In early 2022, I had come across an article about an airline status match with ITA Airways, the carrier borne out of the rubble of Italy’s Alitalia.
Basically, if you had a certain frequent flier status with one airline, occasionally, a competitor — or outlier — offers the ability to get a similar frequent flier status with them. Some of them charge for the opportunity, some might make it a challenge — e.g. fly a certain number of segments with the target airline — and some may just give you status gratis, for a finite amount of time.
Now, ITA Airways, a member of the SkyTeam airline alliance, was only founded in November 2020, so there were — and still are — hiccups, i.e. familiarizing partner airlines with their shtick, and slowly acknowledging the existence of their own members with frequent flier status; to wit, I still haven’t gotten the tangible card, and it has been about nine months!
Nevertheless, I was able to match my Delta status to get ITA Airways Executive. What does that mean? Really, not much to me, since I only accrue SkyTeam miles with Delta … however, besides having priority security access, it’s the airline lounge access that comes in handy every and then. Maybe it’s to print something, or to grab a bite, or to just have a place to leave your luggage (although in my experience, most lounges don’t offer storage), but there is often some practicality in entering a lounge … particularly when I can speak the local lingo.
Take my December 2022 trip through Bali (airport code DPS) as a good example. Although the international terminal in Bali has a fair amount of places to eat landside (before security) and airside (after security), they’re your standard, ehem, fare. Overpriced cold bread and hot coffee, and insipid fried rice and noodles. What better transition to the Garuda Indonesia Lounge than with a mention of food?
Garuda Indonesia, one of ITA Airways’ partners in SkyTeam, has just a handful of international flights out of Bali. But, it’s certainly one of Indonesia’s key markets; pre-pandemic, this particular lounge also had a First Class section.
The Garuda Indonesia Lounge is located after immigration and the duty free area, on the 2nd floor, along with two other lounges that are airline agnostic.
Even though I was flying in Economy Class, with the ITA Airways Executive membership (as a screenshot, no less), just a couple of minutes of searching for a record of my name to match the membership number et voilà, in!
AMBIENCE & SERVICES
I took a seat in the main room, which is where the power points/outlets were. It was also closest to the food, which I usually avoid (in favor of quieter spaces); yet, since the lounge was sparsely populated, it wasn’t an issue. Another reason you may not want to sit in the back is because some construction is going on, and it appears that it will be that way for at least a couple of months.
It’s not the most convenient layout for a lounge (some of the tables seemed tucked away in the back, as if left for dead), but given the lack of flights/fewer travelers up front (depending on the route, of course), it wasn’t busy.
By the way, throughout the interior of the lounge, the wi-fi connection was slow, so don’t saunter in hoping to stream 4K videos. In fairness, I can’t comment on the signal by the terrace seating.
For the restroom, I noticed that there was a shower available; whether or not they wanted passengers to realize it was another story. Also, there was a paper towel hanging in a most unusual place; that’s all I’m going to say!
FOOD
Now, I was alluding to the food options at Bali Airport before, and how they were the standard issue mess of bad local food, or coffee, coffee, and coffee. Unfortunately, the food at the Garuda Indonesia Lounge was ho-hum.
There was also a pasta bar, but the penne I ordered came with about eight total. No cheese was available, but they had thyme, chilies, onions, sliced chicken, and tomato sauce.
STAFF
The first woman with whom I spoke was a Trainee, but she gladly went to get her manager to help with my screenshot frequent flier card predicament. Her manager was also nice; we all chatted for a bit, since I am conversant in Indonesian.
There was one fellow who lazed around the food area. He seemed bored, and curious why I went back and forth a few times to get something to eat. But his colleague, the pasta chef (whose presence had to be requested), was a nice guy.
On the plus side, whenever I finished with a glass or a plate, someone would quickly attend to it.
Overall, the Garuda Indonesia Lounge in the Bali airport international terminal was mediocre, although it did give a relatively quiet place to work (perhaps less so around the holidays), and a few equally underwhelming food options. Basically, the food might as well have been the same as the rest of the airside part of the terminal, but it was easy to whip the computer out to do some writing. Having generally nice staff also helps.
Have you been to this Garuda Indonesia lounge?
Bali isn’t exactly overburdened with quality lounges.
I’d say the same for Jakarta and Surabaya, too.
But, it was quiet at the time, and no one was sitting on the terrace, so it could have been worse!