What's SriLankan Airlines like today? MEL-CMB-LHR return on UL in Business Class.

[Austman]

This is a TR about travelling on SriLankan Airlines - UL - today.

The Route:
MEL-CMB-LHR, return, all on UL in Business Class.

1. MEL-LHR
MEL-CMB UL605 16:10-22:25, duration: 10 hours 45 minutes.
Stopover: 14 hours 40 minutes - hotel, transport, hotel meals provided (breakfast).
CMB-LHR UL503 13:05-20:00, duration: 11 hours 25 minutes.
Limo drop off service from LHR, Mercedes, up to 45 miles, provided.

2. LHR-MEL
Limo pick up service to LHR, Mercedes, up to 45 miles, provided.
LHR-CMB UL504 21:30-12:45+1, duration: 10 hours 45 minutes.
Stopover: 11 hours 35 minutes - hotel, transport, hotel meals provided (lunch, dinner).
CMB-MEL UL604 00:20-15:40, duration: 9 hours 50 minutes.

The Aircraft:
All flights operated by UL A330-300 aircraft with UL's newest Business Class. A 1-2-1 configuration with modern fully lie-flat seats and a large entertainment screen. Amenity kits (lotions, ear-plugs, eye masks etc), socks and slippers are provided. Unfortunately the WiFi service was (still?) unavailable on all 4 flights.

The Cost:
Just under AUD 4,100.00 due to a 44% off 3 day sale promotion.
Other pax told me they paid around AUD 6,000.00. I noted it could cost around AUD 8,000 on some dates.

Frequent Flyer:
UL is a member of oneworld.
QFF earn: 360 status credits and 24,200 points for a QFF Platinum.

My Rating:
4/5 - it was all mostly pretty good. All flights on time - or close to it. Onboard service was invariably good and friendly. The long transit stopovers would not suit everyone. Colombo (CMB) airport is OK but not near the best in the world.

An impressive(?) number of 15 meals are included in the fare, including 8 onboard, 4 in departure lounges and 3 in transit hotels. Food quantity is not a problem!

It's all done and dusted - so here follows my TR ...

 

[RooFlyer]

Wow!

 

[marki]

Just under AUD 4,100.00 due to a 3 day sale promotion.

oh wow nice and on the cheaper side, - quote: Food quantity is not a problem! - How about quality?

 

[RooFlyer]

oh wow nice and on the cheaper side, - quote: Food quantity is not a problem! - How about quality?

There is a TR coming up. I expect that will be part of it.

 

[Austman]

So off I go.

MEL-CMB UL605 16:10-22:25.

UL say you can do online check-in but even if you do, you still need to go to a counter. At MEL, check-in opens 3 hours before the flight and I was there about 5 minutes after. It was quick - no waiting at all - for Business Class and I received 2 x BPs (MEL-CMB and CMB-LHR) and 2 x lounge invitations, one for the Marhaba lounge in MEL and one for the Serendip lounge in CMB.

Being a QFF Platinum, and UL being a member of oneworld, I could of course use the Qantas First lounge in MEL:





Boarding was on time. I'm in seat 1K for 3 of my 4 flights. It's quite a good seat for privacy. Interestingly there appears to be no bassinet seats in the UL A330-300 business class cabins. The toilet is actually quite far away from seat 1K and not a problem:




Pre-departure drinks of Champagne (Joseph Perrier), juice or water were offered. As well has a hot towel service.

UL provide an amenity kit with fairly standard contents as well as socks and slippers and a bottle of water.

First up, there's a drink service with cashew nuts served in a bowl. This was done on all flights.

I forgot to take a photo of the menu and food for this flight - but have them for my later flights. Two meals were served. Food, in general for all flights, was substantial in quantity. Quality wise it was fine but some other airlines do it better in J.

Service was lovely. The in-flight entertainment system is good with a big clear screen but the movie choice wasn't so great.

There was another hot towel service before landing. The flight landed on time. And at a gate which is far from guaranteed at CMB!

Then it was off to the SriLankan Airlines transit counter to collect my transit hotel voucher. And then to the one disappointing part of this trip ...

 

[Austman]

The stopover of 14 hours, 40 minutes - hotel, transport, hotel meals provided (breakfast).

I was a bit worried about this part because, despite me contacting UL a few times, they would not confirm it. Interestingly they did confirm my later stopover on my return flights.

UL transit hotels at CMB can be hit or miss. This time it was a miss.

They gave me the Beacon Beach Hotel on Negombo Beach. I'd never heard of it. Now, that's in a nice location but it was a coughpy 2 star hotel. I only first googled the hotel details after I had gone through passport control and customs. Not good at all! I was just about to book the airport's airside transit hotel instead for USD 85 when the transport arrived. So I took the risk with Beacon Beach. Oh dear. The staff were nice but the room wasn't. And the aircon didn't work.

I was too tried to want to swap rooms and hoped the aircon would eventually cool the room down. But, as the melted chocolate in my carry-on in the morning proved, it was a pretty darned hot room!

