We’ve been watching Garuda Indonesia’s business class for a while and certainly want to give it a try. Previous seat sales haven’t been exceptionally good value to warrant a post, but this one does for a number of reasons:
- It comes in massively under our preferred £50 per flying hour
- The departures are from London
- There’s strong availability throughout the whole winter
- There are weekend departures/returns
- It’s an almost direct service to from the UK to Bali (same aircraft all the way)
Garuda is Indonesia’s national carrier and currently has a Skytrax 5-star rating. This promotion seeks to generate passenger traffic on their brand-new non-stop route from London Heathrow to Medan Kualanamu International Airport. The long-haul leg from the UK to Indonesia is on an Airbus A330-200 with lie-flat business class seats.
Destinations
Return prices in business class from London
- Bali from £1,370 return
- Jakarta from £1,380 return
The Catch
Not as painful as on some offers this cheap! All flights from Heathrow connect in Medan (Kualanamu), a city in Northern Sumatra. Jakarta passengers connect with a smaller aircraft for the short hop to Jakarta, then the A330 continues on to Bali. Layovers are under an hour in both directions.
Kualanamu International Airport (KNO) is a large, new airport that was opened in 2013 as a project to boost the economy in Sumatra. Garuda launched their non-stop Heathrow to Kualanamu service in 2019.
The business class seats are like Qatar Airways‘ old 777 product and will probably feel a bit dated. They’re configured 2-2-2, but recline fully-flat and have a large TV screen. Garuda are expected to be replacing these business class seats with a super-diamond all-aisle 1-2-1 configuration, although that won’t be for the flights offered in this deal.
Travel Dates
There is very good availability between 12 December 2019 and 28 March 2020 – loads of scope to take advantage!
Small Print
- Departure points: London
- Book by: 30 November 2019
- Travel until: 31 March 2020
- Minimum stay: 2 nights
- Weekend departures: Yes – Saturdays
- Sectors: 2 each way
- Booking class: I
- Stopovers: Permitted.
- Frequent flyer points accrual: Yes. 200% miles flown (24,000 round-trip)
- Refundable: No
- Changes after booking: Yes – £100 fee.
How to Book
Use Google Flights calendar feature to find the cheap travel dates. Handily, you can then complete the booking directly through Google (read more about how that works here).
If you’re looking to escape winter in the northern hemisphere, Garuda Indonesia’s business class deal to Bali could be a lot more attractive than expensive and crowded Caribbean alternatives.
BG1 Tip
Garuda Indonesia is a full member of the SkyTeam alliance, which means you can credit miles you fly on Garuda to any of the programme’s other member airlines. If you chose to credit your miles to GarudaMiles, you’ll benefit from reciprocal lounge access around the world, once you reach the Platinum tier.
Also, consider paying for the flight using an American Express Membership Rewards card, so you can earn miles for the cash you spend too.
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