Getting to Sri Lanka from Aust

[RB]

I am doing some initial planning for a trip to Sri Lanka in late Jan/Feb 2012. We ( 2 adults) would initially leave from PQQ. From my early reading, it would seem the following would be available
1/ Air Asia-would need to get to OOL or Melbourne & both would require a nights stay on the way out & a stay in KUL LCC on the way out. The lie flats to KL look good for comfort-any experiences?
2/ We do have some Velocity points (around 40,000 each) & could boost that from Amex, Citi- looks like I would need to ring to check on using Malaysian for an award flight
3/Have very limited (around 15,000) in QF
4/Paid flights from SYD to CMB with Malaysian

Once in Sri Lanka we will be hiring a driver & car & that seems to mainly involve narrowing down the many options
Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Austman]

I've been to Colombo a few times. The last time was a couple of months ago.

Hiring a car with driver is a very wise move! Colombo traffic is quite an experience. Not sure about the rest of Sri Lanka...

CMB is one of the cheapest places to buy air tickets (ones that originate from CMB that is). So perhaps look into buying one-ways as well. I bought a one-way CMB-MEL in J on Cathay Pacific for LKR 123,600 (AUD 1,100.00) - bought on-line at cathaypacific.com I see they are still on offer but not for all dates. And economy class is about half that price.

 

[xt_20]

I am doing some initial planning for a trip to Sri Lanka in late Jan/Feb 2012. We ( 2 adults) would initially leave from PQQ. From my early reading, it would seem the following would be available
1/ Air Asia-would need to get to OOL or Melbourne & both would require a nights stay on the way out & a stay in KUL LCC on the way out. The lie flats to KL look good for comfort-any experiences?
2/ We do have some Velocity points (around 40,000 each) & could boost that from Amex, Citi- looks like I would need to ring to check on using Malaysian for an award flight
3/Have very limited (around 15,000) in QF
4/Paid flights from SYD to CMB with Malaysian

Don't have all the answers but the lie flat bed on D7 are very good for the price. I think of it as PE price, Y service/food, lie flat bed. Good if you want to sleep on the plane.
You can also transfer Amex to MH's Enrich -- I've done that before and the wait was about 5 days for me.

 

[Deewhy]

I've done SYD-CMB a couple of times using Singapore. Other options are Malaysian via KL or qantas to/from Singapore and then Cathay 710/711? via hkg/bkk/CMB. But you'll have to check the dates at operates. And may need a night in sin. Plus it may not be easy to book.... Check qantas site. Sometimes you can see the sin flights via qantas as well. Emirates for the CMB/sin legs is another option, check qantas again. But layover times are a bit lean on that one.

As for car and driver, as a guide you should be able to get one for $50 a day all inclusive of his lodging costs as he will travel where you go.

Fyi, All flights out of CMB to sin leave around midnight or 1am so, suggest you plan that last day well. Hanging around in 30+ degree heat late at night makes a long day.

What are your travel destinations?

Have fun with it!

 

[dajop]

Fyi, All flights out of CMB to sin leave around midnight or 1am so, suggest you plan that last day well. Hanging around in 30+ degree heat late at night makes a long day.

Not ALL flights. EK leaves early afternoon and UL (Sri Lanka Airlines) has an morning flight. EK works really well to/from MEL (less so from PQQ ) and advertises/sells it as throughfare from MEL, and it has short connections in SIN in both directions. The EK flights could also be used in conjunction with SQ flights to/from SYD with longer connections (~ 4 hrs in both directions) if willing to live with the risk of separate bookings.

 

[clifford]

My wife and I are flying to CMB (on the way to FCO/LGW) next month.

We are flying CBR-BNE (QF), OOL-KUL-SIN (D7/AK), SIN-CMB-DXB-FCO (EK), FCO-LGW (U2).

The EK schedule is quite good, as we can avail ourselves of the nice airport hotel at CMB for 6 hours while still flying direct to DXB. Doing the same on the way back.

And, please note I have actually done this before. I am EK Gold, so it's not just make believe.