Review of Garuda Indonesia flight Semarang-Java Island Jakarta in Economy

Airline Garuda Indonesia
Flight GA245
Class Economy
Seat 22A
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 01:10
Take-off 27 Dec 15, 17:45
Arrival at 27 Dec 15, 18:55
GA   #24 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 212 reviews
BombieFlyer
By 1892
Published on 22nd February 2016
Hello all! Apa kabar? I hope you are all doing well!

Let's continue where I left you guys last time :)

Here is the schedule:
1. Nov 26, 2015 KA857 PVG-HKG in J class http://flight-report.com/en/report-12989.html
2. Nov 26, 2015 KA360 HKG-DPS in J class http://flight-report.com/en/report-13036.html
3. Nov 29, 2015 KL836 DPS-SIN in Y class http://flight-report.com/en/report-13093.html
4. Dec 07, 2015 AF254 SIN-CGK in J class http://flight-report.com/en/report-13320.html
5. Dec 24, 2015 GA204 CGK-JOG in Y class http://flight-report.com/en/report-13521.html
6. Dec 27, 2015 GA245 SRG-CGK in Y class [YOU ARE HERE]
7. Dec 30, 2015 CX752 CGK-HKG in J class
8. Dec 30, 2015 CX360 HKG-PVG in J class

BACKGROUND

So, after 2 nights in Yogyakarta, we drove up north to Semarang and stayed there for one night. Semarang is the capital city of Central Java province and it was an important port for Dutch Colonial government. Modern Semarang is the sixth most populous city in Indonesia and the fifth largest city in Indonesia by area.

Semarang is served by a tiny airport called Achmad Yani International Airport. The airport is named after General Achmad Yani, the commander of the Indonesian Army in 1965. General Achmad Yani was given the honorary title of national hero after he was brutally tortured and finally murdered in 1965. Conspiracy theories aside, 1965 was probably one of the worst years in modern Indonesian history.

Unfortunately, the airport does not befit the name. SRG is very crowded, run down, and chaotic. Just like CGK and JOG, SRG is another example of the victim of its own success. The development in airport infrastructure is unfortunately outpaced by the increase in passenger numbers.

The Flight
Route: SRG-CGK
Date: December 27, 2015
Flight: GA245
Equipment: B737-800ER
Registration: PK-GFX
Load: C12/Y144
Seat: 22A
Scheduled Time Departure: 5.45PM
Actual Time Departure: 6.02PM
Estimated Time Arrival: 6.55PM
Actual Time Arrival: 6.55PM

My family and I arrived at the drop off zone. We were greeted with this scene
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Only passengers with tickets are allowed to enter the terminal building
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In the domestic terminal, common check-in desks is the standard. There were desks assigned for Garuda, Lion Air, etc. I checked in at Sky Priority desk because the booking was made under my mom's name so I could piggy back her Garuda Miles Gold status :)

Check-in area was like a fun house! People everywhere, no apparent line was formed
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Fun fact, Fuzhou airlines, a subsidiary of Hainan Airlines, flies from Changsha to Semarang. Other international flights are to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur

Boarding pass obtained! After waiting for about 10 minutes for my uncle and aunt, we made a bee line to pass security and went airside.
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Airside condition was no better. There was one big general holding area, a few shops, and a few eateries. There was no gate specific area as far as I could see
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We toured the area in search for empty benches but alas to no avail. Then, my uncle spotted Arjuna Executive Lounge! "Hey, let's try that lounge! We can all go in because we just need credit card from XXX bank and YYY bank". Let me just cut to the chase here, to date I still don't get what is 'executive' about this 'executive lounge'. It's very basic lounge with dated furniture. It's on par with lounges in China. If you can enter it for free because it is a perk from your credit card, then do so. But if you have to pay for it, then don't even try. It's not worth it. You could do a quick research on Trip Advisor and see the comments posted there
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Feeling claustrophobic, I told my family that I'd rather wait outside in the general waiting area. At least, I could see ramp activities, browse some magazines at the book shop, and monitor our flight.

