Originally Posted by
Supersonic Swinger
Currently in Jakarta and there are a few billboards up announcing the upcoming A330 service to Amsterdam. I had read that the CEO of Garuda wants to get the airline up to a Skytrax 5 star rating and the A330 will have a flat-bed in business class, but I think they still have a way to go to fix their safety reputation. Singapore Airlines flights to here are packed to the rafters, and when there is no seat availability even the locals recommend that you try one of the discount carriers such as Jetstar or Tiger rather than fly on Garuda.
The new A332 and the new B738 have one of the best products in the region. The new horizontal lie flat seats with 74" pitch on its A332 even beat SQ's new regional business class seats in terms of space and comfort.
The locals who recommend Jetstar or Tiger over Garuda are those people who only fly LCC and will only fly if they can snatch a low enough fare on the internet 6 to 9 months in advance.
Most Indonesian business people will now fly Garuda as well. It is true that Garuda still has ways to go to compete with SQ which has dominated the International flights out of Indonesia for years. But if my flight with Garuda last week was any indication, do not be surprised that Garuda will catch up with SQ wihtin the next several years. Being an SQ Solitaire, I was very impressed with both the new hardware and the software of Garuda. So, I would say good on GA to be accepted into an alliance.
I can't understand those who talks down on Skyteam either. There is nothing wrong with the member airlines in Skyteam. United and USAirways are not much better than Delta / Northwest. I actually prefer Delta / Northwest over United and USAirways anyday and I am a *G. Lufthansa is very similar to Air France / KLM. What's wrong with Czech, Aeroflot, and China Southern? *A has Egypt Air, Air China (worse service than China Southern), and LOT. So every alliance surely has good and bad members.