Transfer time at Jakarta airport

folks, many thanks for the helpful info.

in general, would you say that Jakarta airport is a place that you can get through quickly and easily, or slowly and with difficulty? (or in between?) where i'm coming from is that some airports are a breeze and others aren't.

#10 I rate it as medium for a fairly busy airport.
Roughly I allow these times to clear these airports from plane to the street with checked bags (less with no bags)
- Good: Singapore 20-30min., with little or no delay for bags. Amsterdam also good.
- Medium: Jakarta - 45 min., immigration being slower than average, baggage usually coming out soon after I clear immigration.
- Poor: London Heathrow - 60 minutes with the main delay being baggage plus long walks (but immigration can be slow for non-EC passports)

These are all airports I have used many times especially over the last 15 years. Of course the time of arrival can make quite a difference at any of them, even Singapore slows down at times.
And no doubt having given these rather precise times they will be totally wrong on my next trip; I have great faith in Murphy's various laws.

Best of all are small airports where a small plane parks next to a small terminal building - some of those take about 5-10 minutes.
The worst I have been to are JFK and Miami but that was a long time ago, maybe they have improved.

I have a similar situation as the OP. My plane lands in Jakarta at 5.25pm and I would rather be on my way to Yogyakarta as soon as possible. The problem is that the final flight to Yogyakarta leaves at 7.30pm and considering that I have to wait for my luggage, go through immigration and transfer from terminal 2 to terminal 3 I suppose that 90 minutes won’t suffice to catch my intended flight (check-in time is 30 minutes before departure)? Flight tickets will already have been booked in advance if I choose this option. Is this a bad idea, even if my flight in to Jakarta is on time?

If the above alternative is a bit too optimistic I have two options:
a) Go in to town, sleep a couple of hours and be back in time for the Air Asia flight that leaves at 6.00 am the following morning.
b) Catch the night train which leaves around 20.40 from Gambir station.

Alternative B is the one that interests me the most, but I’ve read that all ticket offices at Gambir station close as early as 6.00pm which means that I won’t be able to get my hands on any tickets. Is this true or not? It sounds a bit strange that ticket offices don’t stay open until the time of departure, but what do I know.

Hi #12

Have you yet traveled to Jakarta? If you have, how did you solve the problem?

My situation is exactly 100% same as Evola's. Our Turkish Airlines flight lands Saturday evening 11.9.2010 (in the middle of Idul Fitri weekend!) at 17.25 o'clock to Terminal 2, and we'd like to continue to Jogja as soon as possible.

Last Mandala flight leaves from terminal 3 at 19.30 and cheapest ticket's available costs 979 800 IDR (for 2 person)

Last Garuda flight leaves from terminal 2 at 19.15 and cheapest ticket's available costs 1 564 400 IDR (for 2 person)

(Last LionAir flight leaves from terminal 3 at 19.00 and cheapest ticket's available cost 1838200 (for 2 person), so there is absolutely no point in flying with LionAir)

Would 1h20min be enough to catch our luggage, clear immigration, get visas and be in time at Mandala Check In (Mandala Airline counters close 45 minutes before scheduled flight departure time)? I'll buy ticket's beforehand if you, my respected fellow travelers, think that the time we have would be sufficient.

Few more questions regarding this airport matter:

Are visas bought from the Terminal 2?
How much a taxi from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 would cost (not too much I'd guess, but, as our trip starts from Jakarta, I don't want to be cheated, at least by bloody much ;))?

And then, to plan B. Situation is still the same with Evola. I need to get to Jogja as soon as possible without wasting a ton of money. Can I buy ticket's to night train (Argo Lawu) just before it's departure from Gambir? Is the train comfortable/safe enough to sleep? Should I try to get train ticket's in advance, and if I should, from where?

Thanks a lot for the answer's.. hopefully I get few more than poor Evola..

