- After a great week in Thailand,
back at Suvarnabhumi Bangkok Airport
and today I'm flying on SriLankan Airlines back to Dubai.
A once very promising airline.
It's been a long while since I flew with them.
I want to check out what are the latest changes
on SriLankan Airlines.
- How are you doing today? - Nice to see you.
- Cheers, have a champagne.
- So actually, I found a problem on my seat.
It's really sad, feels like an aeroplane graveyard here.
Lots of 777s parked.
- [Stewardess] Would you like to have a cup of Ceylon tea?
- This is the meal that we serve in economy class.
Chicken curry, that's a non-vegetarian choice.
- But the lounge is quite dated.
I've been here 10 years ago, it's still the same.
Didn't really enjoy the meal.
The fish is a little bit fishy smell,
the salad, the dessert was really simple.
It doesn't look like a business class.
- Kind of getting inconsistent about the flights.
- Man, never saw Bangkok Airport like this.
It's like a ghost town here.
Lots of Thai Airways aeroplanes parked in the middle,
all the gates are literally empty.
I think, with all these concrete pole
the nighttime here must be very scary.
(sombre music)
So before I fly, I want to update you about Thailand.
Thailand has been very quiet.
They just reopened for tourists without quarantine,
via the Thailand pass, so it's a very good time to come
without crowded tourist and also with lower prices.
I was so enjoying myself in the countryside.
I went to waterfalls, I see temples, rivers,
I went on a Thai train, it was incredible.
(upbeat music)
I don't know what happened now,
I was literally the only person in the lounge.
There's quite a bit of food here
but I think I'm going to enjoy
the SriLankan food onboard the flight.
There's very few international flights.
In fact, there is more domestic flight right now
out of Suvarnabhumi Bangkok.
I think in some ways, Asia is very behind into re-opening.
I remember a year ago when I visited America, Europe,
it was like this, then people slowly and coming out
and I'm sure that they will come in Asia as well.
The lounge will get crowded, the travellers will be back.
(upbeat music)
- How are you doing today? - Nice to see you here.
- Good to see you too sir, welcome aboard.
- Hey, how are you? - How are you? Good?
Going to Sri Lanka?
- Yeah. - Great.
(upbeat music)
(plane engine drowns out pilot)
- Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, this is you captain.
My name is Prakash Gunasekhar.
On behalf of my colleagues, First Officer Sambit Gunasekhar,
Cabin Manager Roshan (indistinct) and the rest of the crew,
I welcome you on board SriLankan Airlines flight UL405
Airbus 321 service to Colombo.
The duration of this flight is expected to be three hours
and we are planning to cruise
at 36,000 feet above mean sea level.
In the meantime make yourself comfortable.
Sit back and relax and enjoy SriLankan hospitality.
Once again, a very warm welcome on board UL405.
Thank you.
- [Sam] How many times you've done this captain?
- Plenty of times, I don't know.
Maybe several thousand times.
- [Sam] Oh-oh.
Do we expect lots of bumps and turbulence?
- Not much but about an hour into the flight
we can expect a brief period of turbulence
due to some weather over the Andaman islands
in the Indian ocean but afterwards
we can expect smooth flying conditions
all the way to the Colombo.
- [Roshan] Ayubowan, good afternoon ladies and gentlemen-
- Hello. - I'm your Cabin Manager-
- Cheers, have a champagne.
- Okay, thank you. - You're welcome.
- [Roshan] Rest of the crew a warm welcome
on board UL405 flight to Colombo.
- Good, off to a nice start.
321, regional business class.
Leg room is really good though.
So actually I found a problem on my seat.
I can feel the skeleton on the bones of the seats.
So, the padding is gone and now I'm sitting on something
which is rock solid
and not the cleanest aeroplane right now.
Seems like the aeroplanes are being used very heavily.
(soothing piano music)
Really sad, it feels like an aeroplane graveyard here.
Lots of 777s parked, A330,
and I hope it's not my last time seeing them,
I hope they come back to fly in the air.
