booking for indo

Didn't you ask a similar thing a while back?

www.swellnet.com.au/forums/1/topics/1900

International airlines from OZ done 11 trips to Indo from OZ another next week gone with Qantas, Garuda, Jetstar, Tiger, Virgin blue, Singapore airlines, never had any problems with any, never been charged extra for boards no damage, boards always turned up where i have "touch wood"

I think i may have said this here before IMO if you travel with a heap of boards in a coffin and its heavy you have more chance of damage, if its hard for baggage handlers to lift to put on the top of the pile or doesn't seem light and fragile it wont be treated as such, but if you travel with say two boards snuggly fit in a slim board bag and it reasonably light, it seems more fragile and it should end up on the top of the pile, also if a coffin full of boards was to fall say from the top of the pile on a trolley onto the tarmac it would most likely do damage but if two boards in a padded slim fit kinda board bag fell unless it fell nose first it should be ok.

Its all only a theory but ive even traveled with just a single board in a board sock and not even a ding."hope im not jinxing myself here"

I also don't like putting things in my board bag, especially hard loose objects, even leggys can give dings if pressed hard on a board, again only a theory but i try to keep it as light as i can, im also trying to keep the baggage handlers happy :)

About Lion air ticket, i do recall hearing this before (maybe here?), but i have never had any problems and never had to show card, i don't think this is true and ive traveled in Indo with tickets purchased with my wifes credit card (who doesn't share my surname and has indonesian name) never a problem.

BTW, Indo is all about attitude, be nice friendly with respect and patience and share a joke even when your tired and frustrated or theres a problem and things will go your way and even rules bent when needed but if you act like an arrogant, pushy, impatient I'm better than you western attitude then it often causes indonesians to be real stubborn and make you wait longer or make it harder.

Indo, love your work man.

I reckon Ben should put you on as 'Special Indo Consultant' or something along those lines.

Always enjoy your posts.

Every thing that Indo said about boardcovers is spot on, I've been traveling on planes for 30 yrs and have been making my own covers and have not had a single ding, it's important to have good handles on the cover so the handlers job is made easy, also a card with the address of the place you are staying indo attached. If the boards get lost along the way that's the address they are likely to be delivered too, if you have your home address that's where they'll end up.
When your checking in, be first in line, that bitch that gave you hard time one your last trip was probably a nice girl who was bending over backwards to help customers at the start of the shift, but is buckling under the pressure of checking in the last 75% of passengers that turned up in the last 30 minutes.

Years ago I seen a guy put a brand new red polish board with glassed fins on a flight from Durban to P.E., no cover just a fragile sticker on each side. Not a scratch, cause they knew what it was.

Indo, love your work man.

I reckon Ben should put you on as 'Special Indo Consultant' or something along those lines.

Always enjoy your posts.

By: "zenagain"

ha ha cheers :)

I travelled to the Mentawai's Indo from Perth with Air Asia.

I made an attempt to book the flights etc with the usual local travel agents, they gave me a lecture on how Air Asia dont meet standards, "you have to hold on to your seat when they land" etc etc blah blah blah.

So I booked online myself. When I boarded the aeroplane in Perth, I didnt have any Nazi's asking me to switch off my mobile phone when my Mum rang just as I sat down and everyone was boarding. Would you hang up on your mum?

I actually found Air Asia to be better than Qantas, as you can pre order from a large choice to eat, and its good stuff, not a choice between two boring meals.

All I can say is, the local travel agents are full of bollocks in regards to air asia.

Air Asia flights are no different from Qantas flights. Their aircraft have two wings just like a Qantas aircraft, and fly through the air like any other aircraft.

Most importantly of all, when I got to Padang, all my surfboards arrived with me without problems.

The only gripe I had was on the flight back, there was some stuck up little turd sitting next to me who thought he was puff daddy, I almost smacked him in the face.

Air Asia don't pay commission to travel agents - hence why they don't recommend them.

I know 2 people who have used them, 1 had no dramas said it was sweet. The other nearly went on killing spree of air asia staff. Flights got cancelled and they made him buy new flights, at the airport, which were twice as much.