Edited by: dogi

As a general rule I suggest people leave as much time as possible between arriving at Terminal 2 and flying out on a domestic sector. A 2 hour window is very tight. Last time I came through Soekarno-Hatta about 6 weeks ago it took 2 hours to get through immigration because they had just introduced fingerprinting and photos. Hopefully things have improved and someone who has come in more recently can update you on current times.

Having said that however, Indonesian airlines are often late departing so you could risk it. Last time I flew Jakarta-Yogya about 3 weeks ago the (Indonesia) Air Asia plane was 3 hours late leaving Jakarta. IAA are notoriously late. I've flown with them quite a few times and they've never left on time. On my recent experience I'd say Garuda are the most likely to leave on time. Their service standards seem to have improved dramatically in recent years and (to the amazement of probably anyone who has ever flown with them) they just won an award as the world's most improved airline.

Assuming you are one of the nationals who qualify for VOA you buy your visa in Terminal 2 before you reach immigration. It's fairly quick and pain-free. A taxi from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 or 3 (assuming they use the meter) should be no more than Rp10,000.

#14 I don't think a taxi would be very happy with a 10,000rp fare between terminals as sometimes they have to wait a couple of hours in line to get a passenger and they expect a ride into town. Earn just 10,000rp then rejoin the 2 hour line - would you like that? I suppose you could ask the taxi dispatchers and there may be a system for inter-terminal taxis.

There is a transfer bus between terminals but I don't know how often.

It may be easier to get a taxi between terminals if you go to the departures level and grab a taxi who is dropping a departing passenger, but the security staff try to prevent this.

I would just like to add a few thoughts, as this is a common issue/question/problem:

• I think you need to allow 3 hours for transfer from international to domestic, perhaps a bit less if going on Garuda or Merpati because their domestic flights are also in Terminal 2. So, for example next week I will arrive in Jakarta at 18:50, and have a domestic flight at 21:40. It is easy to assume the flight will be late departing, but of course it is always on time when you are late.

• Going from domestic to international, I would allow 4 hours. Last week, I allowed 3 hours 20 minutes, but even then it was barely enough. The flight was an hour late arriving, then our luggage took another 45 minutes to appear. One of our items was damaged, so we had to report that. Then we had to change terminals, check-in, fill in departure cards, etc.

• Many people don't realise there is a free yellow inter-terminal bus. However, I am 99% sure that to enter it at the international terminal you will have to go upstairs to the departure area (there is a lift too beside the staircase); it doesn't pick up at arrivals downstairs.

On September 2, Mandala Air ( http://www.mandalaair.com/default.aspx?culture=en-US ) in Terminal 3 has the last flight of the day to Yogya:

Flight # Departs Arrives
Jakarta T3 Yogyakarta

RI342 19:30 20:30

As well as being permitted to fly in EU airspace like Garuda, Mandala has another advantage: if you book more than 10 days in advance, you can book and pay via Paypal in $US. This avoids the common problem of Indonesian airline websites not accepting foreign credit cards ( http://www.indonesiamatters.com/4938/booking-indonesian-flights-online/ ).

Have you yet traveled to Jakarta? If you have, how did you solve the problem?

Not yet, will be arriving Indonesia around 10 days before you do. I have however decided on to begin my vacation in Bali instead of Yogyakarta and work my way westwards instead of the other way around seeing as this alternative gives me a bit more time to catch my connecting flight in Jakarta. Not to mention that I’ll avoid Java’s chaotic roads during the build-up to Idul Fitri. My current itinerary will give me 3 hours transit-time in Jakarta, obviously it may be a bit tight but I’ll just have to cross my fingers and hope that my Turkish Airlines flight is on time and/or my Indonesia Air Asia flight is not (and hopefully there won’t be any problems at immigrations and customs).

I guess the most important thing in uncertain situations like this is to have a good back-up plan incase everything goes to hell. So yeah, doing your homework on alternate ways of transportation from Jakarta is not a bad idea I would say.