Garuda to join skyteam in 2011
Dec 2, 2009 | 4:29 am
#16
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SYD
Programs: |QF LTG|DL Gold|
Posts: 1,784
Ha true, although that may be for other reasons not related to safety. Much like I avoid SQ out of SIN if I have other options such as QF, TG or CX, SQ really has their tongue in their cheek when they refer to KrisFlyer as a "Loyalty" program.
Dec 2, 2009 | 4:46 am
#17
Join Date: May 2009
Location: MAD/LAX/MNL/PIT
Programs: DL DM/1MM, PR, TG, UA, CX (Asia Miles), BT, AY, AA
Posts: 967
Dec 2, 2009 | 5:35 am
#18
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SEA
Programs: UA Silver, BA Gold, DL Gold
Posts: 9,779
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.
While I might have preferred MH, I'm willing to give Garuda a chance. Garuda makes a lot of sense for the reasons you noted and if they are as good as you say, then I will be happy to fly them. MH is an economic basket case, and is in the midst of a restructuring. I doubt any alliance is looking to take on that kind of uncertainty - do you want to fill a whole with a carrier that may be dramatically altering its operations?
Dec 2, 2009 | 2:26 pm
#19
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Garuda might make more sense in terms of passenger feed. Among ASEAN economies, Malaysia is lagging and has only beaten out the Philippines in terms of economic growth over the last 10 years (http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/stag...economy/344959). Adding Garuda adds the fourth most populous nation in the world to SkyTeam's base - lower GDP per capita but rising fast and therefore likely growth in travel.
Dec 2, 2009 | 7:47 pm
#20
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SYD
Programs: |QF LTG|DL Gold|
Posts: 1,784
Maybe in terms of airline quality, but Garuda brings a 10 times larger domestic base of travelers into the network than Malaysian would.
Dec 2, 2009 | 9:39 pm
#21
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SIN
Programs: KL Life Platinum, QF Platinum, OZ Diamond, Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 213
GA's domestic base spans many more destinations than what MH can offer. And besides, GA provides the mush needed coverage into the southern South East Asia (Vietnam covers the northern) and also into Australia and NZ.
MH may probably now join OneWorld if GA joins SkyTeam, but that's another discussion. I only wish that GA's intergretion would be faster than the 2011 timeline.
Dec 2, 2009 | 10:08 pm
#22
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Posts: 6,531
The "new Garuda" is only a small bit of Garuda, particularly if you are speaking of their domestic network. GA and MH aren't at all comparable in terms of international networks, MH is far superior. There have been many spectacular developments in Indonesia over the past decades, there have also been many things promised or expected that never appeared.
Dec 3, 2009 | 12:18 pm
#23
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: CAN
Programs: TK*S, KF Gold, Marriot Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 282
The key issue here is South East Asia, in terms of Garuda even tho they may be bringing in a larger domestic base, its South East Asia as a whole where SkyTeam lacks a significant presence. MH would have been able to fill that void more than satisfactorliy. CI would have been good as well. Even though Vietnam and Garuda have made plans for massive expansion, it won't happen for a while especially with delays by Airbus and Boeing.
Dec 4, 2009 | 10:13 am
#25
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: HKG, VCE, CAN
Programs: CX MPO
Posts: 585
judging from the new entrants, it would be more correct to call it "the colonial alliance", as Vietnam and Indonesia were former colonies of France and Netherlands.
Barring some last minute reversals, this may finally lead MH directly into OW arms.
Barring some last minute reversals, this may finally lead MH directly into OW arms.
Jan 2, 2010 | 11:39 pm
#27
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: New England
Programs: DL Plat, Mariott Plat, HH Diam
Posts: 122
Gardua upgraded to 4-star airline ranking
Gardua upgraded to 4-star airline ranking for 2010. As some others have noted, much improved. Here is the article:
http://www.airlinequality.com/news/garuda_291209.htm
http://www.airlinequality.com/news/garuda_291209.htm
Jan 4, 2010 | 9:46 pm
#29
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Phoenix, AZ
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Gardua upgraded to 4-star airline ranking for 2010. As some others have noted, much improved. Here is the article:
http://www.airlinequality.com/news/garuda_291209.htm
http://www.airlinequality.com/news/garuda_291209.htm
Jan 5, 2010 | 4:49 am
#30
Join Date: Jul 2008
Programs: QF, VN, SQ, SPG, IHG PG
Posts: 455
Can't they just let in MH & GA join? VN only focuses on the northern parts of Asia and doesn't go anywhere south of SIN in SEA, they don't even serve The Phillipines or Indonesia, 2 very big markets in Asia. While for the bottom parts of SEA MH & GA can both very well serve with both having established domestic markets.
GA has just dumped VN's code-share (member in 6 months!!!), which just shows how much they want to get into SkyTeam.
GA has just dumped VN's code-share (member in 6 months!!!), which just shows how much they want to get into SkyTeam.