Garuda responds

Garuda responds

In response to Mr. Kelly's complaint in his letter to The
Jakarta Post, we would like to outline the following facts:

* On July 17, 1994 Mr. Kelly checked in at the Garuda counter
at terminal E. The check-in staff processed his flight documents
to Amsterdam and gave him his boarding pass and baggage labels at
21.40.

* After completing the check-in procedure, Mr. Kelly went to
meet his friends outside the departure corridor, whereas, he
should have proceeded immediately to the Immigration counter for
passport clearance.

* Later he came back to the departure area and went straight
to the Immigration counter. Because he had lost the embarkation
portion, he was asked to fill in an immigration card available at
the Garuda counter. If there was no queue, it would take him
about ten minutes to complete the immigration card, including the
time needed to reach the waiting corridor.

* The boarding process was going smoothly and when the
counting was done, only two passengers were still missing at
departure time. One of them was finally spotted by Garuda staff
and was escorted onto the plane at the last minute. Mr. Kelly,
however, reported to Gate E5 at about 22.30, the plane had been
blocked-off at 22.22 hours. The B-747-400 GA-896 flight was
scheduled to depart at 22.20 hours with take-off at 22.30 hours,
carrying 358 passengers.

* It is not true that a boarding announcement was not made.
According to procedure, in fact, the Garuda staff made the
announcement three times. That this procedure was followed is
supported by the Angkasa Pura airport announcer who was on duty
at the time. Mr. Kelly was already informed of this information.

Because Mr. Kelly was left behind, the Garuda staff assured
him that he could leave for Amsterdam the following day, July 18,
1994, at 23.00 and upgraded his ticket from Economy to Business
Class. This was by no means compensation from Garuda, rather, it
was a token of goodwill extended by the Garuda management at
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

All passengers on overseas flights are required to be
at the airport 1.5 hours before departure time and to be in the
waiting corridor 30 minutes before boarding.

Considering the matters mentioned above, Garuda staff at
terminal E are not to blame for Mr. kelly missing his flight. We
received the report about this matter on July 30, 1994.

Basically, Garuda staff in every airport always make the
effort to render the best service possible to our clients.

JANSIUS SIAHAAN

Head of Public Relations

PT Garuda Indonesia

Jakarta