November 09, 2024
Colombo to Kuwait
Sri Lankan Airlines Business Class
Airbus A320-200 4R-ABT
615p-920p

My flight wasn’t scheduled to depart until 6:15pm, so after completing the formalities associated with check-in, security and immigration, I had plenty of time to relax in Sri Lankan Airlines' "Serendib Lounge". During check-in, I had asked about the name of the lounge. Was it a Sri Lankan take on “Serendipity”? No. Serendib is apparently an ancient Persian word for Sri Lanka. Hmm… Alright. That might be good to know if I’m ever on Jeopardy someday.

Typically, the best lounge at any hub airport belongs to the airline that’s based there. Sri Lankan Airlines operates two lounges at Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport. The Serendib Lounge is a dedicated Business Class lounge, available to Business Class passengers only. Even OneWorld Emeralds cannot access this lounge unless they’re flying UL’s Business Class. Sri Lankan’s other lounge is the Serenediva Lounge, which I understand is more of a transit lounge but is open 24 hours. It has recently been refurbished and apparently offers a nice selection of foods, so although I didn’t visit there, it doesn’t sound to be much different from the Serendib lounge.

As to the Serendib lounge, it was pleasant but otherwise unremarkable. The main lounge area was essentially a sea of nicely cushioned seats – row after row of them.



Serendib Lounge at CMB


Serendib Lounge at CMB


Toward the back of the lounge was a fairly decent buffet area featuring sliced fruits, small cakes, cold cuts, salads, soup, pizza squares and of course a couple of curries – one a red curry with chicken, the other a vegetarian curry. A group of tables was available to dine upon, and a small bar was located just behind those tables.



Serendib Lounge Buffet Area


Serendib Lounge Bar


I availed myself of a plate of red curry and can of Lion Lager. Unfortunately, the beer wasn’t as cold as I like, so I swapped it out for a glass of iced tea. The curry was delicious, so much so that I couldn’t help but go back for a smidgen more.

I had taken a seat alongside the large floor to ceiling windows, which offered a superb view of the tarmac and the aircraft parked there on. I could see my A320 about two hundred yards out, and beyond it sat a good looking Sri Lankan A330-300 bound for London.

Looks can be deceiving, however. The London flight was the victim of a mechanical issue of some sort, and its departure time – originally scheduled for 1245pm – had been pushed back to a bit after midnight. Sat nearby were a couple of Brits who had been stuck at the airport since 1030 this morning. They were none too happy with their lot, but we had a good time chatting about everything from shared Australian outback experiences to the wild and wacky world of American politics. Thankfully the lounge had a couple of showers available, which they planned to utilize later that evening. We also agreed that hometown advantage notwithstanding, the odds were pretty good that the best lounge at this airport was likely the Emirates Lounge.

It’s also worth noting that my Priority Pass membership would have granted me access to the Lotus First Class Lounge and the Palm Strip Lounge. Once upon a time, I might have used some of my time before the flight to do a bit of lounge hopping. These days, I value quality over quantity, and while both the Priority Pass options looked very nice, I was comfortably sat, well fed and pleasantly entertained in the Serendib Lounge.

At 530pm, I bid my British friends goodbye and wished them well with the outcome of their travels home. Boarding was well underway when I arrived at my gate, but my Business Class boarding pass granted me immediate access down the jetway.

Ah… what’s this? This A320 classic was configured differently than the A320NEO I’d flown into CMB upon. The sixteen Business Class recliners on this aircraft were upholstered in beige rather than turquoise fabric and were not equipped with seatback IFEs. Additionally, just behind the Business Class cabin was a small separate cabin sporting just three rows of eighteen seats.

Above all, however, these seats felt more plush and comfortable than those on the A320NEO. A subsequent check of this aircraft’s history revealed that its original operator had been Royal Brunei Airlines. Ah. That explains a lot. Later on, I checked to see if the fixtures in the lavatories were gold plated a la Royal Brunei’s old 757s, but alas, no.

The two ladies working the forward cabin were welcoming and attentive, helping me stow my carry-on bag in the overhead bin before presenting me with a welcome fruit juice and a hot towel within just a minute or two of my arrival. A pillow and blanket were already at my seat, though unfortunately, as with my flight from Jakarta into Colombo, the dinner menu had been printed upon a plain piece of white paper. I don’t know about you, but from my perspective a good looking menu cover adds a lot to the anticipation that accompanies a nice meal presentation – be it on the ground or in the air.

