The Ultimate CGK Flight Guide

[soarbeyond]

Seasons Greetings!

It has taken me a very long time to start typing out trip reports again.
As we come to end of the year, I look back and realise that I’ve flown many new airlines and interesting sectors that are not widely reported on the net.

Hence, I shall be introducing a couple of trip reports shortly.

It has taken me awhile to start penning down this guide for the Singapore-Jakarta-Singapore sectors.
I blame my procrastination for this. I’ve flown every airline flying this route due to my bi-monthly commute to Jakarta to meet my other half.
She is no stranger to those who have read my trip report years ago.
The report can be found here > http://www.sqtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12790

After all the big hoo-hah between us, we did not contact one another for a very long time until one day, I got wind of news that she actually had a car accident, but, she was unscathed. We spoke briefly and promptly lost contact once again.

It’s funny how we humans can go from being strangers to having certain levels of relationships with one another and then finally being strangers once again. We got into contact once again , when it was my turn to get into an accident. I posted a picture of the interior of an ambulance online (I know, being in so much pain, I could still manage a shot of the ambulance with my legs hanging…). She got into contact with me once again and the rest they say is, history.

I start off this report with a trip taken from the seventh month of the year 2014 and will gradually come to the latest trips in 2015. I will not be posting every single flight I took, but rather, the more interesting ones. This guide will hopefully give everyone an insight on what to expect on the flights within this widely flown route.

I do hope that each and everyone of you will enjoy the various reports that would be featured here and as always,I would be happy to accept any comments, suggestions and criticisms. I do apologise for the slightly oversize photos. I'll get it sorted as soon as I can once I find a way to it.

Sincerely,

Soarbeyond

[soarbeyond]

It is the year 2014, it has been 2 years since my last trip to Jakarta and over 2 years since I last saw her. There is much that has changed for the both of us ever since we last met. She has relocated to the United States, and she is now Single. Well, it’s a long story. When we began talking, the feelings rekindled and we both decided to go single… More on this later). She has gone back to Jakarta during this period (June to Aug) for a holiday and this is when we decided to meet.

The airline of choice for this early morning departure is Tigerair. This is actually my first ever budget airline flight and the flight that would slap me into the reality of budget air travel… Gone are the lounge accesses, priority boarding, good legroom, savory meals and of course, free luggage. Read on to find out how I would adapt to this reality.



TR 2278
0945-1040
12 Jul 2014

We (I gave my best friend an all expense paid trip with me before he heads on to Thailand to help me calm my nerves and set up something special) begin this journey at 0724 hours at Door 5 of Changi’s Terminal 2. It was relatively easy to find the bright yellow signage of Tigerair at the end of the Departure hall. My first impressions of this airline?

Goodness Gracious me. The queue was horrendous. The amount of people here today, on the morning of a June weekday was shocking. I promptly got into the queue after being queried and directed by their ground staff. Even though we had done online check in and just needed to drop off our luggage, there were no dedicated bag drop counters.

I did a quick profile of the queue and found many holiday goers ranging from teens to elder folks. There were many people who I presume were heading to nearby destinations for a quick day trip? They mostly had a file or a laptop bag with them and nothing else.

The queue moved ever so slightly and after 25 minutes in the queue, it got to our turn. With the luggage dropped, it was off to another check by a ground staff for our boarding passes and weighing and tagging of our carry on and into the departure lounge where we decided to grab a quick simple bite at the 24 hour foodcourt.


T2 is showing its age with its low ceilings

I ordered a plate of fried bee hoon(vermicelli) and coffee which added up to a ridiculous amount of SGD $14. Do not let the food court atmosphere fool you on the prices. It was a lesson well learnt and I’ve never visited another food court in Changi ever again. The simple meal does not justify it's inflated price.



After the quick bite, it was off to gate F32 to board our Airbus A320. We were one of the last to board and, WOW… Bring so used to widebody jets, this was a shocker. The flight was fairly full and we trotted off to the back for our aisle seats. The legroom was tight but not too uncomfortable for a short hop.

Announcements were made and we were pushed back at 0946. While taxiing, the captain came on to give us an update that due to the congestion around Changi, we can expect to be off the ground in the next 17 minutes or so.

