Airlines in Indo

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billt4sf

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Location
Fayetteville GA, Wash DC, NY, Toronto, SF
# of dives
500 - 999
I'm hoping to develop a lot of good vs. not-good airlines within Indo for myself and for others, especially newcomers to the region.

There are two major categories: "Yes, I would book it and recommend it to others" and "No, I would not book it unless no one else goes there. Even at the expense of an inconvenient connection".

YES:
Batik Air
Garuda Indonesia - NOTE that they offer a free extra 23 kg for scuba luggage on all flights. See graphic below.

YES, but you would have to transfer somewhere outside Indonesia:
Silk Air $$$
Singapore Air $$$$$
Malaysia Air


MAYBE: (see comments below):
Indonesia Air Asia


NO: Not recommended, even at the expense of an inconvenient connection and/or higher price:
Citilink
Lion Air
NAM Air
Sriwijaya Air
Wings Air

NOTE: there are also a couple smaller airlines that are location-specific. See comments below.


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I would use Garuda over anyone else if it is going to Indonesia except to Manado. In that case I use SQ and its subsidiary Silk Air.
There is NO way whatsoever to even considering Air Asia in whatever form.
 
Agreed with Garuda.

Silk Air is good : most comfortable seats for a regional airlines but it's so EXPENSIVE. I would take SilkAir for a few hours flight if it's the only solution otherwise it's definitely too expensive for a short/mid haul flight.

If you are including all foreign regional airlines transfering from abroad then you should add Malaysia Airlines (I like their nasi lemak for breakfast) or Firefly (Malaysia airlines lowcost flying to Banda Aceh, airline which is complete crap to me, postponed by one day the only flight I booked then insisted that I paid 1USD 5 ringgits for overweight luggage !) and many more.

I would put AirAsia.com in the YES category, I totally disagree with above : I have flown AirAsia many times, with absolutely no problems.
Their website and booking engine is way above their competitors in terms of liability : it works even better than Garuda's which is sometimes prone to hiccups (btw, when I'm not diving I am a tourism IT professional FWIW).
In 17 years traveling with them I never had a record of losing a luggage, flight canceled or even a MAJOR delay (say more than 2hrs), It's a nofrills lowcost airlines so you have to pay and pay... but then you get what you pay for.

LionAir is another story, it has the most whimsical loyalty system I have ever experienced. While all airlines try to register you in their loyalty program so they can market you the way they like, you can NEVER get theirs or maybe if you freeze a full day of your holidays IF you get an appointment at a special Jakarta office, IF the person in charge is not out for a meeting (read in his bed or havingfun with a mistress or drinking beer or gone fishing) IF you have at least 4 original boarding cards (who is mental enough to carry old boarding cards in their own wallets? these LionAir imbeciles think the checked PNRs in their system doesn't prove anything).
Their website is painfully slow, technically something you were expecting from the mid 2000's and it sometimes takes a few times to get your C/Card payment validated I even had to phone (preferably SInpapore offices where they speak decent english) to get my electronic tickets the system "forgot" to send me. (Tip : never use the contact form, it's a dead trap. Nobody has ever lived long enough to get any answer)
Add on top of that their schedules might be as flexible as the famous indonesian time. It's also a PITA when you have to pay for overweight luggage, usually a shabby overcrowded desk away from the checkin counter where it seems all of their employees are remote from basic mathematics and they only have one calculator for each airport. In brief it take hours to get a quote to pay the equivalent of 4,70 dollars though it seems as important as international banking affairs.
My recommandation : avoid LionAir whenever you can. The problem is that it's the company that has the most extensive network over Indonesia. WingsAir is the short route subsidiary, where you have even less checkin allowance.
The only benefit of flying WIngsAir is the stewardess uniform, the sexiest I have ever seen.

Citilink is subsidiary of Garuda, I think I only took them once to Surabaya. I don't see them as a threat.

Another airline you didin't mention is TransNusa, operating east Nusa Tenggara (their hub is Kupang.
It's impossible to get tickets or schedules more than 3 months before departure but I find their services are quite "correct" compared to WingsAir for instance, let's say it's a "kampung" style of airlines where the staff can listen and solve your problems compared to WingsAir who doesn't give a s**t.
 
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Sriwijaya Air flights, Jakarta-Sorong (Raja Ampat) & Jakarta-Berau (Maratua Atoll), have been good for me & very reasonable fare costs.
 
I've taken NAM, Batik, Garuda, and Sriwijaya. I'd rank it Batik, Garuda, Sriwijaya, NAM in that order.

Sriwijaya was fine. NAM had the oldest planes and lack of service but it was fine for getting from A to B. Safety records is another thing lol
 
Batik is Lion Air. To put them in the same category as Garuda is laughable. When your Batik flight goes south, you will quickly realize you are not dealing with Garuda.

Lion and Batik are garbage in customer service, but their planes are new and if you leave early in the morning before everything backs up, odds are very good all will be as expected. I am happy to fly them if not on a schedule to easily reached areas like Bali, especially when tickets are $200 US cheaper than Garuda. Same with Air Asia. Point A to point B on a short flight, happy to use them too.
 
Batik is Lion Air. To put them in the same category as Garuda is laughable. When your Batik flight goes south, you will quickly realize you are not dealing with Garuda.

Lion and Batik are garbage in customer service, but their planes are new and if you leave early in the morning before everything backs up, odds are very good all will be as expected. I am happy to fly them if not on a schedule to easily reached areas like Bali, especially when tickets are $200 US cheaper than Garuda. Same with Air Asia. Point A to point B on a short flight, happy to use them too.

I’m sorry you find it laughable. I actually had a much better, far superior customer service experience (ground crew and in flight from check-in to bag pick up) with Batik than I did with Garuda. It was not even comparable. I’m sorry that you disagree or did not experience the same. I was purely ranking it based on personal experiences.
 

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