How to get to the Airport in Jakarta and costs?

-no extra cost.
-the fare is rp15.000 for each person
-it takes about 1,5 hours
-yes. the bus will wait in front of Gambir/monas. its color is white-blue (Damri bus). you don't have to book.
-using taxi, around rp100.000

take a taxi!!!! much, much easier. but always take "blue bird" taxis, because they're the safest, most reliable, etc.

Rp. 100.000 isn't a lot, and much safer/reliable/certain than the bus.

one thing about jakarta taxi is, right now there are so many taxis use the same blue color like Bluebird group
so if you aren't carefull, you'll be choosing the wrong one

thanks both of you!

Guess we will take the bus seeing as the fare is fixed and if we catch it at, say 2pm we WILL be at the airport by 7pm. We don't mind hanging around the airport.

I would take the taxi too. I never had a problem with Bluebird Group (which are not all blue!) or Express taxis, they always use the meters which have always been OK in my many hundreds of trips. The fare should be under 100,000 unless they have gone up a lot since I left 10 months ago. As well as the meter fare there is a charge of about 8,000 for the toll road. Plus I give a small tip.
Especially avoid Prestasi (look like Bluebird) and Ratax (I have had some very over-clocked meters).

If you do decide to go later than 2pm by taxi, beware that the rush hour starts after about 4pm and it can be seriously jammed especially if there is rain. It rarely took me more than about 1 hour to get to the airport but I was closer to the toll road than Gambir. Allow 2 hours I guess after 4pm.

the damri busses are alright. they're special airport buss and very safe, airconditioned and quite comfy. they'll stop at every terminals in the airport.

another benefit of the Damri bus is that you won't be bothered by all the beggars and street musicians at the intersections.

Good advice about using Bluebird taxis. As reported, other companies now pirate the colour blue, so you have to look carefully before getting in. Over-clocking is a favourite sport of some companies.

However, last time I was leaving the airport for Jakarta city, I found it impossible to get a bluebird taxi; they didn't have the airport franchise at the time, and only drop passengers off but were not allowed to be hired. The taxis available were very much 'rent a bomb'. Has this changed?

I've also used the bus and the service is reliable and cheap. But they won't drop you at your destination, so a taxi trip is needed there.

#8 As you say, Bluebird were banned from airport pickups for years.
The other companies would give "tips" to the airport taxi line staff then usually refused to use meters because they had to recoup this extra charge. Bluebird drivers should always use the meter (company rule) so could not add that extra bribe I mean fee to the fare.

The rules changed a few years back so (at international terminal, not sure about domestic) they have separate little lines for each taxi company. So you can go to the Bluebird line. It looks a bit chaotic as there is only space for one or two cabs for each company. I wonder if anyone uses Prestasi now. There are several good compenies now: Bluebird group and Express, plus some other small ones which are OK. I try never to use Pretasi or Ratax.

For many years I have used only Silverbird taxis to avoid all the hassle with the normal taxis. Though Silverbird are the luxury brand they always use the meter so often were cheaper than a Prestasi with a fast-forward meter or a negotiated fare. They have their own waiting area and dispatchers, all very civilised.
If there was a long line for Silvers, I would go upstairs to Departures and grab a Bluebird who was dropping someone and was delighted to get an instant run back to town, but I had to jump in quickly so we could drive off before the airport staff came over to theaten the driver... or worse.