Reliable booking agent for local flights in Indonesia

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Hintermann

Contributor
Messages
1,049
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317
Location
Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, UK
# of dives
500 - 999
I am going to Raja Ampat in November and am flying all the way by Garuda using the London Gatwick - Jakarta - Makassar - Sorong - Makassar - Jakarta - London Gatwick route. Garuda UK are offering an excellent promotional offer for the London-Jakarta-London leg and so that's settled. But I found that any attempt to book the internal Garuda flights from Jakarta onwards turns out ridiculously expensive irrespective of whether I go through Garuda UK or the airlines' international site. The latter is the more expensive, in fact.

I have heard that there are reliable local agents who help to book those flights on IDR equivalent rates. Can anyone suggest some? Thanks.
 
But I found that any attempt to book the internal Garuda flights from Jakarta onwards turns out ridiculously expensive irrespective of whether I go through Garuda UK or the airlines' international site. The latter is the more expensive, in fact.

I have heard that there are reliable local agents who help to book those flights on IDR equivalent rates. Can anyone suggest some? Thanks.
I'm not sure I understand your question, from the Garuda online site I get CGK-SOQ return flights from 280€ in Nov. though seeming more expensive at first hand, in fact the price gap may be only marginal when you add up the overweight luggage you'll have to pay with Lionair, Wings Air, Sriwijaya or other companies. Garuda allows 35kg per diver, while other companies are limited to 20k, sometimes as low as 10k on some legs with a 2USD fee per overweight kilo.

Other than that you can have a look at this site for schedules and ticket purchase https://ticketindonesia.info/en/index.php
 
Hintermann, that is less than I paid and I went with lesser airlines. I think you should just book it. You'll save yourself in the long run.
 
I'm sitting in Jakarta and can access everything the same way any agent here would. If you went Lion/Wings instead of Garuda you would save about 121 Euros/2.000.000 IDR/$164.00 USD. Consider this ( I am assuming you have never been To Indonesia before):

1. You will land in Jakarta in Terminal 2. Lion flies out of Terminal 1 as do all the other domestic carriers to Sorong. That means circling all the way around the airport via taxi. I would not bother with a shuttle if I were hauling dive gear and had no Bahasa skills. Could take 10 minutes...could take a bit longer. Could cost you 30.000 IDR, or you could get screwed. You will have to get all your gear, get some rupiah, and then deal with the overwhelming onslaught of taxi guys and other people who love seeing wide-eyed foreigners come out of the customs doors. I live here, know what I am doing, and I still hate coming out those doors. Meanwhile, Garuda flies out of Terminal 2 for an easy transfer.

2. No idea how long your layover will be. But Terminal 2 is MUCH nicer than terminal 1. (Neither are good.)

3. People already mentioned the baggage allowance issue.

4. In either direction, if you miss your connection in Jakarta you are ugly, horrible screwed if transferring to another airline. It will fast become not their fault and not their problem.

5. If your luggage does not make it in time from Sorong/Ambon you are screwed.

6. Garuda is a pretty nice airline. Wings, Merpati, etc... Not as much.

Seriously, getting to Sorong isn't the easiest thing in the world, although it is getting better. Flying all the way from London to Papua on the same airline is a no-brainer, especially when it only costs about $125.00 USD more. The potential for travel SNAFU is high, and having ONLY Garuda responsible for the entire experience is FAR better then adding a discount domestic carrier to the equation.
 
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I don't just like that answer, I love it!! No exaggerations, perhaps even an under emphasis. :)

My father's wife, being Indonesian is fluent in Bahasa Indonesian of course. At the time I was dropped off for my Express Air flight to Sorong, she told the porter where I needed to go. He walked me and my luggage all the way down the sidewalk away from the terminal entrance. Eventually, he stopped and began saying something to me which could have been anything. Meanwhile I'm gesturing in frustration that he should take me into the airport and to the Express checkin. He kept saying something which could have been anything from give me $20 to "please show me your ticket". Whilst I continued to gesture and of course speak English louder, :) trying go get him to take my luggage INTO the airport. Finally, exasperated I said "you and I can keep this up all night but in the meantime . . ." I took my luggage off the cart and hauled it back to where he'd originally loaded it when I'd been dropped off, entered the terminal right there and proceeded to wander around looking for Express checkin. Which unbeknownst to me was right there but had no ID signs.
 
