Bali

[Daddy San]

You can't book Lion Air online unless you have a Credit Card issued by an Indonesian bank.

I believe, there is some truth in that madness and / or idiotic Lion Air policy.

I am currently in Bali and tried to book my flight to Batam on Lion Air on line.

All my 7 credit cards and ATM (=debit) cards, all with immaculate credit rating and more than adequate line of credit, from the USA, Euro and non-Euro European countries were declined."An Error occured, please try again". No further exlanation!

I tried to call Lion Air at DPS airport, but no-one was there "until 2, 5 hours before the next flight".

So I finally had to go to a travel agent, who not only issued my ticket, accepting my credit card for payment, for about 5% less than the on-line fare.

How's that for Lion Air assholes customer service

[Dazednconfused]

You can't book Lion Air online unless you have a Credit Card issued by an Indonesian bank. .

I don't think this is the case anymore, but there's another way that Indonesians use and that is to book on line and then pay at an ATM (in Indonesia) with a direct debit from your bank account.

I did this a year or so ago, but don't remember the exact procedure.

However as 2041 says, it's probably not an issue as there are so many Jakarta. DPS Lion flights. I have to agree too, that Air Asia is a pretty classy act and not inferior in any way to Lion, and in many cases it's better.

[Astrozz]

Hi,

Please try to contribute something more interesting than airline issues gentlemen.

[Hung Man 1808]

You can't book Lion Air online unless you have a Credit Card issued by an Indonesian bank.

That recently changed, or it did for my (non Indonesian) credit card. Just for the heck of it, I tried my Visa when checking flights and it went through to the Verified by Visa page (where you enter your password as a secondary security measure) and it was all good!

The new 737s aren't quite as new now, so we'll see how good the Lion Air maintenance standards in the next few years. That said, the plane's decor and seats resemble something akin to a commuter train.

If Mandala don't come back, I'll miss them.

[Member #2041]

Forget Mandala, it went broke last month and had to give its aircraft back.

Air Asia has four flights a day as does Batavia. The more in advance you book and pay the cheaper the ticket, generally. Fridays are often at a premium as Jakarta people go to Bali for the weekend.

Lion has good record for safety and comfort. 10 flights a day. Book on line.

Garuda is full service airline and generally more expensive but frequently runs promos in order to stay competitive.

You can't book Lion Air online unless you have a Credit Card issued by an Indonesian bank. Same with Garuda. In my experience, Air Asia doesn't have that problem. But because Lion Air has a lot of flights, it's probably not an issue to buy the ticket from the Lion sales booth with cash once you arrive at CGK airport. You won't be able to get Garuda's promo fares booking at the last minute this way.

Personally, I've flown both Air Asia and Lion on flights within Indonesia in and out of Jakarta. I found Air Asia to be better run, but both are adequate. I could buy my tickets in advance on the Air Asia website using my American-issued Credit card, but I had to buy my Lion Air tickets with cash at the Lion ticket booth in the terminal at CGK.

[Dazednconfused]

Certainly Air Asia and Lion Air do. As does Garuda, but it's not a discount airline. Probably also Batavia and Mandala. My choice, assuming comparable fares and schedules would be Air Asia.

Forget Mandala, it went broke last month and had to give its aircraft back.

Air Asia has four flights a day as does Batavia. The more in advance you book and pay the cheaper the ticket, generally. Fridays are often at a premium as Jakarta people go to Bali for the weekend.

Lion has good record for safety and comfort. 10 flights a day. Book on line.

Garuda is full service airline and generally more expensive but frequently runs promos in order to stay competitive.

[Member #2041]

What is the cheap carrier that flies from jakarta to Bali?

Certainly Air Asia and Lion Air do. As does Garuda, but it's not a discount airline. Probably also Batavia and Mandala. My choice, assuming comparable fares and schedules would be Air Asia.

[Amjeck]

Thing is, they land in Jakarta close to midnight, so you would need to hang around the airport until morning for the first flight to Bali, which should run you 75-100$ each way.

What is the cheap carrier that flies from jakarta to Bali?

[Member #2041]

Cebu pacific is running a sale right now, I looked at tickets an hour ago for May, and it is 200$ R / T. NO CHECKED LUGGAGE.

