Historically, I have always been more than impressed by Garuda Indonesia’s pre-rebranding classes (business and first) on long-haul flights, less so on medium-haul flights, and this flight only reinforced my impression, with even a vague feeling of regression.

During my last trip to Bali, I flew Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Indonesia. This time, I wanted to try another option and, if it was really interesting, maybe even with a connecting flight. In the end, I didn’t find anything really appealing, and the prices convinced me that my original idea of continuing to alternate between Singapore Airlines and Garuda Indonesia was the right one.

For the record, here’s the air routing for this vacation.

You will find a summary of the articles on these holidays in Singapore and Bali at the bottom of the page.

Booking

I made my reservation a few months before my departure. No airline offers business class for less than €900 return. That’s far too expensive for such a short flight, so I decided to go with Garuda and pay for my ticket with my Flying Blue miles (60,000 miles + €100 in taxes).

Check-in and ground course

I check in online the day before. It’s impossible to choose your seat before check-in, and since I check in late after arriving in Singapore from Paris, I’m the last one and end up with an aisle seat. And of course, I can’t retrieve my boarding pass online!

There is also an entrance fee of €8 to pay online or on site. I choose to pay online to avoid any formalities when I get off the plane, but there is a bug with the payment system. I give up after several attempts, but it works the next morning.

All that remains is the visa on arrival, which can now be applied for online. A processing time of five days is stated, although I suspect that under normal circumstances it is processed instantly. However, as I have no desire to find myself caught up in a complicated double process with the Indonesian authorities, I decide to queue up and do it once I arrive.

There is a real desire to digitize the travel experience in Indonesia, but as my experience has often proven in the past, it is not always up to scratch.

I arrive at the airport from the hotel early in the morning and go to check in my suitcase and collect my boarding pass. There is no wait and the staff are very pleasant.

I pass through immigration in seconds, as everything is now biometric.

I then head to the lounge used by the airline to pass the time.

Not great, but at least it exists.

I will leave well before boarding for several reasons. First, the place isn’t very pleasant, second, given the way the airport is designed, the gates can be far from the lounge, and finally, because this airport is a real shopping center where it’s nice to wander around, provided you like luxury boutiques.

I then head for my gate at the far end of the terminal, which takes me 20 minutes on foot (I could also take the skytrain).

And once I arrived, the gate had been changed, so I retraced my steps…

Boarding

In Singapore, security checks are carried out at the gate and there is no priority line, so I find myself almost at the end of the queue. I finally make it to the boarding lounge.

The plane is here.

It’s filling up slowly.

Boarding begins on time and, since boarding passes are checked after security, there are no formalities to complete before boarding the aircraft.

The cabin

We have a 2-2 cabin layout, as is generally the case in Asia on single-aisle business class flights, with reclining seats.

Quite nice.

The seat controls are mechanical, not electric, and a little worn.

The remote control is of the same kind

There is plenty of legroom in the front row.

It’s always nice to have seats like this on a medium-haul flight, but part of the seat is starting to look a little worn.

The flight and the service

During boarding, we are given an oshibori on a tray. It is neither hot nor cold, the fabric is a little rough, not great.

We are offered a welcome drink, and I will have champagne.

Orders are taken before takeoff by a flight attendant who has the hardest job in the world explaining the different options in English, despite the information sheet she has at her disposal.

We leave on time and after some turbulence, lunch is served. The trays are prepared one by one before being served… at this rate, the last ones will be served just as we land.

I chose chicken with rice, but there was also the option of beef or fried rice…as far as I understood.

The salad is pretty good and the chicken is very tasty, even if it’s not haute cuisine. But it proves to some European airlines that you can serve hot meals on two-hour flights.

And just as I expected… the drinks service begins just as I’ve finished dessert.

Then I ask for sparkling water… but they’re out of stock!

Uneventful end to flight.

Arrival

No sooner had we landed than I sprinted to immigration to avoid getting stuck in long queues. It was a wasted effort: there was a huge crowd and the wait for a visa looked like it was going to be long.

There, an officer waves me over and directs me to a counter where one of his colleagues is processing visas on arrival online. There is no wait, I pay, and the matter is settled in two minutes.

Je me demande pourquoi tant de monde faisait la queue aux guichets normaux…

I then pass through the biometric gates with my passport and am outside in no time.

The service

Very attentive and friendly but really slow. I don’t think it’s the staff’s fault, more likely the protocol.

Bottom line

The flight wasn’t unpleasant, especially given the short duration, but it wasn’t fantastic either. If I had had to pay the full price, my review would certainly have been much less favorable.

Articles about these holidays in Singapore and Bali

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