Review of Garuda Indonesia flight Singapore Jakarta in Economy

Airline Garuda Indonesia
Flight GA839
Class Economy
Seat 27D
Aircraft Airbus A330-300
Flight time 02:25
Take-off 23 Nov 17, 20:20
Arrival at 23 Nov 17, 21:45
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
FiamaArin
By 1750
Published on 10th December 2017
SIN - CGK GA Y / A330-300: HERE
CGK - HND GA Y / B777-300: Link
HND - CGKN GA Y / B777-300: Link
CGK - SIN GA Y / B737-800: Link

As requested by my mother to clear her annual leave, our family decided to plan for a trip to Tokyo and Hakone. Garuda offered a competitive price on this route for a full service carrier at under $700SGD so we decided to give the airline a try although my mother was apprehensive due to the poor safety record of the Garuda of old. However, I assured her that Garuda was now up to standard of any other full-service carrier and had even won many awards since then.

Garuda Indonesia
GA839
Singapore Changi International Airport (SIN) - Soekarno–Hatta International Airport (CGK)
A330-300
PK-GPW
Economy Class
Gate A16

We were originally booked on GA847 but due to tight connection to the next sector, Garuda called us at 5pm and requested we head to the airport immediately to board the earlier flight. After a quick and easy check-in, we collect our boarding passes and prepare to cross airside.
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The departure area is crowded with many families also leaving on holidays seeing that it's the end-of-year holidays now.
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Crossing airside, the usual repertoire of duty-free shopping options.
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Since A16 is all the way at the end of the terminal, we decided to head there early via the Sky Train.
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Our boarding area consists of several gates past a large security screening area. Codeshare flight on this route means the plane is fully-booked. We were originally supposed to be on a B738 but on this flight, our seats were changed for a A333.
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We reaching pretty early and just sat about in the spacious waiting area for our flight.
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Our flight seemed to be filled with Koreans and Japanese people which would be explained later at CGK as there are 3 flights connecting to Hong Kong, Seoul and Haneda respectively. Boarding commences and premium passengers are welcomed to board first, followed by families.
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Passes the business class cabin on the way to my seat.
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Seeing that it's a short flight and I probably wouldn't be able to visit the loo during the flight, I take this time to pop by the loo which is clean and relatively spacious.
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A view of the cabin from the rear. Not a big fan of the colour scheme on the plane.
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Seated down, I felt comfortable and the aisle seat is great for someone with longer legs like myself.
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The last passengers finished boarding and are stowing their goods away.
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Looking at the in-seat amenities in the following order: IFE Remote, Headset, Airsickness Bag, Safety Card, Arcade Duty-Free Catalogue and Stars In-Flight Entertainment Magazine.


The welcome screen of the IFE system which is touchscreen as well. I wasn't sold on touchscreens on planes at first but now, I enjoy the convenience.
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Looking into the IFE system and our flight map for this flight.
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The safety video plays immediately after push back.
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Looking through the movies, I decided on Wonder Woman which I hadn't watched yet.
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The mood lighting is on in the business class section.
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Food is served immediately after the plane levels off as this is a short flight, the crew had to carry out the meal service as quickly as possibly.
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The cart comes down with the following options for the mains: Chicken with noodles or Fish with rice. Each meal comes with fruits soaked in syrup and a bun. I picked a Bintang beer for my drink.
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Meal service had ended and I was watching a show when the flight begins it descent.
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The cabin lights are dimmed for landing but we took slightly longer to land as the skies were crowded.
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Landed at Soekarno-Hatta!
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Getting off the plane, we are greeted by a wonderful purple air bridge followed by an absolutely freezing arrival hall.
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Verdict

Garuda Indonesia

8.5/10
Cabin8.5
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Meal/catering9.0

Singapore - SIN

9.0/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness9.0

Jakarta - CGK

7.5/10
Efficiency8.0
Access7.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness8.0

Conclusion

Great flight by Garuda although I hope that they will be able to inform passengers of any flight changes earlier. The flight was comfortable, the meal was good and the IFE was decent in this sector. So far, I'm enjoying it on Garuda!

