Review: Chennai to Colombo on Sri Lankan A320 regional business class

I'm writing this from the Serendib lounge here in CMB (I've just arrived at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport after an hour's flight from Chennai), though this post will likely be published only much later. I expect this post will be a short one, considering the flight duration and the fact that I didn't have much time for pictures (reasons below). Nonetheless, read on.


Index of posts

Introduction: Bonjour Paris
Review: Chennai to Colombo on Sri Lankan A320 regional business class
Review: Le Meridien Etoile, Paris
Review: Sri Lankan's lounge at Paris CDG
Review: Paris to Colombo on Sri Lankan A330-200 international business class

Flight review

MAA-CMB
UL124 | 1h 00m | 400 miles | A320 Business Class 

Check in was pretty smooth at Chennai, we being the only ones to check in at the business class counter at the time. We skipped the lounge because, to be honest, the TFS lounge on Level 3 is far from being one of the best in the world! (This shouldn't be confused with the new TFS lounge on level 2.)

However, we were one of the last to board, having been delayed at both immigration and security checks, due to really long queues. So the pictures were taken in a hurry, and aren't very clear (apologies for that, will try and do better on the return trip!). 

I was in seat 2F, a window seat. The forward cabin is in a 2-2 configuration of 4 rows, for a total of 16 seats in business class.

Sri Lankan Airlines regional business class - seats

The overall cabin was neat and clean.

Sri Lankan Airlines regional business class - cabin interior

However, I note that the aircraft maintenance wasn't spectacular. For instance, the seat back pocket in front of me was giving way (quite badly, at that).

Sri Lankan Airlines regional business class - cabin interior

A welcome drink (water or juice) was offered prior to departure - no champagne - and menus were handed out for dinner. 

Sri Lankan Airlines regional business class - welcome drink

Sri Lankan Airlines regional business class - dinner menu

Sri Lankan Airlines regional business class - dinner menu

Sri Lankan Airlines regional business class - dinner menu

Sri Lankan Airlines regional business class - dinner menu

We pushed back at 9.10 pm for a 9.15 scheduled departure, and after a short takeoff roll, we were on our way to Colombo.

Dinner service began soon after. I had the chicken curry with rice, dal and a side of beetroot (which, by the way, was fantastic!).

Sri Lankan Airlines regional business class - dinner

There was no menu for adults drinks, no drinks cart taken out, and no suggestion of alcohol being offered on board. However, with about 25 minutes to go, I noticed that the chaps in seats 1A and 1C specifically asked for, and received, some alcoholic drinks (which they promptly downed!). So maybe drinks are indeed on board, but only upon request.

In a few minutes, the captain came on over the PA to announce that we had commenced descent into CMB. We soon touched down at 10.05 pm, and reached our gate at 10.10 pm - 5 minutes ahead of schedule.

Overall impressions

Both the ground staff (contracted) and the cabin crew (UL's own) were pretty good and efficient. Being a short flight, I couldn't experience much of the famed Sri Lankan onboard hospitality, but I guess I'll have enough opportunity for that during the other flights on this trip.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Le Meridien Etoile, Paris

Image
I checked out of the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile yesterday morning, and checked into the Le Meridien Etoile, just around the corner from the Hyatt, in the evening after a day's sightseeing. Hyatt was kind enough to hold my bags for the duration of the day (which is a surprise in today's world of terror threats), and I'm grateful to them for that. The Le Meridien has standard and chic rooms as two of their base category rooms. As I mentioned in the introduction post, I booked a chic room on an award. Here's a review of the hotel and room, but not breakfast (that didn't come with the room, and we planned to head to the airport a little early in any case). Index of posts Bonjour Paris: Introduction and summary of posts Review: Chennai to Colombo on Sri Lankan A320 regional business class Review: Serendib Lounge, CMB airport Review: Colombo to Paris on Sri Lankan A330-200 international business class Review: Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile Review: Le Meridien Etoile, Paris Re...
Read more

Kolkata's new terminal, and what a relief! (And lots of pictures)

Image
For the longest time, Kolkata (CCU) had pathetic terminals – both for domestic and international flights – and it was high time they did something about it. Now, the Airports Authority of India must be complimented on the new Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. The airport is really fresh, swanky, and actually makes the flying experience in and out of CCU a whole lot better. The new terminal is an integrated terminal for domestic and international flights, and set out in an wide “V” with unequal arms, the longer arm being the domestic side. The terminal building itself is at one end of the runway, and is to the right of the old terminal, when viewed from the city side (left from airside). This picture, courtesy Wikipedia, shows it quite clearly. I flew in on SG 323 ( trip report here ), and on reaching CCU, we parked at the apron, though sufficient aerobridges appeared available. Cost cutting I suppose. The bus then took us to the terminal building, and this is what greet...
Read more

Defunct airlines of India - Part 1

Image
ASan and I met for lunch over the weekend. If you knew us personally, you'd know that we're both forever thirsty, if you get my meaning. You'd also know that there are always discussions around ideas for posts. Most of them are flights of fancy (pun intended!), and almost always unviable. But two men with some alcohol in them can dream, can't they? Anyway, this time the discussion finally got down to something that interests both of us, though in very different ways. ASan is a bit of a history freak, getting dreamy and bleary-eyed when you talk of anything 20 years or older (he thinks he’d have fit better into society a hundred years ago, than now). And I'm an AvGeek to the core and a huge  fan of REG Davies. So when the talk finally came around to Indian airline companies that used to be, we hit paydirt! After some decent and serious research, we think we've come up with our own Indian Aviation History 101. Given the volume there is to share, we’ll be splitting...
Read more