Manado via Jakarta

[chocolate]

hi all,

I'm planning to go to Manado, my second trip there. Only this time i'm thinking about flying through Jakarta instead of Singapore because connecting flights from Jakartar are much cheaper than Silk Air from Singapore.

I know there are a couple airlines that do Jakarta-Manado, can anyone reccommend or not reccommend any of them?

thanks

 

[kilo_fox]

I used to fly with Lion Air, they have a direct flight from Jkt to Manado for a reasonable price and they have become a pretty reliable company amongst the indonesian airlines.

 

[chocolate]

thanks, one of my main concern is reliability... delays, cancellations, etc. as i don't want to miss any diving time nor can i extend my holiday.

do they delay often? also, i heard that they do not issue e-tickets, is that the case?

 

[Mike Veitch]

i would suggest going via KL and air asia to Manado, flights can be as cheap as $25 one way.

they fly every tues, fri, and sun

 

[Wayan]

either Garuda Airlines or Lion Air if you want to do it via Jakarta (you will have brief stop over in Makassar). However you might want to also check out Air Asia a go in vi KL as well

 

[chocolate]

the AirAsia flight to Manado is at 6:50 in the morning. do they have shuttles/trains running at around 4 in the morning? I know that the LCCT terminal is a chaos and i don't want to miss my flight!!

 

[Wisnu]

Assuming you'll stay at KLIA transit hotel you can use airport liner first bust at 05:30 am - a bit hurry for 6:50 flight but you can easily get taxi.
We used AA on our trip to Manado Dec. 2009 and stayed at KL. Not difficult to get Taxi from KL to LCCT.
The earliest schedule of Skybus is at 3.30 am from KL central, but we never tried.
There's also several accomodation around LCCT;
check this for more info Malaysia's First Low Cost Carrier Terminal - www.lcct.com.my

Cheers

 

[Luko]

the AirAsia flight to Manado is at 6:50 in the morning. do they have shuttles/trains running at around 4 in the morning? I know that the LCCT terminal is a chaos and i don't want to miss my flight!!

Hi,
Coming from Paris through Singapore, I also used the KL AirAsia flight to Manado.
I was staying at the KLIA Pan Pac which is 20m minutes from LCCT terminal. No problem for shuttle bus, they arrange it at 5AM for RM10 per person and it comes right on time for check in, 1h30 before departure.

At this time of the day, I didn't find LCCT was such a mess it can be when flying in the afternoon for instance.

Concord Inn is way less pricier for a night arrangement but I don't know what 's their shutle policy though.

One big senior rant about AirAsia.com which has become sooooo frustrating since they have moved from free seating to seating number policy on feb.17th.
Their seating system is so lame that it' almost a lottery to get seats altogether with your party even though the flight might be empty... .. happened to me coming back from Manado.
On top of that, although while they are asked systematically to change seats, the crew doesn't respond so flexibly to these requests... they look as upset as the passengers, -or at least that's what they say-, but they just won't help...

Booh to AirAsia.com!

Cheers
Luko

 

[broadreach]

There is also the mega cheap (Air Asia affiliated) Tune hotel (Asia?s Best Value Hotels.5 Star Beds,Power Shower,Great Locations,Clean & Secure) at LCCT.
It's brand new so can't be that bad. I stayed at the one in downtown KL and found it simple but adequate.

Is Air Asia assigning seats for ALL flights? or only Indonesia flights?
I was under the impression that it's an Indonesia only policy imposed by the Indonesian government. They are pissed because now their express boarding revenues are drying up.

One last note about KL. I've heard recent stories of people being mugged late at night when trying to catch a taxi. So staying at the airport hotel might be a better idea than staying downtown.

Have a great trip!

 

[Luko]

Is Air Asia assigning seats for ALL flights? or only Indonesia flights?

Not only Indonesia, I flew KL to Singapore on Air Asia with another example of their fancy seating... :shocked2: so I simply waited everybody was seated in the plane and chose a free row despite the attendant told me to wait after take off.

To me, they have completely revolved their pricing around a seating policy, now you can buy privileged seats (front rows), instead of forking out for the right to run first for the best seats.

Tune hotel.. yes it's opening now, I passed in front of it, it looks...hmmhhh... cheap.
Mugged in KL? Well I would say KL is a pretty safe city on world standards, not more not less than BKK (seeing you're from Thailand) but you never know how drunk meat behave...