The Trip to Malaysia
In August 2024, I signed up for another CEE School Exchange program, like last year to Japan. But this year I would be going to Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bharu and Singapore. The plan was to fly to KLIA with Garuda then stay 2 days in KL, spend a night in Johor Bharu and then take the bus to Singapore and spend 2 days there.
CGK and Check In
I arrived at Soekarno Hatta Airport at exactly 5pm
Although it was early morning, the terminal was packed mostly with those going on flights for pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia
After waiting for all my friends and teachers to come, the head of our tour went ahead to get our tickets
After saying goodbye to mom, my group and I went through immigration
Spotting at CGK
After going through immigration, I decided to do some spotting, starting with a Singapore Airlines 777-300 reg 9V-SQW arriving from Singapore
Next i spotted was an Air China A330-200 reg (unknown) probably waiting for its next flight to Beijing
An ANA 787-8 reg JA874A special Future Promise livery taxiing on its flight to Tokyo-Haneda
And then I spotted the plane that would fly us to KUL, A 737-800 reg PK-GFG
Air Macau A320-200N reg B-MBO arriving from Macau
Far away, Saudia 777-300ER reg HZ-AK33 arriving from Jeddah
A XiamenAir 737-800 B-1709 heading to Fuzhou, only later would I find out the flight had been diverted to Xiamen for reasons I would not know
A Garuda Indonesia 737-800 reg PK-GFH taxiing for take-off to Semarang
A Qatar Airways A350-900 reg A7-ALJ arriving from Doha-Hamad
I spotted a very special plane, the Garuda Pokemon Jet reg PK-GMU heading to Lombok-Praya
The XiamenAir 737 taking off in the foreground
A leased Saudia 777-300ER reg 9H-AZD heading to Jeddah
Boarding
Soon enough, it was time to board
It appears my flight is codesharing with Saudia, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines
There wasn't such a long line to the plane
The business class seats of Garuda's 737
And finally, economy class
Views from my seat
My seat, 27A, has a pretty good pitch for someone whos 174 cm in height
The IFE was the same as it had been for a decade, it was functional but maybe outdated
The headrest could be raised up and down and the sides were bendable
The IFE was very dim and the touchscreen tech was a bit unresponsive
A Garuda 737-800 reg PK-GFD parking after a flight from Semarang and soon departing for Bangkok
Headphones were provided as well
Pushback
Soon, pushback began
View of other Garuda 737-800s
After pushback was finished, the ground staff waved at us which is a very nice thing
Taxi to runway
View of the international section with a Saudia 777-300ER and Qatar Airways A350-900 in view
A Lion Air 737-900ER and Citilink A320-200 taxiing to the runway
The Citilink A320-200
A Pelita A320-200 on a take-off roll
A Garuda A330-200 reg PK-GPM taking off to Guangzhou
Garuda A330-300 reg PK-GPU taking off to Singapore
Lion Air 737 lining up and take off
Take Off
Soon, our plane lined up with the runway
And then take off time
Views of Terminal 2
Selamat Tinggal Jakarta (Selamat Tinggal is bye bye in Indonesian)
Climb and Cruise
Climbing to 11000 meters
Flying over the Java Sea
We soon turned and started flying over Sumatra
Breakfast
Soon, meal service began
There was an omelet and chicken rice option, i chose the rice and chicken option, complemented with blueberry yogurt, a croissant and fruits
I also requested for a cup of Guava juice
Metal cutlery was also provided, I like it when airlines imbed their logo on the cutleries
All in all, a very good meal
Descent
Soon, we began our descent towards Kuala Lumpur
My first view of Malaysian land
While on descent, we flew over KLIA
Flying over Kuala Lumpur
Landing
Final approach into Kuala Lumpur
Landing on RWY 14R/32L
Taxi to Satellite Terminal
Soon, taxi began towards the Satellite Terminal building
The AirAsia KLIA Terminal 2
The main building of KLIA Terminal 1, with a Philippine Airlines A321 taxiing
A Malaysia Airlines A330-200 and ANA 787-9 parked waiting for their next flights
Some rare airlines, A PIA 777-200, Uzbekistan Airlines A321-200NX and MAI A320-200, you don't see those everyday in Jakart
More parked MH planes, now an A330-300 and A350-900
The Uzbekistan A321 pushing back for flight to Tashkent
A BatikAir 737-800 and Malaysia Airlines A330-200
Finally parking at the gate
Disembarking
Passing by the business class
My first time in KLIA Terminal 1, gotta say it does live up to my expectations
Last view of my plane
Transfer to the Main Building
Since this was a satellite building, we had to take transport to get to the baggage claim
We could've taken the Aerotrain to the terminal, but it was undergoing maintenance, so we had to take the bus
A Cathay Pacific A330-300 reg B-HLT arriving from Hong Kong
Complimentary drinks were served, which is a very nice gesture from the KLIA staff
I spot 3 of Asia's biggest airlines, NH, CZ and CX before going on the bus
Bus ride to Main Building
The ANA 787-9 reg JA886A that was parked earlier being towed to the gate for a flight to Tokyo-Haneda
China Southern 787-9 reg B-1293 after arriving from Guangzhou
The KLIA Satellite Building
The broken down Aerotrain rail
A Royal Brunei A320-200N reg V8-RBD in Brunei Tourism special livery preparing for a flight to Bandar Seri Begawan
The MH domestic area
Baggage Claim and Arrivals
Walking to the immigration
After we got our baggage, a staff member counted our luggage individually to see if its complete
BONUS: Where I went to on my first day in Kuala Lumpur
I usually don't do this, but since I went to a lot of places on my first day in Kuala Lumpur I decided to show photos of where I went to
The Prime Ministers office in Putrajaya, the Malaysian administrative capital
Putra Mosque
A collection of model airplanes at a Batu Caves giftshop
The Petronas Tower
t’s a bit sad to see the decline of Garuda Indonesia nowadays, even though it maintains its excellent service, and in fact my upcoming review (to be posted in a few days’ time) is on the Garuda A330-900neo from Singapore to Jakarta. That said, while its route network has taken a severe hit — only one daily flight to KUL and BKK on a 737 is very sad, to put it mildly — I’m happy to see that GA has not compromised on its service, catering and quality.
You can’t go wrong with GA’s 737-800 fleet, even though the seatback IFE is slightly old, but it’s better than the new IFE-less 737 cabins of MH (only streaming IFE) — though SQ’s 737 MAXes are still better. I do wish that GA, MH and SQ operated the A320/1neo family though, as you don’t have a lot of quality A320/1neo aircraft in Southeast Asia, with Vietnam Airlines and Philippine Airlines providing only a bare minimum of entertainment on their A321s.
Despite being based in Changi, I have a soft spot for CGK and KUL airports: the former because of its T3 architecture, wall art and range of affordable shops (though the retail is a bit lacking after immigration) and the latter also because of its architecture, but most importantly its model aircraft display! Though KUL has its drawbacks like its immense 55-km distance from the city, as well as the non-functional Aerotrain, I’ll take CGK and KUL any day over BKK, which I find to be an extremely ugly airport… though Changi will always reign supreme for me.
P.S. I loved all those model planes in the Batu Caves gift shop — it reminded me of the one in KLIA!!! 😇
Thanks a lot for the comment, funny enough, I was inspired by your reports on this website to start making my own and soon I will publish my own report on a Garuda flight from Singapore to Jakarta.