(plane engine roaring)
(plane engine drowns out pilot)
(soft music)
- Hello. - Hello.
- What may I offer you, sir?
We have chicken Biryani and vegetarian.
- [Sam] I'll have a chicken Biryani.
- And what may offer you to drink?
- I'll have a coke please.
The seats actually recline really well.
They almost gone full flat.
I recommend the last row, row four,
because there's a bulkhead, there's no one behind you,
so you don't recline to anybody.
(upbeat music)
- Enjoy your meal, sir. - Thank you.
- [Stewardess] You like to have a glass
of red wine, white wine?
- I am okay today, thank you very much.
Well, the meal was really good actually, very colourful.
It was a one tray.
Everything on the one tray flavorful as well,
more flavorful than the Biryani I had on Singapore Airlines.
And I remember the good old days, 10 years ago,
I flew on SriLankan A340.
They used to have food buffet on the trolley.
You can pick and choose.
That's why I really like it and I really miss.
- [Stewardess] Would you like to have cup of Ceylon tea?
- [Sam] That's the signature, right?
- Yes. - I'd love to.
Yeah, please. - Okay.
- The Ceylon tea must be the signature trademark
of SriLankan Airlines.
Very nice tea.
- This is the meal that we serve in the economic class.
Chicken curry, that's non-vegetarian choice,
with the mixed vegetable curry and the yellow rice
and mixed vegetable salad.
(upbeat music)
- We are approaching Colombo now.
Flight time was short, only three hours.
There's some massive Cb clouds out there.
Looks like it's going to be a thunderstorm
or down pouring release of energy.
This seat here is reasonable.
Good recline
but I think if SriLankan Airlines want to up their game
they should consider fully flatbeds in business class
on the narrow body as well to have a consistent fleet.
And a lots of airlines nowadays are investing
in full flats in a narrow body now.
(plane engine roaring)
- [Radio Altimeter] 100.
50.
40.
30.
20, retard, retard.
Retard.
- We were flying trough lot of cloud,
say below 20,000 feet, on our approach to Colombo.
This region is currently affected by the last few weeks
of intermonsoonal weather.
So the fine weather is just coming up and this is
the start of the tourist season also, understandably.
- Thank you goodbye. - Ayubowan.
- See you again. - See you again.
- Bye-bye. - Bye.
- Cool, it's really, really warm here.
Like the captain said, half the time it's good.
Good time is spring, very green Sri Lanka.
Remember this terminal, I've been here
a couple of years ago.
Many times transit through Sri Lanka
due to a lot of cheap fares.
Let's see if there's any changes here.
- I'm going to India, Bangalore.
- [Sam] How long is your transit?
- About three hours. - Three hours?
Why you fly SriLankan Airlines?
- As of now, this was the only connection
to Thailand from India.
- Oh, there's no direct flight Bangalore to Bangkok?
- No, nothing as of now.
- [Sam] I see, I see.
How was your flight so far?
- It's good, very good.
- [Sam] Hey, how are you?
- I am good man, I am your big fan.
- Oh, really? - Yeah.
- [Sam] You came from my flight from Bangkok?
- Oh yes.
- [Sam] Where are you flying to?
- I'm flying to India.
- [Sam] To India as well, to Bangalore ?
- No. It's the south of India, called Kochi.
- Kochi. - Kochi.
- Kerala? - Yeah.
- All right, there you go, high five.
It's actually surprising to see a lot of people here
and I think this is the hub time transiting.
Lots of flight arriving and then onward to India.
I think that's SriLankan Airlines backbone business,
is taking passenger transiting through here.
A lot of passenger bound for India.
Hello, how are you?
- Welcome to the lounge. - Hello, nice to see you.
- We have the self service buffet over here
and the complementary bar over here
and the washroom over this way and free Wi-Fi.
(upbeat music)
- So the lounge has actually a perfect runway view.
I can see the A330 that's probably going to Dubai shortly.
There's a good food selection
but the lounge is quite dated.
I've been here 10 years ago, it's still the same.
I think they need some good new furniture's,
a bit of upgrade of a space.