That said, let’s see what’s on offer for this six hour flight over to Kuwait:


DINNER
Colombo to Kuwait
6 hours

SALAD
“Fattoush Salad: - Combination of olives and lettuce with Arabic croutons

MAIN COURSE

Chicken Massaman Curry
Served with boiled carrot, steamed kalian and jasmine rice

Grilled Shrimps
Accompanied with mushroom cream sauce and vegetable pasta

Lamb Biryani
Served with cucumber raita and vegetable jalfrezi

Sri Lankan Vegetarian Choice – “Polos Ambula”
Tender jack-fruit cooked in fresh coconut milk
and Sri Lankan spices, served with potato and bean curry,
tempered coconut sambal, country rice and vegetable cutlet


8 * 8 ~ 8 * 8


Fresh Fruit
A seasonal assortment of the finest fresh fruit is available on request

Dessert
Mixed berry torte with mixed berry compote

Hot Beverages
Finest Ceylon tea brewed to perfection
Flavored Tea selection
Freshly brewed international coffee


Dang! Any of these four main courses would work for me! And I love Massaman Curry, but that Lamb Biryani looks equally tempting…

My reverie was interrupted by the gentle jolt from the tractor below as it smoothly powered us back from the gate and lined us up for our taxi out to the runway. It wasn’t a very busy night at CMB (Are there every any?) as we passed just two planes parked on the concourse and taxied unimpeded out to runway 22R. Along the way, I couldn’t help but consider that our departure tonight might not have been much different from fifty seven years ago when this airport first opened. In that case, we’d swap out our Airbus A320 for a Hawker Siddeley Trident operated by the then national carrier Air Ceylon.

Following a surprisingly long takeoff roll, we climbed smoothly away from Colombo and accelerated easily up into the pretty evening skies above the island. Twenty minutes later, I was savoring a glass of Chivas Regal on the rocks, accompanied by a plate of tasty cashew nuts.

Ah… I love this life!



Chivas Regal and Cashews


One of life’s great pleasures – for many of us, I should imagine – comes early in the flight as we cruise smoothly through sunset skies, seat comfortably reclined while enjoying those first delicious pulls from our favorite beverage. Turning our attention to the menu, we open it to consider the meal options soon to offered on the upcoming meal service.

Before long, our drinks are topped off and shortly after that, our flight attendant returns – waiting patiently with pen and paper – ready to record our meal selection for tonight’s flight.

Hmm… I’ve had such good luck with curries in Sri Lanka that I simply can’t pass up that Chicken Massaman Curry. Oh – and if you get a chance, is there any possibility you might have a few more of those cashews? Thank you so much!

Although Sri Lankan may have had some cutbacks as to how they present their Business Class meal service, the food is no less delicious. My dish of Massaman Curry was particularly appealing with the addition of a large portion of jasmine rice and not one but two pieces of warmed garlic bread.



Massaman Chicken Dinner


Well let me tell you, that curry smelled and tasted every bit as good as it looks in the picture above. And people wonder why some of us take pictures of our airline meals. Ah… I can still taste that curry just looking at it!

Unfortunately, Sri Lankan serves powdered coffee, but I managed to improve its flavor considerably with the addition of Bailey’s Irish Cream. Combined with the cake and frosting of my dessert, the overall taste combination was exquisite.



Mixed Berry Torte with Coffee


On the surface, six hours seems like a long time to sit in an airplane. On this flight however, time passed by relatively quickly. I’ve had two hour flights while wedged into cheap slimline seats back in Economy that seemed interminable. And I remember my eighteen hour flight between Newark and Singapore back in 2022 passing by rather pleasantly, thanks to a Business Class suite aboard Singapore Airlines’ A350.

That said, I never arrive on board any flight – regardless of length – with nothing to occupy my time. Since I rarely take advantage of the airline’s IFE, I usually always have a book or two, maybe a magazine, and 48G worth of music on two mp3 players.

And of course I’ve always got my laptop. Once I get that fired up, I’ve got flight log information to install, letters/emails to compose and of course a trip report to work on. I used to be better at it, but these days I’m rarely current on my trip report writing. That said, there are still plenty of notes to be taken and occasional thoughts to be expounded upon. Bottom line – you’ll never find me sitting bored on an airplane.

And so it was that before long, the dark ocean and lands that we’d been flying over were replaced by an ever growing collection of lights as we made our approach into Kuwait International Airport. This was my first time flying into KWI, my 377th airport flown into. With no one sat beside me, I scooted over to the empty window seat to better take in the view.

