SriLankan Airlines Business Class Seat Guide

SriLankan Airlines A330-300 Business Class tea service
SriLankan Airlines A330-300 Business Class. Photo: SriLankan Airlines.

Based in Colombo, Oneworld member SriLankan Airlines operates a small fleet of Airbus A320 and A330 family aircraft. Featuring both Economy and Business Class, these jets are used to connect Sri Lanka with the rest of Asia and the Middle East, as well as Australia, France, Germany and the UK.

SriLankan Airlines Airbus A330
SriLankan Airlines Airbus A330. Photo: SriLankan Airlines.

If you’re lucky enough to be flying SriLankan Airlines Business Class, you can look forward to warm hospitality and some excellent food and drinks on board. This includes delicious traditional Sri Lankan meal options, as well as champagne, spirits and an impressive tea menu.

Sri Lankan Airlines hot meal
SriLankan Airlines Business Class main course on a flight from Colombo to Singapore. Photo: Matt Graham.

You can read a full review of the airline’s short-haul Business Class service here.

From Sydney or Melbourne, you can often find one Business Class award seat available on Sri Lankan Airlines to Colombo, which you can book using Qantas points or through another Oneworld frequent flyer program. Sri Lankan Airlines also often has good premium cabin fares between Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

So, how are the premium seats on SriLankan Airlines? It depends which aircraft type you’re flying, but all of them are reasonably comfortable…

SriLankan Airlines Airbus A320 & A321 Business Class

Within the Airbus A320 family, SriLankan Airlines operates the A320, A320neo and A321neo. Each of these aircraft offer similar Business Class seating, except that the A320neo aircraft have newer blue seats and the “neo” planes have wifi available.

SriLankan Airlines A320 Business Class
SriLankan Airlines Airbus A320neo Business Class. Photo: SriLankan Airlines.

All of these narrow-body jets have reclining leather Business Class seats in a 2-2 configuration.

These aren’t just your standard recliner seats. They recline quite a long way back and the legroom is excellent. Overall, the seat is very comfortable for something that isn’t a lie-flat bed.

Legroom in a Sri Lankan Airlines A320 Business class seat
Legroom in a Sri Lankan Airlines A320 Business class seat. Photo: Matt Graham.

On the newer A320neo jets, there are large in-flight entertainment screens on the back of the seat in front in Business. On older A320s and A321neos, a personal TV screen folds out from inside your armrest.

In-flight entertainment on SriLankan Airlines A320
In-flight entertainment in SriLankan Airlines A320 Business Class. Photo: Matt Graham.

SriLankan Airlines A330-200 Business Class

On the A330-200, there are three rows of older lie-flat Business Class seats in a 2-2-2 layout. This means passengers at the window seats don’t enjoy direct aisle access, and there is less privacy compared to the A330-300 seats. The seats are comfortable enough, albeit a bit firm for sleeping on. There is no wifi available.

SriLankan Airlines A330-200 Business Class
SriLankan Airlines A330-200 Business Class seats. Photo: Raymondeuro via Wikimedia Commons.

SriLankan Airlines A330-300 Business Class

The A330-300 features SriLankan’s flagship Business class product. With 28 seats in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone layout, every passenger enjoys direct aisle access and more privacy. Wifi is available.

The seat is comfortable, wide and would be a good choice if given the option over other aircraft types.

SriLankan Airlines A330-300 Business cabin
SriLankan Airlines A330-300 Business cabin. Photo: SriLankan Airlines.
The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
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My only complaint is UL typically will board the J cabin last
But is a good earn on QFF when wandering
Fred

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Excellent write-up Matt. Reflects my experience. Just one benefit not mentioned - free accommodation for long stopovers in CMB between long hauls eg. Europe-CMB then CMB-Aus.

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Tea selection (pre covid)

View image at the forums

Dinner BOM-CMB. Looks like its been cut back a bit.

View image at the forums

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Looking for J to London in September. Can get Sri Lankan for just under $6k. Not bad! Especially compared to $14.5k QF, or $9k JAL or $11k Emirates.

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We've just booked an open jaw trip for July: CGK-CMB-CDG / FRA-CMB-CGK for just over $3K pp in J which is the best I could find for mid-summer in Europe. Looks like A330-200 and associated dual seats on the shorter (~4hr) legs to and from Jakarta, and then the flagship A330-300 with the individual lie-flats on the longer legs into and out of Europe.

We've used UL in J a few times before and do like them: service always good; the tea is great; free stopover hotel in CMB to breakup the journey; and I quite like the J lounge at CMB. The A320 seats have been fine for the shorter (couple of hour) flights from CMB.

Although I was left with a very sour taste in my mouth over their covid response.
OT comment: We'd flown the outbound sector (again open jaw in J) MEL-CMB-MCT in early March 2020 but then had to try and get back to Aus later in the month before borders closed. Added to the complication was UL had started cancelling a number of their flights. We were supposed to be returning KWT-CMB-MEL but Kuwait flights were cancelled. I'd managed to get them to change us to departing DXB but then our planned DXB departure flight was also cancelled and we were told maybe another flight in four days but nothing certain. So I used Velocity points and booked us back AUH-SYD direct on EY (A380 Y with poor mans flat beds due to light loading!) with only 24 hours notice. That all worked fine and we spent two weeks home quarantining.

But then UL went completely silent and refused to return calls or emails. As UL had cancelled our return leg I calculated I should get $1000-1500 back per person for the unused legs. Instead, with no correspondence at all I had $37 pp refunded to the credit card used for the booking about two months after our return: woop-de-doo! I'd used the fare breakdown from our e-tickets which showed how much we'd paid per leg, as the basis for what we should have been refunded. But... nothing. CBA would not process a partial chargeback based on my calculations and travel insurance claimed their pandemic clause meant no claim possible. Not really sure why I've decided to give them my money again?

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click to expand...

We seriously looked at UL for mid year. ~$5k J SYD-LHR return is good at the best of times but the long layover (even with hotel) was a bit of a turn off. I believe all four flights would have been on the A333 - so that would have been nice.

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