SriLankan Airlines

Not Verified | This journey turned out to be quite a catastrophic experience. Initially, SriLankan Airlines abruptly canceled our Seoul Incheon to Colombo flight just four days before departure. Attempts to reach them from Korea were futile, as they remained unresponsive to our emails sent through the website. The alternative they provided, a flight via Tokyo with a three-day delay, was impractical. Resorting to personal connections in France, I managed to secure another flight through Bangkok, but this came with no compensation, and we had to cover our hotel expenses in Bangkok ourselves. The return journey was even more distressing, with the plane experiencing significant delays and minimal information provided. At Colombo airport, the staff seemed uninformed about the situation, and they didn't offer water and food to children until we expressed our dissatisfaction assertively. If you want to safeguard your vacation, I strongly advise against choosing this airline unless you have ample time to spare in this remarkable country.

Not Verified | We flew Sri Lankan Airlines from Colombo to Frankfurt on January 5, 2024. The flight left Colombo Airport almost three hours late. Although it was an 11 hour flight, they made no attempt to make up for lost time. So we arrived in Frankfurt three hours late, and as a result we missed our connecting flight to the US. There was no one from the Sri Lankan Airlines at the Frankfurt Airport to help us rebook our flight. We were completely abandoned by the Sri Lankan Airlines. Finally a kind local travel agent helped us out. Later we read that this kind of lateness is typical with this airline. We will never fly with them again!

✅ Trip Verified | Possibly the worst managed and most inefficient airline imaginable. I flew in a party of 5 from Sydney to Colombo on xmas eve - the A330 was ageing with broken seats, mono headsets and very poor selection of entertainment options though the service in the air pleasant and helpful. Trying to change seating configuration for our return flight whilst in Colombo (no online option) was woeful with entirely uninformed ground staff and no coherent system apparent. Our return flight to Sydney via Melbourne from Colombo on Jan 5 was just about the worst flying experience you could have - initially the flight was delayed from the scheduled departure time of 00:35 to 04:30 with the flight eventually leaving at 06:00. Once again the ground staff at Colombo appeared to have little to no knowledge of process by instructing passengers that baggage would be routed directly to the final destination in Australia. The Australian requirements are abundantly clear that passengers must collect bags at the first port of entry prior to proceeding to other domestic destinations within Australia. This misinformation by sri lankan airlines staff caused unnecessary confusion for passengers. When we did finally arrive in Melbourne we were advised that there was a “tactical error” with the baggage handling and there would be a further delay (approximately 40 mins). Once we had our baggage we had to find our way to the one Sri Lankan check in desk to queue again to receive a hotel voucher as most of the flight had missed onward connecting flights. We arrived after further queuing for a transfer vehicle at the hotel to be given a voucher for $25 for dinner. By this time it was midnight in Melbourne with no restaurant open in the hotel to get food. We then had to get up and check out of the hotel at 4am to get our flight to Sydney - this was too early to use the voucher for breakfast so the end result was no food was provided to passengers. We finally boarded our Qantas flight to Sydney at 6am on Saturday 6 January. Sri Lankan airlines should be ashamed of their disgraceful lack of customer service, the complete absence of any accurate information and the alarming level of obvious inefficiency and ineptitude in their operations management. Finally when I enquired about the airline’s performance noting that every Sri Lankan flight from Australia to Sri Lanka in the preceding week was delayed, I was informed that it was due to “procedural issues”. This airline has no capacity to operate on an international stage and should be avoided at all costs.

✅ Trip Verified |  Return flight is already 4 hrs late. Outward bound was 24 hrs late. Food voucher is for un edible curry with no choice. We will be claiming our alternative. We were put up in a hotel with fixed meals of really rubbish quality. No airline rep in sight and phone support finished at 5 - a disgrace with 300 passengers looking for alternative flights. Online the plane was very poorly maintained with many video systems broken. We will not fly Srilankan Airlines again.

✅ Trip Verified | Most useless airline in the world, always delayed, no information on delays. Broken seats, bad smell in the flight, ground staff are horrible. It is a disaster, don’t travel on Sri Lankan Airlines.

Not Verified | Worst airline. The app does not accept my trips. Tried to check in for my flight back to Colombo. Not accepting seat reservations. When I contacted them by email they had the cheek to reply that it is a courtesy reminder from them and reminding me to check-in. I emailed again to say that it is not accepting my seat reservations and that I am a wheelchair passenger and need to sit next to my travelling companion. Still waiting to hear from them. I don't use SriLankan Airlines for long haul flights anymore as they one of the worst airline for efficiency.

✅ Trip Verified | My Qantas code sharing flight 3422 operated by Srilankan Airline was scheduled to depart Colombo on the 25th Dec 12:15PM. We arrived at the airport at 9AM and flight was cancelled at 9:30AM - no advanced notification. Then they gave us a single option of travelling directly to Sydney in their carrier UL606 which we grudgingly accepted (Departure 12:10AM 26Dec). Then they kept us starving in an area with no shops to purchase food/water till 12:30pm. They transferred us all the way back to Colombo city centre and checked us in to a hotel at 2:30PM. Meal was delivered to the room at 3:30PM. We were asked to get ready and wait for the airport pickup by 8pm but the Srilankan airline driver turned up at 9pm! We had no chance of getting to the airport on time in the Christmas traffic in Colombo and we missed 12:10AM flight. Then they offered us another UL direct flight to Melbourne dep 1:20am and a Mel/Syd Qantas connecting flight. We had to rush to that flight too and we are not young any more to rush like that and I was fearful of my wife getting a heart attack. This is my hellish return flight to Australia from Colombo. Srilankan Airlines is very poorly run and this type of delays are reported all over the local newspapers. Bringing passengers back to Colombo on a Christmas Day is total madness!

✅ Trip Verified | An absolute pleasure to fly with. Friendly crew and an experience to remember. Seat comfort is remarkable. Highly recommended to fly with SriLankan airlines

✅ Trip Verified | On the day of departure I had a call then e mail saying it was two hours late. Was three hours late. The lounge allocated was a pay type lounge with poor offerings. On boarding economy boarded first. We were left as unwanted far from priority while we just watched everyone go before us. The crew on board however were outstanding- better than SQ even. So warm and engaging. Entertainment was good. The seat back I could feel metal it was so worn. Little storage, earphones rubbish. I used my own but dropped a piece and on trying to retrieve it saw how absolutely filthy it was down under and around the seat. The light blanket they provide was too light and no mattress topper. Leather needs it. The amenity kit was very basic. Food was okay. Large servings but quality lacking. Arrived at 2am along with lots of flights. No priority for the bus to terminal nor immigration. So the staff were nice but the airline is in a sad state.

Not Verified | The worst flight ever taken. I had to catch the SriLankan Airlines flight at transit in Singapore and let me you tell you to never fly with this utmost terrible airline. Was so exhausted already after 7 hrs flight from Brisbane to Singapore and then the flight Sri Lankan Airlines flight got 2 hours delayed. It was a nightmare. The customer service was terrible and I had to ask for a blanket 3 times and then only got one. At one of the three times, they said they are out of blankets. It then took at least 45 mins to distribute the meals in the plane and the flight crew was running up and down like hundred times because they weren’t organized enough to use a trolley. They weren’t attentive to customers at all. Also they was a beep tone every 2-3minutes in the flight from start to the end which interrupted most of the sleeping time.