Setting the tone for what hopefully will be a tremendous overall experience, Garuda Indonesia reached out to me several days before my flight. Talk about customer service!
Dear Our Valued Customer Mr. Matthew Jonathan Klint ,
Warmest greetings from Garuda Indonesia First Class.
Regarding your flight with First Class Garuda Indonesia GA 088 CGK-AMS on February 17th, 2017, we would like to make a confirmation for our First Class services, as follow :
Limousine Service
You may request our First Class Limo Service (Type of Vehicle: Toyota Alphard or Mercedes Benz E-200). It is free of charge and only available in CGK (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi area). If you would like to reserve our limousine service, kindly inform us the details as below:Departure Flight GA 088 CGK-AMS on February 17th, 2017 :
Limousine Type :
Pick-up Address :
Pick-up Time :
Inflight Meals
We serve First class In-flight meals, which are Indonesian Cuisine and Western Cuisine. Kindly inform us if there is any dietary restriction.
Pajama
Pajama for your convenience. We provide L, XL, XXL and XXXL size for male.
Ground Service in Amsterdam
Regarding your ticket using Redemption Promo Best Deal 90% therefore ground service is not entitled for this promo.We would like to inform you regarding the VIP services, if you would like to use VIP services in AMS there will be additional charge EUR 300 per passenger, exclude tax (no connecting flight) or EUR 445 per passenger, exclude tax (with connecting flight).
Please inform us all the information not later than 24 hours prior to your departure flight. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any inquiries in the number and email address below:
- First Class Travel Assistant : +6221-296-55777
- First Class Email Address : firstclass@garuda-indonesia.
com Thank you for choosing First Class Garuda Indonesia as your travel partner. We wish you a pleasant journey.
Warm Regards,
First Class Garuda Indonesia
My Special Requests
Having taken advantage of the 90% off promotion, I was not even sure that I qualified for car service. While I would have to arrange my own transportation in Amsterdam, I was pleased to read that Garuda would send a car to the Grand Hyatt to pick me up.
I thought I would push my luck and in my e-mail reply asked whether it would be possible to have rack of lamb and fresh berries on the flight.
Just an hour later I received a reply that included–
Inflight Meals
-Special request: Rack of Lamb and Berries
Status: confirmed
-Kindly inform us if you have any dietary restriction
Status: waiting for your confirmation
The email also included confirmation of my Mercedes E-200 pick-up.
But the following day I received another note,
We would like to confirmation regarding the type of vehicle Mercedes Benz E-200 for Limousine Service for your flight with First Class Garuda Indonesia GA 088 CGK-AMS on February 17th, 2017, are not available. So, we offer you 1 unit Alphard, with the detail as follow :
Limousine Service
Departure Flight GA 088 CGK-AMS on February 17th, 2017:
Limousine Type: 1 Unit Alphard
Okay, a Toyota van instead of a Mercedes sedan, but I’m not going to complain!
Request Clarified
Finally, one more email arrived concerning my special berry request.
We would like to make sure regarding your special request berries on the flight. Could you inform us the exact berries that you would like to have, is it fresh berries (fruit) or any kind of dessert contains berries (cake, etc) ?
Please inform us the information not later than 24 hours prior to your departure flight.
By this time I was already in the air on my way to Jakarta and ended up not replying in time. So, I am not expecting berries on the flight (well, actually I am if we are being honest…). We’ll see what, if anything, is loaded.
CONCLUSION
Very impressive service from Garuda in the days leading up to my flight. I’ve never received this level of personalized service prior to a first class flight.
“We would like to make sure regarding your special request berries on the flight. Could you inform us the exact berries that you would like to have”
Wow.
I’m sure the flight will be amazing. However, I don’t like how they are looking at “real” first class customers and those who used points. You’re in first class regardless and should get the same treatment/options.
“Ground Service in Amsterdam
Regarding your ticket using Redemption Promo Best Deal 90% therefore ground service is not entitled for this promo.”
So how then were you able to get a limo pickup?
“Dear Our Valued Customer Mr. Matthew Jonathan Klint ,”
Notice the long salutation. For those who are not familiar with the Indonesian culture, “Dear our valued customer” is a very loose translation of a common Indonesian salutation that is similar in nature.
It would be considered disrespectful in the Indonesian culture to address a customer simply as “Dear Mr Matthew….”. Addressing customers with the proper respect is very important in their culture.
Great service by Garuda but you should probably hide the contact info.