Garuda Indonesia A330-300 Business Class: Excellent Service And The Best Price

We took our first flight on Garuda Indonesia aboard their A330-300 in business class between MEL and DPS, and we were blown away.

Booking Garuda Indonesia business class

I’ve already done a deep dive into the booking process for this flight, but a quick summary:

I knew I wanted somewhere exotic after visiting Melbourne, Australia. While I could get to Fiji, I didn’t want to connect in Australia on my way out.
The next option on the list was Bali, Indonesia, which is a very popular destination for Aussies.
Immediately, I found 4 business class seats on Garuda Indonesia using the Air France app, as they’re both SkyTeam partners. But the best part is that each business class seat was just 28,000 Flying Blue miles (plus ~$90 USD in fees) each person–what a steal!

This is a 6 hour journey, so you’re paying under 5,000 miles per hour per person in lie-flat business class. I’d rank this one up there with one of the best redemptions I’ve had in a long time. And that’s promising given all the devaluations that seem to pop up in the last year. Great values do still exist!

Now, with that said, I’ve seen this particular route cost “only” a bit over $1,000 USD to buy the flight with cash. So, even if points aren’t available, you might get it inexpensively. Using points is still the better option in this case.

Earning Air France / KLM Flying Blue miles

If you reside in the United States, your best way to earn more Air France / KLM Flying Blue miles is to work the bank program transfers:

All major bank transfer programs can convert points over to Air France / KLM Flying Blue
Get the Air France / KLM credit card, which often comes with a decent sign-up bonus.
Consider buying Flying Blue miles, but wait for a bonus offer for doing so. An 80% bonus offer translates to a cost of 1.7 US cents per mile (good in this case but check your points and flight costs before committing).

While you could also credit your SkyTeam flights to Air France / KLM to earn miles, we wouldn’t consider this to be a quick method to earn more miles in their program.

First impressions of Garuda Indonesia A330-300 business class

We arrived at the airport at around 5:15AM for our scheduled 7AM departure and found a long line for Garuda Indonesia. Thankfully, they do have a business class and SkyPriority line that was much shorter. People don’t generally talk about how having a shorter check-in line is a great benefit of flying in business class. Sometimes it doesn’t amount to much if the regular line is short, but in this case it did help a lot.

We spent some time in the Marhaba Lounge while we waited for our flight. It was also around that time that we learned our flight would be delayed. That said, there was a definite lack of useful information from the departure board. Just look at the picture below, taken at 6:43AM. Our flight is #2 on the list, shows that the gate opened at 6AM (not true) and that it’s scheduled to depart at 7AM. There’s no updated estimated time.

At some point, it would flip to saying it’s boarding and allegedly they make announcements in the lounge. But I didn’t want to take the risk, so we left around 7AM. I had been tracking the flight online and knew it was delayed about an hour but the monitor at the airport offered no reassurance.

We made our way over to Gate 14, which is down a set of escalators.

The boarding area around the gate was quite packed, but at least we didn’t miss our flight! At around 7:10AM, the boarding process began.

Onboard the Garuda Indonesia A330-300

On the A330-300 aircraft, the seats are arranged in a 2-2-2 layout. That makes it a bit unappealing for solo flyers. That said, with a destination like Bali, I’d like to think that couples outweigh the solo flyers heavily for this route. We chose rows 6 & 7 in the center, which are up at the front of the plane. It’s always easier being able to manage the kids when both parents can easily check in on them.

Once on the plane, we stuck the kids in the front seats, which had monitors that extended from the arm rest. Sometimes the bulkhead seats are better but in this case, it’s not ideal if you want to watch something on takeoff or arrival.

Alex in Garuda Indonesia business class cabin

As for the rest of the cabin, it felt intimate but not too small at 24 seats in the forward cabin and another 12 seats behind the boarding doors.

Jenn seated in Garuda Indonesia business class cabin

The kids were excited to be here and posed for the camera as they were settling in. Prior to this adventure, they had never heard of Bali before. It’s nice giving them some geography lessons along the way.

The Garuda Indonesia A330-300 business class seat

Across the aisle from us, I snuck in a picture of the window seats before someone sat in them. The first thing that stands out about these seats is how little privacy you get. Not only does the person sitting at the window need to potentially climb over the person in the aisle to get out, but your seatmate can see everything you’re doing. These seats are truly designed for couples.

And I’m sure you noticed it, but this was a Pokémon Air Adventures plane, specifically Pikachu Jet GA2, which has Pikachu dressed in a Batik. On top of the plane livery painted with 5 Pikachus, each seat’s headrest had a Pikachu saying hi.

