Greg48

I've had some hesitation the past couple of trips to use Lion, because of the extremely heavy schedule they were running. The planes (and for that matter the flight attendents) who looked new and fresh the first year of operation took and an appearance of overuse very quickly.
I've been very comfortable with Garuda-- had no problems with Merpati, and haven't hesited to fly one of the LCCs where it was convenient

FlyerInCmh

I've flown Garuda, Lion, Indonesia AirAsia, and Mandala. Garuda was the best, Lion was not too bad (I was on their MDs, 737-400s, and 737-900ERs), Indonesia AirAsia's and Mandala's planes were a bit old and worn, but the flights were just fine.

LH747FTL

Adam is just about grounded as we speak - the rest are fine.

Flown on Adam/Batavia/Expressair/Garuda/Indonesia Air Asia/Lion/Mandala/Merpati/Sriwijaya/Wings. Garuda is consistent and boring, the rest are always interesting experiences.

GibSpmuh

I've flown with a host of the airlines within Indonesia as well - as others have said, Garuda is the best choice overall, and others can be interesting to various degrees .

But as also mentioned by others, given the way people drive in Indonesia and even the seeming regularity of train derailments as well, flying's still much safer than your other options within Indonesia for getting around.

jpatokal

Agreed with most comments above -- Indonesian airlines may be dodgy, but they're far less dodgy than any of the alternatives...

A collection of my trip reports for Adam Air, Garuda, Indonesia Air Asia, Lion Air and Wings Air:
Fly is Cheap: Low-Cost Adventures in Indonesia

7free

Well, Adam has just been grounded by the government. So don't have to think anymore about them.

spotwelder

Our company standing instructions for Indonesia are not to use domestic airlines when possible. Sometimes it is not possible to avoid them. We would never have used Adam Air. I saw the 737 before the tail dropped off and could tell that there were serious structural problems with the aircraft months beforehand. However, nobody in Indonesia listens to us. We are only aircraft accident investigators so what the hell do we know about aircraft anyway?

The recent Garuda 737 overrun was the best of the worst of Indonesian flying. I have seen it in most of the crashes in Indonesia.

However, when considering the requirement to be in Indonesia and the dangers of ground transport there, flying is relatively safe as an option. As ever, worry about when you on other forms of transport and know where the exits are!

jpatokal

It might not be enough to know where the exits are -- here's a video taken inside the Adam Air plane that overran and busted its landing gear in Batam last week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YK136amZYI

LH747FTL

That's a B737-200 in the video, the one that overran in BTH was 737-400.

jpatokal

I'll take your word for it, but this means they've had multiple incidents where the cabin crew can't open/can't figure out how to open the doors?

SeaMeFly

same goes with all other Air Asia's planes, I think. I was on one of them from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi and I swear I could smell the toilet from my seat which was in front of the FA's front jumpseat.

Mabuk dan gila

Indonesia AirAsia is still flying older 737-400's exclusively but Malaysian AirAsia has brand new,factory fresh A320's for at least some of the flights KUL-SUB and KUL-CGK as well as some of their other international destinations. The plan is to completely phase out the 737's and replace then with brand new A320's.

Boarding AirAsia flights in Indonesia may carry some risk of being trampled to death but I believe they maintain good maintenance practices and properly train their pilots.

7free

Indonesia AirAsia fly the 737-300 not the -400, while Malaysia AirAsia now flying an all-Airbus fleet, all of their older 737-300 was given to Indonesia and Thai AirAsia.

hserus

You sure its the toilet? One pax in a seat near you with bad gas can make your trip miserable enough ..

Mr. Roboto

Or contraband durian!