I am going to cut short this report due to the lack of pictures as I dropped my phone on the travelator and the screen cracked rendering it useless and my memory fading on me. I promise better quality reports in the next sectors.

We took off, ordered some overpriced chicken rice because the person infront ordered one and the smell wafted to our nostrils and we couldn’t resist. The food quality was not on the point of being inedible but I guess there’s nothing to complain about. Upon descent, we were told by the Captain that we have been placed in a holding pattern for around 20 minutes and we should have a delayed arrival of around 10 minutes.

We arrived, I needed to get my Visa on Arrival and it was off to find our hotel car waiting for us at the porch of the arrival hall.

That wraps up a very quick and short hop onboard my first ever Budget Flight. I do conclude that budget air travel is not that horrible as to what some people make it out to be. It gets you from Point A to B at no frills safely. As long as nothing goes wrong, we’re all happy and contented with such cheap fares. But, once something goes wrong… I would not want to be in such a situation, much less, imagine it.

During this 7 day trip, I proposed to her. If anyone is interested, let me know and I’ll type it down here. If not, I’ll continue with the return flight. Haha

[Tonitan]

Merry Christmas! Yes please share your proposal with us! Memories are made of these right! Wishing you and your family a blissful 2016 ahead!

[yflyer]

I blame my procrastination for this. I’ve flown every airline flying this route due to my bi-monthly commute to Jakarta to meet my other half.
She is no stranger to those who have read my trip report years ago.
The report can be found here > http://www.sqtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12790

That is one of my all time favourite TR's!

Looking forward to reading your latest TR, soarbeyond!

[yflyer]

I dropped my phone on the travelator and the screen cracked rendering it useless and my memory fading on me.

I've lost count of how many times phones have been dropped on my trips, either by me, or Mrs yflyer and the kids...

If anyone is interested, let me know and I’ll type it down here. If not, I’ll continue with the return flight. Haha[/I][/B]

90 minute CGK-SIN return flight on an LCC sounds really interesting, but I don't mind waiting a little longer to hear the rest of your story before you get to that..

[SQGamespeed]

Happy holidays soarbeyond! This is just the type of sequel your "Romance" TR deserves.

Looming forward to more of it, and also the proposal turned out!

[soarbeyond]

Merry Christmas! Yes please share your proposal with us! Memories are made of these right! Wishing you and your family a blissful 2016 ahead!

May I wish you the same Tonitan! Best regards

That is one of my all time favourite TR's!

Looking forward to reading your latest TR, soarbeyond!

Ahh, you flatter me!

I've lost count of how many times phones have been dropped on my trips, either by me, or Mrs yflyer and the kids...



90 minute CGK-SIN return flight on an LCC sounds really interesting, but I don't mind waiting a little longer to hear the rest of your story before you get to that..

Hahaha, just wait till I cover every single airline on the route... And you slowly start to realise that, 90 minutes goes too far when you're enjoying the high life in F or J while it seems to be such a drag on a LCC.

Happy holidays soarbeyond! This is just the type of sequel your "Romance" TR deserves.

Looming forward to more of it, and also the proposal turned out!

Thank you very much for your kind words!

[soarbeyond]

Dear all, Happy New Year

I hope the brand new year has been a great start for each and everyone of us here. I sincerely apologise for the delay as I was held up with my end of year trip that took me to Vietnam, China and Japan. I was planning to continue this chronicle while back home in Japan, but , somehow... No matter where I went to get my wifi router, every single shop was out of stock... Which was pretty weird.

Hence, having now returned, I shall continue on with a sidetrack of infusing some romance into the story. I would humbly need those of you reading to use your imagination to piece the event that took place as.. I would like to keep the video recording and pictures private to prevent causing any trouble or perhaps future request to the particular hotel that went all out of their way to help me set up everything in three hours

[soarbeyond]

The proposal

It was in the midst of the darkness that I was rudely awoken with the thought that, today, today was the day where I mark a brand new chapter in life. Who was I to deceive anyone that I was not fully mentally prepared for what I was going to do.

We only met the day before, after many years of absence. But, I truly believe that in love, 'If it was really meant to be, then it's meant to be'. Having crossed paths in life once again, I was not going to let the opportunity slip through my fingers.

