What is Garuda Indonesia's First Class worth?

Two years ago, we had the pleasure of discovering Garuda Indonesia’s business class on long-haul flights, even though we only knew the Indonesian airline on medium-haul flights. And we were delighted. This week I tried Garuda Indonesia’s First Class. So what is it worth? (I remind you for the anecdote because in my entourage many people were surprised when I told them that Garuda Indonesia is not an air curiosity from a developing country but an airline rated 5 stars by Skytrax, rating thatonly one European airline – Lufthansa – has managed to obtain).

The genesis of the discovery of the Garuda First Class

While I was planning my May vacation, I had established the following specifications: drop-off point in Asia (the idea being to go to Cambodia) and avoid Air France because you know your product by heart and that varying points of view is good (and I’m not even talking about the strikes). Anyway,I found a fare on Garuda in Business Class from London to Bangkok at around 1200 pounds. I jumped at the chance, only to find out that I could bid on an upgrade to First Class on the London-Jakarta segment. I bet a little less than 200 euros (considering the price of the original ticket I had some margin) and learn the day before the trip that my upgrade was accepted.

During our previous trip in business class we wondered, given the quality of the service and the food, almost at a first class level, what the First class could offer more. This is what we are going to discover (or not) in the continuation of this post.

The Garuda First Class experience in Heatrow: yes for the people, no for the rest

In case of an upgrade at the bidding, it is not possible to check in online at Garuda, you have to go to the counter. So 3 hours before departure. I arrive on time but have to wait for all the check-in staff to finish their brief and be lined up to greet the customer before the counter opens. Anyway I am the 1st in the First Class line and finally get my sesame: a boarding pass and a fast track card for the arrival in Jakarta (which we will see that it is totally useless).

I am asked if I want to be called by my first or last name during my flight. Incongruous for Europeans but totally usual for Asians. So I will be “Mr Bertrand” for the next few hours. And the staff will never fail to comply.

An agent escorts me to the fast track for immigration and security checks and then to the lounge. Everything happens with the greatest efficiency in a few minutes I am airside. My companion then takes me to the “Lounge N°1” used, among others, by Garuda for its premium passengers. After a little walk in corridors for the least austere, we arrive at destination.

I was then put in the hands of a person from the lounge who would be responsible for my stay in the lounge until my Garuda companion came back to pick me up for boarding.

The lounge really doesn’t look like much. Especially since it looks easily crowded during rush hour (this picture was taken after the peak time when it was largely empty.

The buffet does not contribute to the charm of the place.

Fortunately, a private area is dedicated to the First Class passengers of the airlines using this lounge.

I was offered a treatment (for a fee) which I declined.

In addition to the buffet, First Class passengers have a hot food menu that they can order at their convenience.

Austere but it has the merit to exist. I order a “Chicken Panang” which is served to me very quickly, accompanied by a glass of Rioja.

The dish is very tasty and is quickly eaten. I would not order anything else, knowing that the service on board was going to be copious.

The person in charge of the First passengers asks me if I want her to get me something from the buffet…which I politely decline, the aspect of the said buffet not having convinced me. I’ll settle for a few glasses of Rioja and sparkling water while waiting to board.

I take the opportunity to stroll around a bit: the lounge has a few more relaxing and private areas for all its guests, which I suspect will be quickly privatized as soon as the number of “VIP” passengers increases.

During all this time the nice person in charge of taking care of me does not stop, with a smile, to ask me if I need something.

At the scheduled time to leave the lounge, no Garuda escort in sight. The staff member at the lounge told me that the flight was delayed and that she would come and pick me up in due time, so there was no need to make me wait at the gate. One hour delay confirmed by the notice boards.

The lounge is closing but I am invited to stay until my flight boards.

Finally , the escort comes to pick me up and accompanies me to the gate. It’s the beginning of a stroll in the not so friendly corridors of Heatrow’s Terminal 3 and of a discussion with my escort. She asks me without being convinced my opinion on the lounge, and my answer can only be “the staff is adorable, the service is not worth a second-rate business lounge”, to which she silently nods. I understand that it is difficult for Garuda to have its own lounge like Emirates at the same terminal (question of volume) but they could deal with other partners…

We talk about the airlines, the experiences of flying other airlines…which keeps us busy until the boarding gate. We cut the lines lightly and go up the line of the passengers already engaged in the jetway. She leaves me at the entrance of the aircraft where I am taken in hand by the cabin crew.

