Raja Ampat Question???

[Shasta_man]

What flight was cancelled on you, divergirl? I know you were on your "big trip".

 

[Cali_diver]

It was our return flight to Bali from Labuan Bajo. Thank god we didn't have a connection...all we missed was a day in Ubud! We try not to get too worked up when we travel so it wasn't the end of the world, just a little snag.

 

[Zippsy]

Cali, while I'd also prefer to be in Bali than on land in Labuan Bajo, did you at least get to MadeInItaly? They are on the main road in LB and have some of the best Italian food I have ever had anywhere. My wife wants to go back just to stay in LB so she can get the pizza.

Marcia, I am not sure SilkAir has started flying to Ambon yet but I hope they or someone else does someday. Awesome macro there.

 

[ocdiver1]

Yes, it's a new route.

---------- Post Merged at 08:49 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 08:39 PM ----------

No, I'm not missing any points. I simply don't share your perspective.

Balancing safety records, on time departures, and missing luggage stats, versus cost, I prefer to choose safety/efficiency and spend a bit more (and it doesn't require unlimited income to opt for this choice). You prefer to choose cost.

What you are missing is that the OP has just come from Bali. While it's possible that she would want to return (I go back nearly every year, myself, and sometimes twice), she may very likely prefer to spend more time at at Lembeh or elsewhere rather than repeat Bali.

I know you really don't like to be contradicted, but there are other valid points of view. Some of us might be traveling on a budget, or just prefer to save what could be a considerable amount of money, and like to be aware of options that do this. One of the original questions was using miles to get to Indonesia..since Oneworld will charge the same amount of miles to get to DPS as SIN, it's by far a more economical use of miles to pick up the leg all the way into Indo..and a flight LAX-DPS is always about $500 more than an LAX-SIN ticket. If one gets only into SIN, not only is that Silk Air flight rarely less than $500, it only goes 4 days per week, likely leading to a long layover..and no one else flies that route. If one gets into Bali, and in only 21 hours from LAX, there are plenty of choices flying up to Manado, if that's where a person wants to go next, with a likely short layover for the same reason..or of course someone might want to just spend time there. I've flown into Indonesia on the Silk and Cathay routes, but actually my "usual" way is to buy a cheaper ticket to SIN or KL, then pick up a budget carrier like Air Asia into DPS or Makassar. Since I didn't book the OPs last trip as you apparently did, I have no way of knowing what her last trip encompassed...but none of this was a part of the original inquiry.

As to Indonesian airlines, I've probably taken about 40 internal flights and I suppose I've been pretty lucky with not too many problems..but as a rule I try to stick to Lion or Garuda, and away from Merpati and Batavia. A bigger frustration with Indonesian airlines that service issues is the difficulty in buying tickets online with a US credit card..although i finally found one on my last trip earlier this year (Srijiwaya) that actually does. Travel has inherent risks no matter who the carrier is.


So..it is entirely possible to get to the area far faster and cheaper than via the Silk route. And at savings in the hundreds some would consider that more than "a few bucks."

 

[frogfish]

Yes, it's a new route.

Do you have any additional info on this ? I googled but could not find anything, and as am visiting Ambon in October I would be very interested in a direct flight

 

[Sergey Pecherin]

Diving at that area is wonderful all year but in November it rains much more than in Sept-Ooct.

 

[ocdiver1]

Do you have any additional info on this ? I googled but could not find anything, and as am visiting Ambon in October I would be very interested in a direct flight

Was interesting to me too...nothing at their website though

 

[highdesert]

Diving at that area is wonderful all year but in November it rains much more than in Sept-Ooct.

Really ...

As I recall, Sorong is not too far from Raja Ampat. Here is the monthly average rainfall for Sorong ...

Sorong, Indonesia Weather Averages | Monthly Average High and Low Temperature | Average Precipitation and Rainfall days | World Weather Online

Bear in mind also that this rain will generally be in brief, hard showers. It's not as though you will face days of clouds and rain.

 

[Luko]

Do you have any additional info on this ? I googled but could not find anything, and as am visiting Ambon in October I would be very interested in a direct flight

When I was in Ambon in feb. Garuda was already advertizing DAILY flights plying AMQ from SIN via Makassar. There was a big double board, one for the Jakarta route, the other side advertizing the new Singapore route. It was supposed to be operational from april 2012 or nearby, then I went to Garuda website and saw zilch.

Garuda's stategy is to promote a Makassar hub, (which is not bad for us divers and which also explains why the newer Makassar airport is so damn oversized) in order to compete on each route with other domestic/regional carriers like Lion or Batavia. With a little chance we may end up in a few years with a Garuda flight to Sorong ( C'mon, everybody let's raindance for Garuda )

 

[Zippsy]

I really like Makassar airport but if Garuda was planning direct, one stop flights through there, they have already stopped them or they haven't started. Connecting through Jakarta seems to be the easiest (!?!) option. The flights from Makassar to Ambon are in the wee hours of the morning.