There are about 3-4 'gates' at the departure area. This is not really a gate with its own waiting area, a podium, a jetbridge, and what have you, it's more of a glass door that leads you directly to the tarmac where your aircraft is parked about 10-20 meters away. There was absolutely no room to form a queue so the crowded area became very chaotic as the boarding staff tried in vain to separate the passengers between business class/sky priority passengers and economy class passengers.
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Boarding was called at 17.35 for 17.45 departure from Gate 2. Everyone just tried to cut the line. Not a nice feeling! I queued on Sky Priority line together with my mom. My uncle and aunt didn't have status with Garuda so they joined the other line and eventually boarded the plane from rear door.
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I took as many pictures as I could when I walked from the terminal to the aircraft. Nobody seemed to care and I saw that I was not the only one taking pictures.
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This was my airplane! She was equipped with Boeing Sky Interior


Before I boarded the aircraft, I took even more pictures. The livery looked very nice in sunset setting! Come to think of it, it's a lot nicer than the old Landor livery
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Tiny but powerful CFM engines :) I always wonder, why is the bottom part of the engine is flatter? It does not really look like a circle…
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I boarded from the front door. Here is the obligatory fuselage shot
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A flight attendant in orange kebaya greeted passengers while two other were busy preparing drinks for business class passengers. The greeting felt robotic and insincere. Maybe this is the 3rd or 4th leg of the day for that FA so she's tired. This time, I didn't manage to secure bulkhead row so my mom and I settled on 22A and 22B. as long as I have a window seat, it didn't really matter to me.

The protocol that I experienced on CGK-JOG flight was repeated. Flight attendants walking around with candies and small water cup. I could tell there were less smiles compared to CGK-JOG flight. Later I asked a male flight attendant doing galley work and he confirmed that it was their 4th and last leg of the day so they were all quite beaten. The true road warriors!

Boarding was completed not long but we didn't manage to have an on-time departure. It made sense as the flight was full and we only started boarding 10 minutes before scheduled departure. Safety demonstration was played on PTV but funny enough, the flight attendants also performed it manually.
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While we were waiting to be pushed back, JT passed by behind us.
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SRG airport did not have parallel taxiway so we had to enter active runway, turned right, and made a back track at the end of runway 31. Take off run was powerful as the runway was not very long.
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The sky turned pink as we were taxing
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Once we were airborne, I was treated with an amazing view. The view of Indonesia's beautiful nature. The kind of beauty that inspired Garuda's livery. Btw, you could also see that the airport is right in between the sea and a river. The water is brownish/blackish and it's divided into tiny squares. This is called air payau in Bahasa Indonesia (briny water or brackish water in English). It has more salinity than fresh water but less than sea water. Milkfish lives in this kind of water.
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Like I mentioned before, this plane was equipped with BSI
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Leg room is not bad even for non-bulkhead row. I am 177 cm tall
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Magazines and safety card inside seat pocket
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Anyway, I didn't bother to look at the PTV because outside, I have the real entertainment outside. The view outside was just stunning. One of the most gorgeous sunset I have ever seen. The ray from setting sun bursted through the clouds making it look like the sky was burning.
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Plus, the map function did not work properly. Can you tell me what's wrong with this PTV?
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This is a very simple control for IFE and low quality headset
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Since this flight is less than 1 hour (normally around 40-45 minutes), the flight attendants quickly sprang into action once we reached 10,000 feet. Again, they distributed snack box. They seemed disengaged and in autopilot mode, just doing their job not more not less. I guess everyone was eager to call it a day. Don't get me wrong, they were not rude or anything, they were still helpful and polite, just rather cold and tired looking.
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We were cruising on FL260 for only about 10 minutes until the captain announced that we had started descent to CGK. At that time, the crew just barely finished distributing the snack box. We were lucky as we only made one loop (holding pattern) above Jakarta Bay as 6pm-7pm is extremely busy at CGK. Many arrivals from singapore, kuala lumpur, denpasar, tokyo, seoul, and the middle east arrived in this time frame.
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We landed on runway 25R right bang on time according to ETA. I guess we made up for the delay in the air. By that time, the night had fallen and it was rather hard to take picture outside without getting blurry images.
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We made a long taxi toward Terminal F which caters exclusively for Garuda domestic operation. To my surprise, we entered remote apron across Terminal F and we parked there.
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It is clear that we were in Garuda land
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My plane was quickly being serviced because she would continue for another shuttle domestic operation to Yogyakarta and RON there.
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After a pretty long bus ride, we were dropped off inside Terminal 2F. This is the corridor leading to baggage carousel.
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Welcome to Indonesia! Don't be naughty!
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We didn't have checked luggage so we just sailed through the crowd and luckily my mother's driver had been waiting for a while. We were immediately whisked away from the hustle and bustle of CGK ;)

With that, I end my Tour de Java trip! I hope you enjoyed the burning sky as much as I enjoyed it! Stay tuned for the last 2 reports of this series. It will be with our love to hate the one and only Cathay Pacific! Tot ziens!


