Overnight stay in airport
 

Aiport Hotel is land side.

I'm arriving to CGK at 4:05 AM on CX and looking to take a flight to DPS that morning. What is a safe connection time on a separate ticket on a LCC (Air Asia, Lion, etc.). I will have a checked bag. I was looking at 8 AM and 10 AM flights. I know 10 AM would be perfectly safe, but what about the 8 AM?

4 hours is fine. You'll have sufficient padding for a 1 hour delay but not much more.

Well as it turns out my friend who I am meeting has to work that day and we are going to take a 3:30 PM flight, so now I just need to find something to do / day hotel in the area. I'll be spending a couple days in Jakarta on the back end of the trip so I don't need to rush to see anything, just find a place to relax.

Thanks much. Just in case Indonesia treats it differently than the US, would we need to clear immigration at CGK? Not LOP?

You will have to clear immigration at CGK.

I will have a few hours in CGK mid-day on a Saturday (landing around 1:00 PM and departing around 9:00 PM). Let’s say I could leave the airport around 2:00 PM and I will need to reach back the airport at 7:00 PM, so just 5h in total. Can anyone suggest a hypermarket or a department store or a shopping mall relatively easily reachable from the airport where I can stock up on local groceries and get back to the airport in time for my 9:00 PM flight? Usually I am doing my Asian groceries shopping in Kuala Lumpur, as my work trips bring me to KL every 6 weeks or so but this time I am doing a mileage run to CGK - just could not help it 😬 - and I would really like to use my time in CGK to do some groceries shopping rather than just trying to kill time at the airport. Thanks a lot for any pointers!

Is Hero at Puri Indah Mall my best bet or is there something even easier to get to from CGK airport?

Market City or The Food Hall in Pantai Indah Kapuk would be better options. They're closer to the airport and avoid needing to take the Outer Ring Road as well (which always seems to be jammed these days).There's also plenty of decent dining options in Pantai Indah Kapuk as well, so easy enough to grab a bite somewhere pleasant before or after filling up your shopping bags (it certainly beats the dining options available at the airport!).

Travelling on two separate tickets
 

First time travelling on two separate tickets, happened to purchase a business class QR tickets to BOS from CGK. However, I’m flying into CGK from SIN first so I have a few questions, how many hours should I leave for transiting between flights, because I read that CGK can be quite slow or may have delays. If it helps, my flight from CGK to DOH is QR957, departing around 5.50pm.

Another question is do i have to collect my luggage upon arrival and recheck in again? Or is there airline I should be taking so that I can check through (despite being two separate tickets?), would it help if I take SQ since I’m flying in from SIN?

Sorry for the lengthy post, thank you in advance!

Peeps - anyone have any recommendations for a 5* fairly central hotel with balcony? I can't remember seeing a hotel with one - apart from Dharmawangsa - but that blows budget this time - circa US$150 a night - can stretch if needbe?

Thanks in advance.

I think the Hermitage does have suite room with balcony (the second floor) if I recall correctly. It is in central and should suite your budget I think.