Garuda Indonesia

GA719 MEL-DPS 17/2/14. Flight empty with only 6 of 36 in business. Check in took minutes with no other passengers waiting. Qantas Business lounge in Melbourne great place to relax with good breakfast selection. Flight departed right on schedule and arrived 30 minutes early. On board service was extremely attentive. Amenity kit contained useful items. Food was just OK with lunch served and chips chocolates and cup noodles offered throughout the flight as snacks. Toilets spotless. Good entertainment selection. Very comfortable seat not quite horizontal but by far the best option out of the three airlines plying this route and although an early start from Melbourne we checked into our Ubud hotel at 2pm so it really gives you that extra bit of time to enjoy Bali. No on board immigration on ex Melbourne flights. Also our preferred seats were marked as occupied during on line check in and were empty so if you don't get the seat you prefer try asking at check in for them. In summary great seat and service good IFE OK food and wine best option for this route in business class and definitely recommend.

Flew from SYD-CGK (GA713) CGK-PDG (GA162) PDG-CGK (GA163) CGK-SYD (GA 712). For international flights we got offered either orange juices or apple juices. The meal was really tasty! We also received a light meal (ie. small bread) and an ice cream at the beginning of the flight and just before the captain commencing the descend. As for the domestic on one of my flight from PDG-CGK we even got free in-flight entertainment (I never found any free in-flight entertainment during other domestic flights). The other highlights are: the immigration on board from Sydney the spacious legroom the extra baggage allowance (we got 30kg whilst most of the other airline only allow us to carry 23kg) the very friendly flight attendants a lot of new movies on their in-flight entertainment 24/7 customer services (in Indonesia) and the on-time flight schedule.

SIN-CGK GA829 on Feb 11th. A smooth flight operated by 737-800NG with comfortable seats nice and smiling crew members and on time departure and arrival. Price was 50% lower than SQ and this is why I chose Garuda. On the minus side: they ran out of chicken when they got to my row so I did not have lunch (I cannot eat seafood): the hostess was very apologetic and try to get me something else even though at the end it was not possible but I did not starve during a 1.5 hr trip. In Jakarta the plane was parked at a remote stand forcing us to have a rather long bus ride. On the plus side: check-in at Changi was a breeze as was going through immigration and customs in Soekarno-Hatta and seat pitch and softness is above average for economy. I have to mention that I had troubles when trying to buy the ticket in their website as the page got frozen when processing the payment: and after trying several times I had to give up and purchase it through an agency at a higher price. Anyway considering the level of service and the value for money I will probably consider to fly with them again in the future.

I was flew DPS-CGK return. GA 425 (DPS-CGK) January 30 with Boeing 737-800 and GA 416 (CGK-DPS) February 4 with Airbus A330-300. There was no delay and the in-flight meals are not too special but the stewardesses was very friendly to passengers. For the entertainment touch screen not sensitive and I hope the entertainment can be improved to make the operation of IFE easy.

Just returned from GA713 to SYD to CGT - and GA 714 DPS-SYD a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Couldn't fault anything- comfortable flat bed set- excellent food and wine and very friendly cabin crew. Garuda's business class product is now amongst the best. The wines were especially good and service and presentation excellent. Entertainment is a little bit limited compared to some other airlines but still had some good movies/programs.

JOG-CGK. GA217. Early boarding brand new aircraft with Boeing sky interior comfortable seat and large seat pitch. Friendly FA and the food and beverages weren't bad. Landing on-time at CGK. But sat about 35mins. On the aircraft due to crowded airport. Overall the flight was excellent but very disappointing airport.

GA89 AMS-AUH-CGK: No online check-in possible in Netherlands resulting in bad seats. When drinks were served we asked for a red wine which was not possible they said only served with meals. IFE missing Flight Info channel. Overall performance mediocre to bad. GA88 CGK-AUH-AMS: 65 mins delay - arriving at AUH we were told to stay in aircraft during cleanup and refuelling sat for 90 mins in parked aircraft while there was time enough to get out and stretch legs. Same wine problem as in GA89 but wine was served during breakfast. Never again.

On Saturday October 12th 2013 we arrived 3 hours before our planned departure to Hong Kong on GA860 only to be told that the plane was delayed however they did not say that it would be 6+ hours delay. Check in was chaotic to say the least and customer service could not be found. After 1 hour we were allowed to check in so we proceeded to temporary lounge which was over flowing with people and nowhere to sit. Tried to follow up with Garuda Customer service department upon our return to Jakarta however that is a challenge in itself.

CGK-NRT-CGK on their new Boeing 777-300ER outbound to Tokyo on a red-eye flight comfy seat with adequate pitch improved AVOD with more movies selections breakfast is served prior to landing service is good and able to catch some sleep during the flight. Inflight wifi is available and live tv option on the iFE. Flight arrived earlier than scheduled in Narita. Outbound flight leaves Narita at 12 noon welcome drink is now Evian water no longer Juices snacks and continuous drink service is served prior to lunch lunch has western and Japanese option ice cream is served 1 hour before landing for in between meal full flight service is excellent FA's friendly and cheerful flight landed on time and really liked their on board immigration process thus its a breeze upon arriving at Jakarta airport as we do not have to queue for immigration.

GA884 CGK-NRT 24 December 2013. Check in at Terminal 2 Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK). I didn't have to queue up for check in because I use GFF Gold Card and I get a lounge invitation for Garuda Indonesia Executive Lounge. I didn't have to queue up for the immigration - great plus. Boarding and pushback on time. Take off and landing on time.