Garuda Indonesia First Class Now Bookable on Air France KLM Flying Blue

Last month, Air France KLM Flying Blue made First Class redemptions with China Eastern Airlines available for award bookings. This was a significant milestone, since historically, SkyTeam airline loyalty programs hadn’t offered First Class partner award redemptions.

Just over a month later, Flying Blue has now added Garuda Indonesia First Class redemptions, which were previously only available through GarudaMiles.

Garuda Indonesia First Class Now Bookable on Air France KLM Flying Blue

Air France KLM Flying Blue has made Garuda Indonesia First Class available to book with Flying Blue miles.

This marks the second SkyTeam partner airline First Class product that can be booked with Flying Blue miles. It’s worth noting that Air France La Prèmiere can also be booked with Flying Blue miles, but only by members with Flying Blue Platinum status.

Currently, Garuda Indonesia offers First Class on a single route to Amsterdam from its hub in Jakarta. 

A one-way ticket on this route prices out at 275,000 Flying Blue miles, plus $297 (CAD) in taxes and fees.

A one-way ticket between Amsterdam and Jakarta also costs 275,000 Flying Blue miles, plus $308 (CAD) in taxes and fees.

It’s worth noting that the award pricing for Garuda Indonesia First Class is quite high, especially considering that China Eastern First Class flights between China and Europe cost less than half of Garuda Indonesia First Class booked through Flying Blue.

First Class redemptions with Garuda Indonesia are only possible through the Air France website at the moment, and not the KLM version of Flying Blue. When searching, you’ll have to select “La Première” as the desired cabin if you’re searching for First Class awards.

You may have to look around for award availability throughout the schedule; however, there are often multiple seats available when you can find Garuda Indonesia First Class awards.

Will Flying Blue Add More Partner First Class Redemptions?

In the past few years, Garuda Indonesia has been retrofitting many of its Boeing 777 aircraft, and removing First Class cabins in the process.

As it stands, Amsterdam is the only destination to which the airline flies with a First Class cabin. The airline had previously offered First Class to other destinations, such as London and Tokyo, but has since either scrapped the route (in the case of London), or switched to a two-cabin aircraft instead (in the case of…