Made it to the airport just 30mins before departure. I still had some minutes so I decided to get to the Garuda domestic lounge to meet some of my friends. It was really full at this time of the morning and getting a seat itself was a challenge, I even had to stand up inside the smoking room.
View of the lounge from the smoking room
Not a very good start to the day. Several minutes later my friends arrived and we had a quick coffee before walking towards the gate. PK-GWL which is one of the older B734 in GA’s fleet will be bringing us to Surabaya today.
Just as suspected, not one empty seat on this flight, mainly 99% business people for a day trip to Surabaya. Really nothing much to mention inflight, service was prompt and without a fuss, and most of my time was spent looking out the window or reading the day’s papers. Before too long we already started our descent and several minutes later we were at Surabaya Juanda Airport. Really busy today.
My friend/business partner ready for the short hop to SUB
GA B737 fleet
Hardly any clear blue skies in Jakarta
Greasy Fried Rice early in the morning
Top of descent
3 mins to touchdown
Juanda Tarmac with Mandala and Silkair
Sheraton Hotel & Towers Surabaya
These are pictures of the old rooms
And now the new room which I stayed in
My favorite hotel program
The Sheraton hotel in Surabaya is your typical business hotel with great location and good service. This time my secretary booked me the newly upgraded rooms which were really great. You guys can see the difference from the pics above.
Another quick 1 night stay in Surabaya and now its time for me to head back home to Jakarta. The night before was great, we managed to meet up with some old friends for dinner and a couple of drinks after that. Managed to get some shuteye before waking up at 9am for a breakfast and last minute discussion with some of my employees from Surabaya. Had brunch and then it was off to the airport. We got to the airport just 40mins before departure, meaning theres just enough time for a drink at the lounge.
PK-GGN is one of the later B733 ever produced, back in 1998 to be precise.
Legroom good for a B737 J cabin
Lion / Wings Air MD80
Bye bye Juanda
Airfast MD82, on a charter flight, most probably by Freeport Mines. This baby is a 1990 example and previously served with Midway, Aeromexico, Reno Air, American and now with Airfast and in that order I mentioned.
Push back was done on time, however, after engine 1 was started, we were towed back to the gate. I knew something was amiss and true enough, they brought the air stairs to the aircraft and the engineers were having discussions with the pilot. Couple of minutes later, the pilot informed that they had a sensor warning while trying to start engine 2. But the engineers were able to solve the problem and after approximately 20mins we were off. I dozed most of the flight and also opted not to have anything to eat. Surabaya is a nice city, but its always nice to be back home in Jakarta.
Nice scenary on route
Hello beautiful smog of Jakarta
Thanks again for reading guys.
Next trips will be:
Sydney & Perth with MH in F & J. And QF J in between in the B743 (Sep 30)
Frankfurt and Munich with TG F and LH J. Plus coffee and cigarettes with SASDC8 in FRA. (I will actually be personally delivering him his B744 ride to BKK, warming up seat 1K for him) (Oct 30)
Hong Kong with CI in J (Dec 24)
Detriot in Jan. Airline and dates yet to be confirmed.
SASDC8 From Norway, joined Mar 2006, 663 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (4 years 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 17830 times:
Nice report and pics
I am trying to include Indonesia in my future travels (hopefully next year) and from your reports I will have to give Garuda a try. Looks like they keep their cabins very nice in deed
Quoting ThaiA345 (Thread starter): Frankfurt and Munich with TG F and LH J. Plus coffee and cigarettes with SASDC8 in FRA. (I will actually be personally delivering him his B744 ride to BKK, warming up seat 1K for him) (Oct 30)
Almost can't wait Very nice if you to bring me a 744, but please make sure it is a 7443
ThaiA345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Reply 4, posted (4 years 9 months 2 weeks 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 17323 times:
Quoting SASDC8 (Reply 3): Almost can't wait Smile Very nice if you to bring me a 744, but please make sure it is a 7443 Wink
Trust me, I will not board the aircraft if its not a B7443 ehehehhe ...but on the way back, I decided to fly via ZRH, miss flying the A346. And the F cabin on the A346 is pretty nice too. Plus, its nice to add a Swiss stamp to my passport as my new passport is pretty empty now... ahahha ..old one ran out of pages...
ThaiA345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Reply 6, posted (4 years 9 months 2 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 16661 times:
Quoting OneWay (Reply 5): Nice TR, I went to Indonesia this July but I flew with AK between Jakarta and Denpasar.
Thanks for reading! ...Actually for someone thats based in Jakarta for work, I don't even like flying Garuda as that the only best choice actually. I won't even go into AK, I hate airlines which do not use Pre-seating assignment...what a mess, especially in countries like Indonesia, that goes even worse ehehheheheh
Anyway hoped u had fun in Indonesia, and in the near future, Garuda will also equip their B737 classics with B738. AK Indonesia still uses hand me down B733 from Malaysia, do not know when they will get their A320 though.