Initial Thoughts: Garuda Indonesia A330-900neo Business Class
Intro
I recently had the opportunity to try out Garuda Indonesia in Business Class on one of their three A330-900neos from Seoul-Denpasar. Originally, the aircraft scheduled on this route was the A330-300, but it was swapped the day before to an A330-900neo, and boy, was I excited.
This flight was nothing short of remarkable. The seats were modern, the IFE was fresh, the champagne was lovely, and the service was unbelievable. For now, I will only be sharing my initial thoughts on this product. Eventually, when I get to the Asia review trip, I will be sharing the review in deeper detail.
The Seat/Cabin
Garuda completely modernized its look on these new A330-900neo cabins. Their business class on the A330-300 looked run down and had certainly seen better days. Steeping onboard this new bird was a very pleasant surprise. It's as if Garuda once again has a competitive hard product. 😳
The only issue with the six-row cabin is that there are only six true window seats in business class. Unfortunately, as I had booked about a week before departure, the only seat left was 10K. However, Garuda blocks 6K until departure, and at the check-in desk, they happily switched me to the bulkhead. Being in a bulkhead always has perks, but not quite to the same extent as United Polaris, for example.
IFE
The IFE on these new birds was immaculate. Not only was the IFE crisp and responsive, but there were plenty of options, and free Wi-Fi was provided for business-class customers.
Food+Drink
Garuda has some of the best food in the sky, some of the fanciest champagne flutes, and the wine glasses, well, they are over the top (but we are saving that for the full review). Not many business-class products offer proper champagne flutes, so this was a lovely touch.
Can we talk about the fish in the picture below? What if I told you that this was the ice cream dish that they serve as a mid-flight snack? Honestly, I love that Garuda thinks outside of the box, as I have never seen anything like this.
Service
Where Garuda really stood out to me was the service that they provide onboard. The purser on the flight today was nothing short of exceptional. As soon as I stepped on the plane, the Indonesian hospitality showed.
Every time that I was addressed, it was while the FA was kneeling to eye level and by Mr Tillman
Throughout the flight, I was checked on to see if I needed anything else, but also not over the top
The crew took time out of their flight to talk with me about the airline, and we ended up chatting for about half an hour
On descent, the crew came around and thanked customers for flying Garuda. They also enquired into my instagram to follow along the travels.
Final Thoughts
Flying Garuda Indonesia from Seoul to Denpasar in Business on their latest aircraft was an absolute treat. The whole experience was nothing short of flawless, and for 40K Delta SkyMiles, this was a deal and a half. Free Wi-Fi, proper wine glasses, nice champagne flutes, a comfy seat, and an amazing crew- what more could you want?
Stay tuned for the full review that is coming soon, although it might be a little bit before I get there!
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