Flight review Garuda Indonesia B777-300ER Bali to Jakarta Economy Class

Airline: Garuda Indonesia
Flight no: GA409
Route: Bali Denpasar Airport (DPS) to Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta Airport (CGK)
Aircraft type: B777-300ER Rego: PK-GIG
Flight time: 1 hours 40 minutes
Travel Class: Economy
Seat no: 49C take-off 61A landing
Seat width: 17 inches
Seat pitch: 32 inches

I was staying in Seminyak which normally takes around 45 minutes to get to the airport but this flight was on a Sunday morning and the roads were quiet so just took 30 minutes and cost 100,000Rp in a taxi, which is around $10 Australian dollars.

Check out the video of this Garuda Indonesia flight review

At the airport

Bali airport is the 2nd busiest in Indonesia, after Jakarta. This route between Bali and Jakarta is the busiest domestic route in Indonesia with currently has over 300,000 passengers per month.

I had seen Bali airport much busier before the pandemic but it still seemed pretty busy for this flight in April 2022.

There were loads of check in counters for Garuda Indonesia so it only took a few minutes to check in. They allocated me an aisle seat and when I asked if they had a window seat, they told me my flight was full and there no window seats were available.

Bali airport has a decent amount of shops and restaurants to grab something to eat before the flight but for me I love the wide open windows overlooking the gates and the runway to get my fix of plane spotting.

I love getting to a different airport overseas to see loads of airlines that I don’t get to see in Australia. This was the domestic airport so all of these airlines are flying domestically around Indonesia.

About an hour before the flight, the indicator board showed the flight had been delayed by 1 hour and 20 minutes. The airplane had arrived and an announcement was made saying it was delayed for operational reason. This was no inconvenience for me as I had a 5 hour layover in Jakarta so I was in no rush.

What happened next pleasantly surprised me. At the gate, the airline crew came around with a trolley and handed all passengers on the delayed flight with a snack and a drink. In the box was a bread roll with chicken, a nice piece of cake and a delicious Beng Beng Chocolate bar. Beng Beng are so good. They also handed me a bottle of water. Now how many domestic airlines do this?

In all my years of flying, this is the first time an airline has handed out food and drink for a domestic flight that was delayed just over 1 hour. Awesome service Garuda.

On the plane

The B777-300ER is a big plane! These are usually used for middle – long haul flight, but used on this short route due to the high number of passengers. The B777-300ER they used for my flight had Rego: PK-GIG which is decked out in the Garuda Retro livery.

This plane seats 318 passengers. With 8 First Class Open Suites, 42 Business Class flat bed seats and 268 Economy standard seats.

There is fairly good legroom in Economy for this 1 hour 40 minute flight.

I had asked one of the cabin crew if there was a window seat and she also told me the flight was full and no available window seats
So unfortunately, not a window seat which I prefer.

Shortly after take off the same cabin crew came to me and said 2 people had failed to board and if I liked she could move me to the window seat.
‘YES please’ I said and just moved down a few rows to second last row were I spent the flight looking out the window and enjoying the view over various cities on the way to Jakarta.

Entertainment System

The entertainment screen is fairly small and there is not a huge selection of latest release movies but this flight really isn’t long enough to watch a full length movie.

The flight map system is fairly old too and not interactive but still shows the cities you are flying over.

Food served onboard

Even though they had handed out snacks on the ground, they came around and provided us with a similar snack during the flight. This snack had a bread roll and piece of cake. Sadly no Beng Beng chocolate bar but they did give me 2 bottles of water.

The service

OUTSTANDING!

I have been a fan of Garuda for several years. I have flown a few times domestically in Indonesia as well as internationally from Sydney to Jakarta and I rate them as a great airline.

They won several awards at the Skytrax World Airline Awards last year in 2021 including Best Cabin Crew in Indonesia. I would say they are not just great in Indonesia but fit in with some of the top airlines in the world.

I find their cabin crew lovely. With the extra food they served when the flight was delayed and the lovely cabin crew coming and moving me to the window Seat, I rate the airline highly.

I really look forward to flying with Garuda Indonesia again real soon.

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