Back in December SkyTeam announced Garuda Indonesia's intentions to join SkyTeam as of March 5, 2014. Well, that's today, and I'm pleased to see that they actually stuck to the timeline, and Garuda Indonesia is now the 20th SkyTeam member airline. They're now part of what is unarguably one of the world's three most prestigious…
Continue reading: Garuda Indonesia Now SkyTeam Alliance Airline
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
It will be interesting to see if the Garuda FF programme becomes a useful sky team programme for us in Oz. we have lots of good ST redemption options out of Australia but not great earning opportunities. It looks like they are an ANZ and Amex MR transfer partner but maybe not for Australian cardmembers.
@ Lantean -- I don't believe FlyingBlue miles can be redeemed for a one way in first class.
aha OK, then UR for sure as they are much less valuable.
maybe use 150K and travel to/from Europe? I wonder if CGK-NRT-ICN-Europe would be a valid routing.
@ Lantean -- That's a great idea, and totally seems worth the 50% premium over flying to Tokyo. However, sadly as of now Garuda only flies their 777s (which feature first class) to Shanghai and Tokyo, as far as I know. London service is planned for later this year.
They didn't actually stick to the timeline. This had originally been scheduled to happen last year IIRC.
right, i meant to combine Garuda and Korean on one award... like:
CGK-NRT Garuda
NRT-ICN Korean
ICN-Europe Korean (possibly A380?)
or is that invalid routing? I bet CGK-ICN-Europe all on Korean would be valid, no? so it may work...
NrT CGK DPS and return. Easy peasy.
I just did a DPS-JOG sector on GA. 1 hr flight on 737-800 in coach. Seat back ife and snack service. $76 each. I have a JOG-CGK-BKK sector coming up. Flying blue charges only 10k miles. Not too shabby.
FDW
@pacifico
you'd still have to wait till 2586 until skypesos allow first class awards.
Ah, now it makes sense as to why I heard "Garuda Indonesia, member of the SkyTeam Alliance" announced about a thousand times while waiting for my flight out of DPS yesterday.
Lucky - that was my first trip to Bali and I had a great time. I can certainly see why it is one of your favorite places.
When I called Delta's Platinum line I was told it would be ONE TO THREE months before Garuda award flights would be available! 🙁
@ Conway Park -- I highly doubt (and really hope!) that's not the case. Hopefully just some clueless agents.
@ Andrew F. -- Well, their *revised* timeline. Sadly even that is impressive for an airline...
Garuda will fly their 777 to Amsterdam in May, around the same time as their LGW flights kick off.
Lucky, do you know if Flying Blue allows return F awards?
How about F through their own FF program ? Whats their award chart like ? exchange partners ? Do they sell cheap miles like US DM miles ?
Seems like Flying Blue web site shows availability but when clicking to choose the flight it appears nothing is available
@ Mike S. -- Best I can tell, it seems they charge 90,000 miles one-way for first class between Jakarta and Tokyo. Don't see any promotions for purchasing miles with them either.
@ Sam -- Yeah, it definitely has an issue with displaying space. Based on inquiring about business class Garuda award space through Korean Air, award space is even better than what shows online.
So using skypesos you could do something like this in J
JFK-ICN-NRT (KE) - CGK/DPS (GA) return for 140K
Uhm… they don't have the best safety record. That being said, I flew them for four flight domestic segments in 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garuda_Indonesia#Incidents_and_accidents
Ah Lucky, linking to another First Class report is not our style, is it? 😉
Grab a longer one (LHR-CGK) in first for us, would ya? No 'yawn and its over' NRT 😀
They are the only airline allowed to do international transfer at Bali, at least for the time being. Regardless my SE Aisa carrier of choice is Air Asia. Dealing with any Indonesian carriers is asking for hassle, though Garuda is the best.
Safety, how quickly the forget it was barely 12 months ago they were allowed into European airspace and I don't they are allowed into the USA yet. The old and new management have no idea, so how is a fully laden 777 going to take of from ANY Indonesia airport? CGK hasn't even started a long promised upgrade to it's runway. Therefore a non stop CGK-LHR is years away unless they reduce the passenger load by 22%, then again with their management????
Air fares are so cheap (dangerously so) within Indonesia and SE Asia why would you waste points. If you are hubbing out of DSP then it's Lion Air they have the best frequency, routes and haven't had a news worthy crash for months?
Mike S...To answer your question: "
Mike S. said,
So using skypesos you could do something like this in J
JFK-ICN-NRT (KE) – CGK/DPS (GA) return for 140K"
I have close to this exactly itinerary already booked with DL Skymiles except no GA flights...either DL or KE flights. I would love to swap some KE flights for GA flights!
Can you update us all when you know which SkyTeam partners are actually able to get Garuda award tickets? Specifically Delta if you find out?
How is this better for DPS than Korean? Korean has lots of flights from USA to ICN and then connect to DPS.
With Garuda, don't you have to connect in Jakarta, adding one more stop?
Can you do a stopover if you use Korean Points? Say I want to fly IAD-AMS and then connect to Garuda. Can I stop and visit AMS for a few days?
@ farbster -- It's not better than Korean, but Korean does have a bunch of blackout dates and not amazing availability on their route to Bali, so it's nice to have another option.
The Garuda flights from Tokyo to Bali are nonstop -- no connection in Jakarta required.
Korean won't let you fly from the US to Asia via Europe, to the best of my knowledge.
@lucky - I forgot the premium Korean charges during certain parts of the year, in addition to blackout dates...
@Lucky - I am the one who wrote the F report on CGK -NRT- CGK that you mentioned. I have to tell you I love it so much that I sometimes crave for my Garuda flight. FYI, Garuda has non-stop flights from NRT, KIX, HND and ICN to both DPS and CGK (CGK - HND - CGK) will start soon in June 0214.
By the way, there is also a J report that I wrote and posted on SQTalk on CGK -SYD -CGK. Both F and J services on Garuda are truly impressive. You should really give them a try.
By the way i just found out that GA have cancelled their plan to fly CGK-LGW route and instead replace it with CGK-AMS route (perhaps because of their entry to SkyTeam?) and later in September they'll extend it to CGK-AMS-LGW. It's worth noting that GA has planned to fly the LGW route since November last year and they postpone it to May because of technical problems, now they've given the hint that they will never fly the route direct, i actually find it to be kinda unprofessional, but it doesn't turn off my desire to fly them in F though. Besides it'll be easier to connect with KLM through AMS. Is it possible?
@ Edy -- You would have to call. Last time I called to ask was about a week after they joined SkyTeam, and as of then they only had economy and business class loaded. Hopefully they have it loaded by now, though.
exclusive interview with the CEO of garuda indonesia. Sorry it's in indonesia (and with some english)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mMRFbPFvTHk