Buying air tickets for domestic Indonesia travel

[Luko]

They said they would book my flight for me but there is a pretty nice mark up on it AND I am going to have to pay for yet another bank transfer so I am trying to avoid booking it that way.

Did you try as suggested above to contact an indonesian travel agency (ie. making their benefits from airline commission+fees and not a "gringo" owned dive center).

Dive centers or misc. businesses will ask you for payment before you come and will top it with all sorts of charges, on the other hand I always found a local real travel agency that was happy to book and buy my tickets against cash payment on arrival and a minimal booking fee for bringing it right to where I was staying overnight, in Kuta area most of the time.

Yes, it's called trusting into each other for the deal, something many westerners have lost... and believe me or not, in most of Asia it WORKS for each side.

 

[Newbie - 2010]

Does anyone have any recommendations of some indo travel agencies in Bali that they have had success reserving flights with?

 

[evechua]

You could try this website:
ticketindonesia.info/en/index.php
I have not tried myself as I am staying in Singapore so I have friends in Indonesia to help me out on domestic flight.

 

[broadreach]

I've used Indonesia Travel Agent Serves All Journey of Tourism Throughout Indonesia in the past. They use an exchange rate very much in their favor, then add a reasonable 'service fee'
At the time it was the cheapest option I could find.

 

[DocVikingo]

I recently received excellent prices & service from PTA System - Indonesia Travel Agent on tickets from Jakarta-->Ambon and Sorong-->Jakarta.

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[RinaW]

Domestic air travel in Indonesia still relies heavily on cash payments. For that reason, you could often get tickets at the last minute. The exception is at the end of the month of Ramadhan, when Muslim folks would travel back to their hometown for the big feast.

If you have a few days in Bali or some other major city before you fly out to your remote diving destination, you should be able to get your tickets no problem depending on the frequency of flights to your destination. If you have a hotel reservation you could always ask them for help or get a referral to the numerous agencies. Agents can usually hold tickets for a day (maybe contact them on the week of departure and reserve as late as possible). There are tons of competitions in Bali which you can probably use to your advantage.