Colombo Airport

Not Verified | Used this airport when flying between DXB and Sri Lanka. Experience of arrival was very good. we landed about 1700/1715 and we exited plane on steps. We took a bus to the terminal, then boarded immigration. Lines were pretty long but we got to the front in the end. Staff were polite quiet and did their job without a fuss. Duty-Free stores were excellent with at least a hundred different kinds of chocolate, alcoholic drinks at affordable prices. Baggage claim was massive and the airport atmosphere and ambiance were pleasant. The terminal was very crowded but very nice for what seemed like a relatively old and dated airport. Departure experience was not quite as pleasant, though. Check-in area was packed and each and every staff of check-in desks were of SriLankan Airlines which seems quite strange. It isn't like this at any other airport I've been to so why not here? Security was also fairly busy, and the staff was a little moody. The airport is slightly confusing, as Security is first and then check-in. The airport is also very small, and there aren't nearly enough seats for the number of passengers. We got to our gate about a minute-and-a-half after check-in, and the gate was too crowded for one to move. We again took a bus to the aircraft and boarded again with steps. A pleasant airport. Astounding if you've no choice but not quite as good if you do.

✅ Trip Verified | It is a small international airport and it appears to serve its purpose in a basic manner. When we arrived, we received our “checked-in” luggage within 10 minutes of waiting. Not bad. The immigration and customs staff were formal. When we departed, we had to go through 2 levels of security checks just to get to the Srilankan Airlines Check-in desk. This came as a surprise. We had the final security clearance just prior to the boarding area. The staff there were all trying their best. There are quite a bit of shops but, the products are more geared to the regional market. We found a lounge and waited for the flight in this area. Whilst we were there, there were parties of school children being shown the airport. This added to the confusion of what was going on in the departure process. We encountered an emigration officer who was most helpful. I asked him where a particular photograph of a SriLankan building was. He came out of his desk and started to tell us where it was, how to get there and what to do. Obviously he did not have the pressure of people leaving and he showed the friendly side of SriLanka.

✅ Trip Verified | Had a terrible experience in Colombo earlier last week. Like many have said, Colombo is the worst airport ever, I should have transit elsewhere like in DXB (Flying on Emirates), DOH (Flying on Qatar Airways) or SIN (Flying on SQ) instead of Colombo (on SriLankan). Let me say that the facilities are disgusting and the “Final Call” does not make sense as we are not boarded on the plane yet. While my SriLankan Airlines flight were all great. The facilities and services from the airline at Colombo Airport is as bad as it gets.

✅ Trip Verified | This is by far the worst airport ever I’ve been at. You know that the airport is old and disorganized. My trip to Maldives from Indonesia via Colombo and had a few days of layover there. In the picture below, I’ve captured the false signs of “Final Call” but the flight hadn’t boarded yet. How can this happen on earth? We never seen this in other airports around the world. Upon arrival into the gate, another security check is required which caused another long wait and I must take off my shoes. While my SriLankan Airlines flight was good, this airport is a complete mess and a disgrace for Sri Lanka. This airport probably deserved negative ratings to me. Avoid this airport at all costs. You’ve been warned. Next time I’ll fly to Maldives again (because the island and the people were great), but will fly via Dubai, Doha, Hong Kong, Singapore or BKK instead of here.

❌ Not Verified | Avoid. It's not Sri Lanka, it's not Singapore. Looks shabby. Rates are more than Singapore or US. No soft seats. WiFi is super slow. Get your own food from where ever you coming from. No local food. Just eat junk food at fine dining cost of Europe.

❌ Not Verified | For departure, you are advised to arrive three hours early to this airport. That seemed realistic based on the experience I had on arrival. The problem is that this airport is a dump. Dumps are to be expected in the developing world, even though a surprising number exceed first world standards! But this airport is made far worse by lazy, disheveled staff interested only in sitting or staring blankly, talking to their colleagues, or in scamming money from travelers. Don't ever expect anything like a smile or a thank you or a you're welcome or any kind of human response to you at all. It is as if they are trained to be miserable and unwelcoming. Seriously! So, what can you do for three hours? Nothing! You can't sit because there are no chairs. You can't eat because even if you wanted to pay the extortionate-level prices, the food is so unpalatable looking, and the eating areas so full of flies, that you risk spending the next ten hours sitting in or running to the airplane toilet. You can't walk around and there si absolutely nothing interesting to see. Forget about wifi. Bypass this airport if you can.

