[KSHaggag]

Dear AleRomUY ,

Just to add that Garuda is offering a First Class cabin too on the 777-300ER plying he Jakarta /Jeddah route plus the Amsterdam/London Gatwick one in addition to Tokyo Narita .It used to have it on the Shanghai and seoul routes temporarily some time ago .
I know the GA First Class cabin and product are marvelous and I will be looking forward to sampling it soon .
May I consider you our champion in Jakarta and ask you about the Garuda First lounge in Jakarta ?I know this thread is not about GA but I am interested to know .If you don t mind answering ,I will appreciate if you could send me your feedback on my email : <a href="mailto:[email protected]“>[email protected]
Most grateful in advance !

[AleRomUY]

Dear KSHaggag, it will be my pleasure!!
Garuda is simply phenomenal in every aspect. I use it domestic and regional a lot (since for long haul I use QR for the mileage thing).
By the way, today I will fly GA to Bali for a couple of days!
AMcWhirter stated above that the next 77Ws coming to GA will do it without First. Maybe yes, but the ones they have now which make Europe, Jeddah and Narita are amazing. I will send you an email shortly!!
Going back to QR, their inconsistency with the fleet is the rule.
Are they heading on the direction of EK, where everybody is cramped?
Do u think they will even change the conf of the 77W to the one at 788 or 380 or 359?
To be honest, I like the single seat by the window, even it may look having less space for yourself than on the 77W.
But my favorite plane is the 77W anyway!! I always choose one of the seats in the middle so to have nobody jumping over me on a long haul flight. In a couple of weeks when I will be doing DOHPHL and GRUDOH, beyond JKTDODHJKT, I already secured 3E, haha!

[KSHaggag]

Dear AleRomUY,

Thanks a million for this ! I will be looking forward to receiving your email !

I just wanted to ask you about the Narita GA schedule : I checked it online for July but could not find the GA flights ;only the codeshared ANA operated ones ; are they so full ? is it a technical glitch ? or are the flights temporarily suspended ?
I noticed that GA is basing its newer A333 planes in Denpasar while the older A332 ( for business routes ) are based in Jakarta .
Bali /Sydney ,Bali /hong Kong,Bali/Seoul are operated with the A333 and those routes from CGK are operated by A332 …I love the biz cabin of those GA aircraft and I am looking forward to sampling their First suites on the 777-300ER maybe on Jeddah or Narita or even better maybe on a short hop from Amsterdam to Gatwick !.
Have you tried their new biz seat on the 777-300ER ? it looks nice but I am more in love with their A332/A333 which are often deployed on the domestic shuttle CGKDPS .
Will talk further about GA once I receive your note .
Thanks a million in advance and enjoy Bali !

[KSHaggag]

Hi AleRomUY ,

Answering your questions : I sincerely wish QR do not replace the 777-300ER Biz cabin by a tighter ,more ” cocooned ” seating .A good biz class in my opinion is one providing generous space ! The newer designs generally remind me of a ” coffin ” and make my claustrophobia even worse !
With all respect to EK ( not my favorite carrier ..haha ) ,but what I have always disliked about them is the cramped seating in ALL cabins .Even their F sruites feel too much congested .
I don t like too much “”plunging “” in their biz seats on the 777-300ER and A380s .The bar/lounge on the A380 is the sole attraction I believe .I don t feel their service is personalised .They are still a good carrier but not a WOWWW one .I still believe SQ ,CX provide a much more personalised ,gracious ,straight -from-the -heart service unlike all GCC based carriers .Hopefully GA will receive the new planes soon to reinforce their fleet and expand their currently ” too small ” network ,especially in Asia and the Middle East .
I would love to see them reinstating AUH ;now their presence in the Middle East is far tooooooooooo weak !!…
More presence in China ,Vietnam ,Japan ,India is a must .

[AMcWhirter]

Hello KS

Garuda has switched its Tokyo flights from Narita to Haneda.

[KSHaggag]

Hello Alex !

Thx a million for this !!!..how stupid of me ! but the site should still display it coz I was inserting TYO ,not NRT ..
Good to know and thx again !

[KSHaggag]

Hi AleRomUY,

I presume you are back to Jakarta safe and sound .This said I would like to ask you if at DPS airport ,GA has two different Executive lounges ,one for domestic passengers and another one for international ones .Moreover ,how does the international one ( should it exist ) compare to the GA signature lounge at CGK ?
I have never been to CGK airport before and when I flew to/from DPS lately i was flying CX and was given access to a lounge for the collectivity of airlines operating there : MH,CX,CI,etc…
Thank you.

[samhamsyd]

Interesting – i took this flight only just this weekend and 110% agree with your statement. I thought their service was not at a 5 star level – Garuda operated at a much higher level with consistency than my recent 4 trips this month with QR.

