Other Asian, Australian and South Pacific Frequent Flyer Programs - Trans Nusa Airlines (Indonesia)

Does anyone have experience or general comments to share on Trans Nusa Airlines, which operates domestic flights in Indonesia?

I'm looking at flights between Bali and Sumbawa later this year, to reach amanwana. Flights on Trans Nusa are roughly $250 per pax cheaper than the private charter float plane that flies directly to amanwana (weather permitting). For two of us, roundtrip, that's a $1000 difference.

The known drawbacks are: 1) landing at Sumbawa and transferring to the resort by boat; and 2) stopping on Lombok en route, which adds time to the journey.

A possible drawback, on which I solicit your comments, is the reliability of the service. We will be staying in Bali both before and after amanwana, so a delay won't jeopardize international connections. But I don't want to lose the best part of a day to some inexplicable delay either. I've heard that reliability is a particular issue with Trans Nusa, and that's why I'm asking.

A possible plus is not having the extreme baggage limitation of the float plane (strict 15 kg per pax). I also solicit comments on this issue.

How tough is it to buy tickets on Trans Nusa from abroad? Their website isn't exactly the sharpest.

Anything else we need to know?

Here in brief are the general benefits/disadvantages of flying TransNusa:

THE GOOD STUFF
- They currently offer the only regular service to Sumbawa Besar, the nearest major airport to Pulau Moyo.

- I have found them to be generally reliable, and rarely cancel flights at the last minute.

- Their fares are reasonable.

THE BAD STUFF
- You can only book their flights up to 30 days in advance.

- You can't book them online (but seeing other Indonesian airline websites only accept Indonesian credit cards, that is no real disadvantage for most of us). However, you can book TransNusa flights here: http://flights.indonesiamatters.com

- The baggage allowance is 15kg for most of their flights, and 10kg for some of the smaller ones. The float plane might have strict limitations on baggage, but more generally in Indonesia baggage restrictions are loosely enforced.

- It used to be one flight from Denpasar to Sumbawa Besar with a stop in Mataram, but now you transit Mataram for 3½ hours. On the return journey, however, it is one flight with a stop.

If you book the flight via Amanmoyo (or your agent books the flight via the hotel) then I know someone who had been 're-protected' onto the seaplane when their flights was cancelled. They were also doing o/w seaplane & o/w scheduled flight - so you may wish to consider that if as the RD says you are transitting Lombok for 3 1/2 hours in one direction? I wouldn't trust many Indo airlines on a domestic to domestic to be honest.

Thank you for the feedback. A one-hour transit stop in Lombok is do-able. A three-hour hassle is something else altogether.

Still deciding if we should just suck it up. But a difference of $500 each way (for the two of us) is nothing to sneeze at.