Garuda flight
Garuda flight
I recently heard a Garuda horror story that I think excels
over all the other complaints that have been voiced through "Your
Letters" over the past few years. Here it is, as short as
possible.
* Five of my colleagues (one male, four female) had to attend
an important seminar in Sydney, Australia.
* All had twice-confirmed reservations for the flight.
* On checking in (Feb. 22, 1996, Flight GA 862), the male
member (H) was ahead of the ladies in the party, separated by
another person.
* H and the person following him were allowed through, and the
check-in people then said, "No more seats." The word "sorry" was
never mentioned.
* There was quite a long queue behind my lady colleagues, who
were equally incensed by this curt announcement.
* "Wait!" they were told, "you can go tomorrow evening." That
was no good, as it would have meant missing the seminar.
* Suddenly, quite a large party arrived, which was immediately
ushered through to board the plane.
* More waiting, then: "There are three seats available in
Business Class; no room for you," i.e. the fourth lady, who
eventually managed to get on a Qantas flight (lucky lady!).
I am sorry to have to say this, but this is not just Garuda's
customary inefficiency; it is a plain case of malfeasance by the
Garuda check-in staff (and maybe the cabin crew too?) in holding
passengers with confirmed reservations to ransom -- "pay up and
you can board." And this is Indonesia's much vaunted "flag
carrier." It is not just a disgrace to the country -- it stinks!
But that is not the end of the story. On arrival in Sydney, my
colleagues (and presumably all the other returning passengers)
were told "You may only confirm your return flights on the
morning of departure" (for an evening flight). This they duly
did, only to get a recorded message: "Your flight has been
delayed for two hours!"
Nonetheless, to be on the safe side, they all turned up at the
check-in desk in time for the departure, only to be told that the
flight was in fact due to leave on time, but nevertheless had to
leave two hours late, because so many passengers had heard the
recorded message: that they had not yet arrived! The mind boggles
at such crass inefficiency! To add insult to injury on the return
flight my informant had his luggage lost.
JAMES RICHARDS
Jakarta