I work on the frontline in the industry & 2 facts of life are weather is unpredictable & machines break down. So with the knowledge that delays are normal, u can either spend a couple hours stressing you're maybe not gonna make your connecting flight, or u can spend the same amount of time chilling at the airport sipping a beer.
It's true the budget airlines will get u there just fine, price & schedule always come before reputation for me, because all airlines basically are good at what they do. That being said, budget airlines are cheaper for a reason, they do save money on running costs & they are filled with pilots & engineers using it as a training ground before they land their dream job in a reputable, premium airline.
Cancelled flights are a fact of life when travelling, if u choose an airline with a stack of flights that day it plays out like this, a) u are more likely to cop a cancellation as they maybe pulling your aircraft & crew to cover a breakdown anywhere else in the world, b) the reason they do this is because they have the empty seats on subsequent flights to accommodate u. So schedule is important. Having to buy another ticket on the same airline because of a cancellation is outrageous & would never happen on an Aussie airline. If shit does hit the fan, that's when the premium airlines shine, & u will be transferred & accommodated free of charge.

An update, don't travel with silly Tiger Airways.

I had a flight with Tiger Airways back to Perth, with an overnight stop over in Singapore.

Before reaching Singapore, the Tiger Airways staff asked me if I wanted to have my bags held over and automatically transferred in Singapore, I told them explicitly, "no", and explained I had booked a hotel in Singapore, blah blah blah.

When I got to Singapore, my surfboards where waiting on the side of the conveyer belt, but no bag.

I asked the counter where my bag is, they said it was in hold over for automatic transfer.

This doesn't make sense, why on earth would you sent a surfboard to check out in an overnight stay, but not a bag with clothes?

I informed the counter that I explicitly told Tiger Airways not to do this, and I told them to get my bag out of hold / transfer.

Their response was stubborn and retarded, they had the nerve to lie to me and told me that I requested the bag be left in holdover (bullshit, bullshit, bullshit). Furthermore they said that it would take to long to get the bag out.

As arguing with retards is like running in the special Olympics, I decided to not peruse the matter and instead go into downtown Singapore and buy some cheap clothes as I didn't want to emit non discretionary fragrance from stale clothes in a civilized place.

The next day I checked in for my flight in Perth, the Tiger Airways counter assured me that my bag was in transfer and it was all taken care off etc etc.

So I arrived in Perth, and guess what, no bag.

I wouldn't normally rant on like this, but I have a strong suspicion Tiger Airways blatantly lied about my bag being in transfer when it was actually lost before it got to Singapore.

Instead of lying, the correct thing to do is to say the bag is gone, so you know that its time to fill out your travel insurance form.

I know much more people have had worse from Tiger Airways, but if you don't complain, Tiger Airways will keep getting away with such shenanigans.

If any Tiger Airways staff are reading this, since you guys have too low intelligence to read between the lines, the issue is this, its not that you lost my bag, its that you guys are daft and dishonest.

Its all only a theory but ive even traveled with just a single board in a board sock and not even a ding."hope im not jinxing myself here"

By: "indo-dreaming"

BTW. I got back from a month in Indo about two weeks ago, i only took two boards, but only ended up surfing one, unpacked them once home and noticed the board i didn't surfs rail has a good sized shatter, so maybe i did jinx myself :(

I also got stuck on a remote island due to a week long storm and some other factors, hence missed my flight home and there was no cheap options so had to blow close to $700 on a flight with Singapore airlines :( (i could have got cheaper but meant more flights, stop overs and time)

I did get some fun uncrowded waves though :P (don't ask)

Had been a while since i flew with Singapore airlines, ive been flying with VIrgin and Jetstar last few years, was blown away by how good everything was on singapore flight, no complaints at all felt like i was flying first class.

While we're on the indo theme.........anyone with preferences towards Bobbys or Joyo's camp at G-Land? Anyone gone over there with just a bit of a step up board not a gun?

Staitey you have opened up a can of worms with G land.

I will say straight out, pay the extra for Bobby's.

Allow my to express my opinions on the subject of Bobby's vs Joyo's one point at a time.

1) I booked a superior package for Joyo's well in advance. Just as the land trip van came to pick me up, around midnight, and I got on, I got a phone call informing me that the superior accommodation was not ready, and if I was willing to downgrade to a lower package.

This is a brain fart on someones behalf, at what stage do you make a building, and realize its not ready, and call someone at midnight.

The superior room is meant to have 24 hour electricity, the others did not.

I have a problem with this, this is not very courteous, you don't tell this to people at the last minute, especially at midnight. I wake up really early sometimes, and I don't want to be sitting in a dark room with nothing to do. This happened a few times, its like being in solitary confinement.

