Flights between Bali and Manado?

[Wisnu]

Never used Lion Air from Denpasar to Manado. Their flight time is more than 3 hours; so I am sure transit in somewhere (probably Makasar like Garuda).

Yes, in general garuda more reliable than other airline. As national flag carrier they operate more airplanes and own their maintenance facility. In Indonesia, more and more budget airline coming and some dying. Some good, other not too bad - some terible. I do not know how many airline in Indoneisa now, probably more than 20. Most of them do not own their fleet; instead they rent old 737 planes.

 

[opalobsidian]

Both times we used Lion Air Denpasar-Menado, we had no problems at all.

One thing about booking any of these flights is that the price can vary wildly from day to day. Because booking Indonesian flights online is iffy at best, we waited until we got to Bali to start calling about to inquire about the flight (about 2 weeks before departure to Menado) Every day the price was different, sometimes varying as much as $80, on both Lion and Garuda. We ended up waiting until the day before our flight to actually purchase the ticket with Lion, and ended up getting a fairly low price (about $120 US RT per person, as opposed to $200 with Garuda) We never were able to get the low prices that either airline advertised on their webpages!

 

[nwflyboy]

Picking this up again...more questions about flying between Denpasar and Menado.

First of all, are there any other choices to fly between DPS-MDC other than Garuda and Lion Air? Just want to be sure I'm looking at all (reasonable) options...

Here's what (I think) I'm seeing, if their respective websites are to be believed (and yes, I do take some of the details with a grain of salt)...

Each of the two airlines appear to have one flight each way. Both appear to have one stop.

Going from Denpasar to Menado, Garuda has a morning flight (leave 9 am, arrive 12:30pm), and Lion Air has an evening flight (leave 8 pm, arrive 11;15 pm).

Returning from Menado back to Denpasar, it's the other way around: Lion Air has a morning flight (leave 7 am, arrive 10:30 am), and Garuda has an afternoon flight (leave 1 pm, arrive 5 pm).

For us, the earlier flights make more sense, for a couple of reasons.

Going from Denpasar to Menado, we would rather not arrive after 11 pm, so Garuda seems the better option outbound: we would get there shortly after mid-day, which would give us plenty of time to get to our resort and settle in, all during daylight, maybe even get in some snorkeling or a quick dive that afternoon/evening.

On the return, we absolutely need to be back in Denpasar by late afternoon, since we have a flight out to Bangkok that leaves (from DPS) at 4:50 pm. So for the MDC-DPS leg, it seems that Lion Air's flight is the way for us to go (it should get us back to DPS by late morning).

It doesn't appear that there's any great price advantage for a round-trip ticket on a single airline rather than two one-way tickets on the two different airlines. And the schedule issues would even trump a modest price difference for us in this case.

So I'm looking at these flights:
1- Outbound:
Garuda Airlines
Leave DPS 9 am
Arrive MDC 12:30 pm

2- Return:
Lion Air
Leave MDC 7 am
Arrive DPS 10:30 am

(later the same day, we fly DPS-BKK, departing DPS 4:50 pm)

Is there anything here I am missing/forgetting? I think these flights make sense for us, but wanted to check with those who've been just be make sure I'm not overlooking any significant gotchas.

Note: As I understand it, any flight in Indonesia (like airlines anywhere) may not always go out on time (OK, late/canceled flights here might be more common than at home). My only real concern would be if the Lion Air flight (returning MDC-DPS)was more than 5-6 hours late, or canceled outright. I assume that outright cancellations are rare, and that although delays are not, a delay of more that 5 hours would be fairly unlikely. Reasonable?

Tanks for any additional insights/suggestions/tips.

 

[AlanWald]

See if you dive operator in Manado or Bunaken can assist you. They can also advise you on what flights are late (it seems the Garuda flight from Jakarta via Makassar to Manado is always late, so in a way its always on schedule.)

It is difficult to book the smaller airlines from abroad, but the dive op could do it for you and arrange for the ticket to waiting for you.

Also for example, the fare from LAX to MDC (via Singapore) on Singapore Air and Silk Air as a normal round trip would be the same as LAX to MDC -local flights on your own (at whatever additional cost, one way) and then Bali-Singapore-LAX on Singapore, This is what is know as an open jaw and avoids the cost and time of back tracking.

The Singapore-MDC Silk Air leg will be cheaper if booked along with a Singapore air flight to Singapore as Silk Air is a subsidiary of Singapore Air. It will also mean that you can take advantage of the Two Piece luggage allowance (PC will be indicated on your ticket) (70 pounds each) to/from North America to MDC/Bali. If you flew another airline to Singapore then the last leg on Silkair, Singapore-MDC you probably would only get a total of 20 KG.

