A 5 Star Experience on GA from ICN to CGK

[UMD]

13 December 2014
GA 879 ICN – CGK
Dep. 1035 Arr. 1600
Airbus 330-200
PK-GPH

Business Class

A True 5 Star Experience on Garuda Indonesia from ICN to CGK

This flight was done merely 24 hours after Garuda Indonesia had officially achieved its 5-Star rating from Slytrax. I know a lot of frequent flyers (including myself) out there who don’t believe solely on Skytrax rating due to its dubious methodology. However, airlines (except EY) around the world do use it to justify their quality level. Major airlines such as Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines are always happy and quick to jump to their Skytrax fame whenever they have achieved some type of Skytrax rating or ranking. Major media companies in the world are no different as they always happily use Skyttrax as references. Truthfully and like it or not, Skytrax has also been a major driver for many airlines in the world including Garuda Indonesia to continuously and consistently improve and maintain their service. I would dare to say that the Chinese airlines of today are different from the ones we experienced 15 – 20 years ago is because of the pressure to be in a certain rating of Skytrax.

I had been in Seoul for business meetings early in the week. I had flown up there in J on Singapore Airlines. Having heard of Garuda’s latest achievement, I made several phone calls to my TA after I managed to secure a J seat back from ICN on Garuda on its website. My last Garuda Indonesia medium haul J was about a year ago when I flew it to SYD and back. I actually posted the outbound CGK – SYD flight report on this site. I was very much impressed with its service then and I had been wondering if Garuda had continued to keep it up or even managed to make it much better.

I started out from the Grand Intercontinental Hotel in Gangnam district of Seoul at around 7 am and arrived at Incheon International Airport with about 2 hours to spare before my scheduled departure time. Check-in was done on row D4 – 8 close to where all the other SkyTeam airlines check-in desks are. Thee was a SkyPriority lane for check-in and there were 7 people in front of me. However, the lane moved very fast and 10 minutes later I also got myself checked-in but not before the very nice and friendly Korean lady agent greeted me with “Salam” Garuda Indonesia.

“Sir, you have web checked-in and I could see you are on 8A,” said the nice lady agent.

“Yes, I have. Has the seat next to me taken already?” I asked. “Is this a full flight?”
“It is quite full in J today but we do have several empty seats. Let me see what I can do.”

In less than a minutes, I could see a smile on her face.

“Would 9K be Ok for you?” she asked. “Your original seat is 8A, a window seat, and 9A is also a window seat and next to you is empty.”

“That’s great,” I replied.

She then printed my boarding pass and soon afterwards handed it to me along with my passport and invitation to KAL Lounge.

“This is the lounge on the remote concourse and you have to take a train there from this terminal,” she said. “Your gate is Gate 106.”

Fast forward, I was already inside the KAL Lounge in the remote concourse. Here are some pictures on this lounge, which is designed very differently from the KAL Lounge in the main concourse but has some of the new Korean Air color elements especially on the blue square seats.








The buffet and the bar area








The very industrial looking toilet and shower area with some of the biggest toilet cubicles I have seen for any lounge







The smoking room inside the lounge



After spending about 1 hour in the lounge checking emails and making some phone calls, I heard the lounge agent called for my flight so I headed to my gate which located at the far end of the concourse. Here are some of the pictures I took along the walk to Gate 106.

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I spotted my plane





Boarding already commenced as I arrived at my gate. As a business class passenger and a SkyTeam Elite Plus, it didn’t take very long at all for me to board the plane.

“Welcome board!” greeted the girl in blue kebaya as she showed me the direction to my seat..

9K is a bulkhead row window seat located on the 2nd cabin of the Business Class just right after the galley.



As soon as I reached my seat, another girl in blue kebaya approached me and welcome me as well.

“Welcome!” greeted Yuri. “What would you like for your welcome drink? We have champagne, water, and juices.”

“Champagne for me please,” I said.

Yuri was one of the 3 Korean cabin crews on the flight who later took care of my section. She quickly disappeared into the galley and came back with an empty champagne flute and a bottle of Billecart Salmon Rose. She then poured the champagne in front of me.



On my seats, there were already a big pillow, pair of headset, a L’Occitane amenity kit, and a bottle of Danone Mineral Water placed on the armrest. A wine and dine menus and Garuda inflight magazine, Colours, were also already placed on the seat pocket on the bulkhead wall.









