Apparently Garuda is first performing an internal upgrade of their systems which they are going to complete before they get to join SkyTeam. And that is going to take 18+ more months. :eek:

If DL's IT is good enough for ST, it seems odd that whatever GA is running wouldn't be good enough.

But DL was one of the founding members of SkyTeam.

Let's hope that GA doesn't decide to go with another alliance in the meantime.

I'd say the chances of them being courted by another alliance are between slim and none, given that MH is headed to OW and I can't imagine SQ being keen on GA in *A. It would, however, be fun to watch all the ST haters change their views on GA as soon as they were announced as a new member of *A or OW, given the reaction that always seems to accompany any new ST member announcement.

AFAIK, KE also helps out a lot.

GA has started the migration to Amadeus Altea 2 months ago and this whole process is expected to take 16 - 24 months. I myself also fail to see why the latest joining date is being pushed back again to early 2014 from early 2013. Mind you a lot has been done to upgrade the IT system in GA for the last year.

Quote from Aviation Week & Space Technology (10/8/12 issue):

"Garuda's planned entry into the Skyteam alliance was recently pushed back until 2014, mainly to allow more time to resolve information technology issue."

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Galaxy S: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/534.24 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/11.0.696.34 Safari/534.24)

Shades of Air India and Star Alliance.
Other than KE to BOM, CZ to DEL, MU to DEL/CCU and CI to DEL, I am not aware of any ST carrier berween Asia and India. South Asia/Japan and Australia/New Zealand to India are also not served. GA's entry into ST will go a long way to remedy that.
If Indonesia did away with its visa requirement or make it cheaper, GA would be an even more attractive alternative for these routes.

Any update on GA's entry into SkyTeam?

Early 2014 is still the expectation on the Skyteam website.

A shame, I just flew them CGK-BKK and would have been nice to credit these to my DL account, but they need to get their IT integrated before they join.

Save for SV, right?

Indeed 2014. Garuda will begin service to London this year, non-stop from Jakarta. Also, the 773 will be added to the fleet and will initially be serving Australia. The 773 will feature a new First class cabin, with suite like seats.

Do you have a detailed source? (Other than Garuda Returns to London, which says 2013 "or at least early 2014")?

And any news on GA resuming flights to New Zealand?

I sure have. I have spoken yesterday with some GA representatives. I also received a press kit which included the info. Only, it's in Dutch.

It has confirmed date(month) now, March 2014.
http://www.ausbt.com.au/garuda-to-jo...-in-march-2014

What is your educated guess from earlier events where airlines joined SkyTeam:

If I have Delta flights in November and I do not credit them to any FFP, can I retroactively credit them to the Garudia program in March? (This would be within a six month period.)

And, if there is a chance, should I join GFF before my flights or in March?

With Garudia, as it stands now, I could get silver with 10 segments. That would be most welcome, as it will reduce my luggage fees.