Please offer feedback or advice on our travel plans for our last day in Bali on a Saturday in April 2025.. We will check out of hotel in Sanur about 5:30am and travel to airport with Nusa Penida Islands tour group. We were told that the driver will hold our luggage. We will fly to Komodo Island for day and return to Bali by 7:00pm. We will wait at airport until our 1:15am flight to Sorong. Everything is booked so I am hoping that I have not miscalculated or overlooked anything. Are my plans well thought through???
Bali to Komodo Island to Bali to Sorong in one day!
- Thread starter pinkpony
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Risky... but doable! I honestly would not recommend it. Save Komodo for another dive trip. It is an amazing dive location worth a dedicated trip not really a one day excusion. Domestic flights are always risky in Indonesia for delays and cancellations. That just seems a complete waste and not worth the risk. Explore Bali instead.
Darnold9999
Contributor
You will almost certainly be OK. You are not trying to meet a liveaboard so timing is not as critical if the Sorong flight is delayed. The Bali Komodo flight is short and there is another flight leaving at the same time so you also should be OK. Be aware, domestic flights within Indonesia are notorious for being delayed and or cancelled outright and the short island hoppers are the worst for this. I try to set up travel so that if a flight is cancelled or significantly late my plans will not be impacted. For example on one of my trips to R4 the return flight from Sorong to Bali was delayed by 12 hours. Never did stay in the Bali hotel I had booked for a day. Was able to make my international flight home because I had booked a one day cushion in Bali before flying home. Flights later in the day tend to be late arriving and departing but you have enough time between the Komodo flight and leaving for Sorong.
Darnold9999
Contributor
Cali_diver posted while I was typing. I assumed you would not be diving and only travelling to see the dragons. If you are never coming back then do it, but it is better to do a dive trip to Komodo and include the dragons as part of a longer trip. i.e. I agree skip it for another time unless you really really want to see the dragons and are willing to spend an entire day travelling to do it.
also_anon_dc
Contributor
Why? What is the point of going to Komodo for just a few hours? You won't even be able to dive so I really don't understand why you would do this.
cozcharlie
Contributor
Obviously things could go OK, but very risky. High risk of cancellation and delays . You being on one island while your bags are on another just seems to be begging for trouble. Sounds like you are committed to this plan so at this point I would just hope for the best and plan for the worst. I would make absolutely certain any medications and other necessary items travel with you to Komodo even though you are just planning to do a day trip .
In addition to just general delays (weather, maintenance , volcano eruptions etc ) , evidently it is quite common for budget airlines in Indonesia to just cancel flights if they don’t have enough passengers to make the flight profitable. The airlines don’t admit this the reason, but it happens quite a bit evidently . This was told to me by an acquaintance who used to run a business in Komodo and still works in the dive industry in Indonesia where he deals with tourists arrivals/departures all the time .
My volcano comment was not a joke btw. The ash creates hazards to air travel. I have only had to deal with volcano air disruptions once but my friends who have been going to Indo longer have had to deal with volcano issues on multiple occasions.
In addition to just general delays (weather, maintenance , volcano eruptions etc ) , evidently it is quite common for budget airlines in Indonesia to just cancel flights if they don’t have enough passengers to make the flight profitable. The airlines don’t admit this the reason, but it happens quite a bit evidently . This was told to me by an acquaintance who used to run a business in Komodo and still works in the dive industry in Indonesia where he deals with tourists arrivals/departures all the time .
My volcano comment was not a joke btw. The ash creates hazards to air travel. I have only had to deal with volcano air disruptions once but my friends who have been going to Indo longer have had to deal with volcano issues on multiple occasions.
Appreciate your input! Not diving on Komodo, just touring. Yeah, I'm learning that flights are risky...
We want to see the dragons. I am trusting all systems to work as scheduled...but yikes...i see that there could be flight delays. I doubt we will travel from USA East coast to this part of world again so we are trying to not it all in. I appreciate your feedback!
in a word NO
There is no airport on Komodo AFAIK, you fly from Denpasar in Bali to Labuan Bajo in Flores. From there you will need to take a boat to Komodo, and of course a boat back to Flores.
As others have mentioned, flights get cancelled with very short notice. It happened to me last year with barely 24 hrs notice. The afternoon flight I had booked was cancelled and my options were the morning flight on the same day I had booked or the day after.
Volcanos in the area are also unpredictable.
My advice is to leave Komodo for a longer trip and do some diving there along with a Dragon tour.
Blackcrusader
Contributor
What you are risking is that if there is a flight delay coming back then you risk missing your flight to the USA. Sometimes I fly business class so can change a flight date online or have flights that I can change a flight date with no penalty or a small fee. Many people buy cheap tickets and if you miss your flight you are screwed and need to but a new ticket.
If you had an extra two days I would say yes go to Komodo and stay overnght. I would never do a same day in out as others have pointed out, delayed or cancelled flights are common.
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