Confirmed! 90% OFF Garuda Miles Redemptions

Update (12/23/16 10:00 pm ET): Garuda Indonesia has pulled the promo.

Update (12:37 ET): Read this article before jumping in on the deal and making any transfers!

Garuda Indonesia has a pretty fantastic First Class product, and it can be difficult to achieve on points and miles. This is because they only offer First Class on a handful of routes, and the number of miles required to redeem First Class is pretty high. Garuda Indonesia is a transfer partner with Citi ThankYou, so you can theoretically rack up Garuda Indonesia miles easily. However, their booking process is cumbersome, and used to require you to physically visit a Garuda office to ticket your award.

Garuda Indonesia First Class Seat. Source: Garuda Indonesia

Earlier this year, Garuda Indonesia started allowing redemptions online, which should save a lot of trouble in actually redeeming miles. However, their booking engine is still a bit finicky, and does not support booking of any partner or SkyTeam airlines. Still, it’s a nice tool to search for award availability.

Well, Garuda Indonesia is launching a promotion on award ticket redemptions. Through the end of the year, you can get 90% off when you use Garuda Indonesia miles for redemptions for flights between February 1 and May 31, 2017. This is absolutely incredible.

Get a 10% discount when you redeem Garuda Indonesia miles for award tickets through the end of 2016.

I was a bit skeptical at first, since it seems that Garuda may be offering 90% off, and not 10% off redemption tickets. In many Asian languages (my native language of Chinese included), we express discounts in the % to be paid, not the the % to be taken off. However, it does seem like Garuda Indonesia got this one right. They are indeed offering 90% off the cost in miles (i.e. you pay 10% of the regular price). 

Garuda Indonesia’s Twitter team confirmed that this is the case (pardon my use of a throwaway account…)

Hello there. You can get discount 90% (Pay 10% of the normal point needed). Thank you. – Harry

— Garuda Indonesia (@IndonesiaGaruda) December 22, 2016

Since point transfers are not reversible, I wanted to be extra sure. I asked about the pricing, in number of miles required, and got the confirmation that it is indeed 90% off (Jakarta to Tokyo normally requires 90,000 miles for one-way First Class). This should eliminate potential questions about whether this promotion is an error in translation.

Thank you for waiting. That's correct. You only need 9.000 mileage to get First Class Award Ticket from this promo. – Harry

— Garuda Indonesia (@IndonesiaGaruda) December 22, 2016

It does not seem like the discount is reflected online, and you will have to call their contact center to make a reservation. They have a few worldwide offices, though the few that I called are either closed or have no idea whatsoever about this promotion. (The London office repeated gave me another number to call, which turned out to be a Dutch bank). The Indonesia office operates 24/7, though at the moment they are hanging up on people due to high call volume. Update: I was just able to get through the phone line, and was (correctly) quoted 19,000 miles for a one-way First Class ticket from Amsterdam to Jakarta. 

Here are the other terms and conditions:

Redeem your mileage in Garuda Indonesia contact center at 0804 1 807 807 / +62 21 2351 9999 or nearest Sales Office in your city.

Terms and conditions :

• This promo eligible for flight classes R (First Class), O (Business Class) and X (Economy Class)
• This promo is subject to seat availability
• This promo eligible in Garuda Indonesia contact center or sales office redemption channels.
• This promo eligible for all GarudaMiles members
• Registration is no needed in order to get this promo

You can search for award availability online, though will have to book through the phone per the T&C. This means you will likely have to physically visit a ticketing office to get your itinerary ticketed. In the US, they only have four offices, in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Houston. This alone might be a deterrent for people.

I will also note that their First Class award space can be limited sometimes. Still, with a 90% discount, you are paying just 19,000 Garuda miles for a one-way ticket from Jakarta to Amsterdam in First Class, or 9,000 Garuda miles for a one-way ticket from Jakarta to Tokyo. That’s unbeatable.

There is one final caveat, though. Citi ThankYou transfer to Garuda Indonesia isn’t instant, so you may find yourself in a bit of a catch 22 situation. By the time your miles arrive, the award space may be gone. Couple limited award space with an extremely lucrative promotion, and you might end up with a bunch of Garuda Indonesia miles in your account you won’t be able use for this promotion. Still, you can always redeem miles for Business or even Economy Class, and at 90% off, it’s one heck of a deal.

Will anyone be taking advantage of this amazing deal?