Sri Lankan to Drop European Destinations?
 

I've heard a rumor that UL is to cut its European destinations to the bone in the first half of next year, leaving only London (similar to Malaysian?).

Anyone aware of any further details?

It's true.

Any idea when the cuts might go into effect?

I've got a flight in March to Paris with an separately-ticketed onward connection at a very specific time... Hoping the cuts aren't before then!

While the implementation of this would not surprise me, I do note that the newspaper article is dated mid November and I have found no other references to the routing re-arrangements. Nor is there any notice on the Sri Lankan airlines website.

Where or where will they be wandering

Fred

Thanks for looking, Fred, I did the same and couldn't find any concrete details either!

Oh well, guess I'll have to wait until they formally announce the actual changes... Got my fingers crossed the changes will be for after March!

Well, I made a booking for June a couple of weeks ago and my credit card hasn't been charged yet (it's still "pending").

Sounds a bit ominous?

Any news from those rumors? I have an upcoming flights in August from CDG

Only Rome will be dropped as a destination for UL.

SriLankan Airlines reversing plans

Looks like the local travel providers lobbied long and hard.

Happy wandering

Fred

Well, that's my booking gone down the gurgler. Haven't heard anything from UL, but when I look at my booking on their website it shows that the flights CMB-FCO-CMB have been cancelled. No attempt to provide replacement flights or a refund at this stage.

Very poor really. Will ask my bank to reverse charges. I also have cancellation insurance. This'll be the last booking I ever make with UL.

How about first contacting SriLankan? Perhaps they will make other arrangements if you do so?

At the very least, they should cancel your ticket and do the refund the costs of the ticket from their end...

Yes, I certainly intend to do that. However, I was not impressed by what I saw of my booking on their website. The flights were cancelled and I was being asked to confirm the changes to the booking, but no alternative flights were shown. No option to get a refund was offered either.

I'd be happy to consider suitable alternative flights, and most airlines I've dealt with would automatically offer something in a case like this, but not SriLankan it seems. I really don't want to be significantly disadvantaged through no fault of my own, and am potentially out of pocket to UL to the tune of thousands of dollars with nothing to show for it. I made the bookings in good faith and would expect UL to respond in an ethical manner.

Agree with you on this, you should expect SriLankan (like any airline, incl budget airlines -though unrealistic-) to act in a sufficient manner here.

I don't think you should rely on their online tools to do this, best to get an actual person involved in addressing this (over the phone or in person); automated tools are too limited in their ability to address issues without suitable human intervention.

UL has both the OW and Etihad partnerships which they can leverage here, so would hope they can arrange things.

Do advise what the final outcome is!

UL is really accomodating on rebooking and I don't think they will drop you on that. It's just that their website (like a lot of companies) is not developped for this kind of problems but I guess a simple call to UL could sort everything out.

I've spoken to someone in the local UL office in Melbourne and they told me that I might be able to change the destination to one of the other UL European ports, but probably not be ticketed all the way to FCO. I'd have to make my own way from the UL port to FCO, which isn't the greatest idea, considering my original ticket was business class from BKK to FCO.

However, they also said they did not have the authority to make the change and would have to refer it to head office in Colombo. I'm still awaiting a response. Hopefully (a positive) one will come through soon.