Review: Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta Airport (CGK)

During my long journey to Abu Dhabi, I flew Garuda Indonesia’s Boeing 777 business class from Jakarta to Jeddah. Prior to my flight, I had the chance to visit the Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta.

I had high hopes of this lounge. I mean, Garuda Indonesia is a Skytrax 5-star airline, and this is the carrier’s international flagship lounge. Not only that, but Terminal 3 only opened in 2016, so it’s still a fairly new facility.

With that in mind, the lounge was incredibly disappointing, in the most confusing way imaginable. It seems to me like the lounge was maybe much nicer at some point, but to cut costs the airline has started taking furniture out of the lounge, closing off rooms, etc. The Garuda Indonesia Lounge pales in comparison to the Plaza Premium Lounge in the terminal, which I’ll be reviewing in the next installment.

Anyway, let’s get into the review of the carrier’s international business class lounge, but goodness, Garuda Indonesia sure has fallen (and I’d say Skytrax needs to take away the 5-star rating from the carrier if it wants to maintain any credibility, but that ship sailed a long time ago).

Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta location

The Garuda Indonesia Lounge is located in Terminal 3 at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK), past security and immigration.

The lounge is located on the mezzanine level, near gate nine. This is located a level below immigration (if you’re originating in Jakarta), and a level above the main concourse, if you’re connecting.

The entryway leading to the lounge really sets the tone for the level of quality you’ll find in the lounge.

First you walk past the closed first class lounge (I can’t tell if it has permanently been shuttered due to the carrier so greatly reducing its first class footprint, or if it’s only open over select hours?).

The entire terminal just feels like it needs some TLC, including the ceiling area leading up to the lounge.

I’m really confused by how this terminal only opened several years ago, between the cracks in the ceiling, plus the ceiling being so low on one side that you could easily hit your head if you walked in that area.

Then as you get closer to the entrance of the lounge, there’s a bunch of (what appears to be) lounge furniture, plus a play area for kids. Is Garuda Indonesia having a garage sale, or why is all of this outside the entrance to the lounge?

By the way, be careful when you take the escalator exiting the lounge, so that you don’t hit your head, because the clearance is very low.

Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta hours

The Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta doesn’t have any consistent hours, as far as I know, so I believe it’s just open from prior to the first Garuda Indonesia international departure until the last Garuda Indonesia international departure.

Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta entry requirements

The Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta is a standard SkyTeam lounge, so it’s accessible by all SkyTeam first and business class passengers, plus SkyTeam Elite Plus members. SkyTeam Elite Plus members can bring one guest with them, while others generally can’t.

Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta layout & seating

What’s the Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta like? When you enter the lounge, you’ll see the buffet straight ahead, and when you turn right, you’ll find yourself in the main part of the lounge area. There’s one long walkway, with seating on both sides.

The first part of the lounge primarily has seats arranged in clusters facing one another, as well as a few dining tables.

Then as you go deeper into the lounge, you’ll find more seating. This tends to be the quieter part of the lounge, since it’s further from the entrance and the buffet.

This part of the lounge also has some chairs facing windows, overlooking the terminal.

When you enter the lounge and turn left, you’ll find another small seating area, with just over a dozen chairs.

The lounge also has a play area for kids.

It’s also cute how right by the entrance, the lounge has a display with some Garuda Indonesia memorabilia, ranging from model airplanes, to the glassware used onboard.

Now this is where matters get strange. Looking at reviews from the lounge several years ago, the lounge seems to have been much bigger in the past (for example, look at the first two pictures on LoungeBuddy).

I know Garuda Indonesia has been doing some cost cutting, so has the airline closed a large part of the lounge? Rather bizarrely, the lounge just ends with… whatever you call the below? Like, what’s going on here? You can see in the below picture some lounge signage suggesting that this was at one point part of the lounge, but I guess not anymore?

Even some of the amenities within the lounge have been shuttered. For example, I saw signage for a coworking space and a cinema, but both were locked.

It’s hard to visit this lounge and not conclude that Garuda Indonesia has kind of given up when it comes to quality. If the airline needed to cut costs and reduce the size of the lounge, there’s certainly a classier way to go about it than what the airline did, no?

Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta food & drinks

What’s the food and drink selection like at the Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta? There’s one main buffet area right by the entrance.

The food selection included salad, fruit, mini-cakes, finger sandwiches, cereal, a couple kinds of soup, packaged croissants, and several hot dishes, including fried rice, chicken sausage, potatoes, baked beans, egg bites, and more.

The lounge also has an egg station, where you can order eggs per your preferences. However, I never actually saw anyone staffing this station, so I’m not sure how readily available that is.

In terms of drinks, there was was a fridge with soda, a pretty lame coffee machine, and bottled water. The lounge also doesn’t serve alcohol (though there were holiday bottles that were intended to be decorative at the “bar”).

I mean, the food selection is okay, while the drink selection is quite underwhelming. As a point of comparison, the Plaza Premium Lounge has exceptional barista coffee, alcoholic drinks, and a food menu you can order off of, so that puts Garuda Indonesia to shame.

Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta bathrooms & showers

The Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta has bathrooms in the back right corner of the lounge.

The men’s room was quite small, and had a single sink, two urinals, and a couple of stalls, and the bathroom didn’t feel particularly clean or well maintained.

The lounge has a single shower located inside the men’s room. This has to be one of the least luxurious lounge showers I’ve seen in a long time.

Bottom line

Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Hong Kong or Singapore anymore! I had fairly high expectations of the Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta, given that this was my first time flying out of the airport’s new(ish) terminal, and given that Garuda Indonesia is a very well regarded airline.

Suffice it to say that my experience was disappointing. The Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta just feels like an afterthought and a shell of what it may have been in the past. The lounge is fairly small, has a limited selection of drinks, lacks amenities, and has a shower room that leaves a lot to be desired.

I guess Garuda Indonesia is just in cost cutting mode, because I believe this lounge used to be significantly more impressive? It’s sad when a Plaza Premium Lounge blows away a well regarded carrier’s flagship international lounge, but that’s exactly the case in Jakarta…

What’s your take on the Garuda Indonesia Lounge Jakarta?