Indonesian Domestic Flights (Lion Air) - Luggage Concerns

[krukster86]

Hello all,

Thank you for all the support in helping my book my second trip to Indonesia! After some headaches with booking our domestic flights (Lion Air) through Lion Air's website, we found that ticketindonesia.info was the first Indonesian online travel agency to verify my US issued credit card payment! Does anyone have experience flying with SCUBA gear luggage on Lion Air?

We saw that on the website, the free checked luggage is limited to 15kg (a little of 30 lbs) and the carryon luggage is limited to 7kg (15 lbs) but nothing about a backpack in addition to the carryon luggage (like on most flights)

We are planning to pack our BCDs, regulators, fins, masks, wetsuits, boots, clothes and footwear in our checked baggage. We will definitely exceed the checked baggage allowance.

Anyone care to chime in with their experience with Lion Air?

We are OK with just paying for the extra weight. How much extra do they charge per kg?

 

[Mike Veitch]

per kilo is about 25,000 IDR (about $2.50) but depends on the route, some are higher on the smaller Wings Air planes.
For carry on.. bring it!!! Locals carry about 4 carry ons each, me included! I carry my laptop bag plus a backpack plus I hand carry my camera housing with camera inside and my strobes in my laptop bag. Just make sure you don't wait to be the last person on the plane or the overheads will be full.

 

[krukster86]

Cool! Thank you for the information. In addition to the checked bag, I plan to bring a standard wheeled carryon item plus a backpack that will be crammed to the seams with stuff.

 

[highdesert]

An Indo friend called Lion Air in Jakarta today and she was quoted IDR 26,400/kilo for overweight.

 

[jake11]

We have had no problems with Lion Air and luggage. We always carry on a big backpack and a roller bag as well and have had no issues with them weighing the bags. We did pay extra baggage fees in Ambon for our checked bags. Have a great trip!

 

[tboxcar]

Yes, Mike is right, fees depend upon your destination ranging from 5,500 IDR per kilo from Bali to Lombok up to and over 40,000 IDR per kilo for long haul (Jakarta to Sorong) I would heed the advice and take as many carry on as possible I had 3 carry-ons including backpack with laptop, Reg case and dry bag full of booze.....Indos carry everything too....

 

[chillyinCanada]

IIRC my Lion Air flight was from Makassar to Bali. My overweight charges were going to be at least $30. I went over to the window and upgraded to business class for $60. Then had no overweight issues and 12 seats all to myself in the front. Unfortunately, despite having 2-3 attendants at my service, no alcohol on the flight and lunch was some kind of weird and very poor sandwich. I wasn't sure but thought it might be vegimite, ya, weird. Regardless, instead of being crammed in with everyone else, had a very comfortable flight and no angst arising due to their too low overweight requirements. YMMV

 

[Nishan]

Took a Wings Air flight from Sorong to Ambon last month and it had a 10kg checked baggage limit. I was 10kg overweight with dive and camera gear but only paid IDR 16,500 per KG so was quite cheap and easy. Also carried more than 7kg as well as an additional camera bag as cabin baggage without any questions being asked. And this was on a relatively small plane.

 

[kittikat]

Lion Air is notorious for their delays & gate changes, and sometimes flight schedule, especially on major airports like Jakarta. Normally these changes happen in the afternoon afterward when the delays pile up.

Make sure to give yourself plenty of time to check in (do web check in too) and be vigilant for news announcement after you got your boarding pass. If you don't quite understand the announcement, you can ask nearby staffs especially when they dont call you by boarding time. Sometimes they don't even announce gate/flight time changes (happened to me in Balikpapan).

Other than that, it's a pretty decent budget airline.
Their route for Jakarta-Bali is pretty punctual (different terminal).

Have fun at your trip.

 

[Wingy]

Ive always found Lion Air to be really quite reasonable...never had o/w baggage charges - my one check in bag always weighs 17kg...the delays and gate changes seem to occur in Jakarta more than anywhere. I have found them particularly good at holding flights for me...i think they like saying urgently passenger mz **** over the PA..apparently my surname means something slang in Indo that gives them a good giggle. Yep, im the person who delayed your flight taking off and comes flying up the skygate through the doors apologising profusely as I go down the aisle......saves having to queue to get on

I still cannot fathom that particular thing at Makassar..the get off, run up round the airport, run through the gate to get back on the plane you just got off....why? why??