SriLankan Airlines review by Chaminda 2014-07-17

One of the worst ever!!! On 1st of July I travelled from Colombo to Loas via Bangkok. When checking in at the Airport in Colombo I was informed that they could only check my baggage through to Bangkok and I would be required to collect my baggage and recheck it through to Laos. This requires me to go through immigration pick my bag up, come back through immigration and check the bag in as if it was a new flight. BUT I could not do this as I have no visa to enter Thailand. I explained this but they insisted that they have no choice. Since I was carrying only 12kg as luggage and no hand luggage, I asked him to allow me to carry my bag in the cabin which for most airlines would not be a problem especially considering I was the highest tier in the OneWorld frequent flier program and the flight was nearly empty. In response he said he can allow me to take a maximum of 10kg and that I would need to dump 2kg worth of baggage. So I had three options 1. not fly 2. lose my baggage in Bangkok 3. throw away 2kg worth of my belongings I spoke to the shift manager who simply did not have the initiative to find a solution to the problem. He did not offer a single solution, he was not apologetic and showed no concern or intelligence. I fly very frequently for work. I have travelled in remote parts of Africa on small regional airlines and I have never faced this problem before. Most of all I have never dealt with such incompetent staff who simply have no desired to solve a problem. Because of the frequent delays and aging aircrafts I usually don't but this time I decided to travel on Sri Lankan as I fly Oneworld, Never again though! EDITORS COMMENT: The need to connect through Bangkok with a transit visa is not airline specific but rather a rule for flights from certain countries