How to book domestic flights within Indonesia?

[Manuel Sam]

I've used come2indonesia.com (Melysa Charlex) twice and they've done well for me. They were recommended by Cedric from Geko Divers in Padang Bai.

I've never been able to book Lion Air online because they will not take foreign credit cards. Garuda, however, does take them when booking online.

This may sound like sour grapes but, for my November 2015 trip to Bali/Lembeh, I booked Garuda online and they're behaving like they've descended to the level of their domestic competitors. First they rebooked me on a morning flight from Denpasar to Ujung Pandang that arrives over an hour after the connecting flight to Manado departs. When I emailed to complain, they put me on a flight to Ujung Pandang for the afternoon before - which would cause me to overnight in Ujung Pandang and lose a day of diving. In the meantime, there is a Denpasar to Manado connection thru Jakarta that others in my group were booked on (they dealt with a travel agent instead of online), but Garuda refused to put me on those flights. Their last emailed informed me that they canceled my reservation and will be refunding - but the refund amount is 250K Rp less than what I paid. Not a lot in relative terms, but not what you expect from a supposedly "reputable" airline.

So there is some merit to working with a local agent.

 

[Antaboga]

I don't hate using travel agents. I just think booking your flights direct with airlines has become easier over the years and no longer requires a travel agent or middle man.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I don't hate using travel agents. I just think booking your flights direct with airlines has become easier over the years and no longer requires a travel agent or middle man.

Except for foreigners trying to book internal flights in Indonesia. It appears that there are now a few sites that allow direct booking, but as I'm guessing you know, this is a relatively recent development. Other than Garuda, which Indonesian airlines have booking sites that accept foreign credit cards?

 

[ocdiver1]

Except for foreigners trying to book internal flights in Indonesia. It appears that there are now a few sites that allow direct booking, but as I'm guessing you know, this is a relatively recent development. Other than Garuda, which Indonesian airlines have booking sites that accept foreign credit cards?

Sriwijaya accepts them

 

[pelan-pelan]

Have been able to book online from the UK. But - even Singapore Airlines has started to mess around with their schedules at short notice. There are a number of domestic airlines - Lionair, Sriwijaya, and others, plus Garuda, so if there is a problem, someone "on the spot" can work out how to re-route. So perhaps this is a situation for using an agent. Safari Tours in Manado, run and owned by American, have always been helpful to us and have successfully blended flights on a number of different airlines to enable us to get around and between various parts of Indonesia. The cost of extra nights/lost nights, taxi fares, waiting time, excess baggage for dive gear - might well balance out having someone do the problem-solving.

 

[Georgebartlett106]

Try using tiket.com though not sure if it'll work with US cards.

 

[Bora_Horza]

I have used Perama Tours a number of times to book internal flights - and you can pay by PayPal. Perama Tour : Bali - Lombok - Flores

 

[Trucha]

has anyone used tiket2 ? It is different than the above site tiket.com. It looks good and claims to accept us credit cards including visa/mc. I haven't used it but I am about to buy a ticket on their site. I went through all of the hoops and there is a spot to use credit cards and it gives the option to put in US as the country. Maybe I will wait until I get there to buy the ticket. If anyone has used this site let me know.

 

[Antaboga]

Tiket Pesawat Murah: Traveloka - Cari Tiket Pesawat Promo?

I just downloaded the Traveloka app from Google Play. The app is pretty cool and easy to navigate although only in Indonesian language it seems.

 

[Jon S-J]

Try Vifa Holiday, used them a few times really helpful and are somehow linked to the dive industry, "we make divers fly" is their logo, they updated me 48, 24 and 12 hours before on the status of my flights. there are many delays/cancellations/rescheduling on many airlines here Garuda is one of the better ones for sure, but have waited 2-4 hours over delays try theo@vifaholiday.com, speaks excellent English.