Srilankan Airlines — Flight cancelled and no hotel accommodation SAFETY CONCERN for women travellers in Srilanka

I booked my 2way flight via Srilankan airline starting on 25 August from Sydney to Kochi transiting at Srilanka, and returning on 18th September from Kochi to Sydney. The Srilanka airline team kept reminding me that I am eligible for a hotel accommodation since my layover is more than 8 hours for my Sydney to Kochi flight.The flight cost me 1145.70 aud (737 usd). As per the website I am eligible for a 2 way hotel accommodation based on my transit time.

I sent an email to [protected]@srilankan.com and they sent me the below email in response.
“
Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for choosing Sri Lankan Airlines!

Kindly note that your hotel accommodation request has been accepted and updated upon the relevant booking. The passenger will be receiving an email confirmation with a briefing of the hotel service within 24 hours of the flight departure.

--
Yours Sincerely,
Shazny Safry.
Sri Lankan Airlines Reservations
”
Upon reaching the airport at the reservation counter, the lady at the counter asked me to step aside and kept pushing the idea on me ‘that I am not eligible for a hotel accommodation as I didn’t receive a confirmation email with an stpc number’. I was not even aware what an stpc number was and I insisted I need a hotel accommodation as I didn’t make any other arrangements since I received the above email.

The lady at the counter was rude and made me wait 3 hours at the counter. And then filled in a form and told me they will give a hotel accommodation. I was sent to the hotel in a vehicle without a proper guard around 1.55 am at night after all that wait. I had to travel close to 30 minutes in a van with fear in an unknown country. I could have been raped and no one would know.

The hotel CATAMARAN was closed and the driver had to wake up the hotel receptionist who was sleeping. The room didn’t have a working tap in the bathroom. The tap came off as I opened the tap.

I barely got 1.5 hour at the hotel to take rest as I had to travel back to catch the international flight to Kochi. No meals or refreshments were provided. When I complained about the experience at the airport, they told it is none of their concern and that I may write to customer care if it mattered to me.

To top it all- My return flight from Kochi to Srilanka got cancelled. My flight time changed from 10.55 pm at night to 10.20 am in the morning. This increased my transit time from 2 to 12 hours.
When I called Srilankan Kochi office, they told me there’s no flight with a transit time lesser than that as I need to catch the next flight to Sydney.

I read the fine prints on
https://www.srilankan.com/en_uk/plan-and-book/plan-for-flight-delay#ContactUs.
And found that they give hotel accommodation in case of flight cancellation and long delays.

1. I made a call to support centre number
+[protected]. The number doesn’t exist.
2. I made 3 calls to Kochi centre on [protected]. They said they are helpless and I need to contact Melbourne office.
3. I then made 4 international calls to Melbourne on +[protected], the last call lasting up to 1 hour. Please be mindful that these calls cost me a fortune. They kept telling me to call them again and then hung up on me. The people I contacted are Yushna Siraj, Sahan Perera and Rakheeb.

In the last call with Rakheeb, he mentioned I’m not eligible for hotel accommodation as I used one hotel accommodation service (despite letting them know the issues I faced trying to avail hotel accommodation). I told them specifically I’m trying to avoid the issue I faced during my last visit to Srilanka.

I sent multiple emails to reservation teams and
[protected]@srilankanau.com.au.

I am unable to understand what I am supposed to do here to sort the hotel accommodation matter.

I need to make an official complaint to the concerned officials in Australia and India raising this safety concern I faced in Srilanka. I cannot leave the matter of safety that I faced in Srilanka as silly and I feel obliged to let people know the importance of this.

I have attached my itinerary number 6ZZ235 before and after revision of the flight timing.

Note: the site
https://www.airport.lk/contact_us/complaints is not working at the last submission button. The phone number
[protected]/[protected]
is not redirecting me to the concerned department

Please assist.