Garuda Indonesia

GA321 SUB-CGK on July 26. What a great chance to have B747-400 on this short one and a half hour hop. FA service is attentive and professional as usual with Garuda the food offered contained only a snack box and no PTV but still manageable on this short trip. Seat pitch is wider than their A333's and load factor seemed very good in Y class. No wonder Garuda deploys this jumbo jet for this leg.

I flew the newest Garuda 777-300ER in Business from Amsterdam to Jakarta. Long flight (>13hours) but even better as a stopover via the Emirates or Singapore. The newest Garuda business seat is largely comparable (the same seat by 95%) with Etihad and Air Berlin business seats. However Garuda inflight entertainment is much better (incl. on-air broadcasting which gives me the possibility to follow world cup games live during the flight). The seat in general is very comfortable and equipped with all state of the art amenities but too short for people >180cm for a comfortable sleep (But it is a matter of opinion). Service was friendly and the food quite good (three choices Indonesian European and Japanese style). All in all a very good performance of Garuda Indonesia with a very competitive product on the new 777-300ER.

Waiting to fly from Denpasar to Melbourne travelling business class. Temporary lounge at airport. Not enough seats for passengers. No toilets and had to queue at ladies toilets where there were only 5 toilets for thousands of passengers all leaving around the same time of night. Toilets were dirty no toilet paper no hand towels with overflowing bins. Not impressed at all and not sure any of the staff understood English.

GA089 Amsterdam - Jakarta. This non stop service is what you could expect: staff efficient discrete and attentive to details. The seat (business and first) is extremely top quality. The amenities are excellent. The short transit in AMS is much more convenient.

CGK-PLM with Boeing 737-800 in economy class. Good on time performance cheap ticket prices and friendly cabin staff. I enjoyed flight because of the AVOD and the delicious snacks. I will fly with Garuda again.

Flying GA818 on July 19 CGK-KUL. Checking in with Garuda still proves to be the most convenient at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Check-in staff were welcoming and the process was fast. The flight itself was enjoyable with two options of hot meals. I chose chicken with fries and it was okay though portion-wise it's below average. The cabin crews were accommodating and attentive. There was in-flight entertainment but it was very limited probably because it's just a two-hours flight. In addition the flight was with PK-GFN the Garuda's 737-800 with classic livery.

GA 828 (CGK-SIN) and GA 831 (SIN-CGK) both flights departed on time cabin crews were friendly as usual food on both sectors was delicious but the portions were too small plenty of drink choices. Cabin and toilet were clean. No complaints with the service.

Jakarta-Jogyakarta-Balikpapan-Surabaya and Denpasar-Jakarta. I salute Garuda inflight staff and at most points the ground staff too. I had great flights and was impressed by the City check in offices. Always a smiling face and attentive in all ways. Red carpet on Bombardier flights and the fact that big cabin baggage was handles with care was impressive too. Food on all domestic flights good.

AMS-GCK was on airbus with a stop in Abu Dhabi. Crew were very accommodating Return flight was on 777-300 non stop and almost 14 hours. Again very attentive and kind crew. However for the length of the flight meal portions were very small. However there was a chance to get chips and light snacks. Inflight entertainment was good but not what was presented in the magazine. This has been a constant problem with Garuda.

This was my first time flying GA in their business cabin for the domestic route. GA 164 10 July 2014 I went to my hometown Padang using GA 737-800. No delays. The cabin atmosphere was nice FA's were warm and helpful. They gave 2 options for meals and it was just ok. Luggage handling was done very well.