Some extra tourist bonus for all of you:

We drove from Yogyakarta to Semarang. We passed rice fields, tea plantation, corn fields, etc. Soothing in the eyes!
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Now, this is one of the most famous landmark of Semarang, Gedung Lawang Sewu (One Thousand Doors Building). Built by the Dutch as a headquarter office of railway company. Rumour has it that this building is haunted because there were many prisoners tortured and killed in the basement of the building. It was long abandoned until recently the government decided to restore it to its former glory. Nobody has been able to guest correctly the number of doors and windows. Some people say 993, some people say 900, etc. Hence the name Lawang Sewu.









See more

Verdict

Garuda Indonesia

6.0/10
Cabin7.0
Cabin crew6.0
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Meal/catering6.0

Arjuna Executive Lounge

3.0/10
Comfort3.0
Meal/catering3.0
Entertainment/wifi3.0
Services3.0

Semarang-Java Island - SRG

2.8/10
Efficiency3.0
Access2.0
Services3.0
Cleanliness3.0

Jakarta - CGK

4.2/10
Efficiency5.0
Access4.0
Services4.0
Cleanliness4.0

Conclusion

This flight was a mixed bag of experience. On the one hand, it's not really Garuda's share of the blame but on the other hand it had some aspects that can be improved. For example, the dismal condition of SRG airport is something that is outside Garuda's control but the business lounge and the crews' attitude were something that Garuda could improve.

The seat was comfortable, too bad PTV was not working properly. Food was definitely adequate as I didn't expect anything for a flight that short. Cabin was kept clean too!

All in all, what Garuda delivered was still leaps and bound beyond any other Indonesian airlines. So I would take this particular flight more of an exception than a normal flight with Garuda. I am sure they are capable of delivering more than what I received.

Related

6 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 160092 by
    Pilpintu TEAM 997 Comments
    Thanks for sharing, especially for those amazing, wonderful, breathtaking views of the evening sky!!

    Semarang airport... ugh!! My doctor's waiting room looks bigger and cozier than that!!
    • Comment 336879 by
      BombieFlyer AUTHOR 93 Comments
      Hello nechus!

      I share your opinion about Semarang airport. I think the airport urgently needs a redevelopment and enlargement. Can you believe that tiny terminal building handled +/- 3,500,000 pax in 2014? Just the thought of it is making me dizzy hahaha :)

      Anyway, thanks for your comment and the time to read my flight report!

      -Bombieflyer-
  • Comment 160096 by
    marathon GOLD 10117 Comments
    I always wonder, why is the bottom part of the engine is flatter? It does not really look like a circle...

    That is an interesting engineering question :)

    The first generation 737s had low bypass JT8D-1 engines mounted under the wing. These early generation reactors had a very small diameter, which meant that the landing gear could have a very low height, and took therefore very little space once retracted.
    Boeing was later faced with a major problem when they wanted to modernize the 737 : the much more fuel-efficient high bypass reactors had a much larger diameter and did not fit. Lengthening the landing gear would have required tremendous re-engineering of the structure and was not an option. The solution was to place the CFM reactor ahead of the wing, and in order to save some extra centimeters, the reactor's gearbox was placed sideways, instead of under the axle, hence the unusual flattened underside of the reactor.

    Check the relevant flight reports : my explanation should (hopefully) be easy to understand when comparing the pictures. There are still 737-200s flying in Indonesia, so you can even have the chance to compare them in real life.

    (The brand new A320neo also has a much larger reactor than the A320ceo, but the ground clearance problem was not as difficult).
    • Comment 336880 by
      BombieFlyer AUTHOR 93 Comments
      Hi marathon!

      Thank you very much for explaining this technical subject in layman's term. I was looking at other Pratt&Whitney JT engines and then I got your point about how small the diameter of these engines was. Also, on 707 or DC-8, the engines were 'below' the wings whereas on 737-300,-400,-500, etc, the engines are mounted in front of the wings and slightly higher. So it all makes sense now :)

      -Bombieflyer-
  • Comment 160098 by
    marathon GOLD 10117 Comments
    Now, my comments on the rest of the report ;)

    With due respect to the Indonesians, SRG appears to be a terrible mess (and I appreciate your candid depiction).

    Four round trips in a day must indeed wear out even dedicated FAs, and having so little time to deliver these meal boxes did not help.

    The sunset pictures are stunning !

    Thanks for yet another comprehensive and interesting report and bonus !
    • Comment 336881 by
      BombieFlyer AUTHOR 93 Comments
      marathon,

      Indeed Semarang airport is a big mess. Yogyakarta's, Solo's, and Bandung's are big mess too. Quite amusing (and maybe frightening too) how these tiny airports handle millions of passengers every year. It also shows oversight from the government in anticipating and calculating supply and demand.

      Anyway, I don't want to turn this wonderful website into a political debate platform. Thanks for taking the time to answer my question about CFM engine and for your comments!

      I look forward for your next adventure!

      -Bombieflyer-

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