Fly Into Jakarta Or Bali For Raja Ampat Trips?

[NM Steve]

I would suggest flying into Sorong one day before heading out. While there is not a lot to do in Sorong, there are inexpensive places to stay. The red eye flights from Jakarta or Bali are pretty tough to take, in particular since you are usually still jet lagged from the long haul international flight.

 

[cleung]

I would suggest flying into Sorong one day before heading out. While there is not a lot to do in Sorong, there are inexpensive places to stay. The red eye flights from Jakarta or Bali are pretty tough to take, in particular since you are usually still jet lagged from the long haul international flight.

The red eye flights are tough for sure - hard to sleep and if any sleep at all, it's not quite long enough to get a good night's sleep on the plane. For my trip, I would already be in the southeast Asia region for about a week in Thailand and surrounding area before going on to Indonesia. I was thinking I would catch up on some sleep on the boat upon early check in if possible.

 

[Dan]

I would rather stay overnight in Jakarta or Bali instead of Sorong in advance since there are more things to do. It's just the risk of being delayed if flying into Sorong on the same day as the liveaboard check in. The liveaboard I'm targeting has boat check ins up to 2 pm and if the Garuda flights getting in early mornings are reliable, I'm okay with flying in same day since there is so much time before 2 pm even if the flights arrive a bit late. It's the flight cancellations until the next day that I'm worried about.

It’s 8 out of 8 for me doing that flight to RA since 2010. May be I’m just a lucky guy & you guys worry about nothing.

 

[Dan]

The red eye flights are tough for sure - hard to sleep and if any sleep at all, it's not quite long enough to get a good night's sleep on the plane. For my trip, I would already be in the southeast Asia region for about a week in Thailand and surrounding area before going on to Indonesia. I was thinking I would catch up on some sleep on the boat upon early check in if possible.

With Singapore Airlines I got to CGK by 10am. So I checked in to Anara Hotel upstairs from the International arrival in Terminal 3. Caught up with my sleep & jet lag. Checked out of the hotel around 10pm & checked in to my Garuda flight to Sorong at 3rd floor of the Terminal 3 for 4-hour flight. Just can’t get any easier than that.

 

[cleung]

With Singapore Airlines I got to CGK by 10am. So I checked in to Anara Hotel upstairs from the International arrival in Terminal 3. Caught up with my sleep & jet lag. Checked out of the hotel around 10pm & checked in to my Garuda flight to Sorong at 3rd floor of the Terminal 3 for 4-hour flight. Just can’t get any easier than that.

I'll probably opt to do at least one night in Jakarta as I figure I might as well see the city for a day since I'm there anyway. But good to know about your perfect track direct flights record - I take it that you flew Garuda each time?

 

[Dan]

I'll probably opt to do at least one night in Jakarta as I figure I might as well see the city for a day since I'm there anyway. But good to know about your perfect track direct flights record - I take it that you flew Garuda each time?

Garuda & Batik.

I avoid Batik if I can get Garuda because Batik is operating at Terminal 2. So you need to take taxi from T3 to T2, unless you want to use the Sky train from T3 to T2 before they stop operation at 9pm. Garuda also give you extra 23kg for checkin dive bag

 

[Darnold9999]

It’s 8 out of 8 for me doing that flight to RA since 2010. May be I’m just a lucky guy & you guys worry about nothing.

... and out of 40 or so flights within Indo I have had one delayed by 10 hours, one cancelled completely and rebooked to leave one city before I arrived on a flight from another (instead of a single 6 hour trip it took two days and two hotel stays to get where I was going) and a third cancelled and booked four hours later for no reason at all. I rebooked and travelled on the original flight when I arrived in Jakarta - no reason given for the cancellation. Flights within Indonesia are all good, until they are not. I would arrive in Sorong a day early and I always try to arrive in Jakarta the day before my international flight home. Yes you can skip the cushion and almost every time you will be good. The "almost" is the catch. Going to a land based destination a missed day or a few hours is just annoying. Missing a liveaboard is very inconvenient and it can be expensive to catch up to the boat. Missing an international flight home can also be expensive depending on the class of ticket you have.

Early morning flights out of major cities are the least likely to have issues. Early morning flights from remote airports are less reliable but are usually OK. Later flights returning from remote airports are almost always late, and sometimes very late. Garuda is more reliable than Lion Air. They are both more reliable than Batik Air and so on down the list of budget carriers.

 

[Dan]

Batik Air, Lion Air, Wing Air are parts of Lion Group. Lion Air - Wikipedia So I’m not quite sure why Batik Air, which is supposedly Lion Group higher class airline fleet than the Lion Air and Wing Air, would have less reliable record? Any data to support that?

 

[Darnold9999]

Batik Air, Lion Air, Wing Air are parts of Lion Group. Lion Air - Wikipedia So I’m not quite sure why Batik Air, which is supposedly Lion Group higher class airline fleet than the Lion Air and Wing Air, would have less reliable record? Any data to support that?

That’s your takeaway from my post???? That Batik, Lion and Wings are the same ownership group so must have the same maintenance and on time record. It seems that you missed the actual point - that as you go down the list of budget carriers there is a very real difference in on time and maintenance records.

Perhaps Lion and Batik are the same, but that has not been my experience and others anecdotal reports. Wings is even less reliable again in my experience and other travelers anecdotal reports. Not going to dig in to the data. If you feel the need to “prove me wrong” with respect to Lion, Batik and Wings feel free to dig into the data. I am sure it is available somewhere.

 

[rsfinn57]

is someone able to weigh in on how best to deal with baggage allowance. My wife and i will have two checked bags about 25kg and two carry ons which will have our regs computers. I dont want hassels at the airport in sorong not worried about any other leg than sorong to bali unfortunately we cnt make the garuda flight that leaves at 8:25 am so its lion and batik