Garuda Indonesia airlines does not enjoy a particularly good reputation in the Asian region where there are a number of exceptionally good airlines such as Cathay Pacific, SIA, Air India, MAS, and Japan Air Lines.
I have flown on Garuda on flights between Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta and on the Pekan Baru-Singapore sector. On all occasions I have flown economy class and generally have not been over impressed.The in flight magazine is not a particularly good read and the in flight entertainment,in my opinion, not up to the high standards of,say, Singapore Airlines.That airline has a wonderful selection of computer gains,movies, CNN news and other excellent forms of entertainment.
The aircraft fleet although modernised in recent years is not as modern as,eg, SIA or MAS. I cannot vouch for standards of maintenance but friends of mine who are aircraft engineers unfortunately do not place the Indonesian airline at the top of the league.
The in flight service is best described as satisfactory rather than outstanding and the cuisine tolerable rather than distinguished. The seating arrangements were OK and there is a reasonable amount of leg room. The flight attendants are courteous,smiling and attentive to passenger needs.and I consider generally the in flight service to be fairly good.However,there is not a great deal of reading material carried on board and the duty free selection is a bit limited.
Punctuality does seem to be a problem-a number of flights to Singapore from Indonesia were subject to delays. I also experienced delays on the return leg it is rumoured the flight crew often spend a bit too much time in Singapore doing their duty free shopping.
Ground service too is not too hot. Although the ground staff are courteous enough in their dealings with passengers they do not always seem to be as professional as those of some other airlines,especially other Asian airlines.
In sum, to be frank given a wide choice of intra Asian carriers I would not opt for Garuda Indonesia and even on long-haul flights to US or Western Europe from SE Asia, my preferred choice would not be the Indonesian flag carrier.
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