UASPG

But they have an issue with their credit card verification process.
As stated earlier, I tried (several times) a c/c from Chase and another one from Citibank. Both were "declined", but I called both banks and they had no record of a charge attempt by Garuda.
On the other hand, no issue whatsoever with the payment process on the Air Asia website.

I hope that representatives of Garuda read posts on websites like FT, because they certainly do not get their information from emails, as they do not provide an email address, for their customers.
I have never flown Garuda, but, obviously, this experience does not give me a good opinion of the airline.

MRC

See also my post in this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...l#post18774612

Today I tried again, and failed again to make a booking on line, the session timed out when confirming the purchase. Last time we had to call to Indonesia to make the booking, which is more expensive thru a call center as they will add service charge. The website is still not good, for your mobile phone number you are obliged to fill out the area code number, which even for Indonesian mobile numbers is not applicable. Off topic: I try to book a trip using garuda frequent flyers miles for my wife. So far we had to come down to the Garuda office 3 times (!), and still they are not able to transfer my miles to my wifes account so she can make the purchase. It is not possible to do this online yourself with Garuda. So disappointing. Wonder why they got the 'most improved airline' award, they are still a badly run stated owned company. Anyway, in the end I took my business to Air Asia. Again.

Tiki

Garuda has some very cheap fares if you are booking at least 6 months in advance. Our trip is in March 2013. I tried at first with my Chase Sapphire Visa (wanting 2 x UR points) and it was rejected just like the other people in this thread reported. No charge went on my card, it just kicked me out back to the home page.

I tried again with my Aussie NAB Visa and it went through after going through a "Verified by Visa" screen where I had to enter my password.

I still need tickets on Sriwijaya, Batavia and/or Lion Air as we are going to West Papua-SOQ and MKW. It's a bit early to be buying the regional tickets, they may run promos closer in, like in Dec or Jan. Lion Air has a Singapore based website, I was wondering if that one would at least take foreign credit cards?

Maluku_Flyer

Going to Cendrawasih Bay? Have fun with the whale sharks. I'm going to SOQ in December myself.

There's also http://www.panorama-tours.com/page/contact-us.

I always book Lion/Wings/Sriwijaya/Batavia through local contacts, but I've heard from people who were happy with this outfit.

Another alternative is this one: http://www.travelindo.com/

Haven't used either one myself, though.

The Righteous Dude

As explained here, only AirAsia accepts all credit cards. Garuda accepts selected countries' credit cards, while the other only accept Indonesian credit cards.

Another option for booking Indonesian domestic flights is Mau Ke Mana. They specialise in selling flight tickets to visitors, and use Paypal so can accept all credit cards.

Tiki

Actually we will be looking for Cendrawasih (birds of paradise) up in the trees, not underwater! We are birders, though I know that area is also very popular with divers.

ahcjar103

i just had mau de mana book 2 garuda tickets for me. however, after 3 confirmations, they went ahead and booked the wrong flight.

now they're saying they need copies of passports in order to change the flights. this seems a little sketch to me.

advice?

Shahed

I was advised to use the garuda-indonesia.com website by a family member who booked internal Indonesia online fares from London, using a UK credit card in mid October 2012. After much hesistation on reading about rejection of international credit cards, I then booked the same fare a week later with my Qatar registered card. I selected the flights, took the option of registering a username with password, then entered passenger names and contact details. There was also the option to bypass the new user registration. I then entered credit card billing address (exactly as on my statement) with expiry date and 3-digit security code. On continuing, I was taken to my card issuer authentication site where I entered the password (you should have this password from the first time you use your card online). After several anxious seconds of screens being opened,closed or redirected (just wait in this period) I got the itinerary approval which I was offered to print and did that. An email followed immediately.

Mau Ke Mana were indeed very helpful and prompt though the online fares were somewhat cheaper. At the very least you could say we were fortunate, it is just my experience.

jabez

Welcome to FT and thanks for posting!

Alzarius

Great. Should have read this thread before trying to book on Garuda's website. Got a failure screen during credit card verification..... but I just logged on to my credit card's online banking website and it shows 2 pending charges from Garuda. So I have a pending double charge and no booking code or confirmation email whatsoever.

Now I'm dreading the endless back and forth with them to fix this.

mhb1954

I'm trying to book an inter-ID flight, DPS>SUB and I've given up on the website. It doesn't accept my Visa card. I tried to call all phone numbers posted for USA and CDN and no answer except at CDN when I got a recording saying they were not open weekends. Ok, I guess I can wait until Monday, unless I find something better for my routing in the in between. Maybe I should just skip GA. I agree with the other posters who find it amazing that the GA website seems so problematic WRT credit card acceptance.

Alzarius

In case anyone else has trouble in the future, I did end up getting this resolved by the next day. Despite the failure screen during credit card verification and 2 pending charges from Garuda, I received a confirmation email the next day as well as my e-tickets. The double charge was resolved automatically without needing a phone call. So despite the horrible website, things sort of fixed itself.

Can't believe how inept their website is though. And this airline is for the 4th most populated country in the world.....

SAllen

Tried 4x to no avail on a US credit card. Got this message instead - no confirmation or email. Hope I was not charged 4x!

"We have difficulty processing your payment. Please re-enter payment information and try again. (4686 - 481)"

No improvement despite this being Dec 2015!

SaintKev

I'm also having dramas with the Garuda website. Trying to save a few dollars
booking a multi city itinerary. All flight options aren't available for one leg SOQ/CGK.
Tried splitting the trip, got a price, enter out details and then get error 15012 - 104.
Had a twitter conversation with Garuda earlier in the week, typing to a brick wall.

hotstepper

Got same error.

Tried to book a roundtrip domestic CGK-DPS on the site, b/c they have a promotion that on Wednesdays this month, you can get 7.5%-10% off using Visa. I tried w/ my Citi Visa (US version), got the same 4686-481 error. I called Citi and they said they approved it, but the merchant (Garuda) denied it.

Tried calling the Call Center in Indonesia and they weren't able to access the 7.5% off web fare. Tried making a phone reservation for a slightly higher price. After hold reservation was made, the automated phone system took my CC info - I tried a Citi MC (US version). I received an email to say a hold reservation was made (but no indication of CC success). After about an hour, didn't get an email CC confirmation so I called back and they said my CC was denied. Once again, a call to Citi customer service said they approved this second charge.

Ended up having to book the ticket w/ Expedia (pretty much the same fare as the call center price, maybe $2 USD difference due to currency fluctuation). Pretty much instant confirmation. Was able to change my seats instantly via Garuda's site and to see the confirmed booking.