ewong215

We just came back from a 7-day trip to Bali. We were expecting the worst when we arrived, but had no problems getting through immigration at all. We had the hotel come in to escort us (at an additional cost), just because we thought it would be bad... but we could have gotten through just as fast. We arrived at DPS at around 1130 / noon. We didn't have to go through finger-printing or anything... just had to pay US$25 pp for the visas.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

Thanks forthe head-up on this.

We are landing at 2.45pm on Saturday - and looking at the arrivals information for DPS we look like we are the third international flight to arrive after 2.00pm.

We have purchased a VIP arrival service for USD30 per passenger which includes: meet at gate, obtain visa, fast track immigration (private channel), collect bags, deposit into your car, and a bottle of water!!

Looks like it is going to be the best $30 we spent!

jiejie

Please report back to let us know if the VIP service worked as planned, how much total time it took you to get through, and if it appeared to save you considerable waiting time.

I thought DPS has relatively few international flights coming in until around noon, then very busy during the afternoon, then somewhat less intl traffic in the first half of the evening and then picking up again around 9 pm-midnight.

Until the authorities develop the will and the means to deal with the immigration delays (hmm, not likely..it's Indonesia after all), the only strategies besides sucking it up and waiting in line are:
1) Getting a visa in advance (but may only deal with part of the problem at the VOA desk, but not with the actual immigration entry line)
2) VIP service, assuming it works
3) Trying to get on a flight arriving at non-peak OR very beginning of a peak arrival period. Which of course is useless if the flight arrival is delayed.
4) For discretionary travel, avoiding Australian school holiday periods when flights to Bali are packed solid. Tons of intl-Bali flights originate in Oz.
5) Entering DPS on a domestic flight, after entering Indonesia at another location that is either better equipped for mass immigration processing, and/or less burdened with international traffic.

jbalmuth

.....

jbalmuth

If it works, please report back which VIP service company you booked with.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

I will report back after saturday!

ek&sq

I will be flying SIN-DPS-SIN on QR (trying the airline is the purpose of the trip), returning the same day.. is there a tranit area in DPS? Or will I need a transit visa? Im 16, so I hope it wont be a problem getting one if I need to. Thanks for your replies..

kreeft

Is it really almost double to get a visa ahead of time? I'm heading there later this month, and I just started looking into the visa. Has anyone recently gotten the visa ahead of time in DC?

GibSpmuh

Having been through Jakarta airport twice in the past month at different times (5pm and 7pm) I can confirm both times took more than an hour to get a visa on arrival and go through immigration. So it's not a special punishment reserved for Bali, just a special punishment reserved for foriegners .

jpatokal

Wonder if there's any connection to the on arrival visa scam ring that was busted at DPS a while back? (Basically, crooked Imigrasi types were recording US$25 visas as US$10 in the ledger and pocketing the rest -- it adds up pretty fast!)

I have to say that I've never seen anything like this at DPS (or even CGK, which is max 1 hr on a bad day even with VOA queues). What flight/time were you on, and were there any weather delays etc? I once hit ridiculous lines at usually tolerably efficient KUL because they'd closed for an hour due to major thunderstorms, and then all the flights came in at once when they reopened.

LH7119

This is the most frustrating aspect of this thread. A lot of people never
experience any hassle. However, arriving after noon with all the LCC planes
arriving at the same time hell breaks loose. And the authorities know it, but
do not react. They have a maximum of 6-8 counters, of which 3-4 are
occupied. Why not staff more ? Seems to be Indonesian logic.

cgklax

Now you know how Indonesian gets treated abroad.

number_6

There is no international transit facilities at DPS; some airlines will send an airline rep to take you through to departures (CX does this for F/J pax) but it is entirely up to the airline. Otherwise you must purchase a Visa, enter Indonesia and then check-in landside. You might be charged the equivalent fee for transit (about USD 40; it is USD 25 for VOA and 150,000 rp. departure tax -- must be paid in cash so be sure to have USD with you).

If you were under 16 then a letter authorizing travel, signed by both parents, is needed for many countries (this is to prevent child abduction). It is possible that you aren't eligible for VOA which may complicate transit; but it is Indonesia, so a suitably large bribe will take care of it. Might be an expensive MR on QR, though.

Thunderroad

Oh, I think the logic is quite...logical. I suspect that immigration arrivals is deliberately understaffed in order to allow the VIP visa expediting services to make money off of passengers who will pay to avoid the waits; the services then split the proceeds with the immigration authorities. It could even be that behind the scenes the expediting services and the immigration authorities are one and the same.

In making this suggestion, I don't want to seem to be singling out Indonesia or Indonesians for corrupt practices. This kind of stuff goes on in all kinds of ways in many countries. It's just that visiting foreigners don't run into it nearly as much as citizens of those countries do.

Anyway, whether I'm right or wrong, and in a more constructive vein, over at Tripadvisor.com there are a couple of recent (July 25) posts re the VIP services still operating, though they don't specify the names of the services. Here's the link:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...port-Bali.html

goldengate

The thread on the VIP services doesn't seem to offer any currently operating services. I'd gladly pay big $$ to never wait in a line like that.

To answer the other question, our flight arrived at 2 pm and was the Cathay Flight fron HK. Many of the LCC's were arriving at the same time. I've read that arrivals from 2-5 pm and around 11 pm are the worst. Also, it was a Friday during peak tourist season. Frustrating part was that there were many immigration officers mulling around, and open stations. Would have been very easy to open up a few more lines. Again, I've traveled the world and never seen anything like what we experienced.