Flight Manado to Sorong?

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The Garuda airport in Jakarta is REALLY nice!

I know Bill, I've been in it but it's still a pain in the patootie. Though flying on Lion wouldn't have been a first choice ordinarily, 1.5 hours travel time to Jakarta then hanging out at airport for many hours followed by a 4+ hour red eye flight vs 4 hours on Silk Air to Manado followed by comfortable afternoon and night at Novatel Manado then 1.5 hour morning flight to Sorong much preferred. Now my hope is that Lion has pulled up their socks in light of recent tragedy and that weather conditions will be good for flying. No telling at this time of year. Certainly wouldn't want to be in the air tonight!! Very stormy out there, exciting to watch from safety.
 
Good news
Improvements are going on fast at Jakarta airport. We saw this earlier this year. I just copied this off of TripAdv
For travel between T2 and T3
"Re: CGK Airport Skytrain
25 Oct 2018, 12:50Hi,
Yes it is fully operational. The headway is around 13 minutes and the operating hours is around 5am until midnight. Alternatively, you can take free shuttle bus between terminals."

There is at least one on-airport hotel and check out possible quiet lounges. They are modelling themselves on some of the best features at Singapore Changi.
We've been through Jakarta Airport in the old days, the new stuff is jaw-droppingly good - light, air, signage.
Lion Air - not so bad, particularly if you have been faced with using Merpati - which I think may be defunct - the rubber band gave way. Batik Air is an interesting proposition.
 
What do folks think of Sriwijaya Air?
 
Yes, flown with them. Much preferred to Merpati - but that is not an encouraging thing. Survival is a matter of attitude. This is Indonesia, this is Sriwijaya, assume nothing, the flight may depart earlier, or later, your luggage may or may not ever be seen again, the flight may even go to a different place. Know your geography, learn enough Indonesian numbers to pick up the announcements, don't believe the boards, don't believe the announcements, write down your flight number and destination clearly on several pieces of paper and use them when asking at the gate(s) - remember the staff won't have their glasses on, learn to pronounce Sriwijaya.
And nothing can go wrong. You won't be let through the gate and bussed across the tarmac to a Merpati plane which is in the opposite part of the runway to the Sriwijaya flight. Of course two flights to the same destination could not be leaving at an identical time (oh yes they can). I managed to explain to the bus driver (but a piece of paper with details on would have helped) and he drove back across the runway like a hero/loony. We made it up the steps just as they were closing the plane door.
We were fine - we were protected by "attitude".
The flight was just as expected - small seats, cheerful staff, and if you use the loos reasonably early on - they weren't too bad.
 
I prefer their schedule but guess I'll go with Garuda,based on your glowing recommendation of Sriwijaya. That said, even Garuda has been known to be late, cancel and change gates without telling anyone. I've got 2 days before I have to be in Bali from Sorong so I guess I'll take my chances.
 
Hey pole-pole (pelan-pelan in Swahili), for the record, I have flown Sriwijaya 3 times to Raja Ampat & once to Balikpapan & Belau for Maratua Atoll with smooth flights. Lucky me, I guess.

I have only been in Raja Ampat 7 times, the other 4 trips were with Garuda. So far I managed to avoid Lion Air.
 
Yes, langsam langsam - which wasn't how it went down that day. The flight with Sriwijaya was fine, better than Merpati, but any flights, including Garuda, out of an Indonesian airport require vigilance and resilience. Earlier this year Denpasar to Manado with Garuda managed to lose passengers on a late night flight. The airport changed gate late on but did not announce in any way and left people in the original gate. A friend made it through simply because of a last-minute trip to the WC and noticing people at another gate - and who knows how they knew. And in the past I've picked up the right gate simply by deciding the passengers looked like Minnahasans (Manado area).
Don't let the stories put anyone off, it's a great place to travel around. I know, we keep doing it!
Chilly - you will have a brilliant time. Enjoy!
 
Worth noting that Lion Air checked baggage is only 15 kg and Wings only 10 kg. Excess baggage charges are quite steep even for short flights. I avoid Lion Air and Wings whenever possible.
 
Worth noting that Lion Air checked baggage is only 15 kg
Not any more! For tickets issued from the 8th of January onwards no free check-in baggage for Lion air!
Check their website for more info.

I try to fly with Batik air when possible. Good schedules, I can book straight from their website in clear English with my credit cards, their airplanes are new (most with individual screens to watch movies!), clean and tidy, they have 20kg of baggage and food/snack included in the reasonable price and I never had serious delays or cancellations with them. Only once a "direct" Sorong to Jakarta flight was turned to one with an 1 hour stop to Makasar (so called "Indonesian non-stop" flights) but they made me aware of the change more than 1 week in advance.
I flew with them around 10 times so far with no serious problems. Tomorrow I'm actually flying to Ambon direct from Jakarta Halim with them and I hope all will be ok once more.

I had a very bad experience with Sriwijaya Air and tiket.com. In sort they sold me 4 tickets for a non existent flight (direct Jakarta to Sorong) and when I fount out by myself (until the last moment they behaved like everything is normal with the flight) they refused not only to apologize but also to fully refund me. With a lot of effort I managed to get back about 75% of the money I paid! For the rest 25% (about 150$) Sriwijaya Air is accusing tiket.com and tiket.com is accusing Sriwijaya Air. Go figure.
I'll try my best to avoid both of them at all cost in the future.
 
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