Just Back From Lembeh And Ra - Airline Fees And Experience

[large_diver]

Back from a 2 week trip to Lembeh (Lembeh Resort) and Raja Ampat (Damai I liveaboard; Sorong-Sorong). Just arrived home yesterday. Back at work today :-(

Great trip. I will certainly post a trip report once I've had a chance to process my pics and video.

Thought I would post some of the details of what we experienced regarding bag fees. I had one large checked bag that was about 21-22 kg/46-47 lbs + a camera back-pack and regulator bag for carry-ons. My buddy had 2 checked bags and 1 carry-on.

- Outbound we flew Boston-NY/JFK (Delta), JFK-Frankfurt-Singapore (Singapore Airlines), Singapore-Manado (SilkAir). Smooth process, with bags checked all the way from Boston to Manado. No bag fees at all and no questions about our carry-ons.

- Visa upon arrival in Manado was US$35....despite the label on the visa that said US$25. Either the price just changed or we received a "special" price. This can be paid in multiple currencies. We used US$.

- Between Manado and Sorong we flew via Garuda. The stated baggage allowance for domestic flights on the Garuda web-site is 20kg for checked baggage and 7kg for carry-ons. I was slightly over (the scale at check-in in Manado said 22kg) = they did not charge me nor did they ask about or weigh my carry-on My buddy was charged a little over 400,000 Indo Rupiah (~US$30-35), I think largely due to his second checked bag. No questions about his carry-on

-Inbound was quite a slog = Sorong-Makassar-Jakarta on Garuda. Jakarta-Singapore-Frankfurt-NY/JFK on Singapore Airlines. JFK-Boston on Jet Blue. 6 total flights and over 40 hours of travel. My checked bag again weighed in at 22 kg at check-in for the first Garuda flight in Sorong. Upon check-in they asked whether my bag contained dive gear and I said yes = no charge. My buddy said the same...and this time he was not charged any baggage fees (2 bags and I think 25-28 total kg). Again, no questions or weighing of carry-on luggage for either of us. Unfortunately we had to claim our luggage 3 times on this trip = Jakarta (and re-check with Singapore Airlines); JFK (and re-check on Jet Blue) and finally in Boston. Not sure why SA would not check through on Jet Blue...particularly since the Singapore-Frankfurt-JFK flight was a code share with Jet Blue (Jet Blue was even showing on the monitors in Singapore airport). We argued with them about this when we were re-checking the bags in Jakarta = no help.

No departure taxes, as I believe these are now included in airline ticket fees.

In-flight service on both Garuda and Singapore was very good.

Chris

 

[iamrushman]

thanks for sharing....

 

[TightLines]

Have a very similar trip this fall and between camera and dive gear it's always a worry, especially within Indo.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[AlMitch]

The visa on arrival increased from $25 to $35 a year or two ago, they just haven't bothered to reprint the little visa thingy.

The VOA rules have also recently changed and now if you land in Jakarta or Bali (and possibly one or two other airports) many new countries (including US) get in for FREE. But for some strange reason Manado is not on the list of "Free entry" ports. Apparently this will happen......but who knows when.
Looking forward to your trip report and pics.

 

[D2Diver]

I also just returned from RA. I flew into Jakarta from the USA. US citizens no longer have to get a Visa if less than 30 days so unsure why you had to pay for one in Manado (but I just jumped to conclusion Boston= US citizen). I flew Garuda to Sorong out bound from Jakarta my bag was ~4 lbs ~2kg over- no charge. On way back ~6 lbs/3kg & I had to pay. It cost 210,000 IDR ~$16 USD. Garuda just reinstated the no additional fee for scuba gear -I missed it by a week. I had a small red hard sided case for my camera gear they didn't weigh it. However on the smaller plane from Makassar to Sorong they wanted to gate check it. Garuda states in their website there are exceptions so I said very fragile camera gear. They waved me on & Luckily it fit in the overhead. But just in case I always pack a light weight backpack that I can move the equipment into.

 

[Wisnu]

the OP had to purchase VOA since he arrived to and departed Indonesia from different international airport.

 

[Adelaar Cruises]

Garuda has reinstated their "sports equipment" policy for all domestic flights, view the rules at the following link below.

https://www.garuda-indonesia.com/uk/en/garuda-indonesia-experience/on-ground/baggage/index.page

Cheers!

 

[ukdave0]

the OP had to purchase VOA since he arrived to and departed Indonesia from different international airport.

Actually, I believe arriving/ departing different int'l airports on a free VOA is (mostly) permitted. Manado is not listed as one of the allowed entry airports for a free VOA. Strangely enough, Manado is listed as a departure airport.

 

[large_diver]

Great news about Garuda reinstating their sports equipment policy. I assume it must have started April 1....(our initial Garuda flight was in March; the other flights were in April)...thus my buddy was charged inbound to Sorong, but no charges on the way out.

 

[jcclink]

During the past 2 yrs I flew Garuda Jakarta / Manado & Jakarta / Ambon. In 2014 they allowed an extra bag up to 23kg free of charge for sporting equipment (scuba). This was in addition to the standard 20kg bag. Hence, 43kg total free. This policy was discontinued 10 Aug 2015. If you were ticketed prior to this date you still received the extra 23kg. The current baggage policy referenced above reads very similar to that prior to 2014. It's not totally clear to me that you will be allowed the free 43kg again. I read this be mean that you may check one 23kg of scuba gear (hence extra 3kg free). A second bag would charged at the going rate.. My experience has been that an extra 2-3kg of baggage is often allowed.