2) Some people on the land trip van where stoned. This is beyond comprehension, sorry, but I dont want to be with people smoking pot while in Indonesia. If anyone feels this isnt a big issue, go visit Schapelle Corby or the Bali 9, and tell them that it isnt a big issue. Those people should have been kicked of the van.

3) An American guy was there, who would have paid a lot of money to make it to G Land from the USA. Guess what, because the superior accommodation wasn't ready, they removed him from his air conditioned room and put him in a non air conditioned room. Thats right, they displaced him for me. Sorry, but I feel this is a horrible thing to do, if I traveled halfway across the world, and got kicked out of an air conditioned room, I would be fuming mad.

4) Some times they didn't have egg's or fruit for breakfast, just pancakes. I couldn't care less, but for the guy who traveled half way across the world it would have been a big deal. Also realize Americans only get 2 weeks of holiday per year unlike us.

5) Me and the American guy walked over to Bobby's for a browse, and bobby's was much, much, much better. The food hall at bobby's was better, it looked better constructed etc etc. We took a peek into the various buildings and rooms, all much better constructed, nicer interiors and exteriors.

Yeah the general vibe I got was Bobby's is a little bit more professional. Did you have a good time over there surf wise anyway?

Yes I did have a good time overall, both surf wise and socially, I mainly surfed Kongs and Tiger Tracks as I was sick before I got there and I wasn't in the best fitness. So I didnt have the fitness to surf the main attraction.

Regardless I was satisfied with the waves I had, I think the place is definitely worth a visit. Despite my opinions, I think the staff at Joyo's that do the menial tasks where good people.

In terms of boards, most people there used a plain jane short board, I didnt see any indo mini guns while I was there.

However, boards where broken on a regular basis. Take a spare one.

And do take a first aid kit there, people did occasionally get a reef scrape.

hungry hippos, just wondering do those 2 camps you mentioned have exclusive rights to the waters at gland as in the old Fiji cloudbreak setup, bit off the main topic but wanted to know how a travelling yacht with 7 surfers on board would be taken ? welcomed ? able to surf gland ? or come ashore and have a beer and a feed and chat cheers anyone with some answers.

udo I actually have no idea. I think there is actually a third camp there.

I would just ask the surf camps directly, and if the response is unfavorable, then just ask the local government, as they have the final say. You can email them [email protected] or there website is http://www.banyuwangitourism.com/

I think you might need permission from the park rangers.

Have read conficting ideas on best tides to go to G-Land - some say neap tides, others say new or full moon to get high tides in middle part of day. Anyone know?

It generally breaks better on high tides, not just safer but better shaped. A lot of guys that hang out for g-land go mostly on new and full moons with high tides between 11am to sunset.
Personally i prefer south swells or ssw at most. Speedies closes out unless the swell is real south and decent high tide.
Money trees likes south swells too, most of the setups prefer south swells but some more than others. kongs i think is better at low but im not sure. its more of a reverse sunset setup from memory.Hardly surfed that part its not shallow just spooked me more as theres cleanup sets shifting around all over the place.

If you wait in Bali for those conditions you wont likely get a place at Bobbies. SW swells often turn south later on anyway. A big heavy low just off or even south of margs river is a good sign for g-land three or four days later.

Thanks heaps for that groundswell. Think I'll just book Bobby's early and time it with the new / full moon to get more of that through day high tide thing happening, like any surf trip rest is just crossing fingers for some swell (but probably not 10-12 foot speedies)

No problem, less swell gets in on south swells though. You will be amazed at the length of the reef and each section, its really hard to tell which one is which. The reef must be at least 500 metres long. Amazing part of indo. Crowds and kooks can be a problem though.
Pretty often some guy will not even look at whos already on a wave while he takes off. if you can surf alright and charge a bit lower tides can be the go for uncrowded waves.

Just an update on Indo flights and board charges. I have never normally been charged excess (over 23kg) or excess boards in Indo previous but this trip got hit a few times.

Virgin Domestic Aus with over the 23kg, no charge.

Flew Garuda over and back from Aus with over the 23kg allowable (26kg) and nothing said.

Lion Air allow 1 board per person. Anything over that is charged at 200,000RP (approx. $20) per extra board.

Sriwijaya Air out of Jakarta, charged about 20,000 per kg over. No charge on the way back.!! Bugger all, but again, first time charges for me.

What flight with Lion air did you get charged for?

