Who not to fly with in Indonesia due to their safety record?
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I have flown Lion Air (wings), Garuda, Sriwijaya Air, Batik...(I probably missed one) many times a year over the past 10+ years. I have never felt unsafe. They have all gotten me to the right place with some delays but we have always arrived. I have had more bad landings and close calls on US flights. As for customer service... I think (beyond the language barrier) if you treat them nicely, they will treat you nicely. Patience and a smile will get you a long way in most countries. Just don't expect them to speak English and have Diet Coke. 
And always have rupiah just in case you have overweight baggage. If you have cameras and lots of gear prepay when you can.. It will save you time and money.
And always have rupiah just in case you have overweight baggage. If you have cameras and lots of gear prepay when you can.. It will save you time and money.
It is interesting how it is more and more about "how do you feel about..?" Instead of a assesment of the risks and facts. How do you feel about Human influenced climate change? How about Britain leaving the UE? How about Nuclear Power?
What you feel should after the first couple of seconds of "going with your instincts" be corrected by your intellect and science.
What you feel should after the first couple of seconds of "going with your instincts" be corrected by your intellect and science.
it all depends on balancing the cost to ones wallet with the risk lottery of 99% safe landings ...
If you are willing to pay 3x for flight tickets within Indo .. go ahead and skip the ones with bad rep for the more reputable ones.
P
If you are willing to pay 3x for flight tickets within Indo .. go ahead and skip the ones with bad rep for the more reputable ones.
P
GF99/99
Contributor
I have flown Lion Air (wings), Garuda, Sriwijaya Air, Batik...(I probably missed one) many times a year over the past 10+ years. I have never felt unsafe. They have all gotten me to the right place with some delays but we have always arrived. I have had more bad landings and close calls on US flights. As for customer service... I think (beyond the language barrier) if you treat them nicely, they will treat you nicely. Patience and a smile will get you a long way in most countries. Just don't expect them to speak English and have Diet Coke.
I second this, I have flown a lot of discount Indonesian airlines and others all over Asia and never felt unsafe. In 2019 I flew about 70 flight with several different air carriers with the exception of S. American and Antarctica and I actually find customer service wise US air carriers are the worst out of all of them and I am Premier 1k with United so your supposed to get the royal carpet treatment... Not!
Only exception to this would be an Indonesian airline called Merpati I think I had about 2-3 "emergency landings" one time actually making one on an island call Biak and got stuck for a couple days there while they "fixed" the plan. I chose to spend the extra $15 and not fly them anymore however several years ago they went out of business so no need to worry about them.
Also I use to live in Indonesia for several years and still spend about 4 months out of the year there diving so for ticket tips I use the app Traveloka works great gets you the best prices. Google flights is also a good resource.
Luko
Contributor
I have flewn with Lao Aviation, Indian airlines and LAM Mozambique, all airlines known for their bad records in their heydays (two of them are not alive anymore), probably worse than any Indonesian airline (I can tell you how it feels when a plane lowers its landing gear midway through the flight when you know the company had 2 consecutive crashes a month before.) and am still there.
Now given the probablities, I'd think it would be better to focus on what the company has to offer in terms of customer service and on time schedule :
The big winner in that category would be Garuda for online and ticketing services, luggage allowance, check in services, onboard services (meals, video) and cancelation/delay record.
The LOAT (take L for Loser or Lamer) will be LionAir/WingsAir. Poor sales/ticketing record (website fails somewhere 80%, it is possible to purchase your tickets), just TRY to get a refund with them, just TRY to get their loyalty card if you're not living in Jakarta and don't have a week to kill, no free checkin luggage allowance, poor checkin services, even the gates announcements are not properly done (!!) add on top their flight delay record is a joke (I am still amazed how can their early morning flights from Jakarta can be delayed while it's the first rotation of the day...).
Now given the probablities, I'd think it would be better to focus on what the company has to offer in terms of customer service and on time schedule :
The big winner in that category would be Garuda for online and ticketing services, luggage allowance, check in services, onboard services (meals, video) and cancelation/delay record.
The LOAT (take L for Loser or Lamer) will be LionAir/WingsAir. Poor sales/ticketing record (website fails somewhere 80%, it is possible to purchase your tickets), just TRY to get a refund with them, just TRY to get their loyalty card if you're not living in Jakarta and don't have a week to kill, no free checkin luggage allowance, poor checkin services, even the gates announcements are not properly done (!!) add on top their flight delay record is a joke (I am still amazed how can their early morning flights from Jakarta can be delayed while it's the first rotation of the day...).
In response to those complaining because I asked how my fellow divers FEEL about this issue. That is the only thing that can be shared here- the personal experiences of other divers that have more experience on a particular subject than the person that is asking the question. Yes I can and will look up the statistics for the airlines in question. I will mix that with the experiences shared by my fellow divers and decide who I want to fly with or not. The OPINIONS and EXPERIENCES shared here are of utmost value to me. I'm not sure what it is you are missing about this.....
Sorry, did not mean to complain. Maybe I am influenced too much by Y. N. Harari, Daniel Kahneman and Seneca: what people feel about something has often nothing to do with reality. But I posted the wrong reply at the wrong moment. Again, sorry.
I prefer Garuda, although they lost much of their good reputation the last year. Many last minute changes of schedules, and completely cancelled routes without informing paassengers which already had a valid ticket. Sriwijaya performed even worse in ground service when one by one their flights have been cancelled. This leaves mainly the Lion Air Group (Batik, Lion and Wings) for the Eastern part of Indonesia. The risks of being in a plane crash I do not take into consideration. Although, in the days of Merpati it must have been pretty close several times.
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