Indonesian airline blasted after cancelling UK flights
Indonesia’s national airline Garuda has been blasted for ‘appalling’ customer service after announcing on social media that it was axing its non-stop flights between London and Jakarta.
It promised that passengers with existing bookings after October 28 would be re-routed via Amsterdam or offered alternative flights. Passengers were also told they could cancel their flights with a full refund.
However, passengers say they struggled to re-arrange their flights or obtain refunds from the airline.
Some passengers who contacted the UK office were told to call Garuda’s office in Jakarta, at their own expensive, but they were then referred back to the UK.
Others complained on Twitter that they were unable to get through to the UK office at all, or that they were cut-off prematurely. Those who booked online claimed the airline failed to respond to their emails requesting information on their cancelled flights.
One passenger wrote on Garuda’s Facebook page that they had waited more than a week for a response to their email to the airline.
Garuda launched the three-times-a-week service in October 2017, offering onward connections from Jakarta to other destinations, including Australia and Bali.
One customer wrote that his honeymoon flight to Bali had been cancelled, while others complained that switching to the Amsterdam flight meant they would have 12 to 14-hour stopovers in Jakarata.
Garuda did not say in its statement why it was axing the flight after only a year.
The airline was also criticised for misleading customers by claiming on social media that ‘the London Heathrow-Amsterdam-Jakarta route will continue to operate six times a week’, as this implied it was still flying to London with a stopover in Amsterdam, when in fact it plans to book passengers onto partner airlines to fly between the UK and Holland.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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