I got out of bed, blurry eyed, punched the pin into the in room safe and there it was, the box. The box no bigger than my palms, that held the key to my future was sitting right in the middle of the safe, atop many layers of laser engraved glass pieces that would form the basis of my proposal.

The box was taken out of the safe, inspected and the cover flipped open to reveal the glimmer, hopefully, the glimmer was as bright as my future to be

I proceeded down to enjoy a scrumptious breakfast, though with all the butterflies flying around in my tummy, I could not enjoy the delicacies spread out in the hotel's restaurant. I had a slight nagging feeling that something was not right and I proceeded to the lobby to inquire on how the preparations was coming along.

It was there and then, that my fears proved right.... "Mr soarbeyond, everything is going as planned and we are preparing everything according to your specifications. Just to confirm, What time would your proposal be tomorrow?"

"Oh, it will be at..." "I'M SORRY, DID YOU JUST SAY TOMORROW?"

At this very moment, I felt my heart drop, the beads of perspiration were forming, the sudden pounding of my heart echoed in my head... "Could this really be happening?"

The front office staff immediately knew something was wrong and one could hear the sudden aggressive typing on the keyboard, the mumbling through the walkie talkie and the continuous phone calls being made. The flurry of activity snapped me out of my daze I turned to look at the now stressed front office staff.

Within minutes, the hotel's Event Director, Housekeeping Supervisor, Front Office Manager and Director of Rooms were surrounding me trying to understand how such a mix up could have happened. Nevertheless, we got down to work.

FLOWERS?- "They will only arrive tomorrow, Sir. There is no way to arrange it for delivery immediately"

BALLOONS? "They are also scheduled to arrive tomorrow, Sir. Let us check to see whether it can arrive within the next hour"

PRINTING DONE? "We are in them midst of the printing. It should be done in two hours"

ROOM SETUP? "We will get to it right away!"

CORRIDOR SETUP? "We will commence the set up 10 minutes before her arrival"

With this out of the way, everyone of us went straight to work. We had 3 hours to set everything up that took 2 months of planning and liaising with the hotel team to ensure the perfect proposal.

T-Minus 3 hours

The Concierge team were tasked to help me with the printing, cutting and laminating of photos and conversations between my partner and I in the past.

My Wing man was tasked with setting up the multiple laser engraved glass pieces to be hung from the ceiling of the room.

The Housekeeping team went to set up the new assigned room.

Once I was assured everything was going smoothly, I set out to get my bouquet of 88 roses in a multitude of colours as well as get a huge bunch of rose petals that can be strewn along the way. Mind you, this was no easy task. I was sent to the hotel's florist to order the flowers to be done straight away but I was sent to the wrong shop.

With my awful command of Bahasa, I managed to get what I wanted but the staff quoted me the prices of each rose... missing a zero... When it was time to pay, this was when a huge mega fight erupted over the final price and I had to wait for the wonder of the shop to come down.

Time was ticking, we negotiated and settled on a price. He knew I was desperate so the final price did not drop much in the end. I made my way back to the hotel to find out that the printing was done but everything else was still in process.

T-Minus 2 hours

I returned to my room to help out with the laser engraved glass pieces and got freshened up and dressed to impress

T-Minus 1 hour

This was it. The final hour. Everything was pinned onto this final hour of preparation. I visited the newly appointed suite and found everything to be in order.

>The dual towel made swans were forming a heart shape at the beak which enabled me to place the ring there.

> A heart shape formed with towels was laid behind which cuddled the 88 rose bouquet in perfect harmony.

> The rose petals were neatly arranged in a systematic pattern around the room.

> We got to work by hanging the laser engraved glass pieces down from the ceiling which contained some engravings of our photos, some heartfelt messages and of course, a "I Love You".

The room was set. The invited guests, closest family members and friends, which were flown in from all over were huddled into the bedroom where the magic was to take place. The camera crew set up their gear and now, it was time to do up the corridor of the level and room.

T-Minus 10 minutes

We set up a memory lane, of the past between my partner and I. Our old conversations, pictures and every sentimental item I could think of were placed up along the walls of the corridor leading up to the suite.