I don’t know about you, but I find the last few minutes of any flight to be quite entertaining as the ground gradually takes on detail indiscernible from 38000 feet. Buildings, roads, car headlights… It’s particularly exciting as we sweep low and fast over the airport perimeter fence, glide above the runway striping and then ever so gently return to earth with a gentle thump as the landing gear caresses the runway – well, most of the time.

Tonight, we must have landed on the far side of the airport because we spent a good 10-15 minutes taxiing around the airport grounds. Our “drive” took us past many attractive looking concourses and inviting gates before finally being waved to a stop at our assigned spot, which turned out to be a remote stand.

On a positive note, our tour of the airport – both taxiing to our stand and while riding the bus into the terminal – allowed for some first rate plane spotting, highlighted by some regional airlines and airliners not commonly seen at North American airports and rarely seen at most European airports. Some examples include:

Jazeera A320NEO
Kuwait A330-800NEO
MEA A321
Saudia A321
Royal Jordanian ERJ-175
Fly Dubai 737-800
FlyNAS A320


Preflight research revealed that Kuwait International has a pretty large, spread out terminal, so I was thankful for the wheelchair assistance which I had requested prior to departure. Even in the years before my recent surgery, airport employees would often see me limping along and take the initiative to ask me if I wanted a wheelchair. More often than not, I would turn down those requests and while I hope to once again do so, I get pretty stiff after sitting on an airplane for multiple hours so the wheelchair assist in a large airport like KWI is very much appreciated.

By the way – some of you may be wondering why I’m routing through Kuwait when I could have flown from Colombo through a couple of different European capitals from which I could then get home faster. If you’ll recall, earlier in the report – about 35000 words back – I described how one hoped for attraction of my return trip was to do part of it in international First Class. Per Alaska’s Mileage Plan award redemption, the best way to accomplish that is via British Airways’ First Class.

As most all of you undoubtedly know, BA’s awards – in any class – come with often exorbitant taxes and security fees. A recent check (5 minutes ago) of awards between London and Las Vegas showed a First Class redemption fee of $768.00 USD on top of the requisite mileage. The fees are similar for departures from most all continental Europe airports. However, for reasons unbeknownst to me, the fees are much less for awards originating from Middle Eastern airports. To wit, I booked a First Class award from Kuwait to San Francisco utilizing Business Class on BA’s 787-9 between Kuwait and London, followed by a First Class seat aboard the A380 from London to San Francisco the next day. Total redemption: 115000 miles plus $320.00 in taxes and fees.

Although BA has a First Class cabin on its 787-9s, for some reason only Business Class award space is offered on the KWI-LHR sector – at least via Alaska’s Mileage Plan. Subsequent calls to Alaska’s Mileage Plan Help Desk in an attempt to address this iniquity were of no help. The agent’s claim was that if it’s not listed on the offered flights, then there’s nothing they can do. I remember back when the agents would actually call BA or whatever airline and attempt to verify available award space in whatever class. So, on the off chance that I’d gotten an agent who either didn’t know how to make a change or was unwilling to check (Yes, I’ve encountered this – even with Alaska’s generally fine agents) I called back on two more occasions. Same story. Hmm… Perhaps things have changed…

In any event, I have all day tomorrow in Kuwait before departing the next morning for London. Although I could have gone and purchased some sort of day tour of Kuwait, a full day off also afforded me a great opportunity to put in some work on this report. While in Bali and Sri Lanka, my focus was more on fully enjoying those places and not sitting at a table banging out a trip report. Thankfully, I’ve taken plenty of notes from which I can reference my experiences from two to four weeks back, but the bottom line is that I have a lot of work ahead of me.

For those of you who’ve never submitted a written trip report – or for those of you who are more oriented toward photo reports – it takes a long time to write a report of this length. I’m a bit over 38000 words so far – about average for my trip reports. Remember that sense of dread when your professor asked you to submit a 10000 word essay on this or that in college? Remember how easy it was to put it off? At the time I was sitting in Kuwait, I had only written as far as my Doha to Bangkok flight. And now here I am in snowy Ester, Alaska on January 4th. It’s -23°F outside. Good writing weather.

Although I enjoy writing about flying in First and Business Class aboard the world’s finest airlines, I’m not a natural writer. While some days the words flow, other days they don’t. Add to that the fact that well over two hundred pictures are embedded in this report, and each photo needs to be formatted with the proper vB code or whatever it’s called. And because my humble pocket camera isn’t well suited to photograph menus, all the menus need to be transcribed and coded. Along the way, I also review what I’ve written and make adjustments as needed. I could really use an editor.