Still, breakfast on the beach was quite nice. Then it was back to CMB for my flight to London.

 

[marki]

The stopover of 14 hours, 40 minutes - hotel, transport, hotel meals provided (breakfast).

I was a bit worried about this part because, despite me contacting UL a few times, they would not confirm it. Interestingly they did confirm my later stopover on my return flights.

UL transit hotels at CMB can be hit and miss. This time it was a miss.

They gave me the Beacon Beach Hotel on Negombo Beach. I'd never heard of it. Now, that's in a nice location but it was a coughpy 2 star hotel. I only first googled the hotel details after I had gone through passport control and customs. Not good at all! I was just about to book the airport's airside transit hotel instead for USD 85 when the transport arrived. So I took the risk with Beacon Beach. Oh dear. The staff were nice but the room wasn't. And the aircon didn't work.

I was too tried to want to swap rooms and hoped the aircon would eventually cool the room down. But, as the melted chocolate in my carry-on in the morning proved, it was pretty darned warm room!

Still, breakfast on the beach was quite nice. Then it was back to CMB for my flight to London.

The staff were nice but the room wasn't. And the aircon didn't work.

Aaaargh that's terrible.

 

[Austman]

And so to CMB-LHR UL503 13:05-20:00.

UL's Serendib Lounge in CMB is not bad. It's far from the world's most stylish business class lounge but it does put on a pretty extensive and decent buffet and has acceptable drinks.

I guested in an Australian who was on the same flights as me but in Y-class. She also got the Beacon Beach Hotel so we were on the same hotel transport. She enjoyed the lounge and thought that SriLankan in Y-class was fine so far.

The CMB-LHR in flight service was similar to MEL-CMB but this time I have some photos.

Pre-departure drinks of Champagne (Joseph Perrier), juice or water were offered. As well has a hot towel service both before take off and before landing.

The same amenity kit and socks and slippers and a bottle of water as before.

The menu:



First the drink service with cashew nuts.

Then the meal. This is the seafood delight and lamb cutlets:



Extra bread offerings are done. Dessert was served later, separately, along with liqueurs.

All quite nice! I could only eat about half of it and skipped the dessert.

 

[Austman]

And a little aside tale:

The pax sitting behind me, in seat 2K on my MEL-CMB flight was also in the Serendip Lounge. It turns out he was also on the same CMB-LHR flight and again in 2K, with me again in 1K. We got chatting a bit. For his transit stopover, he was given the Vivanta By Taj - Katunayake hotel. That's a decent hotel and he was happy with it. I have that hotel confirmed for my return stopover.

We walked together from the lounge to the departure gate. At the gate security - he took the left machine and I took the right. Then I went through the gate passport/BP control and boarded.

Yet 20 mins later there was no sign of him onboard! Eventually, just before the final door was closed, he showed up at 2K. Looking a bit flabbergasted.

"What happened?" I asked. It turns out he had a Indian(?) passport and the gate passport/BP control staff were not happy with it. It seems they noticed an earlier trip to the UK where he had an arrival stamp but no exit stamp. Because of that, they were concerned he might be denied entry at LHR.

He pointed out, correctly, that the UK does not do exit passport control. There are no exit stamps.

Apparently the gate passport/BP control were not convinced and made a phone call or two. The phone call(s) initially said "deny boarding". The pax persisted and another phone call or two resulted in him being allowed to board!

You'd think, that with a daily flight CMB-LHR, the gate passport/BP control staff would know better ...

 

[anyonebutqantas]

When did you manage to grab that 4k sale fare?

Are their flights still stopping in TRV to refuel due to the Sri Lankan FX/fuel shortages?

 

[Austman]

I have no photos of the second CMB-LHR meal service but it was fine. A similar presentation to the first service.

Arrival to LHR T3 was on time.

Limo drop off service from LHR, Mercedes, up to 45 miles, provided.

On my departure day from MEL, I received an email from SriLankan Airlines in Australia offering a complimentary limousine drop off service from LHR. Up to 45 miles apparently.

Until that point, I didn't know about it! Unfortunately, I had already booked a hotel near LHR thinking I'd be tired and would just want a bed ASAP. Had I known earlier about the limo service, I probably would have used it to go to central London. But alas, it was now too late to cancel my first night hotel booking.

When my phone was switched from fight mode after landing, I received a TXT that my driver was already waiting for me in the T3 arrivals hall.

LHR has automatic passport control gates for the UK, EU and about a dozen countries including Australia. Thank goodness because the lines at T3 otherwise were enormous! I'd estimate at least 60 minutes wait, maybe double. But it was quick and easy for an Australian passport.

My driver was there in the arrivals hall and in a short time I was in a Mercedes limo for the relatively short trip to my hotel.

That was a nice and unexpected addition to my ticket.

I wondered how I might use it, if it were available, for my return trip ...

 

[Austman]

When did you manage to grab that 4k sale fare?

Are their flights still stopping in TRV to refuel due to the Sri Lankan FX/fuel shortages?

