Truly Confused: Flight Info: KL>Bali or Medan>Maumere

Hi,

I'm having a bit of trouble booking a flight.
Most of the sites I've tried are extensively in Indonesian or do not accept online reservations or are not online currently.

I am about to leave Hat Yai (Thailand) tomorrow for Malaysia, where I will go to either Penang or Kuala Lumpur (go to an Indonesian embassy). I wish to visit Indonesia for 60 days, so I must get a visa beforehand.

I want to spent my time in the country between Bali and Maumere (Flores).
I wanted to fly all the way to Maumere, work my way back to Bali and then fly back to Bangkok (where I must be in mid-August).

Can someone help me out with this?

What is the most economical way to do this and where can I book a cheap flight to do this?

Just to clarify, I want to head as east as possible and then work my way back west over the 60 days.

Costs?
Airline suggestions?

I will check online in a few hours and truly appreciate it.

Marco

Fly from KL to Bali for sure!
Probably with Air Asia, which you can book online.
As for the Bali to Maumere ticket, just get it once you arrive in Bali - no need to book that in advance.
But get your visa in Penang anyway.

60 days just for Bali and Nusa Tenggara would be a great time-frame, allowing you to get well off the beaten track if you wish.
Most people simply rush through the Bali-Maumere route, but you will be able to see a lot more.
In fact with that much time I'd recommend seeing more of Nusa Tenggara, by flying first to Sumba, Timor or Alor, and working your way back towards Bali from those via Flores, using ferries and buses.

Definitely fly from Kl to Denpasar (Bali) by Air Asia - it has the cheapest rates. Denpasar is a main transport hub for Nusa Tenggara region. There're 3 avia companies which fly to Flores island.
Merpati flies Denpasar-Maumere for 772000 rp.
Transnusa flies Denpasar-Labuan Bajo for 651000-761000 rp. and Denpasar-Ende for 849000 rp.
IAT (ex-GT Air) flies Denpasar-Labuan Bajo for 650000 rp.
The only way to buy a ticket to Flores is shopping around Denpasar airport - all 3 companies have offices in Denpasar airport and open at 8 am. Usually they have seats before departure. But they cancel flights quite often because there's not enough passengers so sometimes you have to spend 1 night in Bali. Just be prepared to it, don't panic. The domestic airlines are awful, the delays and cancellations are normal thing. Actually on my way to Ende I stuck in Sumba for two days becuse the Transnusa plane was broken and we even saw the smoking engine. And they cannot manage a new plane for two days! People say that Merpati is more relaible but they also sometimes cancel flights.
If you stuck in transit in Bali just spend one night in Kuta in the cheapest guesthouse (around 50000 rp/night) in Poppies Lane 2. The Perama shuttle bus to airport costs only 15000 rp and must be booked 1 day in advance, they have an office near Kuta corner on Legian street, the taxi from airport to Kuta costs 40000-50000 rp.

It seems you have to stay overnight in Bali anyway.
Air Asia has two flights to Denpasar - at 10:55 and 16:40, the cheapest rate is 61 USD, early flight arrives in Bali at 2pm
http://booking.airasia.com<BR>Merpati has only one flight to Maumere from Denpasar at 13:10
http://www.merpati.co.id/index1.htm<BR>Transnusa has also only morning flights from Denpasar: to Ende at 10:10 and 12:40, to Labuan Bajo at 10:30 and 13:00
http://www.transnusa.co.id/module.php<BR>Indonesia Air Transport (IAT) has only one flight Denpasar-Labuanbajo at 10:15

wow floresgirl that's a very well researched answer...I'm impressed! nothing I can add to this...

I'd consider reversing the itinerary. Fly into Bali, then work your way out the islands by land and sea, and fly back from Maumere or Kupang. With two months at your disposal, you might find that you'll want to go beyond Maumere, either out beyond Larantuka to Lembata, the Alors, etc. , or over to Savu, Roti, and Timor. If you get out to the edges, you'll probably find that returning from Kupang, Timor to Bali makes more sense than flyimg back from Maumere.
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If you have to fly into or out of Labuhanbajo, by all means take IAT. It's a tricky runway that is susceptible to weather problems, and Merpati is notorious for chickening out (not to mention losing your luggage), as opposed to making a couple of passes to take advantage of weather "windows". Maumere has a huge runway, so flights are much more dependable. Kupang is an even more major hub.
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Thanks a lot for the info.

I booked a flight from KL to Bali.
Tomorrow I'm going to Penang's Indonesia embassy to apply for the 60-day visa.

I have a problem though:

I do NOT have a ticket out of Indonesia. I've heard that is REQUIRED to get a visa.

I have a return ticket back home (Toronto) as part of my Around-The-World package from Hong Kong, along with tickets from Bangkok, Melbourne and Auckland, but NOT one from Indonesia; I still haven't decided how I want to get out of the country; via ferry, or flying and so on.

Do you think I can get around this problem by showing my existing tickets, credit cards, and using my Canadian citizenship to my advantage, or will this hold no credibility and are they quite fixed in this respect?

I'm going to the embassy in less than 10 hours so if someone could shed some light I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks once more :)
Marco

I was also reading that printing out the final page of an Air Asia itinerary would take care of the onward ticket requirement?

Any thoughts on a trick such as this?