Mixed beginning of experience: a caring, friendly and helpful staff on the one hand but a below average lounge on the other hand, even for a business class lounge. So for a First Class lounge… It is obvious that it is very difficult for an airline to offer the same level of service away from its base as at home, especially for a service that concerns less than 10 passengers per day (the example of Air France with a La Première lounge in Paris that is among the best lounges in the world and the very debatable JetQuay lounge in Singapore is a good illustration of this), but I think that Garuda can do much better. My return trip being in business class I will unfortunately not be able to test the First Class lounge of Garuda in Jakarta on which I heard only praises.

Anyway, here I am on the plane.

Discovery of the Garuda First Class cabin

I am accompanied to my seat in 2A.

The seat itself is not revolutionary, for a First Class product I mean. It is the same seat as on Air France in the Première cabin, but in a less “reworked” version than on the French airline. (I precise that the aircraft is a Boeing 777-300ER)

Air France has chosen to close its “suites” with a curtain that goes up to the ceilingand totally isolates the passenger when it is closed, Garuda has chosen to keep the product in the most traditional version and a “hard” wall and sliding doors.

Advantages: a real feeling of isolation even when the doors are open.

The downside: once the doors are closed, we are not totally “locked in” and when a passenger decides to open his window blind while we want to sleep in, we can see the rays of light starting to illuminate the cabin above us. Exactly what I had felt during my flight in First Class on Singapore Airlines in the A380.

There are 2 rows of First so 8 seats. the cabin makes a good impression.

Notable point: there is no luggage compartment above the window seats, so we share the aisle ones. But this is anecdotal: with a maximum of 8 passengers in First there is no need for more room.

In terms of storage, there is a storage box in which you will also find the noise-reducing headphones and the remote control.

The remote control is a well-known model that does not call for any particular comment except that we can expect today more advanced things and tactile interfaces, especially in First.

Ah in fact of touch, we have a beautiful removable touch screen …

Which only allows you to adjust the seat, the lighting and the massage function of the seat. In short,it’s a bit of a useless gadget and not really intuitive and pleasant to use at times. I would have liked that it could be used as a second screen or to be able to display the flight tracking while a movie is playing on the main screen.

I noticed the USB ports for charging mobile devices, but nothing for plugging in my laptop (unless I didn’t find it but not having a glaring need for it I didn’t look any further).

The crew immediately takes care of me. My jacket is put on a hanger and goes to my personal locker in the partition of the suite.

I am introduced to the operation of the seat. Menu and drinks list are already there as well as all the necessary forms for my arrival in Jakarta…with a pen (how many times, even in first class, do you have to run after a staff member to get a pen 10 min before landing…)

I will also be given a voucher to take advantage of the free wifi (it is not free in the other classes, including business).

So, the dinner menu…

And the drinks.

As far as drinks are concerned, it looks more like a good business class menu than a First class one, but then again…

The comfort kit is also waiting for me.

Quality products but the bare essentials, nothing more. Here again it is in the upper level of business class but I have seen better in first class.

The flight attendant in charge of my part of the cabin brings me a pair of slippers in my size (real ones, not disposable one-size-fits-all “slippers”, a rare thing). No need to bend down: she takes care of removing your laces herself. Then comes the pajamas. She asks me my size and takes it out of a plastic bag in front of me to put it on a hanger in the locker. The ceremony and the packaging may be a little cheap compared to others and it is certain that the product is not the same quality as the Air France or Singapore Airlines pajamas. I’m not sure he’ll have a career with me after this flight.

Barely time to breathe and I am asked what I would like as an aperitif. It will be the Billecart-Salmon rosé, which will come with the traditional oshibori and some kind of hot peanuts with a mellow heart. Delicious. Champagne will be served twice before takeoff.

Catering in Garuda’s First Class: Excellent.

After take-off, the chef will present the dishes and ask me for my choice. Yes, on Garuda there is a chef dedicated to the preparation and plating up of the dishes, something that other airlines entrust to a cabin crew sometimes overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task (I should point out that there is also a chef in business if I remember correctly). It is also him who will prepare the various snacks that can be ordered during the flight.

The meal begins with the standard feature of a good first class flight: caviar and champagne.

Then the table is set:

I notice that the tablet is very large, perhaps even larger than on Air France. Advantage: a couple traveling together is not obliged to dine each in its suite but can eat face to face, one occupying the ottoman, which is very appreciable.

Note: the bread is warm and mellow.

The service is impeccable, the quality and quantity are good. I appreciate the way the product is presented. Too often on Air France the caviar is presented with another product which kills a little the “exclusive” aspect of the thing…but allows to put less.

As an appetizer, I will take the beef ribs.

It is fresh, fine and slightly spicy. But it lacks salt to my taste.

Cauliflower soup.

