Just 19,000 miles for almost 18 hours in a fully enclosed, Dom Perignon FIRST CLASS suite. 10%, 20%, even sometimes 50% off deals happen, but 90%? That just seems to good to be true. Garuda Indonesia, a five star airline predominantly flying between Indonesia, Asia and Europe are currently offering 90% off the normal amount of miles needed for a free flight, even for first class flights. Naturally there are a whole lot of people interested, but the catches will make your head spin…
There’s Only One Way To Transfer Points To Garuda Miles, It Takes Days…
The only non paid way to instantly create Garuda Indonesia miles is through their bank transfer partner Citibank. You can transfer Citi Thank You Points to Garuda Indonesia but it takes about two days to transfer. Just wait, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Buying Points Requires Faxing An Order Sheet To Indonesia, No US Cards Accepted…
You’ll be so bummed out if you try to buy Garuda points online. There’s a nice looking button to “buy points”, but sadly it just opens up a PDF form which you must fax to Indonesia for any chance of making a purchase. Even then, you can’t use a US or Canadian credit card to make the purchase. The only way to buy points is to get a power of attorney to have someone in Indonesia buy the points for you…
Even If You Have Points, 99% Of Reservations Need To Be Ticketed In Person In One Of Very Few Cities…
So, you’re one of the crazies who managed to get the points or one of the few “legit” ones out there that actually flew an airplane to get your miles. Your next mission, if you choose to accept it, is to get to one of the roughly five cities in North America or Europe which have ticketing centers capable of processing transactions with miles. If you’re in Asia it will be a similar plight. For most that will require a flight, just to make a reservation.
And In Case You Missed It, Even If You Get To A Physical Ticketing Center, There’s a 90% Chance Your Credit Card Won’t Work!
Ok, for Europeans there may be more hope than others. We haven’t heard of any issues with European Credit Card processing and there are booking centers in London and Anmsterdam, but Garuda is totally unable to process US cards. Even if you’ve somehow gotten the miles, booked a flight to one of like…two…US centers capable of taking your reservation and are standing in front of someone, you still won’t be able to book without a foreign credit card…
On The Other Hand, If You Know Someone In Indonesia OR You’re In Europe, Already Have Miles And Are Near London Or Amsterdam, Get In The Car!
This probably is the mileage deal of the decade even if virtually no one can use it. If you are among the few who already have Garuda miles, live near London or Amsterdam and have a non US issued credit card, you should do this. Only 19,000 Garuda miles one way from London or Amsterdam to Singapore or Jakarta in First, not Business class. It’s incredible.
HT: OneMileAtATime
