Advice: flights to Sorong and Indonesian travel agents

[charlier]

Hi all - this is my first, or nearly first post. I live in Singapore and often travel to Indonesia. Can anyone recommend a good travel agent from Indonesia? I almost always book online, but found it a bit more difficult arrangling flights from Singapore to Sirong. My wife and I will fly via Jarkarta, since wehave lts of frequent flyer miles.

One issue, Xpressair only takes reservations 30 days before departure, so it's always a bit stressful to make sure that we get on a specific flight. Plus, Xpressair webpage are a bit funky. The alternative airline, Sriwijaya air, are difficult to book online from Singapore. The choices are Sing-Jakarta-Sorong, or Sing-Jakarta-Makassor-Sorong. Does anyone have suggestions?

 

[Hintermann]

I just discovered a wonderful and reportedly reliable site called Indonesia matters. Here is the link : Indonesia Matters
Send Chris there an e-mail and he will happily advice and assist you in booking local Indonesian flights.

 

[charlier]

Excellent idea. I contacted Chris and he promptly returned my email request. I'll report later on my experiences with Indonesian Matters.

 

[Wisnu]

I use sriwijaya air on our trip end of Dec. Everything okay, on-time, other than poor meal, nothing to complain
they have 2 daily flight from Jakarta to Sorong, stopover in Makasar/Ujung Pandang.
I have no problem to book Sriwijaya air from outside Indonesia - in fact easier than Garuda.

 

[Hintermann]

Now a lot of people recommend using Express Air out of Makassar (not Manado). They apparently have daily non-stop flights from Makassar to Sorong at decent hours (rather than in the middle of the night) and from Makassar use Boeing 737s with a full 20Kg free luggage allowance. Of course, some of us divers have around 30Kg overall but the excess baggae fare for internal flights is not that high.

The other thing about Makassar is that Air Asia have direct flights there from Kuala Lumpur and so busy Jakarta Airport can be bypassed completely for entry formalities. There are also a couple of cheap but decent hotels now withing a mile of Makassar Airport (Kanaka Giana and Darma Nusantara Ii) where divers can stay overnight before catching the morning flight to Sorong.

 

[Interceptor121]

I posted a comprehensive trip report

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/indonesia/441005-raja-ampat-trip-report.html

I recommend Sriwijaya air out of jakarta by all means

 

[cathm]

Why not Manado, Hinterman? I was under the impression there was an early direct flight to Sorong? (just wondering as I think I'm being booked onto that flight when the bookings are open! Perkaps not if it doesn't exist...

---------- Post added February 20th, 2013 at 10:03 AM ----------

perhaps even!

 

[charlier]

Thanks for the suggestion. Since we live in Singapore, it would be nice to directly fly to Makassar or Manado and from either airport pt connect to direct flight p to Sorong. Just wondering-it would be nice to avoid Jakarta.

 

[diversusan]

We flew from Singapore to Sorong last month...the SilkAir flight lands in Manado in the afternoon and unfortunately you have to overnight. We took an early flight to Sorong on Merpati the next morning. (There was also an Express Air flight). Returning was easier...Lion Air (Wings) to Manado connecting to the Silk Air flight to Singapore. (We were supposed to have a 3-hour layover in Manado, but the flight from Sorong ran 90 minutes late).

 

[Hintermann]

Why not Manado, Hinterman? I was under the impression there was an early direct flight to Sorong? (just wondering as I think I'm being booked onto that flight when the bookings are open! Perkaps not if it doesn't exist...

---------- Post added February 20th, 2013 at 10:03 AM ----------

perhaps even!

Chris told me that the flights out of Manado to Sorong are not daily, the times awkward (often middle of the night) and most planes are smaller ones allowing 10 or 15Kg allowance. I therefore decided to stick to Makassar. He recommended using Express Air but Sriwijaya were also reputedly good.