Garuda Indonesia has an excellent first class product, which I’ve historically ranked as being one of the best in the world. It has been many years since I’ve flown Garuda Indonesia first class, and I was making imminent plans to give the product another try.
Continue reading: Garuda Indonesia’s “Presidential” First Class: Is The End Finally Here, Or…?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Yeah it's pretty random how GA works.
They've even operated their F aircraft on domestic flights between CGK to DPS in recent years.
What was really interesting is that it was being sold as F class too.
Two aircraft is not much for which to have a fully fledged First Class program. Just look at American - they still have even more 777's with what they call F, but they apparently have needed to hallow out their program - only a couple of additional items to their catering, no special ground services, and no regular maintenance on the hard product.
Garuda likely should give up on the idea of F. To the extent they still have F seats, such can be marketed as a better set in the C cabin.
True F is slowly disappearing (but for AF, LH, SQ, EY, EK, NH, JL). Wish Garuda flew to the US (I know they did way back with stops), but that'd be a super-long flight. JFK-SIN is nearly 19 hours. CGK or DPS would be an extra 1-2 hours. Would need whatever QF is using for Project Sunrise (SYD-JFK/LHR), basically.
There are those who do not appear to have a very extensive knowledge of true World Class F cabin, availability. Anyone who misses out the “World’s Favourite Airline” from their list of “True F” carriers is lacking in knowledge, alternatively, perhaps they are just trying to wind the likes of me up …. Yes?
I suspect the former …. 🙂
Incidentally, our recent LHR-JNB flight was again faultless on board the A380 …. another plus is that the daily Cape weather is a most enjoyable 24-28°C.
…. 🙂 …. clearly the ignorant proletariat cattle class are hardly likely to know any better, therefore, “Who cares” about their words …. in their case it is only the ‘click’ that counts for anything meaningful, yes?
Thank you for the grin Con.
and MS, i hear their business class is so extravagant that it surpasses even the finest first class cabins on other carriers, much like their hub airport.
Aww, poor AeroB13a liked his own comment. Or maybe he even forgot that it was him who wrote this.
Forget F, and look at the rest of GA’s fleet. You will understand just how horribly GA is performing when compared to its regional rivals. When TG and MH, which used to bleed boatloads of money, are marching full speed ahead with new cabin products and big orders — TG with the A321neo, MH with the A330neo — and GA is still incapable of ordering a single new widebody aircraft (indeed, keeping its existing A330 and 777 fleet flying), the difference is irreparably and irreversibly stark.
Not a single airline in Southeast Asia is doing as horribly as Garuda Indonesia as far as fleet renewal and destination network is concerned. VN? A healthy fleet of A350s and 787s, with more potentially on the way. PR? The only A350-1000 operator in Southeast Asia. How about little BI? Even they’ve placed an order for 787s. And that’s saying nothing of SQ, which, despite being hamstrung by 777X delays and the launch of its new F and J products, is still head and shoulders ahead of other ASEAN airlines — though TG and MH are finally starting to shed their old ways.
Admittedly Southeast Asian premium travel is much more dominated by SQ than Northeast Asia, where NH, JL, CX, BR/CI/JX and KE are all fighting for lucrative transpacfic travellers. But for GA’s F product, and the airline in general, to have fallen this badly is such a shame for an airline which has what I still firmly believe has one of the best cabin crews and inflight service on the planet.
Skytrax already downgraded GA to a 4-star airline. I think the first class day is over indeed
They actually handled it in a quite different way than AA, their first class is a true first class with an individual lounge part (most likely just 1 person), with a chef on board, escort throughout the way, not like AA more like a symbol. However, I do see the possibility of the costs of all of those could be quite low due to low cost labor in Indonesia even with all of this.
Be one of the lucky ones to taste this first class last year! Have to say it is one of the best. It is comparable to AF F in different ways.
Most Indonesians that can fly first class will fly Singapore Airlines. That’s why Garuda’s first class is wide open. GA is a terribly mismanaged organization.
TG's transformation or process of transformation is especially remarkable how they were at the brink of not existing by 2020. Not only is there a big A321NEO order but also the large now 50+ 787 order due in 2027. While the fleet still is a bit mismatched, mostly due to short term leases to cover lack of capacity, it is way more efficient and the airline has been pulling in record profits, which I can only imagine will improve once the new 787s arrive and the A350/77W fleet has been retrofitted to all have the same VantageNOVA product as the 787s, with the A321NEO being the bulk of the shorthaul fleet too, so I can imagine by 2030, TG will be a majorly competitive airline with a consistent product throughout the fleet, huge change from what it was in 2020. Proof that if you put the right people in, good things will happen, something that was also done at MH, and something GA desperately needs to do
Garuda are for a lack of a better term, screwed. Rich Indonesians don’t fly them overseas, they fly SQ. Guess the city with the most amount of PPS members after SIN? CGK…
So there is no demand for long-haul flights, and short-haul is a joke as well. Batik and Pelita offer a better service than GA at a better price point. Even though they have lowered their J prices drastically (CGK-DPS now 370$ ish instead of 600$), a lot of flights still go out empty, figuratively.
Might as well follow IDs model and excel where you can. There’s just little premium demand anymore and with half the fleet grounded, turn the 777s into all economy flights so Saudi.
I love Garuda and want them to succeed, but seems there is just no way back, especially with the downward trend of tourism in Bali, and the rich not using GA much.
So yeah, probably a smart move with stopping to sell F. Just losing money.
Hi Ben, thanks as always for the helpful information!
Around the summer of 2025, I read your article highly praising Garuda Indonesia's First Class. That inspired me to start searching for First Class award tickets.
Fortunately, for flights between Japan (where I live) and Bali from September 2025 to March 2026, I was able to find award availability for 3 First Class seats on about 70% of the dates. So, I invited my "miles and points friends," and the three of us were able to enjoy Garuda's First Class on an award ticket between Narita and Bali in January.
I have flown international First Class about 30 times so far (all on award tickets, of course!). Even from that experience, Garuda's service ranks right near the top. I completely agree with you: the aircraft and seats felt a bit dated, but the service from the crew was truly fantastic.
After arriving in Bali from Tokyo, we even received the chauffeur service. As far as I know, Garuda is the only airline right now that still provides a chauffeur car service for passengers traveling on award tickets.
We flew DPS-TOKYO March 16 on the Garuda flight and I had hoped to buy an upgrade at the airport.
The claim was made that F was sold out so we stayed in J. Unfortunately your rave reviews of F did not rub off on J. Wines served were Hatten - "home brew" made from Australian grape juice in Denpasar. Having spent a month in Denpasar we were looking forward to some real wine and were very disappointed.
From a one off data point it appears that this is a good route for selling F.
You summarized it. Combination of lack of demand for their first class product and the government using the commercial planes. I don't think it will change soon.