You can buy air tickets online for Batavia (Sriwijaya too)

[ocdiver1]

I'm not going to get baited into this again. I think "you," make it about "you"--It's Scubaboard, not "Queroboard." Just be tolerant of views that don't happen to be your own.

 

[ericong]

Would like to know if anyone on here has succesfully booked via Lion online recently from outside Indonesia?

I'm a Malaysian living in Jakarta, and I have booked many times with a Malaysian credit card . No problem except that it has to be at least 4 days in advance and that they will usually ask to see the credit card used when checking in

Edit : Correction to my earlier post. after thinking about it, all my successful bookings via Lion Air with my Malaysian card were done within Indonesia. Maybe you need an Indonesian IP. Never tried to book while out of the country. However, even so, if the flight is less than 4 days away, I can't book.

Also just to share, Garuda Indonesia fee structure is slightly different from most airlines. I sometimes find that last minute bookings via Garuda offers lower fares than advance booking if the flight still has leftover seats. And for some reason online booking via Garuda website is always more expensive than walking into their sales office and buying a ticket.

 

[gee13]

The first time I booked Lion was May 2011 via Aussie C/C from Australia. Then I tried to book for April 2012 and didnt work, and Last time I had an Aussie C/C which went through when I was Bali.


It seems they changed procedures and you cant book via o/seas ip anymore? Thats not to say they havent changed it back to what it was. Thats why Im curious about it.

 

[ocdiver1]

Interesting, I'm going to try to book Lion while on an Indonesian ip address and see if it works! When I've tried in the past (including today) with both my mastercard and visa from here in the US it looks like it's going through, including sometimes getting to the verisign page, then it always rejects..the last one I got was something like "couldn't get authorization for payment." I've called my mastercard in the past when that happened and, according to them, they weren't even seeing anything from Lion "requesting" payment from them, and didn't reject it on their end for any reason. Hope it works..I'll be in Bali mid week and I'll post the results.

UOTE=gee13;6446805]The first time I booked Lion was May 2011 via Aussie C/C from Australia. Then I tried to book for April 2012 and didnt work, and Last time I had an Aussie C/C which went through when I was Bali.


It seems they changed procedures and you cant book via o/seas ip anymore? Thats not to say they havent changed it back to what it was. Thats why Im curious about it.[/QUOTE]

 

[chlorpheniramine]

I managed to book Surabaya-Ambon on Batavia Air sometime last year in Singapore, using a credit card issued in Singapore. Funny thing was, if I load the Indonesian page and show the prices in Rupiah, the site won't accept my card, but if I load the Singapore page and have the prices shown in Sing$, the credit card is accepted... but the price is now 15-20% higher after conversion.

 

[Scuba John]

Would like to know if anyone on here has succesfully booked via Lion online recently from outside Indonesia?

Many of my customers have, from various countries including Australia, the UK, and most recently, Germany. I don't remember anyone from the US, but I am about to find out so I will post if he is able to do it tonight. If not then I'll have the boat issue the ticket. The boat (Ocean Rover) is quoting me 'about $120 US for a flight from Sorong to Manado (SOQ>MDC on Oct 1. Lion Air's website says 841,000 IDR, about $90, but I am not sure what other taxes and add-ons Lion Air has as I haven't booked anything for myself on this airline. Yet.

Will let you know.

---------- Post Merged at 01:15 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:10 PM ----------

I managed to book Surabaya-Ambon on Batavia Air sometime last year in Singapore, using a credit card issued in Singapore. Funny thing was, if I load the Indonesian page and show the prices in Rupiah, the site won't accept my card, but if I load the Singapore page and have the prices shown in Sing$, the credit card is accepted... but the price is now 15-20% higher after conversion.

Yes, this makes sense because they are probably processing via an office in Singapore, and with taxes and expenses, they would have to charge more than in Indonesia. If anyone wants a good ground agent in Indonesia, my friend Paul Franz is really good. Very fast, almost instant email answering, and he does airline bookings for many liveaboards in Indonesia. Vifatour: vifatour@gmail.com. Tell him John Williams sent you.

---------- Post Merged at 03:56 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:10 PM ----------

Lion Air: FAIL from US. Bummer. Just tried it now three times and always denied right at the end without a reason (of course, at least they are consistent.) Well, some day we hope.

 

[indiedive]

I guess I am lucky that my brother lives in Jakarta and usually I asked him to buy domestic flight tickets for my diving trips around Indonesia. Actually it is cheaper to buy through local travel agent than from the website - don't know why. That was based on my last year's experience when booking Lion Air tickets Jakarta-Manado-Jakarta, I transferred money to my brother based on the price that had mentioned in Lion Air website and actually he returned 10-15% (forgot the details) of the money since the ticket price from travel agent was cheaper. Off course, that will be handy if you know someone in Indonesia whom you can trust to deal with this kinda thing..

I found an interesting website that runs sort of an online travel agent who will check and order your flight within Indonesia. I used to read the discussions on Indonesia's recent political news in the main website of this online travel agent (indonesiamatters.com) when I was a student back then so the website itself has been there for years. But, I have never used their service on Indonesian domestic flights arrangment..

Mau Ke Mana? Book a Flight in Indonesia

 

[Luko]

Would like to know if anyone on here has succesfully booked via Lion online recently from outside Indonesia?

Gee,
I booked this july my flights with Lion Air and Garuda from France. It went like a breeze.
On the contrary of what some people tend to claim, it was also possible to change my tickets/routings with a little fee (less than 10USD).
In the past years online tickets sales in Indonesia have improved hugely, I am surprized this is the first thread about buying online with Batavia : I bought tickets from their website in July 2010 !!!

There are sometimes glitches on Garuda and Lion Air websites which prevent to go up to payment confirmation (probably cache availbility generation or some of their people working on he pricing database) in this case try your luck a little later on.
Likewise a few years I also understood you had to click on a certain location option on the header of the menu to be allowed to pay with a foreign credit card, this wasn't mentioned but that was the way to operate... (well, being a consultant for tourism IT helps understanding the internal flows of the booking systems).

Other than that I have recently bought tickets and paid with a VISA card from :
Garuda
LionAir
Batavia
Airasia.com
All with no problems, Garuda has clearly the best consumer relationship service (voted best improved airlines worldwide in 2011 by Skytrax, I even got called home when buying tickets online last year!).
Sometimes calling is necessary for cancellation or rerouting, in this case it is always better to call the SIngapore based call centre rather than the phone number they give in Indonesia.

 

[Quero]

If buying a Lion Air (and probably others) ticket from outside Indonesia using a foreign credit card, make sure that you have the EXACT card with you when you check in. Very recently I was on a Lion flight where there were some Singaporeans trying to get their boarding cards but could not. They had booked with a credit card that expired after the booking but before the boarding, and the newly issued credit card they presented had some difference in the data (possibly the security number on the back, but maybe only the expiration date). They had to buy all new tickets at the airport and got no refund whatever on the previously purchased tickets. If they had just had the expired credit card with them, they would have been okay, but who carries an expired card around?

 

[Kaltim Diver]

All, just a quick sideline - I live and work in Indonesia, and have had my credit card number stolen four times - in each case after either using the credit card for a hotel or flight booking in Indonesia. Both online and by actually using the card. It has never cost me anything, the bank has always reimbursed the costs, but being halfway through a holiday when your credit card is suddenly blocked or cancelled is exceptionally frustrating.