On overnight hops from Asia to Australia, trying to get a good night’s sleep can be a challenge. For one thing, many flights are simply too short to squeeze in a full eight-hour snooze. But even on longer routes, like SriLankan Airlines’ services to Sydney and Melbourne, getting a blissful sleep requires a strategy… and it’s not guaranteed.
I’m no stranger to ‘red eye’ flights. In fact, I have them down to an art. They bring a rare chance to multitask while sleeping – getting from where I am to where I need to be, all while getting in my Zzzs. I actually have an ‘overnight flight ritual’, of sorts. When you travel as often as I do, it quickly becomes a mode of survival. After all, it’s hard to hit the ground running, if you’re yearning to hit the pillow!
I’ve tested my strategy on most major airlines, but an overnight flight on SriLankan Airlines has escaped me – until now. I find myself on SriLankan just a few days after Qantas axed its own Delhi-Melbourne direct flights. As it happens, that’s the exact route I need to fly, to get home after a conference.
Using Qantas Points, I manage to snag myself a Business Class seat from Delhi to Melbourne via Colombo instead. Booked two months in advance, the journey costs 104,000 Qantas Points plus 21,731 INR, or around AU$388. (After 5 August 2025, the base rate is 125,400 Qantas Points + co-pay.) Here’s how things panned out on that recent red eye leg home from Sri Lanka.
Qantas American Express Ultimate
The flight stats
Here’s what we’re up against on this sleep time SriLankan Airlines flight.
- Scheduled departure time from Colombo: 12:45am
- Actual departure time: 2:34am (1hr 49 mins late)
- Scheduled arrival time in Melbourne: 3pm
- Actual arrival time: 4:10pm (1 hr 10 mins late)
- Duration: 9 hrs 6 mins
In terms of time zone, Sri Lanka is 4.5 hours behind Melbourne. This means the scheduled departure time from Colombo is already 5:15am local time in Melbourne. With the delay, it means not leaving Sri Lanka until 7:04am local time in Melbourne. It seems, this isn’t just an overnight flight, it’s a ‘should have already been in bed’ flight.
On this service, a ‘jet lag resetting’ sleep will already be elusive. Mix in the additional delay, and we’re not off to a good start. I’m curious whether this kind of delay is typical, so I pull some flight records.
At the time of writing (after the flight), the day’s Colombo-Melbourne service is cancelled completely. Looking at the seven flights before that, two ran on time. To SriLankan’s credit, these two flights arrived early (one by 21 minutes, and another by 11 minutes). As for the other five daily flights… all late. Delays range from a modest 36 minutes to almost three hours. When the scheduled departure time is already approaching sunrise at the destination, that delay makes it even harder to manage jet lag.
But, back to my flight. The numbers are working against me, but I’ll try my best to get some sleep on this SriLankan Airlines hop!
Sleeping on SriLankan Airlines: the seat
Given the departure time from Sri Lanka, you’ve probably eaten dinner hours earlier while out and about in Colombo. Or, perhaps, on your connecting flight – as I did while hopping across from Delhi. This makes the lounge in Colombo more of a waiting place, rather than a destination for dining – for passengers on this after-midnight service, anyway. It’s time for bed, so let’s jump to the seat.
On SriLankan’s refreshed Airbus A330s, Business Class adopts the standard 1-2-1 layout. In fact, the seat should look familiar to regular high flyers. It’s the Cirrus seat by Saffran (formerly Zodiac Aerospace). This is a common design adopted by many other global airlines, including Cathay Pacific on its own Airbus A330s.
It’s an older style of seat that covers the core needs, without going above and beyond. For instance, there’s no privacy door. By choice of SriLankan Airlines, there’s also no mattress topper – and the seat itself its leather, which isn’t great for direct sleeping. I fashion a bed by draping and folding the blanket into a C-shape. This allows it to double as a duvet and as a mattress. It’s making the best of the situation. Pyjamas are BYO. I presumed as much, and planned ahead.
While the soft touches can be improved, I’ve found one big upside. Not only are there individual air vents, but there are two adjustable vents per passenger. I’m excited to see this, as I often observe many of the Asian carriers dialling up the heat during the flight. With no individual air, the cabin becomes quite unpleasant. But here, I have two separate jets of cool air – this part is perfect.
