Buy GarudaMiles With 100% Bonus for Cheap Business & First Class Flights
Buying GarudaMiles during a bonus promotion is a great way to experience luxury travel for less.Garuda Indonesia, the flagship carrier, is currently offering a 100% bonus on miles purchased through the GarudaMiles program.
Garuda, a SkyTeam partner, operates several routes to Australia. The key routes include Melbourne to Jakarta and Bali, as well as Sydney to Jakarta and Bali.
All these routes feature excellent award availability in business class, with the Denpasar route being particularly well-priced at just 54,000 GarudaMiles for a business class ticket.
The Australia-to-Denpasar route only incurs AU$173 in fuel surcharges and taxes, which is reasonable. On the Denpasar-to-Australia leg, these fees drop further to $125.
This means that purchasing enough miles for a one-way business class redemption would cost you $1,065, including all fees, or $2,082 for a return trip in business class. Keep in mind that a return business class ticket (when on sale) typically costs around $2,472, so while the savings aren’t massive, they’re still a respectable $390—enough for a few rounds of Bintang at least!
How to Buy GarudaMiles
First, you’ll need to sign up for a free GarudaMiles frequent flyer account.
Once that’s done, you can purchase miles here: Garuda Indonesia.
The current 100% bonus promotion is tiered, starting from 20,000 miles, and runs from 11 November 2024 until 23:59 WIB on 10 December 2024.
Any Other Redemptions?
Personally, I’m eyeing a Garuda First Class redemption from Amsterdam to Jakarta. This journey requires 190,000 GarudaMiles and around $265 in surcharges and fees.
At a cost of US$2,042.50 to purchase the required miles, it’s not exactly cheap. However, Garuda First Class is a rare experience, with Amsterdam being one of the only (if not the only) routes currently offering it. A return ticket typically costs over $9,000, while one-way fares are around $6,000. If you share my passion for unique travel experiences, this could be a worthwhile splurge! Plus, there’s plenty of availability, making it relatively easy to redeem your points.
If first class isn’t your thing, you can redeem the same route in business class for 110,000 GarudaMiles, which would cost US$1,182.50 plus taxes and fees.
Summing Up
The current 100% bonus points offer on GarudaMiles isn’t the most incredible deal we’ve seen, but given the excellent redemption availability, it’s still a solid opportunity. This is especially true if you’re after a unique travel experience like Garuda Indonesia First Class.