Hi,

I will be traveling to Indonesia in January. As part of the trip, I will be traveling to Bali for a few days. Trying to figure out how domestic airlines handle ticketing has been a bit confusing. Does anyone have any advice to share regarding when to purchase tickets to get the best value? Should I be purchasing the tickets now, or wait and purchase them closer to the date of travel.

Thanks
Dan

Hi Dan,

Domestic air travel in Indonesia is pretty cheap. Buy when you are there.

Remember January is the rainy season so you may get delay etc. so often best to just turn up and buy a ticket at the airport. Also safety is a major issue with domestic budget airlines so choose your carrier carefully - see my previous post on domestic airline safety.

It is almost impossible to book you domestic tickets prior to arrival in Indonesia - try on the websites and you will see why, it's just frustrating or expensive.

A flight from Jakarta to Bali one way should cost no more than $50-60, and can be much cheaper. To Bali it is pretty safe as it is an international airport, to smaller local airports go with a national carrier such as Garuda, this is a bit more expensive but a lot safer

Old Teak

Welcome to Boots Dan,
Depends too Dan on where you will be flying from as to which company you could use.

Other than Garuda, have a look at www.asia-budget-airlines.com and you can get an idea of what other companies might be useful.

A lot of the airlines do have some good specials running at various times and www.tigerairways.com is a good example of that, but you're probably too close to get any specials.

I'd be working on what your itinerary might be, select potential airlines and get your best as unlikely to get any better than what their web sites shows.

Its best to buy the tickets far enough in advance, because the cheaper tickets get snapped up first. Also high season covers part of January, and prices rise.

As stated above, there are a few airlines here and they are not super expensive.

Here's a link to Merpati, Mandala, Lion Air.