[AleRomUY]

Dear KSHaggag,
I still owe you the email I promise!! But it will go soon!
You are right, I came back to Jakarta safe and sound, after flying on a 333 by Garuda.
What an exceptional airline, even on domestic and even on economy class.
Every time I fly Garuda, I confirm that they really well deserve the 5-star title they got as well as the World’s Best Cabin Crew for a 2nd consecutive year.
As samhamsyd said, they operate at a much higher level and consistency than many QR flights, seriously.
Regarding their flights to Japan, this is the truth: Jakarta – Tokyo flights operate to Haneda, night departure from JKT on 77W; and Denpasar – Tokyo flights operate to Narita, also night departure on 77W.
So right now they operate 2 daily flights, both on 77W, 1 from each city in Indonesia to 1 of the 2 airports in TYO.
But since you have plenty of flights JKT-DPS and many of them in widebodies like me on the 333 yesterday, you will have quick and smooth connections.
Regarding the lounges in DPS, yes, they have 2, one at Domestic Terminal and one at Intl Terminal. Don’t know when was ur last time at Bali Airport but it has changed (for good) a lot!!!
Regarding JKT airport, the Premium service at GA is superb! The lounges for GA are very nice and comfy and they treat you very well, showing why they are 5-star.
JKT Terminal 2 (where GA operates) currently is too over crowded and many times, chaotic. I hope they finish the new Terminal 3 under construction, soon. It will be huge and state of the art.
Jakarta deserves a great airport, considering the traffic in and out of here, in a city of 23 million people!!
To be honest, I tend to fly more QR because of the long haul routes I always do and because of maintaining the Platinum status.
But if Garuda were to offer me the same long haul routes I do in QR, I would definitely move to Garuda.
One more thing, I do really appreciate the level of service at Singapore Airlines. But let me tell you that Garuda is even better!!

I’m sorry all guys, this forum has become a Garuda one when initially was QR winter schedule; which btw, is still disappointing considering the changes on the LHR flights’aircraft, CDG as well and particularly for me, for QR957/956 out/into JKT.
Cheers guys!

[KSHaggag]

Dear AleRomUY,

Welcome back !!
Thanks a million for this lovely feedback .
You have managed with flying colors to whet my appetite to fly GA asap.
I will be looking forward to reading your email shortly as I have tons and tons of questions about GA and all services attached more than ever before ,that I keep out of the scope of this thread .
Till then,
Cheers !

[AleRomUY]

My dear friend!!
I’m happy to see you excited about trying Garuda soon!
This is not my country but I’m really proud of the national airline of this.
Garuda is superb!!
I started writing the email to you…..should I assume that your first name is Karim???
Going soon!!!

[KSHaggag]

Dear AleRomUY,

Thank you for your message .Yes ,my first name is Karim.

Thanks in advance .

Looking forward to receiving your email shortly ..i do cfm my email address is <a href="mailto:[email protected]“>[email protected]
Please watch there is a dot btw Karim & Haggag.
Cheers ,

[AleRomUY]

Dear Karim, the promised email has gone!!! Take a look on your inbox or just in case in the junk one. You will notice it.
Cheers and enjoy!!!!

[AleRomUY]

Hi guys, back here around with the same topic: the inconsistency of QR in terms of aircraft scheduling BUT at the same time, positively I want to add and remark about good Customer Service from them regarding this and service on board.
Let me tell you: in a few weeks I will be flying JKT-PHL-JKT.
When I was looking for the options for the return because I need late departure from PHL (not the morning QR departure from there), I got a great option which even adds a second stop, but the 3 scheduled planes would be giving me 1-2-1 configuration which I love because of the single window seat: AA from PHL to MUC on 332 (former US plane), cnx to QR from MUC to DOH on 350 and then QR from DOH to JKT on 787. Awesome!
When I was booking my flights and selecting seats and go to the last leg, I found that the 787 that was even advertised on the website to operate DOHJKTDOH on QR958/959, has been changed back again to a 332!!!
I still booked the flights because of the convenient departure time from PHL and arrival time in JKT, but immediately sent a feedback to QR as a loyal QR Platinum member who always and only flies Business Class on them.
And I got surprised that so far I have got 2 or 3 emails from them apologizing for the change of plane and that they are working on the issue and so on! Quite impressive! Don’t know if anything will happen and if they will put the 787 back on the route as it was scheduled to start from next month. But their responses have been very nice so far!

Of course, I’m still excited to try the former US Airways 332 which they say it’s very good and of course the QR 350 out of MUC, and hopefully if it’s not the 787, it may be a reconfigured 332 to JKT.

On the other hand, I have to say that last month on my last flight on QR arriving back to JKT after connecting from an ultra long-haul flight, I surprisingly found to be on a refurbished 333 and OMG, the bed was completely flat, 180′ and I slept like a rock, just woke up when almost landing in JKT.
That leads me to a funny story about the lovely cabin crew in C class on QR. The lady serving on my side and the CSD (who happened to be a lovely Indonesian lady) were so worried for me that I had not eaten anything since they saw me sleeping so profoundly that they were offering me coffee and whatever before disembarking when we were already taxiing to the gate. They were extremely nice and caring and I do really appreciate that. Those are the things that make me be so loyal to QR even they change my aircrafts out of/into JKT!!!

[KSHaggag]

Hi AleRomUY ,

Welcome back to our thread !! delighted to read your effusive note!
I just want to congratulate you for your love story with QR .Secondly ,I feel like sharing an almost similar story that happened to me on QR ( coincidentally ) in Nov 2009 when I was flying QR in Business Class on an A333 ( new at that time ) but not fully flat from Moscow DME to Doha .The purser I had in the cabin was one of the BEST ever flight attendants I had ever met in the last 26 years since I started to circle the globe !!!!…Let me formulate things a bit differently here : she was extremely hospitable ,caring ,gentle ,yet sharply professional however I would like to add that ( she ) as a person was so ,not because she was working for QR or whichever airline .You know what is the commonality btw our two stories ??? she was INDONESIAN .I was so eager to ask her about her nationality .On the same fligh ,her fellow attendants of different nationalities were just ok ,nothing to write about .You were lucky to have an indonesian CSD on your flight coz this attitude is not really always a trait of QR flight attendants .I would rather take it as an “indonesian “feature more than a QR one …This encourages me more and more to sample GA services shortly !

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