Garuda Indonesia Drops First Class To Amsterdam: Adds Tokyo
Intro
Garuda Indonesia is one of my personal favorite airlines in the world. However, financially, they have constantly been in a place for the last while where they are struggling to turn a profit. A couple of days ago, there was an announcement going out stating that Garuda has decided to drop their first-class product to Amsterdam and decided to add it on a six-time weekly flight to Tokyo…
The Details
Garuda Indonesia used to operate a much larger First Class footprint, with 8 777s featuring 8 first class suites each. However, a while ago, Garuda decided to reconfigure 6 of these jets into a 2 class configuration, featuring solely business class and economy. That would leave 2 jets with a first-class cabin for Garuda, but the president of Indonesia seems to use one as his “personal private jet.”
Well, it has just been announced that as of July 31st, Garuda Indonesia will switch their sole plane to provide six-time weekly service from Jakarta to Tokyo Haneda with the following schedule:
GA874: Jakarta-Tokyo departing 11:25 pm arriving 8:50 am (+1)
GA89 (no idea the disparity here): Tokyo-Jakarta departing 11:45 am arriving 5:35 pm
I happened to fly Garuda last month with one of the airline's more senior flight attendants. She recently had gotten back from maternity leave, but picked up a flight to Amsterdam sometime in the month prior. She mentioned to me that the loads haven’t been that high on those flights (maybe she knew this switch was coming), so this is an interesting point to add.
Additionally, I think it is important to note that Garuda Indonesia’s history of routes into Europe within the last 15 years has been a bit of a kerfuffle. Just take a look at what happened with the London route, as they couldn’t decide how to keep operating it, before just ending it entirely.
For those still looking to fly the Jakarta-Amsterdam route, the route will still operate 3x weekly but with a 777 featuring business class and economy.
Award Space
The part of the route change that I am guessing most people want to know. How is award space on the new route to Tokyo? For those unaware, the only way to book Garuda First Class on miles outside of their own frequent flyer program is with KLM. In some ways, you’ll be happy to know that KLM seems to be releasing award space in First Class for almost every single flight I’ve taken a look at, but it is pricy.
It’s not just the miles either, for 206K KLM miles+ 977, you can enjoy everything that Garuda First Class has to offer!
Keep in mind that fares sit at around 2500$ one way when booking through their website, so it’s almost a better deal to just pay with cash…
The last aspect that I want to add is that this isn’t great for those looking to try out Garuda Indonesia on their cheapest route possible, CGK-DPS. Traditionally, one was able to book decent rates on their 2-3 weekly service (connecting AMS-CGK-DPS), but it seems like Garuda will now discontinue this moving forward…
Final Thoughts
Garuda Indonesia, the flag carrier of Indonesia, has just announced that it has decided to switch its first-class route offering from Amsterdam to Tokyo Haneda. Their longest flight will go from a 3-cabin 777 to a 2-cabin, and their flight to Haneda will now feature first-class six times weekly. There is wide open award space on KLM for almost every day, but at 206K miles and 977$, this is purely outrageous. Business class for 31K sounds a lot better.
Garuda, I personally am a huge fan of your airline when I am onboard, but your business model doesn’t make a lot of sense to me 😉.
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