Yes, it was their 44th anniversary sale fare. I posted about it here:

SriLankan Airlines, 44% off business class and 25% off economy class, 3 days only.

SriLankan Airlines has a 3 day sale to "any" of their destinations. 44% off business class and 25% off economy class for travel 15th September to 30th November 2023. There's some good business class fares from Australia available. Eg MEL-LHR return is just over $4,000 in business class...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

There was no stopping. All my flights were non-stop and on time.

 

[Austman]

Next up is:

LHR-MEL

Limo pick up service to LHR, Mercedes, up to 45 miles, provided.

Time to go back to MEL.

While I stayed mostly in central London, I spent the last few days of this trip in Torquay, Devon. Around 200 miles from London.

To get to LHR, I purchased a Torquay-Heathrow trip by train and noted there was a connection required at Reading Station to the Elizabeth Line. It needed two trains on the Elizabeth Line actually.

So I requested from SriLankan Airlines a limo pick up service from Reading Station, with the idea that if it all went wrong I still had a train ticket all the way to LHR anyway. Reading to Heathrow is less than 30 miles by road so was well within their 45 miles limit.

It all worked!

The limo driver arrived at Reading Station on time and I walked straight to the Mercedes. The drop off was right outside LHR T3 departures.

Nice!




LHR check-in for SriLankan Airlines opens 4 hours before departure, which was 17:30 for my flight, and I arrived to the check-in area almost on the dot at that time. Again, despite online check-in, you must visit a check-in counter.

While waiting in the Business Class line (it was short) an agent asked if I'd be willing to try the check-in kiosks that they hoped to soon use. I said "sure!". But alas, despite the kiosk knowing all my details, it refused to issue a boarding pass(es).

"It's not quite ready yet", explained the agent!

With a visit to a desk , 2 x BPs (LHR-CMB and CMB-MEL) and 2 x lounge invitations (the BA lounge in LHR T3 and the Serendip in CMB) were issued.

Then it was off to security. And there's no passport control!

As a QFF Platinum = oneworld Emerald, I chose to use the Cathay Pacific First Class lounge at LHR T3. But I could have chosen any T3 oneworld lounge that was open.

 

[Austman]

LHR-CMB UL504 21:30-12:24+1

The service and amenities onboard were the same as the previous flights.

The menu:



I ordered the beef (no photo, sorry) and a glass of shriaz. It was fine but I was not all that hungry and I didn't even get though that single glass of wine! I fell asleep quite promptly. It had been a long day for me.

And here is a photo of the second service (breakfast/brunch), the mushroom omelet:



I managed to sleep for most of the flight!

 

[Austman]

Stopover 11 hours, 35 minutes - hotel, transport, hotel meals provided (lunch, dinner).

While the arrival in CMB was on time (or close), this time it was not at a gate. So busses were used. And it was wet!

They use covered steps down from the plane and the busses pull up quite close. Business Class gets its own bus. All done pretty quickly.

Off again to the SriLankan Airlines transit counter and this time I did receive the Vivanta By Taj - Katunayake hotel. This is a much better hotel than the transit hotel I received on the way to London.

It's a 4 star hotel but you get an unrenovated room. It's still a pretty good room for just a stopover and the hotel facilities are good.

Here is the hotel's buffet restaurant where you have your included meals:



The hotel gives you a call an hour before check-out time. And at check-out time the transport was waiting to go to the airport.

So this time it all worked quite nicely!

 

[Austman]

CMB-MEL UL604 00:20-15:40

The last flight.

This time I used the "Silk Route" at CMB airport which is available to UL Business Class passengers.

As a transit/stopover pax, it cuts out a bit of time but not that much. It can depend on how busy the airport is. You get the initial security check out of the way and BPs issued if you don't have them already but then its off to the regular passport control with everyone else.

A visit to the Serendip Lounge and its extensive buffet (I skipped the hotel's dinner) and then off to the gate.

The service and amenities onboard were the same as the previous flights. Except that the first service this time was an all in one. It was, after all, well past midnight.

Here is the menu:



And some photos.

The chicken lasagne:



And of the second (breakfast/brunch) service.

The cheese omelette:




Repeats of croissants, breads and jam all were offered.

Again I could not eat all of the food offered.

I managed to sleep for well over half the flight which was good.

 

[Austman]

So that's my TR!

All flights were on time or close to it.

Food on all flights was substantial in quantity. Quality wise I thought it was good but not up to the standard of some other premium airlines in J, eg Singapore Airlines and Qatar. I mostly ordered western but I suspect the Sri Lankan dishes were better?

Service was lovely. Onboard seating and facilities were good.

All up, I think it was very good value.

I spoke with a few other J and Y class pax and all were happy with SriLankan Airline's onboard service.

 

[bam71]

For around 4K I’d be VERY happy with that!

 

[RB]

That certainly looks like good value. Thanks for the report

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

Thanks for the report.
Do you (or does anyone…) know if the Limo & Transit Hotel inclusions also apply when the J seats are booked as part of a OWCA?