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All true, but patience does help along with extra time for baggage transfer. If possible, I always take the more direct flight without too many transfers. Considering the costs of a LOB, and extra $125 is well worth the cost - less stress and lower probability of lost of baggage and canceled flights.

My travel agent for domestic Indo flights is Melysa Charlex. Her company is based out of Denpasar (Bali) is reliable and honest. PM me for her email and skype name.

Jakarta terminals - matts1w is on the mark. But it even gets worse that his description. I once landed in terminal 2 and was told that my connecting airline departed from T1. I shlepped all my bags (8 bags of scientific equipment) to T1 and was told that they made a last minute change to Terminal 1 departure. My connection was so tight. I asked the person at the gate to contact the airline via cell phone and ask that they wait for me to return back to Terminal 1. As previous posts suggest - take the direct flight from CGK-SOQ and don't bother with Makassar or Manado.
 
Some great advice, especially given that you can stay w/ one airline all the way through. I would only suggest this. Contact Melysa Charlex ( ASIABLE INDONESIA - Indonesia Trusable Travel And Tourism Related Service ), see if there is much difference in price between you booking and them booking. Why? She will be contacted if there are any delays or cancellations enroute and she for sure will contact you. The likelihood of Garuda doing that is slim, even if they wanted to.

We flew into Sorong for a LOB awhile back and before we got on the boat Melysa had not only contacted us about a cancelled return flight connection but she had already booked a very suitable alternative and asked if we wanted it. Way better than stepping up to the ticket counter after a fantastic dive trip (and it will be!) then seeing that your flight is cancelled and you now have very little time to "fix" it to get home. Unless their charges would be well above what you can book for (I doubt they will be) you might at least give them a yell. Consider it peace of mind insurance.

Oh and I'm just an SB schlub with no connection to Asiable but I sure can recommend them. If you do contact them it would be interesting to see if there is much difference so maybe let us know? // ww
 
Thanks everyone - problem completely sorted. I got some "unofficial" advice from a certain staff member from Garuda UK about how to solve this problem. Even he did not know why it works this way but it does.

My fault was trying to go through Garuda's 'multi-city' option and enter details of the specific flights that I wanted. Doing that somehow resulted in those higher quotes and in some cases - especially with the Garuda UK site - refusal to accept the itinerary. But on his advice I just chose the 'return' option between Jakarta and Sorong and gave my dates without mentioning Makassar. The system gave me a few choices, including the exact flights combo that I wanted. The final quote was in IDR but it allowed me to pay with my UK Visa Card to the exact GBP equivalent - £297 return inclusive of all taxes between Jakarta & Sorong in this case. I was allowed to choose seats for all the flights.

Later I double checked with my credit card company and confirmed that they had only collected £297.

Garuda UK have confirmed that not only will the airline allow up to 23Kg of additional free check-in for bona fide diving equipment, on the international flight, they will also extend the facility to the domestic flights. So, it looks like I did all right in the end. :D
 
Good for you Hintermann! I'm quite envious. My domestic flight bookings were further complicated by not being able/allowed to book them until 30-45 days out (I disremember which). My direct flight to Sorong from Jakarta on Express was the only flight that went relatively smoothly and relatively on time. That leg alone cost me $279 US. I had 2 legs on the return (which was to Bali via Makassar) different airlines, each hours late. Further, had to pay $30 US to booking agent for EACH leg. The third flight was on Lion with an allowable of 15 kg. I was over of course, and so for a few dollars more, at the airport was able to purchase an upgrade to business class, where I sat alone amongst 12 other business seats. Unfortunately, they did not serve alcohol and I certainly could have used a drink by then. :)
 
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Slight detour from the original thread ... sorry.

For those in the US or Canada who have heard horror stories about booking domestic Indo flights from North America, on a credit card, I just booked CGK-MDC (Jakarta to Manado), and MDC-DPS (Manado to Bali via Makassar) on Garuda, using my Capital One Visa card on the Garuda website. Visa and MasterCard are the only options. Both flights are +/- 3.5 hours total. I received three emails for each flight, one confirmation and two E-tickets with six-character flight ID code. I was able, a week later, to go to their website, enter my flight ID, and my fllights popped up immediately. Painless, and at a very good price.

BTW, I would not attempt this with any other Indo airline.
 
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