Very good and well presented. I love it when a soup arrives at the table without looking like it’s made waves on the plate between the galley exit and the passenger seat.

Then the dish: the lamb chop with harissa, accompanied by a couscous of cauliflower and grilled capers.

A beautiful presentation and a dish that really tastes good and tickles the palate. Two thoughts on this:

As on our business flight on Garuda 2 years ago, I am impressed by the cooking of the meats in general and the lamb in particular.
Asian and Middle Eastern airlines have an advantage when it comes to in-flight catering: they have a “local” cuisine, often spicy, which keeps its taste admirably in altitude. On the other hand, European cuisine, especially French cuisine, presents more elaborate dishes, but they are undoubtedly almost systematically blander. One day this would be worth opening the debate on “Is French gastronomy relevant at 33,000 feet?”.

After this digression, I will continue with a cheese platter of good quality for a country where this is not really the culture and then the dessert: lemon and coconut panacotta, mango and red fruits coulis.

Once again, it is very well prepared, tasty and good.

Green tea and cognac to end the dinner.

As for drinks, the meal was accompanied by sparkling mineral water, Billercart-Salmon brut rosé champagne and a Lalande Pommerol Bordeaux. Nothing to complain about, even if we are light years away from the wine list of the Air France Première.

The service was quick, which is appreciated during the first class. Too often, despite the quality of the meal, I found myself in a hurry to finish it because the service dragged on too long.

My overall opinion of this meal is excellent. Of course, more noble products and more premium wines can be found elsewhere, but a noble product can be bland at high altitudes and serving it is like giving jam to pigs. Of course, more noble products and more premium wines can be found elsewhere, but a noble product can be bland at high altitudes and serving it is like casting pearls before swine.

The dishes are fine, very well presented and, I insist again, very tasty.

And the Garuda service is, as usual, impeccable(regardless of the class of travel). Great friendliness, politeness and efficiency…without falling as too often in the obsequious. I also add that the crew speaks a perfect English. As for the efficiency, it must also be recognized that with two flight attendants for a maximum of 8 passengers, assisted by a cook, it is sure that it helps.

When I see for example on Air France a single flight attendant having to serve the 4 passengers who did not have dinner at the same time nor at the same rhythm and at a moment, having to make the bed of one while the second one is impatient for his meal, it is on that the fight is unequal.

It’s time to switch to night mode.

Comfortable cabin, poor IFE

I thus pass to the toilets which are used as changing-room while my bed is prepared.

Nothing to add. We find the traditional products necessary to prepare for the night and for waking up.

Special mention for Payot’s ice cream moisturizer that will do wonders for a skin like mine that can’t stand the dry atmosphere of an airplane cabin, especially for a 14h30 flight.

By the way, thanks to Garuda for explaining how to use the toilet.

When I come back everything is in place.

It”s all classic at this level of the range. The bedding is very comfortable without reaching the heights of lthe “Sofitel MyBed” of Air France, especially on the mattress.

I close the doors and find myself for the first time totally isolated in my bubble.

A movie to fall asleep (there are still almost 11 hours of flight)? One of my negative memories of my previous trip on Garuda in business was the IFE. Not so pleasant to use, interface a bit frustrating, few interesting movies and even less available in French (either in soundtrack or subtitles).

No surprise on this flight in First Class:it is as poor but with a bigger screen. Almost nothing in French, very few with French subtitles. I don’t mind watching original version but when you’re tired it’s less pleasant…and anyway when there’s 95% of crap it doesn’t make you want to make the effort. When you take out the 3/4 films I had already seen, there was nothing worthwhile left.

I nevertheless tried to be a good boy and test the installation to the end. But tiredness and digestion didn’t help me to survive the only movie I hadn’t already seen in French and this huge crap (I don’t remember the title) ended up pushing me into Morpheus’ arms.

Fortunately I had anticipated this problem and had largely filled my Mac with movies and series for my waking moments.

This IFE remains the big black spot of the Garuda First Class experience. The poverty of the catalog (are the blockbusters too expensive for GA?) and the absence of French language (while Spanish and Italian are available) are clearly a black spot for the French passenger in general and not bilingual in particular. And this regardless of the travel class.

So it’s time to fall asleep with, as a positive point, this totally closed, “hard” suite.

PS: what looks like drips on the wall is not dirt but just me messing up my panoramic.

And as a negative point the exposure to other people’ light.

You can see here that my front neighbor has not yet switched off.

In addition, the ceiling of the cabin turns into a beautiful starry sky at night. It’s nice,it gives the impression of sleeping under the stars.

