Garuda Indonesia

First time travelling with Garuda Indonesia GA712 SYD-JKT (15 Dec 2012) and return GA 713 JKT-SYD (25 Jan 2013). Check-In Boarding and Inflight Services good. (Little bit unorganised at CGK). The only disappointment - both sectors missed out the pre-ordered Child meal even though it was booked and printed on our tickets. The food portion a bit small and tasteless. Entertainment response slow on the older A330-200. Onboard immigration facilities is great. Save a lot of time and hassle on the long queue at CGK. Great improvement on punctuality both sectors arrived at destination early. Keep up the good work.

HKG-DPS-PER-CGK-HKG. Considering I was flying to Australia via Bali during festive high season Dec 22nd (had to stop one night for next connection) the price of USD 1750 return all inclusive could not be beaten. It was not flat bed but cradle seat instead it was quite comfortable though. Service was efficient and courteous. IFE was sufficient on their touch screen personal TV. The choice of menu was great I always choose Indonesian cuisine. Toiletry bag headphones and menu distributed upon arrival plus the welcome drinks. All sectors had the same plane (12 seats in business class) I must say I was impressed by the whole experience take off and landing were smooth and on time. If their prices continue to be this reasonable I am more than happy to fly with them again.

CGK-NRT with Airbus A330-200. I tried Garuda the first time in 2004 I was impressed by the cabin improvement and innovation. Personal screens featuring AVOD nice new FA uniform and brand new economy class seats. Overall experience is good.

CGK-PER vv via DPS with B737-800NG. Flight departed on time in the morning around 6 am from CGK. Check in was smooth. Inflight service was great and the cabin looked clean and tidy. On the return flew B737-800NG the service given was as good as usual. Will definitely fly Garuda again!

JKT-DPS-SIN. Flight to Denpasar from Jakarta left on time and cabin service was fine. Flight to Singapore from Denpasar delayed by 4 hours because of the late arrival of the plane. I find this unacceptable because this particular sector which leaves Denpasar at 7.05 pm is codeshared with KLM and SQ. The plane had to serve the Jakarta-Yogyakarta-Denpasar sector before flying to Singapore. It could not land in Yogyakarta because of bad weather and had to be diverted to Surabaya where it waited for 2 hours until the weather was clear. Then it flew to Yogyakarta before heading to Denpasar. I arrived in Singapore at 1.20 am on Monday instead of 9.20 pm on Sunday.

CGK-DPS-MEL-CGK last December. A330-200 was bright while the A330-300 looks tired. The seat pitch and choices of IFE are decent for medium haul trips. The food was ok but the portions were a bit disappointing. The crew were ok. Check in staff in MEL were fantastic and efficient.

PER-DPS return. As per previous reviews - your Garuda experience depends on where you get on the plane. We were once again delivered a mediocre check-in at Perth International on the early afternoon flight on the 27th of December. They are more interested in checking in economy passengers at the business class check- in. When someone at economy check-in waved us over it resulted in a long very delayed check-in because the clerk had to keep walking over to the business class check-in for lounge passes etc. The Qantas lounge ran out of food when we got there and when I brought that to the receptionist's attention I was informed that there would be more food in 5 minutes. The 5 minutes turned out to be an hour. Normal chaotic boarding followed - no priority boarding for business class. Service on board was good except the cabin staff allowed economy class passengers to use the business class toilet and did not even try to prevent it. Back to Perth on 3 January early morning flight. They forgot to load the menus and we had to ask them for drinks during the flight - it was not offered on their own accord. Garuda is starting to drop the ball and as their prices are not very competitive anymore I think that I would start looking at other airlines' premium class offering to Bali. Garuda's inconsistent service offering in their premium class on this route is just not worth the money anymore.

GA716 CGK-MEL 11 Jan 2013. Flight departed on schedule but arrived in Melbourne 30 minutes late. Clean and tidy cabin polite and friendly FAs. It was a red-eye flight and I found it a bit strange that the FAs did not circulate the cabin with water and light beverages overnight as they usually do. The IFE had a fair choice of current movies as well as a good selection of short features. Food was adequate although the portion was a little on the small side. All in all a decent and comfortable flight.

CGK-GTO Economy-Class. Flew on clean and well maintained B738. Cabin crew were very efficient and attentive. Had two choice of hot meals and it was tasty yet the portion was slightly below competitors. I am a sliver GFF member had excess baggage around 10kg and the check-in staff didn't charge me for it. The minor complaint is they do not offer a pillow and blanket for domestic flights and in-flight entertainment has not been updated in 2 years. Still recommend!

CGK-PEK-CGK. Planes are fairly new thus you will get consistency in terms of product offering. This route to Beijing they use Airbus 330-200 both flights left on time. Outbound leg left late at night and arrived in Beijing Capital early in the morning. Service is great on both legs FA's are friendly and very helpful to passengers meals served is good and in adequate portion. Outbound leg IFE offering is not too good with limited selection of movies but inbound leg to Jakarta they've changed the movies offering which is very good and I am able to enjoy 4 movies on the AVOD during this 7 hours flight. Will fly with them again.