Based in Jakarta, Batik Air Indonesia is a full-service airline forming part of the Lion Air Group. In addition to a large domestic network, the airline operates flights to destinations across Southeast Asia as well as from Bali to Perth.
Batik Air Indonesia offers Economy and Business Class service, with checked baggage and a snack included as part of the ticket price.
I recently needed to fly from Jakarta to Singapore during a busy travel period. This airline offered a considerably lower price than other airlines on the route, including Jetstar, so I thought I’d give them a try.
What was the experience like? Find out as I review my Batik Air Indonesia Economy Class flight from the Indonesian capital to Singapore…
Note that Batik Air Indonesia (IATA code “ID”) is a different airline to Batik Air Malaysia (IATA code “OD”). Batik Air Malaysia is also part of the Lion Air Group, but is based in Kuala Lumpur and used to be called Malindo Air. Both Batik Air Indonesia and Batik Air Malaysia operate flights to Australia.
Contents
Flight Details
Flight number | ID7159 |
Route | Jakarta (CGK) to Singapore (SIN) |
Aircraft type | Boeing 737-800 |
Class of travel | Economy |
Seat number | 24A |
On-time performance | We arrived on time |
Star rating |
The route
Flight Cost
I paid $184 (in Australian Dollars) for a one-way Economy Class ticket. This was for a peak travel time, booked at relatively short notice. You can often get a lower price by travelling off-peak and booking further in advance.
Airport Experience
I wasn’t able to choose a seat in advance, and was automatically allocated a middle seat when checking in online. Online check-in opened 12 hours before departure and closed with 45 minutes to go. During the check-in process, I was able to move to a window seat towards the back of the plane.
Batik Air offers extra legroom seats at the front of the Economy cabin and in the exit rows, but I could not find a way to reserve one of those seats – even for an additional fee.
For international flights, Batik Air uses Terminal 2 at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. This appears to be the more “budget” international terminal and is shared with the likes of Lion Air, AirAsia and Scoot. (Garuda Indonesia and most international airlines, including Qantas, use the more modern Terminal 3 for international flights.)
There was only a short queue to drop my checked luggage and receive a paper boarding pass.
After checking in I headed through passport control, past a few shops and then through security. In hindsight, I should have waited to clear security as there were very limited food and drink options beyond that checkpoint – just a few stands selling coffee, cold drinks and packaged snacks. There was no Priority Pass lounge available in this terminal.
That said, the terminal has character and was clean, quiet and very pleasant. I liked the design with gardens and trees in between each of the gates.
Boarding commenced almost an hour prior to the scheduled departure time via a bus gate. After a long bus ride to the other side of the airport, we boarded our 7-year-old Boeing 737-800.
The Hard Product
The Batik Air Indonesia Boeing 737-800 had a fairly modern Boeing Sky Interior fit-out with pleasant mood lighting. Unfortunately, the panel lights above my seat area were permanently stuck in the brightest setting and one of the light panels across the aisle from me was flickering for the entire flight.
This aircraft had three rows of Business Class seating at the front…
And 150 leather Economy Class seats in a standard 3-3 layout. The Economy seats lacked adjustable headrests but reclined and were well-padded.
With 32 inches of seat pitch, the legroom was surprisingly good. I could comfortably sit in my seat without my knees touching the seat in front.
There was a personal in-flight entertainment screen on the back of the seat in front. The entertainment system had a very limited range of games, movies and TV shows. There were also music and moving map options, but the music folder was empty and the moving map didn’t work.
The entertainment options were better than nothing, but there really wasn’t a whole lot to watch. Luckily, we were treated to some stunning views of the sunset as we flew towards Singapore, skirting around a few thunderstorms.
The Soft Product
All Economy Class passengers were served a complimentary sweet bread roll filled with something resembling Nutella and a cup of water. This was included in the ticket price. No other drinks or snacks were available, including for purchase.
The cabin crew were friendly and made all announcements in Indonesian and English.
Batik Air Indonesia Economy Class
Final thoughts
This was a pleasant and uneventful flight. It arrived on time and got me to Singapore for a significantly lower price than any of the other seven airlines serving this route.
While the service was nothing to write home about, the crew did a good job and the seat was comfortable enough for the short flight. The legroom was particularly good. You might want to BYO entertainment if flying with Batik Air Indonesia on a longer flight, as the range of in-flight entertainment available was limited.
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