But the result is that you will never find perfect darkness at night. I have no problem falling asleep with the lights on, not sure if this is the case for everyone. And when my neighbors decide to have breakfast and open the window blinds while I was finishing my night…

One more argument to add to the still unresolved debate between “curtains all the way to the top” like Air France or a hard wall at mid-height like everywhere else.

I had intended to take advantage of my waking moments to try out the snack menu…the truth is that I slept deeply only to emerge a little before breakfast.

Réveil et Wake up and welcome

Once awake I watch a few episodes on my Mac and end up asking for breakfast service.

Here is the menu.

As a fan of light breakfasts and not too sweet, I will skip the starters and take the shrimps accompanied by asparagus, tomatoes and mushrooms in a side dish. (I will point out that the hot pastries were very acceptable).

The dish was well spiced and tasty.The side dishes (asparagus etc.) were rather bland and I had to spice them up with salt and pepper.

The whole accompanied by champagne, drink which will be served to me until the landing. On the other hand, for a breakfast taken around 4 pm for a landing at 6:15 pm, it is possible to get rid of the codes…

I go to change before the beginning of the descent and at my return my suite has recovered its normal configuration.

The plane lands and the flight itself ends.

The First Class passengers disembark first of course, greeted by the First Class crew who make us like a guard of honor and say goodbye to all of us, one by one, calling us by our name.

In the gateway, Garuda agents are waiting. Each of them is in charge of a passenger.

Mine takes my hand luggage and accompanies me to immigration. We go through a VIP counter where he leaves my passport. I am invited to go and wait in a lounge located near the conveyor belt while the staff takes care of the entry formalities (so you see that the fast track pass was totally useless).

The lounge has nothing special, only offers hot drinks but has the merit to exist compared to CDG where while being accompanied you wait for your luggage standing in front of the conveyor belt.

I barely have time to help myself to a coffee when my escort comes back with my stamped passport and my luggage.

He makes me skip the customs line, we go through without a hitch and he accompanies me to the exit of the airport. The First Garuda service includes the transfer in limousine at the departure and at the arrival. I didn’t need it at Heathrow but there I had asked for a car to take me to my hotel.

Nice service on arrival, even if I could have expected a car to accompany me when I got off the aircraft, as Air France does in Paris, and a more premium lounge (on the other hand, to spend 10 minutes waiting for your luggage…).

Thus ends this discovery of the Garuda First Class.

The Garuda First Class in brief.

– Check-i,: fast and fluid but I regret not being able to do it online because I had a paid upgrade. 8/10

– Lounge: at LHR unworthy of a first class, even a business class in London, minimalist upon arrival in Jakarta. 3/10.

– Cabin: not the greatest First Class but a good product. Luminosity issues at night. I look forward to seeing the future Garuda product. 8/10.

– IFE: nice screen, frustrating interface, poor quality choice, few movies in French. 5/10.

– Crew: just fantastic as always on Garuda. It alone justifies the choice of the airline. Between the freestyle of Air France, capable of the best and the worst, and the cold and mechanized efficiency of Singapore Airlines, Garuda has found the right balance.

– Meal: served quickly, excellent presentation, taste, impeccable service. The only downside is that they can do better with the wines. 8/10.

– Punctuality : 1 big hour of delay is not negligible but it is of the order of the acceptable hazard for a flight which arrived late from Jakarta to London and which lasts 14h30. Everything was done to leave as quickly as possible and recover as much time as possible in flight.

– Compliance with the loyalty program: from A to Z without a single gap. Recognition of status, application of all benefits. At a time when many people are wondering what will happen to them withthe changes to Air France’s Flying Blue program you should know that this paid upgrade allowed me to earn the 60 XP of a first class trip + a big bonus of miles because flying on a skyteam airline which is not AFKL my miles were calculated on the distance + level bonus (I am platinum) instead of being calculated on the fare. Something to think about.

In conclusion, if the First Garuda product does not equal in my opinion what we find at Air France, Emirates or Singapore (to speak about the airlines on which we recently flew in first class) it remains one of the best value for money and, from my point of view, is above on the service and even on the food. Still some progress on the “hard product” and the ground services and it will be ver good. But at 1200 pounds (this is a market price valid all year round, not a promotion, you just have to choose the right flights and destinations) + less than 200 euros of upgrade it is a very good deal.

That said, everyone looks for what they want in their flying experience. At Travelguys, we attach increasing importance to authenticity and warmth in the service and we are tired of dishes with pompous names that ultimately remain bland at high altitudes. This is what makes us favor KLM more and more and why, regardless of the class of travel, we are more and more fans of Garuda.