Yuri once again came to my seat and this time she opened up the baggage compartment above my seat and she took out a duvet. She opened the sealed plastic packaging and offered it to me.

“Would you like to use it now, Mr. UMD”

“Nope”

“Then, I will place here in the empty seat next to you for your use later,” Yuri said

Garuda has one of the fluffiest and highest quality duvets in the industry.

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Soon the boarding process was completed and the cabin was secured for take-off. In the middle galley, the Cuisine Manager, a trained chef, which had been busy preparing during the boarding process was seen securing all the ovens and racks for take-off.



There were 22 passengers in J and 178 passengers in Y with a total of 200 passengers our of the 215 this Garuda’s A330-200 is designed for.

We taxied for a while before we were holding our position for take-off at the end of the runway. The captain soon came on the air and instructed all cabin crew to sit for take-off.





I spotted PK-GPR, another Garuda A330 aircraft, preparing itself for DPS which was scheduled to leave about 40 minutes after our flight.



Our airbus soon rolled down the runway and took off in a very silent way a jet engine could make.








Once our flight was level, Yuri quickly showed herself back to me. In a kneeling position in front of my seat so she could converse with me at the eye level, she started to take the order for lunch.

“Mr. UMD, we will be serving lunch in about 1 hour from now. Have you had a chance to look at the menu?”

“Yes, I have. I would like the Western meal.”

“Do you want to start with a salad or bowl of soup?”

“I would like to start with salad but can I have both?” I asked.

She was a little reluctant.

“Let me check first if we have enough. I have not yet taken orders from all passengers. If we do, then I will serve it to you.” She then continued, “How about your main course?”

“I will have the beef tenderloin.”

“What do you want to drink with your meal, Mr. UMD? We have beverages and wines.”

“ I will go with a red.”

“Which one? The French, the Italian, or the Australian?” she asked.

“The Italian,” I replied.

“Now, how about your after take-off drink?” she asked.

“I will have your Japanese green tea.”

“Which type? We have Gokuryo and Genmaicha.”

“Gokuryo, please”

Yuri and her colleagues were busy taking orders in the most graceful way ever.



Soon, the service started and Yuri came to my seat with a Japanese tea set and poured me a cup of tea. Along with my tea, she also served me a savory cheese cream puff, which has been a Garuda signature nibble for the past year.





Soon after, one of Yuri’s colleague called Ulfa, came and collected the empty dish but before placing a dish of mixed nuts for me to enjoy with my tea.

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Not long after I finished by pot of my Japanese green tea, Yuri came and started to set up the table for lunch.

She started with a tablecloth and napkin.



Then, she disappeared into the galley and came back with a glass platter which she put on top of the table cloth along with a bowl of 3 bread rolls, a bread & butter knife, a small saucer of butter, 2 other small saucers each consisted of black pepper and salt, and a glass of water.









Barely 5 minutes later, Yuri came back with my watercress and celeriac remoulade salad and a set of fork and knife for the salad.



After she placed the salad on my table, she quickly went to get the red wine that I had ordered before. She actually poured the wine for me to test first and only resumed to pour after I gave my nod.





The watercress was incredibly fresh and the celeriac remoulade was tasty and went well with the freshest prawn and the olive oil. This was definitely one of my best salad in the air.



Yuri then came to collect the empty plate and the salad fork and knife. She reappeared again soon with a bowl of tomato and watercress infused oil soup and a soup spoon.

“We do have enough soup, Mr. UMD. Enjoy!”



The soup was delicious as well.

Yuri then repeated the same routine to clear up my table before she served me my main dish again with a new set of fork and knife.

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The tenderloin was again well executed with a mushroom piecrust and the freshest and crunchiest asparagus served onboard. The cuisine manager had indeed done a great job in ensuring the quality of the food was top notch.

Then came the ice cream with a blueberry pudding and cheese plate to close of an incredibly satisfying and delicious meal.





During the entire meal service, Yuri has topped up with my wine and water proactively. I then decided to switch to a dessert wine to go with my cheese plate.



The botrytis was so full bodied with a strong hint of vanilla and fruits and yet didn’t feel sticky at all. It was indeed a good choice.

Soon after the meal service was over, 2 immigration officers started to walk down the aisle with their scanner and equipment to clear immigration for those onboard who planned to enter Indonesia.



