Review of SriLankan Airlines flight Ad Dammam → Colombo in Economy

Hey guys, welcome to another flight report.

This time I am travelling from Dammam to Kuala Lumpur with a short hop from Colombo, as there is no direct flight to KL from Dammam. SriLankan Airlines offered the cheapest price with only 1:55 hour transit time.

Check-in/Immigration
I arrived at the airport in around 20:00. The check-in area was crowded but it was moving along very smoothly. After being on line for about half an hour I checked-in my luggage and got my boarding passes.



The Immigration and security check were very crowded and very slow. My gate wasn't too far from the security check area, when I reached there it was about 21:30. The flight was announced 10 minutes later and people started to line up in front of the desks.


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Aircraft
Airline: SriLankan Airlines (ALK/UL)
Aircraft: Airbus A330-200
Registration: 4R-ALJ
The aircraft had two classes, the economy class cabin layout was 2-4-2 and business was 2-2-2.



Boarding
I went to board the aircraft few moments later but got stuck in a long line. But the line was clearing up very smoothly. I boarded the aircraft around 22:00 and proceeded to my seat to find out it was already taken by an old man, who was supposed to sit next to me. I said him he is on the wrong seat and to give my seat back, but he pleased me to let him sit there. I knew I will be losing my window seat but still gave him. So my seat is now 31C instead of 31A.

All seat are equipped with IFE screens and has a decent leg room.


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Taxi/Take off
The flight was a bit delayed, probably because of the slow immigration/security check. The pushback was at 22:31 and take-off at 22:42.



Meals
20 minutes after take off drinks were offered along with the meals card. I had the orange juice while the old man next to me had whisky.



Another 15 minutes later the meals were served, I had the Chicken Kalu Pol Curry with white potato curry and country rice.



The rice and chicken were decent, the potato didn't taste good. But the cake was delicious! I don't know why I like dessert on flights so much.

On-Board
Headsets and blankets were provided before meals. I used the headset to watch a movie during the first hour of flight, which I didn't finish watching as I slept right after the meal.


Landing/Arrival
30 minutes before landing the flight crew started to prepare the cabin. The duration was announced on the PA. We started the decent from 39000 feet and landed in a warm Sri Lankan morning at 05:52. As I was a transit passenger I had choice to either go to my next gate or spend some time at the departure hall. As my next flight was after 2 hours, I proceeded to the departure hall where I spent 1 hour. My connecting flight to KUL was on the the same aircraft and from the same gate which I arrived.


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Thanks for reading the report, looking forward to post more reports in the near future.