If you’re not seated in a bulkhead seat, you’ll have the seatback monitors in front of you. They felt a bit dated, but still functioned well enough. You could also hang your coat or jacket here, but the positioning would eliminate your ability to watch something on TV.

Next to each seat is the headphone jack, a USB jack, and an ethernet port. No, I didn’t have a spare ethernet cable to see if it worked. Just goes to show you how old the planes are.

Dated connections for your headphones and other devices

Above these jacks is some reading lights at your seat.

On the arm rest are the seat controls, which are pretty thorough. If the controls look overwhelming, you can just choose from the standard presets.

At each seat are some headphones. These were unbranded and good enough though not something that you would consider “accidentally” taking home with you after your flight.

Lastly, towards the center console are a few final things. You have the TV controls, which aren’t necessary these days since most TVs on planes have a touchscreen. And you’ll find a bottle of water here too.

Controller for monitor and bottle of water

You might be interested in converting the seat into a bed. There is no mattress pad, but on a 6-hour flight, we didn’t need one. Some might lament the lack of privacy, but that wasn’t a problem for us.

What was perhaps more interesting was that there was no footwell for your seat to go. For those who are taller or bigger, that makes this seating arrangement a bit better. You have great legroom and an opportunity to stretch out when lying down. Not bad at all.

Amenities in Garuda Indonesia business class

Shortly after sitting down, a friendly flight attendant offered us a choice of champagne or orange juice. Jenn went with the orange juice while I went with the champagne.

At our seat when we arrived were some slippers and an amenity kit.

The Garuda Indonesia amenity kit is from Porsche Design. It’s slim, which is nice when you need to find room for four of them in your carry-on bags after deplaning.

In the kit are the usual suspects: toothbrush and toothpaste, socks, eyeshades, earplugs, a comb, hand cream, lip balm, and a refreshing spray. It could have used a pen but that’s the only real feedback I have for the kit.

I didn’t get a photo of the flight attendants handing out some blankets, but I do have a photo of Jenn enthusiastically using a blanket. These blankets were pretty warm and comfortable in a cabin that was kept relatively cool. The flight attendants handed these out about 15 minutes after takeoff. But the pillows were at our seats when we first showed up.

The food in Garuda Indonesia business class

The menu

In Garuda Indonesia business class, the menu is pretty simple. There aren’t pages that describe the history of food or the theory behind how they select the cuisines in flight. Instead, there’s a simple welcome message and the rest is devoted to food.

Garuda Indonesia business class menu — *Menu cover*

Contents of menu — *Welcome message and the choices for breakfast and the light meal*

Non-alcoholic drinks — *Menu insert for non-alcoholic drinks*

Alcoholic drinks — *Menu insert for alcoholic drinks*

Breakfast

Our flight departed at 7:15AM and took off at 8:10AM. I will base all the times off the earlier timestamp.

At 8:30AM (20 minutes after departure), we received drinks and some (not warmed) snack mix. Usually you might expect just nuts but this mix had more than nuts. It’s actually pretty good despite the lack of warmth. Crispy and flavorful.

One brief interjection–consider getting the hot chocolate. It’s rich and not watered down. If you’re a fan of hot chocolate, this is among the best we’ve had on a flight before.

At 9:30AM (80 minutes after departure), I received the breakfast appetizer. That’s a huge delay in service, but a couple of notes:

The flight attendants did come by to refill drinks several times. They also tried to refill the snack mix multiple times.
We hit some turbulence that disrupted the flow of service.

The breakfast appetizer was just some fruit, yogurt, a croissant, and a muffin. The fruit is sweet and ripe while the yogurt isn’t too sweet. I’d rate the catering as pretty good so far.

Fresh fruit and other breakfast "appetizers"

At 9:43AM (93 minutes after departure), we received our breakfast entrees. There are three choices for entree:

Chicken rendang with coconut rice and egg
Bircher muesli with strawberry, mixed berry compote, almond
Egg, freshly cooked on board with sauteed spinach, mushroom, potato, chicken sausage, and tomato relish

Among the four of us, we ordered all three dishes. Let’s go in order.

The chicken rendang had a little spice but was plenty flavorful. If you love things like curries or a thick stew, this is a nice dish to try. The cucumbers and (what I believe to be) shrimp chips add some much-needed texture. It’s a tasty local dish.

Jenn ordered the muesli, which was fresh and surprisingly had a bit of depth to it. The fruit added the right amount of sweetness and wasn’t too filling, which is great because who wants to fill up on a meal after eating the appetizers too?