Cabin lights were turned off to allow passengers to rest. Since I was not tired, I decided to go to the galley to see if I could chat with the cabin crew. The crews were indeed very happy to strike a chat with me. We discussed a wide range of issues from the challenge of preparing a good tasting onboard food with great texture with the cuisine manager to the feeling of Garuda being bestowed a 5 Star ranking by Skytrax with the newly appointed maître d’cabin. Every single one of the crews was very happy and cheerful with working for Garuda. Coffee and small nibbles were also offered to me several times during our conversation session in the galley.

About 1 and a half hour before our scheduled arrival time, the crew started to get busy again . They went around to each seat and asked if we would like to have any light meal or refreshment. On the menu, there were satay, nasi goreng (traditional Indonesian fried rice), tteokbokki (Korean rice cake in spicy sauce and ham), fruits, and nachos with cheese and salsa. I went for the tteokbokki.


“Anything to drink with your refreshment meal?” asked Yuri

“Do you have ginger ale?”

“Yes, we do.,”

Yuri came back quickly to set my table with a tablecloth and give me napkin.

The tteokbokki was very good but super hot and spicy. It was so spicy that I produced sweat on the forehead.



The cuisine manager, Wira, noticed it and asked if I was okay with the food. I told him it was very delicious but it was a bit too hot for me. He then went back to the galley and came back quickly with a refill of y ginger ale and ice cube.



As the refreshment service or ‘In-between fuel” as called by Garuda was winding up, Yuri came to my seat and personally thanked me for flying with Garuda and that it had been her pleasure to serve me during the flight.

I then asked the maître d’cabin if I could take pictures with them and also of them, they all happily posted for me in the galley. Here are among the best cabin crews in the air that makes flying with Garuda so special.



The cabin was then secured for landing right after the pilot came on air to announce the aircraft was on decent.

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We landed in CGK at 16:00 local time and as all the piers were full, our aircraft parked at he remote bay. This concluded my flight with the 5-Star Garuda Indonesia.






Conclusion:

I have always been a little biased towards Garuda since I started to fly with the airline again the end of 2009 after I learned about the airline’s Quantum Leap program. Prior to that, I hardly flew Garuda and did not even want to book on them unless for domestic hops in Indonesia. The transformation with this airline has been phenomenal. My last 2 medium haul flights with GA before this flight was slightly over 1 year ago when I tried its mind-blowingly impressive F on its NRT route and the incredibly well executed J on its SYD route. It is so great to learn that GA has not just maintained the high quality service onboard, the airline has actually refined it and make it even better. The crews are both happy to work for Garuda and are very much proactive in attending passengers needs. Regardless how credible Skytrax is, this airline is a true 5-Star in my book.

[calvinoeh]

wow. Food looks great. Almost first class standard.

[SQGamespeed]

Wow! This is definitely NOT the GA of the early 2000s. Great TR!

This flight was done merely 24 hours after Garuda Indonesia had officially achieved its 5-Star rating from Slytrax.

Don't know if that's a typo, but I thinks it's an apt synonym for the organisation.

[j.lin]

Thanks for the lovely report! GA is definitely in the game. Knowing GA is not doing well financially, hopefully, this can be sustained in the long term

[ycp81]

Wow, the service and catering makes SQ J seems "duh"

[milehighj]

Wow, the service and catering makes SQ J seems "duh"

There are few better examples in business of "slightly unpolished, yet keen to deliver" versus "jaded and resting on laurels and past glory" than these two Southeast Asian competitors...

Skytrax notwithstanding, GA has my deepest respect today.

Thanks for the TR, UMD.

[SQueeze]

Totally impressed.

Truly 5 star - irrespective of whatever Skytrax gives them.

[yflyer]

Amazing catering! Thanks for the TR, UMD!

[YK@HKG]

An excellent trip report as always!

I also just read some news that GA is trying to reduce J-seats (due to the often low loading and GA's lingering financial problem). As quoted from Reuters: "Last month, Garuda posted a net loss of $219.5 million for the nine months ended September, widening from a $15 million loss in the same period a year earlier. "

The newly appointed CEO (Mr. Arif Wibowo, who used to be the head of Citilink) seems to believe that substituting the seats from J to Y will improve its performance.

[Kyo]

Sounds like a Quantum Backflip, if so