Doug's Corner - Diving Corner

Doug's Blog Home > All about Indonesia > 2017 - 2019 updates > Garuda is the best airline in Indonesia and they need pilots

Garuda is the best airline in Indonesia and they need pilots

by

Garuda is the best airline in Indonesia and they need pilots.  I love flying Garuda Airlines in Indonesia.  Garuda Airlines is rarely late and their service in impeccable. When I am in Indonesia I only fly Garuda Airlines.  You can view more about them here at https://www.garuda-indonesia.com.

Garuda Airlines also takes care of scuba divers by giving them extra weight allowance for their checked in bags. I enjoy, when I can with my points, fly business class with Garuda Airlines.  Their lounges, especially the new one at the Jakarta airport in terminal four is tops!  I do wish the Surabaya airport Garuda lounge would be a bit better though.  It is small and stuffy.  I rather go to the Starbucks right by the Surabaya Airport Garuda lounge which is more open and relaxing.  Of course, I have to pay for coffee at Starbucks and not for drinks and lite snacks at the Garuda lounge.

Besides lack of pilots for Garuda there is something that you can handle that you won’t lack, in case the need arises.  I am talking about travel medical insurance.  It is one thing that a company needs pilots which doesn’t cause us major harm at this time. But for sure if you do not have travel medical insurance when you need medical care overseas you will be saying “ouch” in many different languages, especially when you start taking out your wallet to grab your Credit Card(s) to pay those medical bills.

Yes, “it will never happen to me, this thing of being sick while overseas from home” is what we all say.  But consider this – you and I do not get travel medical insurance for medical care primarily, we get it primarily for medical evacuation cover, also called medical transportation.  Did you know that the average medical transportation (that is when you need medical care to get to a hospital or to the hospital that can take care of your medical condition) cost an average of 15,000 to 25,000USD and that is if you are not in a remote location.  I have seen medical evacuation cost go up to as high as 75,000USD and even one a couple years ago go for a total, wait for it….., 110,000USD. 

Yes, it may never happen to you…..but.  Are you willing to gamble many thousands of USD instead of an annual multi-trip travel medical insurance that cost less than $300 like the GB Trekker Choice at https://www.gninsurance.com/geoblue-trekker-choice-essential-overseas-health-coverage/. 

Or if you are going on a one-time trip you can purchase a plan that cost less than $2 a day!  Here are three popular travel medical plans that may fit you –

As an avid scuba diver and frequent traveler, I use the GB multi-trip travel insurance here at https://www.gninsurance.com/geoblue-trekker-choice-essential-overseas-health-coverage/.

Medical care may or may not be expensive in the country you are visiting.  But I will tell you one thing about me, I love to have the peace of mind knowing that I have my travel medical insurance that covers me anywhere outside the U.S. and if I ever need medical evacuation I call my international insurance company and no deductible or other expense comes out of my pocket for this evacuation cover (for medical care there is a one time per policy copay of 50USD). 

Peace of mind – travel medical insurance and qualified Garuda pilots.  The former we can handle, the latter we just pray for great pilots for Garuda Airlines!

I hope Garuda can get great pilots into their program.

Here is part of this article –

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia canceled a flight from Singapore Changi Airport to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Sunday due to a lack of available pilots. The plane was scheduled to depart at 10 p.m. Singapore time.

Garuda spokesman Ikhsan Rosan said the pilots who were meant to fly that evening had flown for nine hours on Sunday – the maximum number of hours a pilot is permitted to fly in one day.

“The pilots should fly for a maximum of nine hours a day after having flown five times but, due to delays, the pilots had reached the flying limit,” Ikhsan told The Jakarta Post on Sunday night, adding that the pilots were not immediately replaced as all available ones were in Jakarta.

Please click here for the full article – http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/12/04/garuda-indonesia-cancels-flight-due-to-lack-of-available-pilots.html

###########

  • “The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.” – Henry David Thoreau

 

  • Get travel insurance for your peace of mind and your wallet – gninsurance.com

“Each year, 1.3 million people are killed and 20–50 million are injured in motor vehicle crashes worldwide….and 25,000 of the deaths are among tourists. Nearly half of medical evacuations back to the United States are the result of a car crash, and a medical evacuation can cost upward of $100,000″ – https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/road-safety

Print Friendly, PDF & Email