SriLankan Airlines

From beginning to end the experience was awful! Heathrow to Male check in at Heathrow the staff was rude she didn't look at us let alone speak during the process. Halfway through landing at Male the pilot decided the weather meant landing was dangerous ended up in India where we spent 3 hours with no air conditioning (they didnt tell us what was happening or offer water) on the runway while they learnt how to refuel an aircraft that big! Eventually went on to Colombo - where again they gave us no info and eventually after hassling (and 4 hours in the terminal) we found we were instead getting an Emirates flight to Male. They told people there was no need for new boarding passes - it turned out there was and several people having gone through security were turned away and had to go back and get one. The return journey was no better - more delays and poor service.

KUL-CMB-BLR. Trip to forget. Checked in Kuala Lumpur and was told I would not be able to board the aircraft until I produce a photo copy of my credit card for the ticket purchased. Went all over KUL airport to find a computer that can print PDF documents finally found one. Went again to check in counter and was told flight was delayed. I ended up finally making it to CMB but missed my connecting flight to BLR. Was put up in the airport transit hotel and flew in the morning to Chennai where I was told to catch a Jet Airways flight at SriLankan Airlines expense. All in all a terrible experience will think twice about flying this airline again.

BKK-CMB-MLE. Handling agents at BKK were very poorly informed on running the system numerous problems arose and it took over an hour to check in. During check-in they informed us that the CMB-MLE leg of our trip had been cancelled and that we that it was rescheduled for next morning. At CMB we asked the information counter about the transit hotel assigned to us at BKK. They claimed to have never heard of it and were no help at all whatsoever. All this happened in the middle of the night so we were really frustrated. The woman at the transit counter was exceptionally rude. We were then put on a bus with some other passengers and were brought to a small and very dirty little inn quite a long way from the airport. On the way to BKK the MLE handling agents refused to check us in saying that our ticket (issued by SriLankan) was for 15 days while our visa covered only 14. Right from the ticket agents to the transit hotels this was a ghastly experience.

Male-Colombo-LHR We were on the awful flight on 29 Nov. We were only told the night before our direct flight to LHR that we were to be diverted via Colombo and we had to do our own phone calls to arrange our return flight. What made the journey more tedious was that at the Colombo boarding gate we were all searched even ladies rubber flip flops were checked. The passengers were getting very angry with the lack of information being given and were told time after time the delay was due to operational reasons. Not the truth that the Sri Lankan President was too rude to get to the plane on time and that we could all wait for him!! Never travel with this grotty airline as they have no customer service at all.

Male-LHR via Colombo. Having booked direct flights both ways we were dismayed to be informed 3 days before the end of our holiday that our direct flight from Male to LHR was cancelled and we had to fly back via Colombo. This meant starting 3 hours earlier to get to Colombo. On arrival at Colombo our flight showed 'check-in' but no departure time. No one at the SriLankan Airlines desk and eventually heard a rumour we were delayed awaiting a VIP. All this time our aircraft was ready at its departure gate and never found a SriLankan Airlines rep to explain the delay. We were called for boarding 1.5 hours late and then sat on the aircraft for a further hour with no explanation. After anger levels getting pretty high the captain came on to apologise for the delay due to operational reasons. (Plane surrounded by armed army personnel). Eventually 2 helicopters arrived and disgorged said VIP - President of Sri Lanka on his way to UK . So 6 hours added to an already tedious journey with just one weak apology. We will never fly with this airline again.

Paris-Male via Colombo. Service nice and efficient. Seats are a bit old in business food is good. IFE is dated but is okay. Plane clean crew smiling and friendly.

Travelled from Colombo to the Maldives. It took over an hour to check in. Staff unhelpful and was constantly hit with the cart as it passed up and down the aisle. Very cramped seats. Luckily I was on a different carrier on the way back.

Heathrow to Male return in business. We don't need fancy IFE just space and we were impressed. The limo pick up from home is an excellent way to start a holiday. Service was excellent both ways staff very good and dealt with the children in our cabin very well. Limo pick up to home was good too.

We flew from Heathrow to Male and back - believe the negative reviews you read here! Firstly the airline only has two long haul A340-300's running this route both pretty tired looking planes though one of them seemed slightly better than the other. Inflight entertainment is a complete joke - didn't work on the way out or back (thankfully due to reviews on this website I had bought myself a Sony PSP to keep me entertained). Staff seemed pretty miserable and disinterested in helping (I asked twice for them to reset my screen and was ignored both times - also took them an age to clear trays from the seats - this after one of the stewardesses had kicked my tray as I had put it on the floor as far out of the way as possible and she managed to scatter the contents. Rather than pick it up she pushed it back under my seat - hence I cleared it away myself. Overall very disappointing and I shall make a determined effort never to use this airline again.

We flew SriLankan Airlines to Male from London on and were due to fly back on 31st Oct from Male. Our experience with them was a disaster from start to finish. We checked in 3 hours before the outward flight to find our online booked seats were not available the flight was overbooked and they were trying to bump people off we had to sit far apart on the plane - row 50 and 24 - not a great way to start a romantic week away. The flight entertainment did not work on many of the seats flight was delayed service and the food were both awful. We complained at Heathrow and got the Service manager from Sri Lanka that night to at least make sure we had seats together for the return journey. We tried to check in for the return flight on the 31st to find we had been bumped off the flight - apparently due to overbooking. We were told there was nothing they could do. To cut a long story short we got them to pay to re route us via Qatar but despite promises of many things ended up being stranded in Doha airport for 8 hours without accommodation before being able to get a return flight to London. It took us 37 hours to get home on a journey that should have taken no more than 14 hours door to door and caused us great distress and inconvenience. SriLankan Airlines are a dreadful