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