At the end of my 21-hours layover in Bali, it was time to bid farewell to this beautiful island and its’ people. I was very much looking forward to experiencing the ‘new’ Garuda Lounge because the airline has recently won Skytrax’s Best Cabin Crew Award and has also been recognised as a 5-Stars Airline. This carrier has come a long way and it does have an amazing First Class product flying between Jakarta and Amsterdam/London after many years of absence due to the EU ban for their less than favourable safety records.
Very nice touch from KLM – a candy cane for the festive season!
Lounge was rather deserted. Chairs were comfortable but the air-conditioning was definitely not up to standard especially so in a tropical country!
You could see the “Premier Lounge” in a distance. I did receive an invitiation to this lounge because KLM contracts them but I gained access to this Garuda Lounge with my Skyteam Elite Plus status.
The lounge offered a large buffet spread of Asian and Western specialties. They looked really yummy BUT were inedible! They were all cold and because they were left exposed, I refused to take any more than one bite. All I had was a softdrink!
The restrooms were clean enough but not fancy in any way. Look at the showers – I wouldn’t want to be stuck at this lounge needing a shower!
As a frequent flyer, I am used to lounge hopping at airports so I decided to walk over to the “Premier Lounge” where for the first time in my life, I was denied entry! How embarrassing!!! The attendant told me that because I have been to the Garuda Lounge, I could not enter their lounge (there was a stamp on my boarding pass). Apparently, KLM would only pay for one lounge access!
I could see that I was not missing out on much from the outside but this incident simply reiterates to me how poor an alliance Skyteam really is. It seems that every time I fly with them, there is always bound to be a hiccup. Another reason why I have never bothered to chase miles with any of their airlines.
