Food Galore Over SYD, with GA as the Highlight...

[Dent@SUB]

It's been ages since my last "story" here...
So, let me share another "story" with you guys here...




The story begin when this "kampung guy" 's nephew finished his study, and will have a graduation ceremony in Sydney...
And on a soooo coincident timing, Garuda had a promotion with Bank Mandiri for buy one get one free biz class ticket...
Just for around USD3,500 you will get 2 biz tickets CGK-SYD... It was quite a bargain at that time...

Just because they are 5 people, so one would be on redemption ticket, which was also sooooo coincident, GFF had a promotion too. Redemption Biz class with eY miles...

But on the last minutes, the parents couldn't leave the "kampung"...
So... there would be only three of them... and this "kampung guy" was on a "sacred mission" as an acting parent for his nephew... (but then it was turned out to be a more of a food galore than a ceremonial event... )


Ok... lets we see the map first....




And the flights would be on GA329 SUB-CGK ETD 1945 ETA 2105 and connected with GA712 CGK-SYD ETD 2345 ETA 0930+1

So there would be a plenty of time for the connecting time, 2h30m..


Some odd thing on GA's check in system was they couldn't issued the BPs of CGK-SYD sector from SUB...
So this "kampung guy" and his nephews must check in again at CGK to get the CGK-SYD BP...
But with that plenty of connecting time, they were no worried at all for that thing....

And because one of his nephew was in eY class on this short sector, and he got no access for Garuda Lounge, they decided to go to the public lounge, the Blue Sky Lounge instead of the Garuda Lounge, using their credit cards perk...




So here are some of the Blue Sky Lounge view that night...
It was crowded... but they still managed to get seat for them...














They had some "pre flight snacks" there...

[Dent@SUB]

And this is the "signature dish" of the domestic lounge that you can't get at the international lounge...
The infamous "Tempe Goreng Tepung Dengan Sambal Petis" (the flour battered "tempe" deep fried with spicy shrimp paste sauce)...
It was so yummy...



While they were enjoying the "snack", there was an announcement that their flight will be delayed until 2040...
Ok.. that was almost one hour delayed...
But they still relaxed... still more than one and a half hour of connecting time...

They met their fam's friends who were going to Bali that night... and there was no more empty seats...

So this "kampung guy" and one of his nephew gave their seats and moved to the Garuda Lounge next door....




The Garuda Lounge has a better interior a than the next door lounge...
It's on a calm hue tone, with blueish carpet...

And here are some view of the lounge...

[Dent@SUB]

And here are the highlight of this lounge: Jamu (Jamoo: the Indonesian traditional herbal tonic)... they are good for your health...






As the "kampung guy"'s habit, no visit was complete without the toilet visit...
So, lets enjoy his visit...






Look at that FIDS.... see, their flight was delayed... and luckily, no more further delayed was intended...




The time now almost 2020, this "kampung guy" texted his nephew in the next door lounge to go to the gate, even though the boarding announcement has not been announced.

They waited at the gate lounge... It was packed...
It's gonna be a full flight....






It was 2030 when the boarding process was begun...

They rushed walk into the plane...

[Dent@SUB]

This "kampung guy" never forgot to pose like his "idol", the great SQFlyergirl
(Pardon him for forgetting the royalty for you, Ma'am... )




It was 2035 when finally this "kampung guy" and one of his nephew can sit comfortably at their seats on 1A an 1C...
His other nephew sit on 5C..




Ok, lets we see the seat features...









Got two (actually 3) windows for himself...




The boarding process took ages for this small B737-800...

It was almost 2100 when this plane ready to push back....
Now this "kampung guy" was getting anxious...




Luckily there was no long line for take off at SUB...
Soon they were already in the air...
And the FA was ready to serve them dinner...

[Dent@SUB]

It was a traditional Javanese food, "Tahu Telor" (fried tofu and egg with rice cake and bean sprouts wit dark peanut sauce)...
Don't judge from its look.... it was yummy...





