Short review
Note: 3 is average
Lounge: 3/5 (Garuda Indonesia Business Class lounge in Jakarta – Food was good; shower was poor; smell of smoke from the smoking room)
Seat: 4.5/5 (Fully flat bed)
Entertainment: 3/5 (Limited movie and entertainment choices)
Service: 4/5 (Friendly lounge staff and flight attendants)
Food and beverages: 4/5 (Good overall)
Pros:
- Comfortable seat for sleeping during this red-eye flight
Cons:
- Cold water in the lounge shower
- Smell of smoke from the smoking room in the lounge
Long review
Garuda Indonesia GA712 was scheduled to depart Jakarta, Indonesia at 22:35, and to arrive in Sydney, Australia at 9:30, with a scheduled duration of 7 hours and 55 minutes. Similar to my previous flight from Sydney to Jakarta, the route was served by B777-300ER. I checked a recent flight history information while writing this post and found out that this route was served by A330-300.
I arrived at the check-in counter about 3 hours before my flight. First and business class passengers enjoyed a quick check-in process from the Garuda’s premium check-in lounge. Passing the security and immigration area was fairly smooth and fast at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, given that there were many lanes available.
On the way to the lounge, I passed through a long corridor with several sofas on either side. The walls were decorated with some images of Garuda’s crew. I guess this space does not serve any particular purpose, but Garuda did a decent job in making this space visually acceptable.
The front desk to enter the lounge is placed at the end of this corridor. There is also a play area for kids. An interesting arrangement I must say because this space is still outside the lounge, so I am not sure how it should be used because parents should go out from the lounge to accompany their kids to do so.
The lounge is not overly big, but is adequate to serve its purpose. There is another a kids’ space inside the lounge.
I decided to have dinner first. The options were quite good. In the hot bar, they served rice, teriyaki chicken, and some fried stuff. There were some soup and Japanese ramen, although the ramen was disappointing. They had a salad and fruit bar, bread, and for those with sweet tooth, they served a lot of options for desserts. For drinks, they offered some juice options, tea, and coffee. Alcoholic drinks should be available, but passengers should ask them from the staff directly. I was not in the mood for one though. Overall, I rather enjoyed my dinner, and probably ate a bit too much.
After I finished my dinner, I decided to take a shower. There is only one shower in the male toilet, and it was wet probably because someone used it before. The staff simply allowed me to use it since a clean towel was already provided. In my past experiences in other lounges, a shower room was cleaned or at least dried before being used by the next passenger. Before I finished my shower, the water suddenly became cold, meaning the hot water heater could not cope with the demand. Not a pleasant shower experience overall.
After taking a shower, I spent my remaining time relaxing in a reclining chair. Unfortunately, this chair was placed fairly near the smoking room. There was one guy who used the smoking room regularly and the smell of smoke every time he opened the door was overpowering.
From the lounge, I had to walk a long distance to the gate. The flight was full, including the business class, so there was already a large number of passengers waiting. Boarding commenced a bit late at 22:15.
The seats in business class are arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration, allowing every passenger easy access to the aisle. It should be noted that this part of the cabin used to accommodate the first class cabin. Garuda, however, decided to scrap the majority of first class cabin in their fleet.
A bottle of water, an amenity kit bag, and a blanket were neatly placed around the seat. Welcome drinks (I chose orange juice) and wet wipes were distributed to the passengers. In the past, Garuda offered warm towels for the passengers to refresh themselves. A flight attendant then came over to my seat to take my breakfast order. They had two options (which I now cannot remember). Garuda used to have a hardcopy menu for their passengers so I could take a photo of the menu, but now they simply told me the options. Not sure whether these changes were caused by COVID-19 or a way to reduce operational cost.
I actually ordered another drink to be served after taking off, but then I was so sleepy, so I decided to sleep instead. The business class seats in Garuda’s B777-300ER fleet can be converted to fully flat beds. I also liked the scattered lights on the ceiling. They actually flickered mimicking stars.
I managed to sleep for around 4 hours before the lights were turned on for breakfast service about 1.5 hours before the scheduled landing time. Breakfast started with some fresh fruit, cereal, and bread. It was followed by the main dish, comprising omelette, some meat balls, and vegetables. They were nice, but I could not finish it. I was not that hungry because I had my dinner not too long time ago.
While I had my breakfast, I also watched a movie called Dune. I managed to finish the movie because landing was delayed due to congestion in the Sydney Airport. In terms of the entertainment system, the hard product was reasonably good. The screen size was adequate. The movie options, however, were rather limited compared to other airlines and what Garuda had previously. It did not matter much for this red-eye flight though because most passengers probably spent the majority of their time sleeping.
The plane landed slightly late at 9:35 AM. Overall, the flight itself was reasonably good. Some aspects of the lounge, however, need some improvements to match other airlines’ offerings.
