Corrupt practise in Jakarta

[psan]

A while back I was flying CKG-SIN on Y (can't remember the date and flight no.) and my check in bag weighted in at 32kg (or somewhere around that). The check in staff told me I had to pay overweight charges and I asked her if she could let me off. To my surprise, she pointed to the station manager and asked me to "negotiate" with him to avoid paying the overweight charges! It was then another staff that happened to pass by and asked what's going on pointed that I was a qualified passenger (I did hand her my PPS card with my ticket and passport), and to just check the bag in.

I am shocked that this kind of corrupt practices still exist in Jakarta. Anyone had similar experience recently?

[StarG]

Just a thought - could the agent be talking about just asking the SM to waive (without any corruption intended)? You know sometimes if your bag is overweight by - say - 10kg, we can 'negotiate' to pay less than 10kg excess even in other stations / on other airlines.
Maybe a new staff as she didn't even know PPS get 20kg extra allowance in Y.
I have never had such an experience myself.

[mec]

Without HARD evidence, your post is quite a sweeping statement IMHO.

StarG is right to say that she may have meant to bring the matter up to a higher authority to handle your case.

If I were her and were really after some money, I'd have negotiated with you personally instead of referring you to a higher authority. What she did instead, doesn't seem like corruption.

[Lobster]

I agree with StarG I doubt whether this was corruption. Sounds like a check in agent who either did not know PPS get extra allowance or just plain forgot. It is very normal practice for when a passenger asks for this to be wiaved that it has to go up to a manager as the normal check in staff do not have the authority and having people argue over the charge at the check in desk would just delay check in for everyone else.

[KeithMEL]

Hardly unusual or "corrupt."
The first check in agent must either be new to the job or plain forgot that PPS get extra baggage allowance. Happens a fair bit with various airlines departing from a variety of cities.

[psan]

thanks all. perhaps you are right and i grossly misunderstood what she meant.

[singaporu_kooku]

Indonesia can be really corrupted, but so far I haven't experienced it with SQ and CX agent in SUB. They are one of the strictest airline agents out there. GA on the other hand, is totally different story. You can bring your whole house and they won't charge extra for it, as long as you tip the agent of course..

[blast-off]

Well singaporu_kooku, you must be got the bad agents...lol....but i agree with u for GA...hehehehe....
SQ used to be quite okay with excess luggage...but with MI now they seemed to be pretty strict....but somehow some check-in agents in Indonesia do not have the knowledge about extra luggage allowance from KF Gold or PPS....cos its what I experienced before...(they need to check twice that KF Gold actually got 20kg extra)....

[acey]

Now that we are at this topic..anbody encountered passport control officers asking for "under-table" money ??
Not me personally (but I've only been to CGK abt 7 times), but my colleague encountered that before.

[singaporu_kooku]

I never got asked before, but passport control officer usually asked for money on arrival, rarely on departures. If you bring so many luggage with you and look "rich", then you can be an easy target for them.

[UMD]

Now that we are at this topic..anbody encountered passport control officers asking for "under-table" money ??
Not me personally (but I've only been to CGK abt 7 times), but my colleague encountered that before.

Never happened to me before at CGK.

[blast-off]

I never experienced that in CGK, but in smaller airport like SUB or DPS they do actually ask. For foreigners (usually westerner), they going to make their VOA quite difficult and end up asking for money. For locals, they mark the luggage with white cross everywhere and end up the customs will insists to see whats inside and try to make it up as if you brings prohibited goods (even though you are not bringing anything)....in DPS...my friends brought some chocolate bars over to indo...then one of customs officer actually ask for 1 of the choco bar....lol...

[The High Flyer]

in DPS...my friends brought some chocolate bars over to indo...then one of customs officer actually ask for 1 of the choco bar....lol...

Now I know. In future, I'll pack some rat poison in one of my bars.

[blast-off]

I think so....lol

[CGK]

Back to the original post #1, I believe there is a misunderstanding. "Negotiate" doesn't mean a bribery hint. What the agent meant is that by speaking directly to the manager, perhaps he/she would waive the excess luggage or may be only charged a tiny portion of it. I had experienced that for my best friend's family after visiting me in Indonesia and they were heading back to Bangkok. Extremely overweight even when flying F. But indeed, talking to the manager/supervisor, we were able to negotiate to pay just a tiny bit without any illegal transaction.

And I am sorry to hear about other experiences regarding customs or immigration. I am sure it's not common. And yes the title of this thread is making it sounds like Jakarta is a bad place. I am confident that now days, entering Indonesia is not bad at all, compare to in 1980s or 1990s. And yes, I had my own personal experience in BKK so many times, but I would not jump to conclusion that Bangkok has corrupt practise.

Cheers,
Greetings from Europe