Information on the route Singapore (SIN) Jakarta (CGK)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 28 avis concernant 9 compagnies sur la ligne Singapore (SIN) → Jakarta (CGK).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Singapore Airlines avec 8.7/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 51 minutes.

  More information

9 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 422361 by
    ItsKevin 26 Comments
    Hello! Greetings from Indonesia!
    I'm so happy that you enjoyed your flight with GA,

    We were originally supposed to be on a B738 but on this flight, our seats were changed for a A333.
    I think GA usually use A333 for GA839, even some time they use newest series of their 333.

    I'm waiting for your next report!
    • Comment 422441 by
      FiamaArin AUTHOR 71 Comments
      Hi Kevin,

      Thanks for reading my report! I hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for the next installments.

      I was originally booked on GA847 which was a B738 but the change to the earlier flight meant that I went on GA839 instead.

      Thanks,
      FiamaArin
  • Comment 422422 by
    Razza_Pr 215 Comments
    Hello, FiamaArin, and thank you for a wholesome report covering a short flight.

    I should like to notify you that instead of putting down "GA Y" you've instead written down "UA Y"?

    The fish with rice vs chicken noodles menu is all too common on both GA and SQ on this particular route, so I've heard. Ah well, so long as the quality is good, I guess. Though surely frequent flyers would like to change things up a bit every now and then..

    Odd that GA called to put you on an earlier flight citing tight connection between flights. Wonder why they allowed it in the first place? Smart fix on their move, though.

    Thanks again for this FR. Cheers!
    • Comment 422442 by
      FiamaArin AUTHOR 71 Comments
      Hi Razza,

      Thanks for reading my report! I hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for the next installments.

      Thank you for pointing out my mistakes! I have amended it accordingly. The food was pretty good for me as it was even better than UA on my SIN-HKG route. The move to an earlier flight really helped us but I think that they did it for quite a few passengers as I saw many people checking in for the flight at the very last minute.

      Thanks,
      FiamaArin
  • Comment 422565 by
    cheapflyer.JP 58 Comments
    Hello, FIAMAARIN.
    Changi is undoubtedly the best airport in the world. I have never experienced the airport as beautiful as Changi is.
    GA flight seems better quality, and the meal looks delicious. It was 5-star quality, isn't it?
    Welcome back to Japan. I'm looking forward to your next report!
    • Comment 422580 by
      FiamaArin AUTHOR 71 Comments
      Hi Cheapflyer.JP,

      I'm glad you enjoyed this report. Yes! Garuda is certainly a 5-star airline. You could say it exceeded my expectations.
      I will be back in Japan in a couple of days. Heading to Nagasaki > Kumamoto > Beppu > Fukuoka. Any places to recommend?

      Thanks,
      FiamaArin
      • Comment 422594 by
        cheapflyer.JP 58 Comments
        Hello, FIAMAARIN.
        In winter, It's very cold in the northen part of Japan. Therefore, Kyusyu is a good place to visit in winter since It was not super cold.
        If you want to enjoy Japanese culture, Please take a hot spring bath. Beppu is an ideal place to enjoy it !!
  • Comment 422728 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    A lovely and thorough report for such a short flight. That's a really good price for SIN-TYO--definitely worth the short back-tracking down to JKT. It's always nice to have a widebody on short-haul--which really isn't uncommon in Asia, compared to the U.S. Service seems good overall. I agree with you on the color scheme of the Y cabin...the browns are kind of sad, but other than that everything seems good. Thanks for sharing!
  • Comment 422862 by
    FiamaArin AUTHOR 71 Comments
    Hi Kevin,

    Thank you for always reading my flight reports. I appreciate it and I hope you enjoy the upcoming ones as well! The short hop to CGK was fun indeed. I had not flown into CGK for almost 4 years! I believe GA uses a widebody on this flight to cater to transiting passengers.

    Thanks,
    FiamaArin

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