How to book Avia star / TransNusa flights from North America ?

[cephalopod2]

Maybe one day we will have a domestic Indonesian ticket booking sticky; I know this is a topic that comes up frequently.

Has anyone booked Avia star / TransNusa (same airline) tickets from North America? I need to do so and am not finding great options. Here are the ones I have checked:

1. US Dancer Fleet office - $60 per person service charge on a $130 ticket (so for two divers, you are paying $120 in service charges)

2. GoldenRama (my fave Indonesian travel agent, have used them several times, very professional) - doesn't book this airline. Cost to book - whatever it costs to wire them money.

3. www.tiket2.com - doesn't book TransNusa (too bad as I am interested to try them)

4. https://ticketindonesia.info/en/index.php - will book TransNusa but only within 60 days of the flight. So I can't check service charges, but Seekup reported a $55 commission for a $270 ticket while puncho had only a $5 USD commission for a Makassar - Lombok flight (that thread is here ). Officially the commission is €5.50 but there may be extra charges since you have to pay via third party sites.

5. Don't even think about the Avia star or Trans Nusa websites. TransNusa's online booking tool only goes up to Dec 2012.

6. Mau Ke Mana? Book a Flight in Indonesia aka indonesiamatters might be able to do it -- has anyone used them? Not sure of service charges.

7. Lembeh Resort - might be able to do it. They are currently charging roughly $50 US in service charges on one $240 ticket from a different airline, even though divers already pay all the charges for them to receive wire transfers - an additional $40 US in my case (plus the regular wire charges from my end).

I need the Avia star flights because of my connections.

Thanks / terima kasih,
c2

 

[gekodivebali]

Www.nusatrip.com is a new one as well. Haven't tried it yet.
Why do you specifically need these two companies?

---------- Post added May 27th, 2013 at 10:26 PM ----------

I meant, do no other companies work with your connection?

 

[cephalopod2]

Why do you specifically need these two companies?
I meant, do no other companies work with your connection?

I knew someone was going to ask this.

In 280+ days spent on the ground in Indo to date, we have always arranged an overnight between our last domestic flight back to Bali/Jakarta and our international flight back to North America - a buffer in case of flight delays. This year is the only year we just can't do it - there were no seats left to fly the next day and this year we're on a liveaboard for the last leg of our trip, so we can't leave any earlier.

Looking at all the flight options we have, the two that my research turned up as most reliable were TransNusa and Lion Air. The other options are Merpati and Sky - have flown Merpati before, but never Sky -- if people think either Merpati or Sky is more reliable than Lion or TransNusa, please feel free to chime in.

My strategy is to book the earliest of the two more reliable flights so I can use the later flight as a bailout. Lion is the last flight out that day, so it will be my bailout in case the TransNusa flight is delayed or god forbid cancelled. Because there will be a group from our boat on the TransNusa flight I think that gives us more leverage to get us and the luggage on the flight.

My friends were on the Lion flight in Apr, there was a big storm, in the end they couldn't get out and as a result missed all of their international flights. In Apr they were able to rebook (final costs not yet determined but for sure a big hassle) but Aug is high season - I am not convinced we would be able to rebook as easily.

I am not a huge fan of TransNusa based on my 2010 (horrendous) experience with them. I now understand that you can't book tickets with them except 30 or 60 days in advance - but this still seems the most cautious of available options, allowing enough time to buy new seats on the Lion flight if TransNusa is delayed.

Thanks for the nusatrip link -- will check it out.

 

[cephalopod2]

Www.nusatrip.com is a new one as well.

Wow Cedric this site is amazing if it can do what it promises. It will actually let me book the ticket now, and I think this is the best quote I have seen.

You said you haven't used nusatrip yet - do you know anyone who has?

c2

 

[gekodivebali]

Nope, just came across it after reading your post.
You can contact them first to see how reactive they are.
The things they are definitively changing right now in Indonesia. Can now shop online with fast and reliable transport even in my neck of the wood! Still very few payments online though...

 

[indoscub]

Thanks for the recommendation, i booked my transnusa bali Labuan Bajo flight with nusatrip.com and it was fine. Payment was no problem, they take credit cards (i saw they also take ATM payment, but that seems to be only for local indonesian banks).

 

[gekodivebali]

good to hear they work. It may be a solution for people wanting to book domestic flights...