Garuda Indonesia experience

[yuel]

Hi all,

I seem to recall a forum dedicated to Indonesian aviation scene but cannot remember the name. Anyway, I'd like to post this thread here to have your opinion regarding Garuda Indonesia.

I am booked to fly GA for the very first time in November after hearing so many good reviews about them, but apparently they are very far behind technology wise. Since confirming my ticket for SYD-DPS in April, I noticed the ETD and ETA changes constantly throughout the months, all within 30 minutes of the flight times at the time I paid for the tickets. Spoke to a call center agent recently regarding the matter, was assured it was a technical glitch and I should be confirmed on the original flight time. Great, though all was settled.

Until I checked again today and found out the ETD was pushed forward 3 hours. My flight GA715 was to depart at 1150, now departs at 1000, all this without any official notification to the customer. Problem is I have a separate connecting flight prior to GA715, I booked the alternate flight with extra connection time anticipating something like this, but 1000 ETD throws things out of order.

Now, I am booked on a S-Deep Discount ticket. I have checked and double checked the fare conditions and there is not a clause that says "GA has the right to change flight times without notice" kind off bs. Spoke to another call centre agent "Vince" and he says there's nothing he can do to accommodate changes made by the other carrier. What? Isn't GA at fault here?

So now I'm waiting for a call from his supervisor.

What do you all think?

Thoughts appreciated. Not a good start to GA for me.

[wktan81]

Hi,
May I know when is the date of your departure? From what I checked through GA website (www.garuda-indonesia.com), the schedule for GA715 still depart at 11:50 AM as you mentioned.
Thanks,
wktan81

[yuel]

Hi

17 November

To make matters worse my outbound flight has been 'magically' rescheduled to take off a day before my original itinerary.

[wktan81]

Hi,
Are you able to call GA call center? Its number is 08041807807 or 62-21-23519999. Otherwise you can explain your situation through their facebook page. Btw, the indonesian aviation forum is at www.indoflyer.net/forum.

[wktan81]

One alternative you can consider is to ask GA to fly you from Sydney to Jakarta and then fly from Jakarta to Bali. The flight GA713 is scheduled to depart at 11:30AM on 17 Nov. So you can connect in time, however you need to transfer at CGK to Bali.

[lingua101]

Hi all,

I seem to recall a forum dedicated to Indonesian aviation scene but cannot remember the name. Anyway, I'd like to post this thread here to have your opinion regarding Garuda Indonesia.

I am booked to fly GA for the very first time in November after hearing so many good reviews about them, but apparently they are very far behind technology wise. Since confirming my ticket for SYD-DPS in April, I noticed the ETD and ETA changes constantly throughout the months, all within 30 minutes of the flight times at the time I paid for the tickets. Spoke to a call center agent recently regarding the matter, was assured it was a technical glitch and I should be confirmed on the original flight time. Great, though all was settled.

Until I checked again today and found out the ETD was pushed forward 3 hours. My flight GA715 was to depart at 1150, now departs at 1000, all this without any official notification to the customer. Problem is I have a separate connecting flight prior to GA715, I booked the alternate flight with extra connection time anticipating something like this, but 1000 ETD throws things out of order.

Now, I am booked on a S-Deep Discount ticket. I have checked and double checked the fare conditions and there is not a clause that says "GA has the right to change flight times without notice" kind off bs. Spoke to another call centre agent "Vince" and he says there's nothing he can do to accommodate changes made by the other carrier. What? Isn't GA at fault here?

So now I'm waiting for a call from his supervisor.

What do you all think?

Thoughts appreciated. Not a good start to GA for me.

If you booked 2 seperate tikets you run this kind of risk. Not only GA but other carrier will tell you none of their business.

Anyway, although GA service has improved, but the way they handle exception/problem still very poor. Even when you talk to the supervior, they will tell you nothing they can do

[UMD]

Hi all,

I seem to recall a forum dedicated to Indonesian aviation scene but cannot remember the name. Anyway, I'd like to post this thread here to have your opinion regarding Garuda Indonesia.

I am booked to fly GA for the very first time in November after hearing so many good reviews about them, but apparently they are very far behind technology wise. Since confirming my ticket for SYD-DPS in April, I noticed the ETD and ETA changes constantly throughout the months, all within 30 minutes of the flight times at the time I paid for the tickets. Spoke to a call center agent recently regarding the matter, was assured it was a technical glitch and I should be confirmed on the original flight time. Great, though all was settled.

Where did you check the ETD and ETA information? It is normal for any flights to arrive and depart within 30 minutes of its scheduled time.

Until I checked again today and found out the ETD was pushed forward 3 hours. My flight GA715 was to depart at 1150, now departs at 1000, all this without any official notification to the customer. Problem is I have a separate connecting flight prior to GA715, I booked the alternate flight with extra connection time anticipating something like this, but 1000 ETD throws things out of order.

You would not and should not get any notification from Garuda on the change of schedule for this particular flight on September 5 because you are booked on a November 17 flight. How do you know that the passengers on this particular flight had not been pre-advised by Garuda? FYI, this could be due to the charter of 1 A333 by the government of Indonesia to fly the President of the country to the 2012 APEC Leaders Summit in Vladivostok. Thus, Garuda had to reschedule its flight and this usually is known as early as 3 months in advance. The daily SYD - DPS flight is flown by A333 while the daily SYD - CGK flight is flown by A332.

Now, I am booked on a S-Deep Discount ticket. I have checked and double checked the fare conditions and there is not a clause that says "GA has the right to change flight times without notice" kind off bs. Spoke to another call centre agent "Vince" and he says there's nothing he can do to accommodate changes made by the other carrier. What? Isn't GA at fault here?

So now I'm waiting for a call from his supervisor.

I don't understand this. Your concern was regarding the constant change of timing. Why would he told you about the changes made by the other carrier? What is the next flight that you are connecting to upon your arrival at DPS?

What do you all think?

Thoughts appreciated. Not a good start to GA for me.

I have flown GA a lot lately and I have never experienced anything bad. Despite some inconsistencies in in-flight services, all my flights have been pleasant.

Flights have also been very much on time except a few occasion where weather was not cooperating and that SIN or CGK was operating during its peak hours.

One thing that I still despise about Garuda is its website and its IT system. Still not very reliable despite it has improved by leaps and bounds since 2 years ago. Scheduled flights are still appearing and disappearing from its websites and its booking engines until now. This is also one of the major issues that has delayed GA's entry into SkyTeam. The good news is that the airline has started working with Amadeus to transition the entire reservation and its PSS system to Altea since about 4 months ago. The bad news is it is only expected to be completed by the end of 2013. So, if the source of information that is causing your concern comes from the website, then I would not even worry about this.

As for your outbound flight that has disappeared from the system, may I know what system? DPS - SYD is a daily affair, so I am not sure I understand why it has been moved forward by 1 day.

By the way, have you got a call from Vince's supervisor yet? Let me know, i may be able to connect you to someone whom you can talk to.

[9V-JKL]

Hi,
Are you able to call GA call center? Its number is 08041807807 or 62-21-23519999.

That number doesn't seem to work. Tried calling it while in CGK last week to book a child meal but the line never once rang...

BUT as UMD has mentioned. GA is very much improved since I last flew them in 2006.
I did 4 flights last week. 2 int'l and 2 domestic. Service isn't quite there yet but no complaints from me. My only gripe is the meal portion was very small.