My next flight was booked just to be able to reach Jakarta, as I took advantage of the Sri Lankan airlines nice business class promotion between Jakarta and Dubai, via Colombo. This combination of flights fitted very well my plans and for multiple reasons : I decided to come back home for Christmas and had a return ticket to Amsterdam on KLM from Dubai (this was the return flight of the Riga-Dubai trip flown earlier in October). Another reason was that I could take advantage of the Visa-free procedure for passengers in transit (and by transit they mean 48 hours max, which did fit my schedule), and finally, both CGK-CMB and CMB-DXB flights are very slightly over 2000 miles, which means that I could accumulate 280 Tier Points on British Airways, Sri Lankan airlines being a OneWorld member airline. Both flights were operated on recent aircrafts, an Airbus 321 for the first leg and an Airbus 330-300 for the second leg, with their new flat bed, herringbone seat in business class (even if initially the first flight was supposed to be operated by an Airbus 330-200, with an older business class seat).
But first things first… I had to get to CGK, and I was in Bali. And since the national airline, Garuda Indonesia is also a member of Sky Team, I could bag an Economy ticket with luggage included for only 10500 Flying Blue miles + 9 Euros of taxes. I am aware that I can fly for very cheap between Bali and Jakarta on Lion Air or Air Asia, but since Indonesia has unfortunately a poor safety record when it comes to aviation, I preferred to stick to the National, and biggest airline of the country for this domestic flight.
Checking in DPS domestic terminal was quite fast, although all passengers have to clear a first security screening when entering the terminal (Remember that Bali airport had some terrorist attacks several years ago). I checked-in at the sky priority counter and it took only a couple minutes. I later noticed that there was also a « fancier », premium check-in desk right behind me, but I am not sure what are the requirements to use it.
Security was fast to clear and I was airside in no-time.
First security screening to enter the terminal
Sky Prioirity check-in DPS domestic
Was not sure about the eligibility criteria for this VIP check in area
DPS Domestic terminal
Plane spotting in DPS
On the way to the airport, I looked at the lounge finder on the skyteam website, and figured out that no lounges were advertised in Denpasar airport. Therefore, I went to the priority pass lounge, named Concordia lounge and spent about 20 minutes in there. Half of the lounge guests at that time were CityLink crew members (CityLink is a subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia). I was not very hungry at that time and did not try any of the buffet items but some hot and cold options were available.
Concordia lounge entrance DPS domestic
At 9 O’clock I left the lounge and went towards the gate, to see on the way that Garuda Indonesia had a frequent flyer lounge right next to the gate, although I am not sure I would have been eligible for access as I was travelling on a domestic flight (skyteam is really a terrible alliance in that regard, the worst of all 3 alliances).
DPS Domestic Garuda Indonesia lounge - Did not try
I reached the gate 1C right at the time of boarding. I am not sure Sky Priority boarding had been announced though.
My first time on Garuda...
Garuda Indonesia GA403 - December 19th 2018
Bali Denpasar DPS - 09:25
Jakarta Intl CGK - 10:30
Boeing 737-900 - PK-GNT - Seat 31C, Aisle seat, Economy class.
Garuda Boeing 737-900 PK-GNT
2-2 config Business class
Followed by a more classical economy configuration
Although I am skyteam elite plus, and having booked this flight many months in advance, I was only able to select my seat during online check-in and was happy to be able to select an emergency exit row seat (Not that many seats were available as far as I can recall).
Pretty good legroom...
Welcome aboard !
Funny enough the regular seat 29D was kept neutralized during the flight as it became a crew seat during take off and landing, I never saw this on this type of aircraft !
"Crew seat" at the emergency exit
Being an emergency exit row, the legroom was pretty good and each seat was equipped with an IFE screen. I cannot comment much about the IFE selection (although the controls were responsive) as I mostly used my laptop during this flight though. I also took a look during take off at their inflight magazine and was surprised to find an article about Valkenburg… a town 10 min by car away from where I live !
I live 10 min away from this place !
We took off ontime and the service started shortly afterwards with a choice of beef noodles or rice chicken and a selection of beverages. An unknown dessert, a sort of jelly, was also available on the meal tray.
The meal was ok. One thing I noticed with the crew though is that they barely spoke english and all the announcements were barely understandable. The service was not very friendly either which is in net contradiction with the Balinese experience I had…
Warm chicken brekfast...
Not sure what it is exactly...
Total route DPS-CGK
Airlines love to display their fake SkyTrax rating...
We landed shortly ahead of schedule and parked at the new terminal of CGK (Terminal 3) which is used by Garuda and most of the skyteam partners. I have to say the place was pleasant. But unfortunately, my next flight was leaving from the old terminal 2…
CGK Terminal 3 arrivals
It's very odd to me to celebrate Christmas wearing shorts and a T-shirt !
Luggage arrived quite swiftly at the belt 12, which is the one used for sky priority passengers (good point for Garuda !) and arrived way before the « regular baggage » on belt 7.
Nice attention : A Sky Priority belt - Learn from that KLM and Schiphol airport !
Outside the modern Terminal 3
I was soon afterwards on my way to terminal 2, using the skytrain.
Getting the skytrain
Manual controls...
That was Terminal 3...
... And this is the less-fancy Terminal 2 !
This skytrain service seems to be quite recent, and is manually operated. I recall having waited almost 10 minutes and the train ended up quite full as quite a few passengers were coming back from one of the two muslim pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia, with their luggage loaded with gifts… and the security guard had to help a entire group to load their belongings inside the train so we could depart on time !