You can clearly show
seeing the lounge is showing the age.
It's the spa still open?
- No sir, it's currently closed
due to the Corona situation?
We are not operating recently.
- [Sam] Hopefully it will be back.
- Yes.
- I think your uniform is a little bit different
to the one onboard, I noticed.
- Yeah.
- What is it different here?
- This is the Saree
and we are wearing with some peacock feathers in our Saree
and the uniform they are wearing onboard is a Kandyan Saree.
See you sir.
- See you, bye. - Have a pleasant flight.
- It's already dark when I came out of the lounge.
Airport became a lot quieter,
I think lots of flight departed.
Now I'm just heading to the gates
for the Dubai flight.
Hello. - Welcome onboard.
Ayubowan.
- Ayubowan. - Hi, nice to see you.
- Welcome aboard sir. - Thank you.
(upbeat music)
This is a lot better business class.
This is their flagship on the long haul 330.
121, all aisle access.
- Hi, my name is (indistinct).
Welcome onboard flight SriLankan 225.
It's a new aircraft Airbus 330 service
from Colombo to Dubai.
And this is my first officer.
- Hi.
- Her name is (indistinct).
Today the flight time would be 4:15 to Dubai.
We're able to cruise at 40,000 feet, that is our final level
and on route there's nothing significant weather forecasted.
So expecting smooth conditions.
Our speed will be Mach 0.812.
- [Sam] How many female pilots in SriLankan Airlines?
- We just have about 20.
I think 21 or 22 female pilots at the moment
and most of them are pretty young.
We have a couple of captains with us
and just about 21, 22 female pilots with SriLankan.
- Okay, I would like to know what you would like to eat
as also to drink.
- [Sam] What's the options you have thou?
- Well, we have the mains.
We have three choices.
We have chicken Kalupol curry.
- [PA] Welcome onboard SriLankan Airlines.
- And poached Barramundi which is fish
and the vegetarian choice which is the last choice.
- I'll have a Barramundi.
(plane engine drowns out pilot)
What's weird is when I asked
if they have a sanitizer or wipes,
they don't have it, they don't have any cleaning kits
or sanitizer kits.
And when they serve the Coke
they actually brought me a bottle
which is also very interesting.
- [Stewardess] Enjoy your meal sir.
- [Sam] Thank you.
- [Stewardess] Would you like to have some champagne
or white wine or red wine?
- Didn't really enjoy the meal.
The fish is a little bit fishy smell,
the salad, the dessert looks really simple.
It doesn't look like a business class meal.
I think on SriLankan Airlines, better stick with a curry.
They do really good curries.
While I was enjoying my cup of tea,
there's a fellow passenger, Angelo, came up to me
and he's actually a frequent flyer
on the SriLankan Airlines
and we chat about the flight experiences.
- Which is kind of getting inconsistent about the flight.
I feel like I'm flying with them for about
a couple of years now mainly on J class, business class,
and I feel like the service is a little bit degraded.
So on this flight I have bought economy ticket
and then I upgraded to business
by using the bid for business class programme.
So I paid around 500 Dirhams
and I upgraded to business class
so you just need to check the availability
or the occupancy of the business class seats
and then accordingly you can bid for the flight.
- I passed out after dinner and now waking up
and we're on descent into Dubai.
I did two flight from Bangkok to Colombo
and this one, Colombo Dubai,
I would prefer the first flight.
The service is a little bit better.
I think there's a little bit inconsistency
between the two flights.
Overall, I think SriLankan is a underrated airline.
It has really tremendous value.
The fares are very low as a oneworld member
so you can actually get lots of miles of status
to get your oneworld status.
And I hope they continue to improve
and to go to the next level.
- [Radio Altimeter] Minimum.
200.
100.
70.
60.
50.
40.
30.
20, retard, retard.
Nine.
Five.
- So when it comes to Dubai,
we had to call a couple of folks
because of the traffic is getting back in the Dubai again.
Well, I hope you had a good flight.
- Ayubowan. - Bye, thank you.
Thank you. See you, goodbye.
(upbeat music)