Lastly, the kids ordered some fresh eggs, which they ordered as scrambled. This is your typical morning breakfast type of meal with eggs, sausage, and potatoes. The eggs indeed tasted fresh and I’d get this meal over the equivalent at any American diner any day of the week.

Mid-flight snacks

In case you get hungry at all in the middle of your flight, you’re in luck. The flight attendants came by often–several times throughout the flight–to check on you and offer you more food. You know that old saying about winning someone’s heart through their stomach? It applies here. You won’t go hungry on this flight.

Light meal before landing

At 12:43PM (around 90 minutes before landing), we received a towel. Interestingly, I don’t recall getting a towel before the first service but we got one before the second service.

We were all varying levels of hungry, but thankfully the light meal comes with plenty of options and you can get more than one if you’re feeling up to it. I went with the chicken satay, a must when in South East Asia. This one had plenty of flavor, which is tough to do properly when in the sky. Dare I say I prefer this version of chicken satay to what I’ve had before on Singapore Airlines?

Jenn ordered the nachos with cheese and salsa. It’s exactly as described, which is great if you’re just looking for something light to eat while watching a show. You can’t go wrong with melted cheese on chips.

Char only ordered some ice cream. She claimed it’s because the flight attendant only said they had ice cream. There was no language barrier–I just assume it’s because she wasn’t listening well at the time. They only had chocolate ice cream on board, and it was a nice way to cap off the light meal.

Alex ordered the cup noodle, which came with plenty more toppings than you would normally expect. I love it that it’s more than just instant noodles because it shows that the airline actually cares about the taste and presentation. The quality of the noodles is what you expect from instant noodles, but the flavor is much better.

Wi-Fi and Entertainment

I had a problem with connecting to the Wi-Fi all flight long. There should have been an option available on A330 aircraft (and there was), but I just couldn’t access it. Just one of those flights, I guess.

From an entertainment system perspective, the interface feels like it’s from the early 2000’s. It’s 2026 and it’s long due for an upgrade, but it’s at least responsive enough.

In terms of selection, there’s enough for a 6-hour flight. There aren’t as many Hollywood films as there’s a focus on movies from across the globe.

As for TV shows, there are just a few select episodes from different series. It’s not enough to binge on any one particular series. Again, there’s not that much of a focus on U.S.-based shows but there might be something that interests you here.

As for kids series, there’s not too much for them to watch either. There were only 7 movies for little ones and 5 audio selections (not pictured). Bring your own entertainment for the kids.

Service

We found the service on the flight to be excellent from start to finish. The flight attendants stopped by frequently, eager to make sure everything was good and to see if there was anything they could do to assist. It really seemed like they took pride in their work and that they genuinely cared about us. Really, what more could you ask for?

I don’t have any specific instances of them going above and beyond to share, but we felt welcome.

Timing of flight

At 6 hours in length, this flight was scheduled to depart Melbourne at 7AM and arrive at Bali at 11AM (with a 2 hour time change). If you’re looking to maximize your time in Bali, which isn’t a stretch, this isn’t a bad option to choose. You’re generally not going to find a nonstop redeye on the route (it looks like redeyes connect in other cities).

As for managing the sleep schedule of your kids, there’s not much special you need to worry about. You might need to wake them up a little than earlier than normal to get to the airport, and with the time change you might be calling it a night a little early. But it’s simple and nothing in particular to worry about.

Arrival to Bali, Indonesia (DPS)

Denpasar, from where DPS gets its name, is the capital of Bali. Rather than arriving at a gate attached to the airport, we ended up at a remote stand. That gave us a chance to take the stairs down off the plane and get a nice view of the plane before getting on a bus.

To avoid crowding, all business class passengers were left off the bus first. That’s convenient, especially for clearing immigration ahead of others on the plane.

Entering the bus to go to the main terminal

We’ve been on crowded buses before when disembarking, but here we had plenty of space. It was just a short ride over to the customs and immigration area where we would (thankfully quickly) enter Bali.

Recommendation: Yes!

It seems like Garuda Indonesia doesn’t command a high price on the route between MEL and DPS, which leads to some good deals. I wouldn’t be opposed to paying cash fare on this route at the right price, but it’s even better that it’s such a good deal on points. This is definitely something worth considering for your Air France KLM Flying Blue miles.

What we enjoyed the most aside from the price included:

Excellent catering
A comfortable seat with plenty of legroom
Fantastic service

We wholeheartedly recommend considering Garuda Indonesia for your travels in South East Asia!

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