Thing is, they land in Jakarta close to midnight, so you would need to hang around the airport until morning for the first flight to Bali, which should run you 75-100$ each way.

PAL is going to start non stop service between MNL and DPS fairly soon.

If he's carrying-on a bunch of camera gear, he's almost certainly going to need to check a bag with his clothing and such. I have no experience with Cebu Pacific, but Air Asia's cheap fares don't include checked bags either, but they let you buy a 10KG or 20KG checked baggage allowance for a reasonable charge.

[1Ball]

Cebu pacific is running a sale right now, I looked at tickets an hour ago for May, and it is 200$ R / T. NO CHECKED LUGGAGE.

Thing is, they land in Jakarta close to midnight, so you would need to hang around the airport until morning for the first flight to Bali, which should run you 75-100$ each way.

PAL is going to start non stop service between MNL and DPS fairly soon.

Guys,

According to expedia and travelocity, I will have to pay a king's ransom to get to Bali from Manila this May.

Could someone advise me on the most intelligent and economical way of traveling between Manila and Bali?

Also, I'm a photography buff, so I plan to bring along some gear. Can a foreigner carry a professional camera around Bali without that nagging fear, as in Manila?

Thanks in advance.

Gumby.

[Manfield04]

I know that I should RTFF but is there anyone who could help me?

I'm planning to visit Bali for three weeks in July / August of this year. Can anyone suggests good girl friendly budget hotels in the Kuta region?

Thanks

[Member #2041]

Have you tried looking at Cebu Air from Manila to Jakarta? After that there is a myriad of budget airlines plying the Jakarta to Bali sector.

I would agree that the cheapest way would be to fly from Manila to Jakarta, and then get to Bali from Jakarta. One caveat is that you will find that few if any of the discount carriers that serve Indonesia can accept Credit Card payments from banks outside of Indonesia. One that can is Air Asia. I would also state that IMHO, the degree of professionalism exhibited by Air Asia dwarfs that of Lion Air.

One other thing to research is that you can fly Air Asia from Clark to Kuala Lumpur and then from KL to Bali. But you would need to overnight in KL each way to do it. But you could probably do the whole round trip for 300-400 US.

Air Asia is a reliable and very inexpensive airline that services Bali from several major Asian hubs, including Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Jakarta so if you can get to any of those hubs cheaply out of Manila, they will be able to get you to Bali for for probably under $100 USD each way from any of those hubs. As I pointed out, you could also fly Air Asia from Clark to KL, and then KL to Bali, but it would require an overnight each way to do it reliably.

In my experience, one can pretty safely carry high end photography gear in Bali. But getting it to Bali safely might be another story entirely.

[Ozztraleearr]

Guys,

According to expedia and travelocity, I will have to pay a king's ransom to get to Bali from Manila this May.

Could someone advise me on the most intelligent and economical way of traveling between Manila and Bali?

Also, I'm a photography buff, so I plan to bring along some gear. Can a foreigner carry a professional camera around Bali without that nagging fear, as in Manila?

Thanks in advance.

Gumby.

Have you tried looking at Cebu Air from Manila to Jakarta? After that there is a myriad of budget airlines plying the Jakarta to Bali sector.

[Gumby2004]

Guys,

According to expedia and travelocity, I will have to pay a king's ransom to get to Bali from Manila this May.

Could someone advise me on the most intelligent and economical way of traveling between Manila and Bali?

Also, I'm a photography buff, so I plan to bring along some gear. Can a foreigner carry a professional camera around Bali without that nagging fear, as in Manila?

Thanks in advance.

Gumby.

[MasterF]

I really appreciate this kind of report. Thanks for that!

You mentioned Ubud. So did you stay there in a hotel or did you just go there by taxi to stay with the German guy in his house to party for a while? So Anica new him and his place and took you there?

Did you first book Anica from the 11X for a day? What price did they ask for? Did she ask later for money or did you just give her some good "tip" later (which I would prefer since in this case no pimp could profit on that money!).

Planning to visit Bali again in February and would like to expierience something like this as well!

Cheers, Wikki

I just did a day trip to Ubud to this German guys private villa. Anice I met on an normal visit to 11x, payed 400 first time for 2 hour inkl. Room, offered her 300 if we started to meet in private and she agreed to start meeting me private and for the party I gave her 400 to share with her friend