I got charged for my board Rp 200,000 for the first time in April coming back from Nias-Medan with Lion air, and was an official charge got receipt and all, they didn't care or ask about how many boards. (2 in slim board bag)

But from Medan to Nias with Lion no problem and between solo-Jakarta and Jakarta-Medan no problems/no charges, also few from Medan to Signapore with Silk air and no extra charges.

G'day Indo,

It was from Bali to Jakarta. Showed me an official letter and also given a receipt. They felt through the board bags for the number of boards. No big deal, just the first time I've ever been charged. Noticed them do the same with others.

I can see this problem only getting worse over the coming years.

I was on a Jetstar flight back from Bali last week - my experience as fine (baggage pre-paid) however they nailed the guy in front of me (who admittedly had quite a lot of gear). He ended up binning a whole bunch of things - towels, t-shirts etc - but the most amazing thing was that the plane was only 1/3 full, so they would have certainly had the capacity for extra luggage. Just seemed the check-in girls didn't want to bend the rules for him (and he didn't want to pay either).

G'day Indo,

It was from Bali to Jakarta. Showed me an official letter and also given a receipt. They felt through the board bags for the number of boards. No big deal, just the first time I've ever been charged. Noticed them do the same with others.

By: "fitzroy-21"

Hi, Thats kinda interesting, i forgot one flight i did in march/april was Lion air Bali to Joja and didn't get charged, its interesting because those planes that do those flights between Bali and Java are good sized planes with heaps of baggage room, while the planes between Medan-Nias are smaller with less baggage room.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see more flights from airports that get a fair few surfers going through getting charged more often for boards.

I dont mind paying a little extra for boards on a flight, but what i really hate is in Bali, if you get an airport taxi, they will charge you extra for a board, but not just a little bit, but almost the same amount as the actual fare, and its an official thing, but anywhere else in Indo there is no charge and you can actually walk 200m to the airport entrance and grab a taxi with no charge for your board.

Im probably sounding like a tight arse, but its kinda more about the fact that i hate being ripped off just for being a surfer (or bule), when theres no real reason as last time it happened i was alone with two short boards in slim board bag.
Im not one of those tight in Indo westerners, much rather be generous for locals who deserve it that are honest with me and help them out when they don't expect it or ask.

BTW. How was Krui?

Yeah, I think the major/busy airports are a little more stringent on the charges whilst the regional ones don't seem to care. Very inconsistent, but hey, that's Indo. Like you, it doesn't bother me too much to pay a bit extra as its pittance especially compared to Aus.

Didn't spend too much time around Krui this time as they had a really late monsoon and the trades hadn't set in properly yet. Only one wave in the area that works on the NW wind that you no doubt know. Did a fair bit of exploring to the north and south. Found some good ones, found some novelty ones and also skunked out and got lost for a while, but had a really good time regardless.

Bali is becoming a bit of a though

Any poor bugger booked to go to Indo with Tiger in the next few days.......u aint going nowhere.

Oh great.

What's going on with Tiger ?

Aust to Bali flights are all over with Tiger Air - Tiger suspended the route permanately .

Has anyone flown with Nam Airlines?

yep..DPS to Bima..

Right. Were they ok? Similar to Wings?

Yep..no board fees and was a jet not prop.

Cheers. Wings seem to be getting a bit greedy with the board fees and luggage. But I guess if they get you where you want to be thats the main thing :)

Flew wings this year. Never again! Flights cancelled willy nilly both directions.

Ive flew wings and lion air (same company) god knows how many times maybe 50 times or more, flights are delayed over 50% of the time especially after lunch with late afternoon flights almost guaranteed to be delayed, but never had a full cancelation without it being shifted to another flight within a few hours or any other issues that has caused a delay longer than a few hours.

They are adding cost like board fee's but thats because safety standards are getting better and not skipping as bad as before, for a few years about 10-15 years ago it got pretty bad where airlines were just undercutting each other and safety got worst, and it ended up weeding out some pretty bad airlines like Adam air and SMAC

I've flown NAM a bunch. They're fine and are my go to for routes that Garuda doesn't do in NTT.

I only ever garuda it when I'm over there if I can, too many bad experiences with every other local airline. Once we were parked up half on the runway with wings because the indicator light was not working and the bulb had to be changed but tower was not letting us move..

Can you book NAM online?

Nusatrip works for Wings, and that's how I usually go, but NAM sounds good for less hassle with longer boards.