Sleep service on SriLankan Airlines
For a flight as horridly timed for sleep as this one, I’d hoped the SriLankan Airlines inflight service would be geared around maximising rest. At the end of the day, that’s why many people book Business Class over Economy. But then, I see the inflight menu. There are plans for a three-course dinner, inflight snacks after that, and then a full breakfast.
In a word, nope. Not today. On a plane bound for Melbourne, who is sitting down for dinner after 5:15 am local Melbourne time? (Or, on this delayed service, later than 7am local Melbourne time?) Staff seem surprised that I’d rather sleep than stuff my face with a heavy dinner #2 at breakfast time. Surely, I’m not the odd one here? Why are people eating second dinner, just because it’s there?
I still enjoy a juice before departure for something nicer than water. But after that, it’s sleep time. The crew ask what I’d like to eat before landing, and I make my choice. I figure, this way, I’ll get as much rest as possible. The seat is reclined… the air vents are cranked open… the eye mask goes on. Finally, it’s nap time.
After a doze, a gentle shake of my arm wakes me up. Breakfast time – yay! I’ve had a great sleep… or so I think at the time. A check of my phone reveals that we’re still three hours away from landing when breakfast is served. Whyyyyyy?! The passengers who’ve gorged on dinner #2 barely 240 minutes earlier aren’t hungry yet. The passengers who are sleeping want more rest. Nobody is happy.
I could understand the early wake-up in Economy – there are many more people to feed, and that all takes time. But flying Business Class overnight is all about sleep. It’s the reason people pay far more to have a bed on the plane, rather than an upright seat. Most airlines understand this – and leverage that to push more sales for their premium seats. It seems, SriLankan Airlines hasn’t yet made this discovery.
As for breakfast, the Sri Lankan milk rice trio is delicious. But, even so, it could have easily been served 90 minutes before landing. On the coffee front, filtered brews are the order of the day. A latte will have to wait until Melbourne. At least, Australia’s coffee capital is our destination.
The sleep verdict
This SriLankan Airlines flight makes it tricky to get a proper sleep – and that’s from its schedule alone. Its late evening departure gets awkwardly close to breakfast on the ground at the destination. Effectively, passengers are ‘pulling an all nighter’ to get on board. Then, the service assumes they’ll want a big meal, right before having another solid meal. As for sleep? Go with the flow and you’d be lucky to get a few hours in between.
By skipping second dinner, I manage to get around four hours of sleep. That’s better than nothing, but it could have been more. For that matter, the quality of rest could be greater with a more comfortable bed. An Economy-style blanket over a leather-clad seat helps a little, but it isn’t the most comfortable. Breakfast also doesn’t need to be served three hours before landing. I hadn’t thought to enquire about the meal timing, as three hours prior just isn’t the done thing in Business.
Next time, clearly, I’ll skip the meals and ask for a croissant and coffee to be kept aside until closer to landing. I can eat on the ground, after all. But I mentioned my ‘overnight sleep game plan’ above. So what did I do to help reset my jet lag? Well, after getting home at around 6pm (after baggage, immigration and traffic), I forced myself to stay up. And, have a nice dinner – the kind the airline was trying to serve at the beginning of the day.
I then went to bed a little earlier than usual to get a proper sleep – and more of it. Then, straight back to the office the next day, to hit the ground running. That helped cure my jet lag, but I still lost the day of the flight napping and in ‘zombie mode’. At least I remembered to pack pyjamas, to make the most of that quick doze.
In short, SriLankan has the bones of the right hardware in place. Some tweaks to the passenger experience – or, knowing to opt-out of it completely before heading to bed – would deliver a better night’s rest.
Also reviewed:
- SriLankan Airlines Serendib Lounge, Colombo
- SriLankan Airlines Airbus A330 Business Class (Melbourne – Colombo)
- SriLankan Airlines Airbus A330-200 Economy (Colombo – Singapore)
- How to book a Classic Flight Reward seat with Qantas Points
All photography by Chris Chamberlin, who travelled at Point Hacks’ expense.
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