Sri Lankan Airlines Business Class offers a great hard product on their wide body planes and is bookable using miles from One World Alliance members.
After spending a week touring Sri Lanka, my next stop was to the Maldives to visit the Waldorf Astoria and Conrad Maldives properties. Since I’ve never flown Sri Lankan Airlines Business Class before, I figured it was worth spending some British Airways miles since an A330 is used on the CMB – MLE route.
Booking
For short distance routes, using British Airways Avios usually comes out as the cheapest option. For the route from CMB to MLE, the cost was 12,500 Avios + $124.00. Since I had plenty of Avios to burn, I figured it was worth the cost to check out Sri Lankan Airlines business class.
One thing I encountered was that for all dates, this route only had one business class award availability per flight. This seems to be a common occurrence with Sri Lankan business class awards on many routes. I even tracked award availability for the two months leading up to the flight using expert flyer, but at no point did a second business class award become available. Even with most of the business class cabin being empty.
Flight
Sri Lankan Airlines 101 Colombo (CMB) to Male (MLE) Cabin: Business Seat: 6D Aircraft: A330-300 Duration: 1h, 25m
Lounge (4/5)
The Sri Lankan Airlines business class lounge had plenty of delicious local food options and a good amount of space. Fortunately, the airport was not too big so there was no concern about long walks to the gate from the lounge.
Cabin Atmosphere (4/5)
Even though this flight was on an older A330, the cabin interior seem more up to date compared some other business class cabins on A330s such as on Turkish Airlines. Business class cabin was in a 1-2-1 configuration with a total of 28 seats.
Furthermore, the seating configuration provided a good amount of privacy which was appreciated. Additionally, the temperature was kept at a comfortable room temperature and seats had ventilation nozzles, which seem the be disappearing from a lot of aircraft.
Seat (4/5)
Seats seemed fairly new, comfortable, and was capable going into the lie flat position. USB/universal ports and noise cancelling headphones were available for every seat. The entertainment system was modern with a large screen and plenty of content.
My only complaint was the small foot well which can become uncomfortable on long flights in the lie flat position.
Food (4/5)
For a short flight, I was pleasantly surprised by the variety and quantity of food options available. The fruit was fresh and the local food options were delicious.
Service (4/5)
Service was sufficient with food being served and cleaned up promptly. Staff was friendly and professional with the business class boarding process being adequately organized. No amenity kit was provided, however I wasn’t expecting one for such a short flight.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Sri Lankan airlines business class offers a great hard product on their wide body planes at reasonable award redemptions using British Airways Avios for short flights. The food and service is up to par and seats provide for a comfortable experience. The only negatives are that its hard to find two business class award seats available on the same flight and the foot well is pretty small which can cause some discomfort.
Otherwise, if you can find business class award availability on their wide body planes, its well worth the redemption.
Posts From This Trip
- Waldorf Astoria Boat Transfer Debacle
- Flight Review: Turkish Airlines Business Class A321NEO | STR to IST
- Flight Review: Turkish Airlines Business Class A330 | IST to TNR
- Flight Review: Air Mauritius Economy Class A300NEO | TNR to MRU
- Flight Review: Air Seychelles Business Class A320 | MRU to SEZ
- Flight Review: Etihad Airways Business Class 787 | MLE to FRA
