Good Bad and Ugly- Travel to Raja Ampat

[Damselfish]

It was an Indonesian non-stop meaning it stopped briefly in Makassar.

 

[Darnold9999]

Possible delays work the other way as well. Spent a “wonderful” afternoon in the Sorong airport waiting for a plane to Bali. Fortunately I had booked a day in Bali before leaving for home so arriving a day late was not an issue.

A local flight in Indonesia that leaves within half an hour of the schedule is “on time”. The later in the day your flight leaves the more likely it will be late.

 

[nudisusie]

• Be prepared to walk up and down steps to get onto/off of the domestic plane, you're very unlikely to be at an actual gate and most flights you need to get on one of those shuttle buses. If you have heavy hand luggage / camera gear a backpack might be best.
• Food on board domestic flights tends to be some form of bread roll with random filling or maybe a something hot like a chicken and rice (even at breakfast), if you've not travelled in Indo before you can take the chance of a tasty surprise but you may want to pack some snacks
• Double check the gates, they change frequently and announcements are not very clear
• Sorong arrivals is pretty straight forward, get a porter if you have lots of luggage - only 10,000 per big bag (less than $1). If you are flying in on the liveaboard departure day someone from Agressor should be at the airport to meet you but they are not allowed inside the actual terminal.
• Usamina is the name of the "port" that liveaboards currently depart from. It is little more than a small wooden jetty (at last time in Oct 17). tenders shuttle you to the liveaboard. Wear something you don't mind getting wet, and have a dry bag for your valuables... you'll be on a tender and very likely to get sprayed....sit near the bow ;-)

 

[tgarvin]

Thank you for all the info. Does anyone have experience with Eco Biodiversity Resort? We will be hanging out there for a week. Our goal is to hit some of our favorite dive sites after the LOB departure.

 

[divinh]

• Double check the gates, they change frequently and announcements are not very clear

When I was waiting for a flight from Bali to Labuan Bajo, to catch a Komodo liveaboard, I sat at the gate for quite a while, by a charging station. While I sat there, another passenger sat down next to me, to charge her phone. When it became almost time to board, I did one last restroom run. While in the restroom, I heard an announcement of gate change. After leaving the restroom, I checked the departures monitor and sure enough, there was a gate change. The woman who had sat down next to me didn't seem to have noticed, so I asked her if she was on the same flight. She answered yes and I told her there was a gate change. She thanked me and I hurried off to the gate.

At the new gate, there was a flight boarding and another crowd of people in no rush at all. I saw that the flight boarding wasn't my flight, so I joined the waiting crowd, but due to an experience I had in Thailand before, I /asked/ about my flight and was told it was boarding and it was almost last call! The single gate was being used for *two* flights! One flight, the one obviously boarding, was using the boarding gangway to a jet plane. My flight turned out to be a prop plane, boarding from the tarmac, which meant walking down some stairs through a door next to the gangway, pointed to by some gate agents.

I never saw the woman who sat next to me board nor get off the plane, so I can only guess that she must have missed the flight, perhaps getting caught up in the waiting crowd in the terminal.

From this experience...

- gate changes can happen at the very last minute
- gates can have multiple flights assigned to it, for the same time or close to the same time, so check with an agent. Don't wait with the crowd!
- the boarding time on the boarding pass is the /last call/ time, not when boarding starts

 

[tgarvin]

Thanks divinh for sharing the info.. Others have experienced the same issue with gate changes. Sounds like we will have to be on our toes and ask several times.

 

[billt4sf]

I checked the departures monitor and sure enough, there was a gate change.

Ignore the monitors. ASK an agent with the airline. Then keep asking. Make sure they understood you, and vice versa.

- Bill

 

[eNyelam]

Thanks divinh for sharing the info.. Others have experienced the same issue with gate changes. Sounds like we will have to be on our toes and ask several times.

Hi T!!

If there are gate changes, Batik Air staff usually shout out to all the passengers that the gate changes. We recommend you to follow the monitor where your gate is. Batik Air staff will be ready at the front desk of the waiting room so if you doubt, you can ask them anytime.

Do not forget to buy your own food at the convenience store or restaurant at Terminal 1C (where your flight is located) since the meal on the flight is not recommended at all.

Jakarta's Airport is very safe; however, do not leave your belongings unintended if you don't want to get any trouble. Airport security is very strict at the moment.

If you want to take a nap or have some fancier meals, go with the Skytrain to Terminal 3. They have a good and comfortable lounge to snooze.

If you want to book a room to wait for your next flight to Sorong, there are a few hotels near the airport. We recommend Pop! Hotel, Amaris Hotel, and Ibis Hotel. They're all under £25/night. If you want the fancier one, Bandara International Hotel is our choice (approx. £55/night)

For the Taxi (if you want to go to the hotel or sightseeing), choose Blue Bird ONLY (the blue cab). We do not recommend other providers since they might charge you more than the usual rate. Uber is not working anymore in Indonesia.

Hope you enjoy your trip, T.

Regards,
Team E-Nyelam