❌ Not Verified | I've arrived at this airport very often in the last 30 years and also departed. After many years nothing has improved at this airport. It is the worst organised airport I've ever seen with the worst staff. The staff are very rude and unpleasant, no hello, no thank you, no please! Completely unacceptable for tourists! At the check-in desk the staff don't look at your face. They talk to colleagues. They are completely unfocused and very slow. It takes 3 or 4 employees to do the check-in. The immigration, security and all the airport staff urgently need a course in how to deal with guests. I don't understand why the responsible bosses don't see this problem. It's really a shame for the whole of Sri Lanka. Short summary: All the airport staff are very rude and unhelpful, completely disinterested in their work and talk a lot with colleagues. Everything is completely disorganized at this airport!

❎ Not Verified | I came through Colombo airport as a lone female traveller. I was asked by the officer at immigration how long I was staying. I told him one day and he told me I needed a visa and sent me to the visa desk. Once there I was asked how long I was staying and asked to pay $40. They said they wanted it in cash. I felt a little uncomfortable as there was a huge sign behind saying we welcome credit cards. I said no, I would pay by card. They asked if I had any foreign cash currency. Dollars? Pounds? SL rupees? I said no I will be using my card. Then I paid and they put a 30 day visa in my passport. I went back through immigration to the same official and he looked at my visa and again asked how long I was staying and again if I was travelling alone without my husband. He then muttered something about my stay being one day and transit and I should give my phone number to him as he could give me visa advice for next time and he would Whatsap me. I felt a bit uncomfortable about this so gave him a wrong number. He made me wait whilst he checked the number and kept letting people through in front of me. Then he demanded again that I give the number. By that time I just wanted to get through and even after trying to explain that my phone wouldn't work here he didn't let me through until he could see that my number had registered for Whatsapp. (in hindsight I should have given my husband's number but I was tired and a little freaked out). He then let me on my way. Once I got to my hotel for that night he started messaging me. I ignored his messages but by then was quite nervous as he would know where my hotel was because of the landing card. I also had to travel through the next day back out of the same airport so I didn't block him but just ignored the messages. I googled the airport to see if there had been other such complaints and saw that because I was in the country for less than 48 hours I was entitled to a free transport visa. (I know I should have made myself aware of this before but) so basically should I have paid cash he would have stamped my passport with a free transport visa and pocketed the cash. I am thinking that the cop and the visa official were obviously in cahoots and do this all the time. Once I googled it I saw that others had paid cash and got a free transport visa.

❎ Not Verified | This airport is no better or no worse than any other airport not in a developing country. Best to arrive 2 hours before departure as there is a security check when entering the airport, another security check at security and another security check on entering the flight departure lounge. This can take up to 1 hour. Not enough seats for passengers waiting for departure (same as most airports).

✅ Trip Verified | We have a flight from Colombo to Sharjah. There were too many unnecessary check ups by security guards, and honestly not a proper check up. They did a body check on me, but not on my girlfriend. Also there were no proper system to be in queue while getting boarding passes. It was a huge chaos. And then it is written on the ticket boarding time as 3.50am, but at 3.10am while we were doing shopping one employee came and started speaking loudly that the passengers for the Sharjah flight to come to the gate. We had come, as we thought the flight was to be earlier than expected. But no, it wasn't early, for some uncertain reason they brought us in early, with no washroom at the waiting area. We felt trapped. Also at immigration the officer was chatting on the phone while doing passport control, which was very unprofessional and not respectful at all. Overall, we enjoyed our trip in SriLanka but the farewell at the airport is 2/10.