The dessert was some fruits mousse jelly...




As I told you before, this "kampung guy" never felt complete without lavatory visit...
And here are the lavatory of GA B737-800...
Enjoy...








Back to the seat, this "kampung guy" checked the IFE...
But for this short hop, no use for watching the block buster movies, not enough time to finished them...
So he just watched the comedy Just for Laugh...
Btw, the head set was a battery powered active noise cancelling one...

[Dent@SUB]

The time now 2215... but the plane has not landed yet...
They flew around and around....
It was dark outside... (off course it was dark... it was night you moron... )





Finally they were landed at 2230...

But taxied to the apron also took some time...

And they were parked at a remote stand...

And it was 2245 when the door was opened.

This "kampung guy" told the purser that they have a connecting flight to Sydney that will depart exactly in one hour, and he had a nephew that sit in eY...
The purser looked concern... she told the ground staff about this matter...
The ground staff then in the rush escorted this "kampung guy" and his nephew in eY into a van, and without waiting other J pax, he drove the car into terminal building...

It took about 5 minutes since the door opened to reach the terminal building...

They thanked the driver, and rushly walk into the arrival hall....

They still got 55 minute before the next scheduled flight to Sydney...
And they still have to walk to the loooong corridor of the arrival level, and then they must went up stair to find the check in counter to check in again into their next flight...
And then they still had to pass the CGK immigration with its notorious long queue...

Will they survive this??

[UMD]

What a suspense! 55 minute to transfer @ CGK with no boarding pass on hands?

GA's domestic lounge is definitely better stocked than its International lounge and I am surprised to see Jamu in the lounge @ SUB. By the way, did your ever find out what had caused the delay for the 2 CGK flights that day?

Thank you for this trip report on Garuda. Can't wait to read the remaining of it soon. So, please do not let me wait too long.

[jjpb3]

It's been ages since my last "story" here...

So, let me share another "story" with you guys here...

It was a traditional Javanese food, "Tahu Telor" (fried tofu and egg with rice cake and bean sprouts wit dark peanut sauce)...
Don't judge from its look.... it was yummy...

Mmmm, tahu telor. I miss that.

This "kampung guy" never forgot to pose like his "idol", the great SQFlyergirl
(Pardon him for forgetting the royalty for you, Ma'am... )

I suspect Dame SQFG will grant you forgiveness this time.

[SQflyergirl]

:

I suspect Dame SQFG will grant you forgiveness this time.

Ok lah. This one time.

[UMD]

They rushed walk into the plane...

I noticed that you like your 1A and C but do you know that the C seats on the starboard side of GA's B738 have more seat pitch than those on the port side? It applies to all GA's B738 including the ones with the new Sky Interior.

[Dent@SUB]

What a suspense! 55 minute to transfer @ CGK with no boarding pass on hands?

GA's domestic lounge is definitely better stocked than its International lounge and I am surprised to see Jamu in the lounge @ SUB. By the way, did your ever find out what had caused the delay for the 2 CGK flights that day?

Thank you for this trip report on Garuda. Can't wait to read the remaining of it soon. So, please do not let me wait too long.

The delayed was caused by the accumulate delayed that day because of the bad weather all around Indonesia that day...
Very strong wind at some area just caused massive delayed on the afternoon...
And the effect still could be felt on the later flight with the planes that involved on that area....
About Jamoo, I also felt surprise... now Garuda more "Indonesia" than before... From the lounge then the inflight meal, so "Indonesia"...
And that's nice...

Mmmm, tahu telor. I miss that.

I suspect Dame SQFG will grant you forgiveness this time.

Hahaha... fly GA, then you will get "Tahu Telor" as inflight meal...

And for Dame SQFG, I'll pledge for mercy....

Ok lah. This one time.

So... Boleh lah this time...?

I noticed that you like your 1A and C but do you know that the C seats on the starboard side of GA's B738 have more seat pitch than those on the port side? It applies to all GA's B738 including the ones with the new Sky Interior.

