Garuda Indonesia Business Class is among the elite Business Class in the world. They are popular for their service, and also part of SkyTeam. This gives us priority access for check-in, security and baggage. Unfortunately, for commoners, their price is rather steep.
For this example, we will be trying for Garuda Indonesia’s Boeing 777-300ER. In which, the route will be from Denpasar, Bali (DPS) to Jakarta (CGK).
Garuda Indonesia partners with Plusgrade for the BidUpgrade system along with other airlines in this list. Although I feel there are some human intervention when deciding who gets the upgrade, I can give some tips based on my experience bidding this in multiple flights in the past.
Rest assured, we will explain our experience in bidding for Garuda Indonesia Business Class, and how to optimise your bid. Besides, you will also need luck to get it.
Based on my personal experience, I do not always get them every time. In addition, I can pinpoint some important factors.
Purchasing Correct Garuda Indonesia Economy Class Ticket
Make sure the ticket you purchase the correct fare. What does this mean?
There are several fare types when you purchase the ticket online. Normally, the options are Eco Promo, Efo Affordable, and Eco Flexible. Sometimes there is Eco Special Promo (normally lowest fare), which is not eligible for BidUpgrade. Hence, confirm your selection again.
Based on the above options, I always have the best conversion when I picked Eco Flexible. Somehow the system calculates your fare price as deciding factor as well. For example, your base ticket costs IDR 1,700,000. In addition to your fare, the BidUpgrade price costs IDR 1,700,000. Those add up to IDR 3,400,000. On the other hand if your base fare costs IDR 1,500,000 and then your IDR 1,700,000. The total is IDR 3,200,000. Which one do you think will get the upgrade between these two scenarios?
Business Class Load Factor
It means how many paying Business Class passengers are there. This will affect the total seats availability.
Therefore, I will check using ExpertFlyer as my reference. You will need to enter the exact flight details. In conclusion, if there are about less than 50% available Business Class Seats, your chance will decrease.
The below search result shows high availability. Therefore, something like this will probably give you a good result.
Bid Price
Typically, you would want to keep your bid strength under “Strong” or above. However, this was not always the case. I received a success once bidding on the “Poor” bid strength. Again if you remember my point above on the base fare topic.
In my opinion, the system will use this to decide if there are multiple bids on their end. Thereafter, you are competing with other bidders for the seat.
Garuda Indonesia’s Boeing 737-800 vs Airbus A330 / Boeing 777-300ER
Be careful when jumping into the bandwagon. Garuda Indonesia operates mostly Boeing 737-800. Therefore only a few routes will operate the wide-body planes to get the 1-2-1 configuration Business Class.
Some known routes for the A330 / A330 Neo or 777-300ER are:
- Jakarta (CGK)
- Surabaya (SUB)
- Denpasar, Bali (DPS)
- Medan (KNO)
- Makassar (UPG)
Meanwhile, let me know in the comments if I missed any.
I believe your money will worth more when you get these Business Class seats than the dated 737-800 Business Class seats.
Conclusion
After all, it comes down to luck and how much more money you want to spend to enjoy these services.
In conclusion, going through this method will save you about IDR 2,000,000 from the revenue ticket price. However, this is not guaranteed to work every time. Therefore, if you really have to take Business Class seat, you will better off paying the extra amount.
In the next article, I will review the thorough process for the flight from Bali to Jakarta on Garuda Indonesia Boeing 777-300ER Business Class.