However, do look into the possibility of extra baggage allowance for divers or if you are an elite level in Frequent Flyer miles.

There was a Malaysian Airline flight several years ago from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu which continued on to Manado but it did not attract enough business and it was discontinued. But it could start again someday. Also you could then connect on at KK from Taipei thus avoiding the need to go all the way to Kuala Lumpur (if coming from West Coast of the US)

 

[nwflyboy]

Thanks for the tips, but we've already got our tickets from the US to Bali, then from Bali to Bangkok, then home back to the US (more or less free tickets - used frequent flyer miles ). So really the only flights we need are Denpasar to Manado and then back to Denpasar.

I'm still working out the details of dive ops and resorts - right now I'm just trying to make sure we can get to and from each place on the days/times I'm planning...once that's done, then I can book the particulars.

Thanks.

 

[opalobsidian]

Well, there's playing it safe and pushing the NS trip back a day and return to Bali the day before you fly out to Bangkok
A) not be stressed when the Lion flight is inevitably late (but probably not cancelled)
B) hang out and play somewhere fun for the day between flights. The flight from Menado-DPS with layover time is usually about 5 hours, and then isn't DPS BKK at least 5 hours again if you have a direct flight? What were you going to do between flights, hang in the airport?

Couldn't you could have more fun if you fly in from Menado the day before?

 

[nwflyboy]

Yeah, we could play it (more) safe if we moved up the NS trip, and did the flight from Manado to Denpasar the 2nd-to-last day, and then the outbound Denpasar to Bangkok flight the next day. The only downside to that is we would be spending two days (or at least a good chunk of two days) flying, rather than one (admittedly long) day under the current plan (above), which puts both flights on the same day. I figure any day that involves an airline flight is mostly lost.

OTOH, you're right that it would be safer to allow a comfortable 30-hours or so between flights, allowing for one heckuva late flight.

As for flight times, unless I'm reading their schedule wrong, Lion Air alleges that they have a flight leaving MDC at 7 am with 1 stop, to arrive in DPS around 10:30 am. Our flight to BKK departs at 4:50 pm, so I guess it's a question of odds: how likely is it that the Lion Air flight is going to be more than 5 hours late arriving at DPS? I honestly don't know.

As to what we would do with that 5-6 hour layover in Denpasar...maybe Lion Air will take care of that for us.

The flight to BKK on Thai Airways is a non-stop, about 4 hours.

 

[Wisnu]

Upto 1 hour delay is not uncommon but very unlikely the lion air manado to Bali will be canceled; the same plane will be used for next flight Bali to Jakarta.
Very unlikely does not mean impossible. If this happen, you should know once you check-in early morning (pls ask) as the plane overnight and parking at the Menado airport. I did not use Lion air, but I saw 2 lion air - one to Jkt and one to Bali. If only one, pls recheck with them. There's a case Lion air canceled the flight from Manado to Jakarta - but not to Bali.
Worst from the worst, if they canceled - then you have to fly to jakarta or surabaya either using lion air or garuda; then lot of flights from jakarta to Bali. Not conveniene, but will be able to catch your flight to Bkk.

If everything goes well, 5 hours waiting is not shorttime - try reflexology massage in the airport or if time permited go outside for spas - lot of nice spas at jl (street). by pass ngurah rai not far from the airport.

 

[opalobsidian]

Flyboy

I can see your point of wanting to get all that flying done in one ugly day. We've done Menado-DPS twice and both times there were delays in departure at each airport, one hour leaving Bali, about the same connecting in Makassar, hour and 1/2 departing Menado, blah blah blah. I get so tired of sitting in airports and airplanes!!! but perhaps you have more patience than I.

If the fickle flight gods bless you and you do arrive into DPS nice and early, you could always take a taksi over to Jimbaran beach and hang out, relax and eat fresh fish during your layover. Jimbaran is about 15 to 20 minutes from the airport.

Also, like Wisnu mentioned, Ngurah Rai International is packed with great little massage places, a wonderful way to wile away the time. In any case you must catch a few Bali massages and reflexology treatments! In Ubud there are dozens of little places with prices so cheap you might think the massages are no good (I'm talking as low as $5 an hour here!) But NO! They are fantastic! Balinese are the BEST masseurs! Of course you will have to compare Bali massage with Thai massage, grueling research but hey, maybe you can get a grant!

Selamut jalan! (bahasa Indonesia meaning: blessings on your travels!)
Pamela

 

[JHB]

If you like try this link-
http://www.manadosafaris.com/flights.html