After almost 2 fruitful days in Sri Lanka visiting the holy city of Kandy in the centre of the country and the capital Colombo, I was on my way for 2 long haul flights back to back to come back home for Christmas : The second segment of my Jakarta to Dubai one way journey on Sri Lankan airlines, involving their new Airbus 330-300 business class cabin and the return of my Riga-Dubai trip, with the leg Dubai-Amsterdam operated by KLM (The last section of my journey back to Riga was then done in May, after a 5-month « stopover » in AMS).
Since i was unsure of the traffic conditions in Colombo, I got at the international airport a good 3 hours before departure, and cleared the first security screening to enter the building in a heartbeat, after receiving a comment from the security agent that I was a bit too early for my flight, but since the departures area was not really busy, he allowed me to go through.
CMB Deprtures
Departure board
Merry christmas in Sri Lanka !
Departure mall
Primary security screening
Priority check-in
Luggage check-in was very smooth using the priority lane, and I asked just out of curiosity to the agent if it was possible to interline my bag to my next KLM flight, which was on a different PNR. I dared to try that because although KLM and Sri Lankan are not members of the same alliances, they share the same facilities of Terminal 1 in DXB and the same handling agent (Dnata in that case). The agent located the reservation and issues without issues the second boarding pass and a new luggage tag with Amsterdam as the final destination for that bag. Which meant I will not have to clear immigration in DXB, retrieve my bag and check-it in again…
It's time to empty some stuff from the suit case !
All boarding passes could have been issued smoothly !
Emigration was swift and the exit stamp was nicely placed on my passport !
Security was also pretty fast to clear and I was minutes after airside…
The main terminal was ok, with lots of small souvenir shops and electronic duty free stores. A part of the shopping area was dedicated to tea stalls, although the price they were asking for the ceylon teas were out of mind (4 to 5 times more expensive than in the city).
One more stamp !
Tarmac views
Duty free area in the departures
Clergy lounge
Tea shops - A rip off compared to the city prices
Would love to have this at home :-)
Future airport development plans
Sri Lankan operates two lounges in CMB : The Serendib lounge, which is only accessible for Business class passengers, and another lounge, the Serendiva lounge where Emerald and Sapphire frequent flyers are welcomed to use. I only went to the Serendib lounge (which I read was better than the other one) and entered at 14:50 there. The place was pretty much completely empty, with the exception of the staff and one other passenger, loudly talking on his phone.
The buffet was being cleaned and restocked when I arrived so I served myself a glass of Piper-Heidseck while touring the lounge…
Serendib lounge entrance
Lounge entrance
Preparing a new buffet
Bar
While restrooms were located inside the lounge, I do not remember seeing any showers. A small spa, featuring head massages was available, right behind the small business center which I used during my visit (since my laptop was out of operation).
After 15 min or so, a full new buffet was available.
A little bit of everything ! :-)
The food was pretty good, some items were maybe a bit too spicy for my taste though :-)
What ???!!!
As the time was flying, the lounge got busier and about an hour before my flight’s scheduled departure, I jumped out of my chair as the display was showing last call for my flight to Dubai ! (No announcements were made in the lounge from what I recall)
Although we were one hour before departure, passengers were running to get to the gate 14, and the gate agent got quite a few comments from fellow passengers, including me about the final call display, as the aircraft was still being towed to the gate. We waited 30 minutes at the gate area before boarding. A separate section of the gate, next to the window was dedicated for business class and status passengers.
And now, we wait 30 min...
Sri Lankan Airbus A330-300 4R-ALL
At 1805, the boarding began and I could take some pictures of the almost empty cabin. 2 jet bridges were in use and connected to doors 1L and 2L.
SriLankan Airlines UL365 - December 21st 2018
Colombo Bandaranaike Intl CMB - 18:35
Dubai Intl DXB - 21:35
Airbus A330-300 - 4R-ALL - Seat 01A, Window seat, Business class.
The 5 year old Airbus 330-300 was equipped with Sri Lankan’s new business class seat, in 1-2-1 configuration. I liked the seat and it reminded me some of the Cathay pacific business class products. Although there was no door on the seat, it was pretty private, especially being in row 1.
1-2-1 business class configuration
Seat 1A
Although without a door, the seat was quite private
The usual functionalities of modern business class seats were available : USB and power sockets, reclining feature, and individual reading lights. There was not much storage on the seat though. The IFE was a large and good quality screen and could be controlled with a remote equipped with a smaller screen.
As on my previous flight, the flight attendant provided right after boarding the menu and the order was taken only a few minutes later. I opted for the fish curry.
I like to travel, but I was also happy to go back home for Christmas !
A glass of bubbly to begin with...
As usual, I opted for a glass of champagne as my pre-departure drink.
We took off at 18:50 and after the seat belt sign switched off, I asked the crew to get a new pair of noise-reducing headphones as the ones provided were not fully working. A few minutes later, the IFE crashed and I had to ask again to the crew to have it rebooted.
Restarting the IFE...
During the restart, another drink was offered and it came with some cashews.
Cashews and Piper
IFE is back on track... I like the PiP (Picture in Picture) feature
The dinner was served about 40 min after take-off. It was ok, nothing memorable, the fish was maybe a bit too dry…
Fish curry
The dinner was ended with the dessert, served separately and with some tea. The overall service was ok, although some of the crew members could have been more friendly (or smiling at least)
Dessert was fine
I slept for a bit less than an hour. A additional drink service was offered as we were getting closer to Oman.
Shortly before take off, the crew came to distribute some fast track vouchers for DXB immigration. However, as my baggage was checked through until Amsterdam, I did not have to use it.
Approaching Dubai
We landed on time an taxied towards the terminal 1, and parked next to an Air Canada dreamliner.
DXB, with the highest concentration of A380 in the world !
Terminal 1, next to an Air Canada dreamliner
Fortunately, my next flight was leaving from the same terminal
Overall, this flight, such as the previous one was comfortable, on time, and allowed me to get 280 BA tier points for a very reasonable amount. The timing was perfect and it allowed me to visit for 48 hours Sri Lanka and get my flight back home in Dubai seamlessly.
I would do this again any day…