Lankan Airlines

Granted, I thought my odds were good, because as a guest reporter my cheap place had been provided free of charge by the airlines. After the escort had made a few telephone conversations to check that they were available, I had a new flight card in my hand: Place 1H, and I was on my way back to Melbourne in the front line of my businessclass.

When SriLankan Airlines returned to the heavens at the beginning of November after 15 years of being absent with regular non-stop services between Melbourne and Colombo, it became the fastest route from Australia to Sri Lanka. With about 55,000 inhabitants, Victoria has the largest Sri Lankan resident area. This 10-hour trip is about four shortes the alternative Singapore route.

Nearly six short years later, almost 40,000 passengers flew, with about 6500 seating places per year. Departures are from Melbourne at 16.22 every day and arrivals from Colombo at 10.22 every day. We' re taking you back at 12 noon. Eight o'clock, arrival in Melbourne at twelve forty. Airbus A330-200s were the most frequently used in 251 passengers in economy and 18 in executive seating.

It is not the newest plane in the airline's airline fleets and doing seatings does not provide the privacy of the "pod" configurations in more advanced airplanes. What is important - and the main thing I was so reluctant to find an upgraded - is that they have lying down bed bases. As soon as I had returned my refrigerated heated hand cloth to the kind, cyan-coloured, Sari-dressed cabin stewardess, I pushed the couch tab, raised my cover and shut my eye.

But on the Sri Lankan trip I tried a Sri Lankan poultryurry that was as delicious as anything I would have eaten on the floor. A tender procedure has been implemented by the carrier whereby up to 36 hrs before take-off, holders of seats in cruise seats can offer an on-line option to purchase an upgraded version of their ticket.

However, the great thing about this itinerary is not its seating or services, but its 10-hour length and its excellent connections to one of the most hot tourist spots at the moment and to further afield such as the Maldives an extra 1 hr from Sri Lanka. WITH AN EXTRA FOUR LESSONS?

During the four hour flight to Colombo, you can use the time you saved: This is one of the busiest retail areas in the Sri Lankan city. Sri Lanka's biggest open-air cinema, whose origins date back to 1876. It is a place of buddhistic adoration and one of the most important sanctuaries in Colombo. He traveled as a SriLankan Airlines visitor.