Early planning stages for a to dive trip on a liveaboard going to Raja Ampat. 1st having trouble finding a boat that isn't sold out and then I tried to find an estimate on air. Quick check and it was listed at $4500 per person. That can't be correct or is it? That is a deal killer, yep it's for our 30 anniversary but seriously that is to much. Any advice on a boat or finding affordable air? Thanks
How do we get to Sorong?
- Thread starter wildbill9
- Start date
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Dan
Contributor
I bought a roundtrip Houston - Sorong for less than $1200 for November 2017, with Singapore Airlines, Houston- Jakarta ($700) & Jakarta-Sorong with Garuda Airlines ($450). You need to buy it about 10-12 months ahead.
runsongas
Contributor
it will be considerably less if you book a ticket to jakarta and then a ticket from there to sorong.
edit: got beat to it by dan
edit: got beat to it by dan
Manuel Sam
Contributor
Suggest that you look for airfare to Jakarta, Indonesia and then check one of the domestic airlines like Lion Air or Garuda for airfare between Jakarta and Sorong. Airfare will always depend on when you travel and which day of the week but $4500 pp sounds steep unless it is Business Class? For example, Little Rock to Jakarta departing on March 3, 2018 and returning on March 17, 2018 is $1060 (searched in Kayak.com). The only negative about doing it this way is that the bags are not checked all the way thru, which means that you will have to retrieve them in Jakarta and recheck onwards.
Pillpusher
Contributor
$4500?!? Wow. How far out are you booking? If you have any airline miles to burn, US-Asia flights are a great way to use them, especially since most of those airlines have outstanding business and first class products. Booking through United, EVA Airways has outstanding saver award availability for business class (which is identical to most airlines first class). 80K miles for EVA business class for 24 hours worth of flights (IAH-TPE-CGK)? Done.
Also, book your CGK-SOR flight on the cheapflights website and search business class seats. It's one of the few sites (it will take you to NusaTrip) that books Batik Air, and their business class seats are usually less than $100 more than economy. I got my 4 hour flight in business class for under $200 total. Not too shabby.
Also, book your CGK-SOR flight on the cheapflights website and search business class seats. It's one of the few sites (it will take you to NusaTrip) that books Batik Air, and their business class seats are usually less than $100 more than economy. I got my 4 hour flight in business class for under $200 total. Not too shabby.
thumbsplitter
Contributor
Check out the Traveloka website for the Indonesian domestic flight. Round trip between Jakarta to Sorong was around $440 pp when I bought my tickets a couple of months ago.
Pillpusher
Contributor
That RT is $228 on Cheapflights
billt4sf
Contributor
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Yes, I think you need to split up the ticket, buy the international one and the Indo-domestic one separately. I bet you will get much better results that way. You can go through Jakarta or Bali.
I use Kayak.com to FIND the flight, but it's always best to BOOK the flight on the airlines website. That way, if there's an issue, you can deal with the airlines directly.
I always use Garuda Indonesia for domestic Indo flights for two reasons: (1) they are a full-service airline, so if you have issues they will at least try to help you; and (2) when flying in Indo, you are flying in the country which has the worst air safety record on the planet. It's still far safer than driving, but I'd rather not use a bargain airline in such a locale.
- Bill
I use Kayak.com to FIND the flight, but it's always best to BOOK the flight on the airlines website. That way, if there's an issue, you can deal with the airlines directly.
I always use Garuda Indonesia for domestic Indo flights for two reasons: (1) they are a full-service airline, so if you have issues they will at least try to help you; and (2) when flying in Indo, you are flying in the country which has the worst air safety record on the planet. It's still far safer than driving, but I'd rather not use a bargain airline in such a locale.
- Bill
outofofficebrb
HARRO HUNNAYYY
Hi. I'm headed out to Raja Ampat in Oct.
I'm flying from San Francisco to Jakarta somewhere in the ballpark of $550-700 round trip. Book your Jakarta to sorong (or Bali to Sorong, wherever you are flying to) separately with a local carrier. My flight from Jakarta to Sorong one way in Business class was $190.
Check out Nusatrip.com. Reputable site for Indo flights. I usually book through the carrier directly (Garuda, Sriwijaya) but some smaller ones (Batik Air) don't take foreign credit cards on their website but Nusatrip does. The other one is Tiket.com.
Let me know if you have any specific questions. We did this the first time we went to Indonesia (flew into bali from San Francisco then did local ticket from Bali to Labuan Bajo for Komodo.)
I'm flying from San Francisco to Jakarta somewhere in the ballpark of $550-700 round trip. Book your Jakarta to sorong (or Bali to Sorong, wherever you are flying to) separately with a local carrier. My flight from Jakarta to Sorong one way in Business class was $190.
Check out Nusatrip.com. Reputable site for Indo flights. I usually book through the carrier directly (Garuda, Sriwijaya) but some smaller ones (Batik Air) don't take foreign credit cards on their website but Nusatrip does. The other one is Tiket.com.
Let me know if you have any specific questions. We did this the first time we went to Indonesia (flew into bali from San Francisco then did local ticket from Bali to Labuan Bajo for Komodo.)
outofofficebrb
HARRO HUNNAYYY
@wildbill9 I forgot to answer your other question as far as availability on a dive boat. try using an agency like liveaboard.com. It's easier to find availability that way and then you can choose to book through them or direct. It'll help narrow your search a bit. They have great filters or search parameters you can use and will show you what's available. I hope this helps!
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