IluvSQ

In planning a current Asian trip, I was left with an open-jaw between
Jakarta and Singapore. Usually I fly SQ on this route, but for a one-
way flight, they wanted around USD 1000 in business, and a few hundred
in economy. I thought I could do better, so started searching with Google.
I quickly found Air Asia and Tiger in the USD 30 range, but I do not fly
in economy usually, and certainly not in any sub-31 inch seat.

Google showed me a flight on Batik Air in J class for USD 95.00 ( Y was
around $75). I did some research, found they are a subsidiary of Lion Air,
and had J class seats with 45 inch pitch. I figured what the heck - it's
only a 1.5 hour flight, and booked the ticket through their web site.


Check in was very fast, much faster than SQ usually is. I had no luggage,
and was through immigration within 12 minutes of arrival at the airport.

They are using Garuda's Emerald lounge in Jakarta T2, and it was very crowded
today. I did find a seat at the computer desk. The only drawback of this
lounge is that it is beyond the E gates entrance, while my flight departs
from the D gates ( same as SQ). It is a very long schlep from the lounge
to the D pier. Lounge offering are typical Jakarta lounge: 5-6hot dishes (all
of them unlabeled, so one must guess what they are, some soup, sandwiches,
salads, and sweets. Usual drinks offerings. Since Jakarta security inspection
is at the entrance to each pier, I left the lounge about 1 hour before my flight.

While passing through security, there was an announcement of a gate change,
which turned out to be to a bus gate. There was a private bus for business
class passengers

On boarding I found a new A320, with 3 rows of 4 across seating in J class.
Comfort, seats, and pitch were very similar to AC domestic J class service.
Load was 9/12. Pre-departure water or juice wa offered with packaged cashews.
Hot towels were provided.

Pushback came 10 minutes before our scheduled 1:00 PM departure, and we were airborn
about 15 minutes later.

Lunch was served, no menus, just a choice of chicken or fish. I chose the chicken,
and was presented with a tray of curry chicken, rice, and veggies, a package of
shrimp crackers, and an orange muffin. All edible, but nothing special. A glass
of water was on the tray, but no other beverages were offered.

Touchdown was about 15 minutes before scheduled 3:45 arrival, and we were at the
gate soon after. On disembarking we were greeted with one of those SIN arrival
security checks that are common on flights from Indonesia, but I was soon through.

All in all, a very serviceable flight, and extremely great value for the money,
certainly worth forgoing any FF points.

camsean

Interesting TR. Thanks for posting.

aSiAnRiCk

Thanks for sharing. I flew Batik Air JOG-CGK two years ago and really enjoyed it.

Any pictures from the trip?

Kiwi Flyer

Thanks for posting about an airline that isn't often (ever?) reported on here at FT, IluvSQ ^

IluvSQ

Sorry, no, I am not the picture type

IluvSQ

Thank you.
That is actually why I wrote up this report; I was not sure what to expect
when I booked this and I wanted to help those who might also consider
this airline.

Aergales

Actually this airline is a serious threat for Garuda for domestic and regional routes, their service can be said on par with the national carrier on economy and business cabin but with lower price

DeepUnderground

Yeahhhh, no.

IluvSQ

Just to update this, I flew ID again last week CGK-SIN, not as pleasant.
the price was still right, business class at under USD 100.

But check-in took 25 minutes - there were 4 people in front of me ( 2 sets of couples),
and I waited 25 minutes for them to sort out their difficulties and luggage. After boarding,
NONE of them were in J class!

Batik had been using the Garuda lounge. When I left the check-in counter, I asked the
agent " Garuda Lounge?", and she said yes. Well, since Garuda moved to T3 last month,
there is no Garuda lounge. I made several treks back and forth from one end of the airport to the other, being sent on wild goose chases by various lounge agents. In the
end - no lounge, and no Batik Air agents anywhere in departure area.

The final straw came when I went to D gates security for my D6 departure, only to be
be told there had been an unannounced gate change - to E7. My 6th kilometer trek
between D and E area. At the gate they confirmed no more lounge.

355F1

Flying CGK-LBJ in J next February.

I will definitely post a full trip report with pics!

DeepUnderground

Talk about early booking!

IluvSQ

Last month I flew Batik the other way - SIN-CGK. Again, no lounge provided in SIN ( I used Priority Pass).
The same J class seats at very reasonable prices.
I will continue to fly them on this route as long as prices are 10-20% of those of SQ.