but annoying. CMB-LHR was late leaving. Gate lounge (12) too small to seat everyone waiting to board. Crew initially very good and attentive - after meal service they disappeared, had to call 3 times to get a drink. Otherwise food was adequate and edible, good choices. Again middle of the road quality. A340 were clean and tidy and in a good state of repair.

SriLankan Airlines - by R Senaka

6 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

MLE-CMB-KUL economy class in March. As both sectors were empty in economy class (their cramped business class was full), seating was not a problem. I could use the centre 4 seats abreast for a good 2.5 hour sleep on CMB-KUL. On both sectors, aircraft are very tired and rather dirty. Crew never smiled and was rude when I asked for a landing card to KUL. As I skipped the meals, no comment on catering.

SriLankan Airlines - by Nick Matthews

10 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

CMB to LHR business Class. Charging top price without flat beds - not good value for money. Entertainment system in my seat was broken. Food very poor.

SriLankan Airlines - by David Fruin

10 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR/CMB return. Cabin crew were attentive and friendly. Food well presented but nothing special. The aircraft were grubby and in need of a wipe over. We would fly them again.

SriLankan Airlines - by S Jones

7 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Arriving at Colombo Airport, greeted with complete lack of information as to which desk to check in at for flight to Male. Chaos ensued with people becoming irate and staff taking no notice of pleas to sort the situation out. All other airlines displayed flight details, Sri Lankan Airlines did not. The flight itself was fairly good. On returning through Colombo we boarded flight to Heathrow. At first the flight was good, however at lunchtime when drinks were served we became aware that the couple behind us in seats 64A+C were being encouraged to drink rather a lot. The couple became progressively more drunk, making it uncomfortable to be seated in front of them. Complaints to a stewardess went unheeded . The cabin crew were noticeable by their absence. My husband asked a steward if we could be moved, the Purser was called, he was apologetic and offered us a glass of champagne which we declined.

SriLankan Airlines - by G Cairns

5 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

MLE-CMB-LHR Economy Class. Found service, food and cleanliness on the flight to be sub-standard. The flight departed 1 hour late, with no announcement or communication given at the gate. There was rubbish in the seat pocket from the previous flight and toilets were unclean - the 3 I tried during the flight were all out of soap. The staff were abrupt, bordering on rude, and seemed to be particularly clumsy with several spillages and mistakes. The seat back entertainment worked sporadically throughout the flight and the controller was worn and unsightly.

SriLankan Airlines - by Michael Schade

27 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Jeddah-Colombo-Singapore return in C class. This was a mixed bag; check in at Jeddah chaotic, no business class counter; took me an hour to check in. Service on board ok, but very poor food quality and quantity. But everyone was very angry that no alcohol was served. Saudi is a dry country and everyone was looking forward to a drink. But the purser announced that UL has a policy that the do not serve alcohol on flights ex Saudi. No other carrier has this strange policy! The other flight were better with quite good food and service.

SriLankan Airlines - by P Perera

13 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

An airline that removes its CEO for trying to run an airline, and not operate an airline that can be personally chartered by the SriLankan Prime Minister at the click of a finger? No wonder Emirates conveniently decided to pull out of their investment / contract to run the company. Looks like dark days ahead if things are to go back to the old days of AirLanka - for me, I will stick to Emirates and Qatar Airways. A shame, but this is the way things are done (or should we say not done!) in Sri Lanka.

SriLankan Airlines - by P Karunaratne

24 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

CMB-AUH. The flight was scheduled to depart at 18:35, but Sri Lankan called us at 15:00 saying that the flight was delayed till 20:15, due to technical problems. After getting to the airport, the check-in agent informed as of a further one hour delay, till 21:15. After a rather boring three hours, I made my way to the gates, and I took a glance at the screens and was delayed again till 22:00. After another hour, I made it to the gate, but 22:00 came and passed by, but still the plane was not even parked at the gate. The ground staff of SriLankan Airlines was incompetent at keeping the passengers informed of delays. The A320 finally took off at 22:45, more than 4 hours late. The A320 interior needed upgrading desperately. FAs acted as if they did not want to be there. The seat was torn, armrest missing, seat recline switch was broken, no IFE. A very disapointing flight!