Garuda Indonesia B737-800NG CGK-SUB on business
Nov 18, 2014, 5:27 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Sydney
Programs: SQ, GA, QF
Posts: 192
Garuda Indonesia B737-800NG CGK-SUB on business
Airline: Garuda Indonesia
Flight no: GA330
Plane type: B737-800NG
Route: CGK-SUB
This was a short-haul domestic flight with a total scheduled duration of 1 hour and 35 minutes. In the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta, there is a premium check-in area for business and first class passengers as shown in the picture below. The same area is used for both domestic and international passengers.
I got my boarding pass without any fuss and immediately went to the GA domestic lounge which was just a very short walk from the check-in area. GA has a new lounge in Jakarta. It is larger and nicer than the old one. I also took a shower in the lounge. At first they ran out of clean towels, but one of the staff quickly fetched one for me. There was only one shower room and it was rather small and simple. It served the purpose though. I guess not many people take a shower in the airport before domestic flights.
I also had my dinner at the lounge. Soto Bogor (Indonesian yellow soup), yellow rice with crispy chicken, fish fillet, crackers, and boiled veggies. Orange juice was the drink of my choice. I don't think alcohol was available in the domestic lounge. There might be some bintang beer available, but I'm a wine person. I took a picture of the tarmac area too where GA A330 and KLM B777 could be seen.
Wi-Fi was available. It's a bit slow, but it's still reasonable in my opinion. Boarding was on-time. There was a special lane during the security screening called Sky Priority. This is an improvement since this kind of service was not available before. Then all passengers were bussed to the plane. All GA flights arrive and depart at Terminal 2, but the plane was parked in front of the Terminal 3 Ultimate which was quite far from the gate. T3 Ultimate is currently under construction and should be completed at the end of 2015. This new terminal looked massive and will, I think, double the airport capacity. Looking forward for it. Jakarta really needs a bigger airport. Currently the passenger movement is almost three times the capacity.
The plane was B737-800NG. The seat layout in the business class was 2-2. I sat on the window seat near the bulkhead. I didn't take any picture of the seat so I stole a picture from flickr. There were 4 business class passengers with 12 seats available. The flight attendants were attentive and always addressed me by name. I chose orange juice as my welcome drink. Hot towels were also distributed before take-off. The food was good for such a short flight. There was no alcohol on the flight.
Managed to watch a short documentary about Michael Owen during the flight. We arrived in SUB on time. SUB also has a new terminal which is way bigger than the old one. My luggage literally came on the conveyor belt at the same time when I arrived on the luggage claim area.
I'm very happy with the experience especially with all the additional perks in the airports. The airport in Jakarta is old, but I can see that they did quite a job in maintaining it in recent years. I think it's better than ... say 10 years ago. A possible improvement is perhaps to use a separate vehicle when taking business class passengers from the gate to the plane, but I'm being pedantic here.
Flight no: GA330
Plane type: B737-800NG
Route: CGK-SUB
This was a short-haul domestic flight with a total scheduled duration of 1 hour and 35 minutes. In the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta, there is a premium check-in area for business and first class passengers as shown in the picture below. The same area is used for both domestic and international passengers.
I got my boarding pass without any fuss and immediately went to the GA domestic lounge which was just a very short walk from the check-in area. GA has a new lounge in Jakarta. It is larger and nicer than the old one. I also took a shower in the lounge. At first they ran out of clean towels, but one of the staff quickly fetched one for me. There was only one shower room and it was rather small and simple. It served the purpose though. I guess not many people take a shower in the airport before domestic flights.
I also had my dinner at the lounge. Soto Bogor (Indonesian yellow soup), yellow rice with crispy chicken, fish fillet, crackers, and boiled veggies. Orange juice was the drink of my choice. I don't think alcohol was available in the domestic lounge. There might be some bintang beer available, but I'm a wine person. I took a picture of the tarmac area too where GA A330 and KLM B777 could be seen.
Wi-Fi was available. It's a bit slow, but it's still reasonable in my opinion. Boarding was on-time. There was a special lane during the security screening called Sky Priority. This is an improvement since this kind of service was not available before. Then all passengers were bussed to the plane. All GA flights arrive and depart at Terminal 2, but the plane was parked in front of the Terminal 3 Ultimate which was quite far from the gate. T3 Ultimate is currently under construction and should be completed at the end of 2015. This new terminal looked massive and will, I think, double the airport capacity. Looking forward for it. Jakarta really needs a bigger airport. Currently the passenger movement is almost three times the capacity.
The plane was B737-800NG. The seat layout in the business class was 2-2. I sat on the window seat near the bulkhead. I didn't take any picture of the seat so I stole a picture from flickr. There were 4 business class passengers with 12 seats available. The flight attendants were attentive and always addressed me by name. I chose orange juice as my welcome drink. Hot towels were also distributed before take-off. The food was good for such a short flight. There was no alcohol on the flight.
Managed to watch a short documentary about Michael Owen during the flight. We arrived in SUB on time. SUB also has a new terminal which is way bigger than the old one. My luggage literally came on the conveyor belt at the same time when I arrived on the luggage claim area.
I'm very happy with the experience especially with all the additional perks in the airports. The airport in Jakarta is old, but I can see that they did quite a job in maintaining it in recent years. I think it's better than ... say 10 years ago. A possible improvement is perhaps to use a separate vehicle when taking business class passengers from the gate to the plane, but I'm being pedantic here.