Ahhh? Really? I've never notice that...
Thanks for the info...
Next time will get the F side...

[Dent@SUB]

Once they reached the terminal building, this "kampung guy" and his nephew paced them self in hurry... almost running...

There was a loooong walk in the loooong corridor...

No time for toilet even though they wanted to go...
Rush rush rush...
Chop chop chop...
Thump thump thump...


When they almost reached the arrival hall, there was a sign for transfer passengers...
That sign lead to a staircase...
They followed the sign, went upstairs...
And whoola... now they were already inside the check in area...

They rushed to the Garuda counter...
It's still about 45-50 minutes before the scheduled departure time...

Luckily their luggage has been tag all the way to SYD, so they didn't need to collect them first...

The lady in the check in counter so efficient....
In no time, with a big smile, she handed them 3 BP and also 3 fast track cards...
"The flight is on schedule, but no worry, you guys can make it..." said the lady...

Now they rushed to the immigration counters....

Wowwww....!!!

There was a huge line in there...

Every counter has a long line... and it moved very slow...

Luckily they had fast track cards...
With that card, they can use a special line that usually use by air crews...

And there was only 2 people in front of the counter...
So they joined the queue at that counter...

But suddenly, a bunch of GA crews came. And the officer there gave a sign to give a way for the crews first...

Ok... that's the rule, give a way for the crews first...

So they're waiting and waiting...

Even for the crews, the immigration process was so slow...
It took more than 10 minutes for that bunch of crews to cleared the immigration, about 13-14 of them...

Now it was their turn...

But there was another set of crews came approach... and this time was a lot more that GA crews... they were EK crews...

The 2 foreigner in front of this "kampung guy" got no patient this time...
They didn't want to wait any more... neither this "kampung guy"...

So they rushed to get in front of the counter, and block the way for the EK crews...
This "kampung guy" did the same... Sorry sister, they were in rush....

In no time, they already passed the immigration...

Please take a look on the long queue at immigration counters...
I think if this "kampung guy" group were in eY, they would end up in big trouble...






It was less than 20 minutes before the schedule time when they passed the immigration...

They rushed to walk to the gate...




When they reached the gate, the boarding process has just begun... Lucky them...
That's their plane for that night... A332 PK-PGJ....




Soon they reached the plane's door...
They were greeted by the purser, but no escort service was offered...
Ah well, that was only J class, not F class... so it was understandable...

The two nephews were settle down at row 1, and this "kampung guy" sit at 2A...

[Dent@SUB]

After stowed his cabin luggage in the over head compartment, he rushly went to the toilet...
He already held it since he disembarked from the previous flight...
And the tension made it worse...

And here are the toilet... the amenities still have not been arranged yet...



Ok... finished with the natural call, he went back to his seat...

Look at the seat pitch... (pardon him again, Dame SQFlyergirl... he's always forgetting the royalty... )



The other cabin view from his seat...



The seat controller...




Soon the FA handed the hot towel...
This time with a tray (is it lacquer or just melamine tray?? ) with Garuda sign printed at the bottom...

The other FA offered him a welcome drink...

Of course he chose the GA signature drink: Martebe Juice (jus markisa dan terong belanda a.k.a. Passion fruit and tamarillo juice..)

[Dent@SUB]

Waiting until the boarding process was done, he looked at the menu for that flight...














Now the boarding process has completed...

Not bad for J class load, 33 out of 36...

They were pushed back just slightly behind schedule... may be just 5-10 minutes behind schedule...


Cabin was dimmed when they were taxiing to the runway...




There was dark outside.... (again... it was night moron... of course it was dark... )
And the light on the engine looked sparkling...

[milehighj]

Welcome back!

I noticed that you like your 1A and C but do you know that the C seats on the starboard side of GA's B738 have more seat pitch than those on the port side? It applies to all GA's B738 including the ones with the new Sky Interior.

UMD is correct and I received a personal tutorial on this from the guru himself...