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