Alternative route to Japan offers great food and service – plus it’s cheaper

The airline: Garuda Indonesia

• Route Melbourne (MEL) to Jakarta (CGK) flight GA717
• Frequency Four times weekly
• Aircraft Airbus A330-300
• Class Economy; seat 49K, window
• Flight time 7 hours 35 minutes

Checking in

It’s school holidays, and peak sakura (cherry blossom) season, and I’m trying to get to Tokyo. Direct flights from Australia are either expensive or nonexistent, so I’m flying to Japan with Garuda via Tokyo. While check-in at Melbourne Airport is busy, it’s also friendly. I’d checked in online 48 hours ahead to ensure I was seated beside my teen daughter, but the staffer at the airport says there’s no need to stress. “If you’re booked on the same ticket, you’ll be automatically seated together on Garuda,” she assures me. Rival airlines, please take note.

Baggage

Incredibly, there is space in the overhead lockers, surely explained in part by the fact that the check-in baggage limit for my economy ticket on the Japan route is a whopping 46 kilograms per person – 64 kilograms in business! Everyone’s travelling with small bags and laptops that fit easily into the compartments above and comply with the carry-on limit of one bag weighing seven kilograms.

Loyalty scheme

Garuda’s loyalty scheme is GarudaMiles; alternatively, I can add my points onto the schemes of its fellow SkyTeam alliance members, which include Vietnam Airlines and Delta, or with points outlier Etihad Airways, which will be more useful to me – at least after the current war ends.

The seat

Teal and chocolate were a great combo in the late ’80s; now they serve to keep Garuda’s Airbus A330-300s in a time warp. The economy cabin is in a 2-4-2 configuration, and we’re seated on the right-hand side at 49H and K. The seat width is 17 inches (43 centimetres), and the pitch (the distance between seat backs) is between 32 and 34 inches (81 to 86 centimetres), though the actual recline feels very limited. The cushioning isn’t what you’d call plump, or even particularly comfy. Before travel, Garuda emailed and offered bidding on a “Privacy Plus” option that provides an empty seat beside you, from $120; tempting, but we have the two seats on the window. On my return, I’m offered a business class upgrade for $900 at the check-in queue at Tokyo for the leg back to Denpasar.

Entertainment + tech

The entertainment unit on this flight appears to be a new refit – on the return, screens are older and a touch milky. I could prep for Japan by watching Batman Ninja v Yakuza League, but I settle for a book and sleep. Come fully charged because, like many airlines, Garuda has banned using power banks inflight. The seat-back USB takes six of the flight’s seven hours to charge my phone.

Service

From check-in to flight, service is extremely pleasant – Garuda was voted Skytrax’s world’s best cabin crew seven times – and continues even after we’ve arrived: minutes after disembarking, my daughter realises that she’s left her toiletries bag on the plane. A quick call at the guest services desk and the bag arrives, with wide smiles and theatrical flourishes from Garuda’s fabulous ground crew. Surprisingly for some who know Indonesia’s “jam karet” or “rubber time” approach to punctuality, Garuda Indonesia was named the world’s most punctual airline in March 2026 by OAG Aviation, which defines “on time” as departing or arriving within 15 minutes of schedule. We pull away from the gate within four minutes of the 3.30pm departure and touch our Jakarta gate five minutes behind schedule.

Food

Meals arrive 90 minutes after take-off; I always try to go with the dish from the carrier’s homeland and am rewarded with a delicious, lemongrass-heavy beef rendang with rice and green beans, with cheddar cheese and crackers, a choc-raspberry cake and ice-cold pesto pasta salad. It’s topped off with the best, perfectly crusty hot bread I’ve been served in any economy (and I’ve tucked away a lot of rolls). Sadly, the white wine is as warm as the bread. Ninety minutes before arrival, we’re served a salted caramel ice cream, and the drinks trolley takes another run down the aisles.

Sustainability

The airline runs an ongoing carbon-offset redemption program through its GarudaMiles frequent flyer program, under which redeemed points go towards replanting mangroves in Indonesia.*

One more thing

On a through-ticket to Japan, Garuda allows travellers to break their journey for free with a stopover in Denpasar or Jakarta, creating a two-for-one destination holiday.

The price

From $1262 return for economy to Tokyo. Total flight time is 14 hours, 30 minutes (7 hours, 35 minutes Jakarta to Tokyo) compared with non-stop flights from Melbourne to Tokyo of 10 hours, 35 minutes.

The verdict

Non-stop flights to Tokyo on full-service airlines can be expensive. Garuda provides a wallet-friendly alternative, with an easy, three-hour stopover each way.

Our rating out of five

★★★

The writer flew as a guest of Cruise Traveller (cruisetraveller.com.au).

*For more information about air travel and sustainability, see iata.org

**Fares are based on those available for travel three months from the time of publication and subject to change.