zachary

Has anyone recently been able to get a response from the CMB tranit hotel recently? I sent an email to the address shown on the webpage from SFO777's post above, but received no response after waiting a week.

Mr_Tudball

Try calling them at (94) 112265899. Stayed here in March after a middle of the night flight from MLE on UL. Had to wake the clerk so I could check in. Transit hotel is up one floor just past the EK lounge. Very convenient if you are flying out on EK. Just make sure to stop by the transit desk to pick up your boarding pass if you don't yet have it.

enki

Calling is a great idea, though I did get a response by email about 3-4 days after I sent it. They actually provided great details about the rooms, but ultimately confirmed that because I was heading into town the next morning to catch a train, rather than another flight, I couldn't crash there for a few hours.

zachary

Thanks for the responses. I tried emailing again and this time got a very prompt and thorough response.

goober153

Im doing something similar, arriving at 11:55 PM then wanting to catch the first train to kandy in the am at around 5 I think. How long does it take to get through customs and your bags? I figure if I'm ready with my bags by 1 am might as well hang around airport for a few hours and then transfer to the train station via cab which could save me 30 bucks. Are there any landside lounges open or cheap accomodations? Also the link just opens up the same FT thread.

MrHalliday

This might be a situation where taxi or hire car/driver works well.
115 km and 2.5 hours, says Google.

WikiTravel for Kandy says Taxi is LKR 6000, about USD 45,
and mentions other options, including a Twin Otter flight,
which may not exist... .

goober153

2.5 hours to kandy or colombo fort by taxi? I think the train is only like 10 bucks though....

MrHalliday

I expect that is true.
And the train is surely scenic. Yet probably scenic both ways.

Add up the ride to the train station, maybe some hotel for 3 hours...
... and a ride straight from the airport may look OK.

I expect I am much older than OP (yet not richer or wiser...)
so may value things differently.
edit:
if you read thru my 2006 "trip report"
3rd link in my sig below
you may see how I "transited" CMB.

Skyman65

My recollection was that it was a pretty fast and smooth process to get through immigration and customs. If your plane lands on time, I wouldn't be surprised if you were curbside by 12:30. Add a little extra time to change money, maybe pick up a phone SIM (there are many booths selling SIMs in the arrival hall). I bought mine from Dialog for about US$10-12, including enough minutes and data to last for the week.

A taxi to Colombo Fort train station will take you about 45-50 minutes at that time of the morning. I think we paid about US$15 for that taxi ride.

There are no landside lounges that I recall, nor cheap accommodations in the airport. There are a few inexpensive guesthouses within a few miles of the airport, but with your timing, it might be best to just find a seat in the arrival hall and hang out. Or as suggested by others, you could just hire a car to take you directly to Kandy--I don't know for sure, but my recollection was that hiring a private car for such a trip will cost much more than $45, especially if you want them to drive you there in the middle of the night. Then you've got to find a place to stay in Kandy at dawn--most places probably won't let you check in that early.

tboons

I have a question. I am arriving from QR reaching at 4am and connecting to UL at 12noon. What are the options for me to have stay airside or have affordable accomodation for some rest? Would hate to pay 40 usd for transport to the hotel and back to airport for a short transit.

Is it possible to get my UL boarding pass and ask them to retag my bag at CMB?

wandering_fred

There is a transit hotel airside at CMB. Bookable as a 6 hour minimum.

While I understand the potential issues with the baggage, a fair number of OneWorld airlines will through check luggage on two tickets if the second is on a OW partner (UL is). Ask in the QR thread?

The UL transit desk accompanied me to select my incoming luggage to guarantee they had it selected correctly to continue on my UL flight 8 hours later.

Happy wandering

Fred

FlyerBeek

The last time I transited CMB (in 2013, before UL joined OW), I was able to get the UL transit desk to retag my bag while remaining airside. I would think if making on OW connection between QR and UL you should be able to check your bag all the way through (even on separate reservations), but if not the transit desk should be able to take care of you.

-FlyerBeek

onlysuites

Yeah they are very good. The last time they managed to give me boarding passes for a 9W flight when I came in on SQ. They even sent someone to pick up my luggage from the belt and check it in again.

zachary

My last (and only) CMB transit was in 2013 before UL was in OW. We checked a bag with AA, which tagged it all the way to our final destination in MLE, meaning that it went AA-CX-UL. We did not need to reclaim the bag in CMB at all. We did overnight at CMB at the airport transit hotel. The UL ticket CMB-MLE was separate from the AA-CX ticket.

I have to admit that I was kind of shocked to see the bag actually going on our UL flight out of CMB, given that we had long layovers (8+ hours in both HKG and CMB).

quarryking

Surprising that none of the big hotel chains have embarked upon building a proper airport hotel @ CMB.

Out in the city, there's certainly a flurry of construction activity from the big hotel majors..