Her Arrival

Up to this moment, she still did not know what was going to take place. She was waiting in her car at the lobby driveway expecting me to hop in so that we could be on our way towards lunch. However, I told her to step out as I wanted to show her something.. I could have thought of a better excuse but.. I was really nervous at that point... All eyes were on the two of us(from the hotel staff) as we made our way through the lobby towards the lift.

As I pressed the new floor number, she caught it and asked why are we going to a different level. Who knows what was going through her mind... I kept quiet and when the lift reached the designated level, the doors were opened.

The corridor lights were dimmed, the spotlights along the corridor shone the brightest to bring out what was on the walls. She immediately grasps my hand and refused to get out of the lift.

There's no turning back

I gently pulled her forward, slowly... We were now in the corridor and I noticed the camera man hiding at a blind spot recording our new chapter unfold... She started reading the snippets of memories , walking down the corridor, my self dubbed "Memory Lane", the more steps we took, the smile on her beautiful face got wider. The shine of the lights revealed a glimmer in her eyes, the glimmer was running down her cheeks.

As we got closer to the suite, she was choking and trying to hold back her tears... We reached the door, it swung open, and there was my wing man, holding another camera recording her initial reactions. Her expression was one that I have never been able to replicate till now.

She was taken aback by the laser pieces hanging and as she viewed more of our snippets of history, we made our way into the bedroom.

She wanted to turn around and run away when she saw everyone inside We approached the foot of the bed and I carefully took the ring of the beak of the swan and ... attempted to get down on one knee..

[9V-JKL]

Keep it coming

[soarbeyond]

That's when, she held me and said Stop.



Everyone in the room went

Many thoughts were running through my head... "Could this really be happening right now?????"

Then, she spoke " You don't have to go down on your knees "

Now, to tell you the truth, I have never ever ever been so relieved in my entire life. You could hear everyone in the room going "Phew". Nevertheless, What is a proposal without the iconic kneeling down on one knee, holding up the ring and of course saying those all too familiar words that has been played millions of times in movies and tv shows.

I, however, started off by mentioning some of our past, how we crossed paths once again and blablabla. The real funny thing was... Up till today, she still hasn't actually said Yes.

I placed the ring on her finger, woohoo, hooray and that was it. Each and everyone of us went for a great lunch downtown and the rest as they say, is history.

I continue staying at the same hotel every time I go back. It is the least I could do to repay them for all their efforts in ensuring everything went smoothly even though there were some minor hiccups. Each and every staff was thank personally with a penned thank you card as well as a handmade pouch containing a gratuity.

We are currently still together and going strong. Our relationship has us moving from country to country due to our different commitments but we have decided to settle down. There is still no confirmed dates for the big day, but both sides have been pressuring us for one. Recently, she has been mentioning locations for wedding photoshoots as well as interesting places for honeymoons. I take that as a hint that the day is drawing closer.

Thank You for bearing with me as I go servery off track. I will continue with the rest of this guide and you will find flights taken on Tigerair, Jetstar, Air Asia, Air France, Singapore Airlines, Lionair and Batik coming up real soon.

[soarbeyond]

TR 2273

After 7 days touring Jakarta and Bandung, it was time to bid farewell and head back to Singapore. The return trip takes place onboard another Tigerair flight. My now, official partner, after so many years advised me to leave for the airport early because of the jams and blablablablabla. Honestly, there was nothing to worry about because she made me leave 4 hours ahead of the scheduled 2000hours departure time. This really made me feel that she could not wait to get rid of me after one week

TR 2273
2000-2250
19 Jul 2014

I got to the airport at 1650hours and found no Tigerair counters. I continued pacing up and down the entire length of Terminal 2 in search of the counters in vain. I actually thought that I may have ended up at the wrong terminal but I doubt that was possible.

After pacing up and down for around 10 minutes, I started seeing the counter staff appear to get ready to open the counters. I decided to take a seat nearby and enjoy a well deserve rest after lugging around 55 Kilograms worth of luggage.



After this banner was put up, a small queue had formed and I decided to make my way to join the queue. The Check in was quick and painless and I was really glad to have added additional luggage while doing online check in. The funny thing I have observed in CGK is that, no money is exchanged over the counters. Every airline that I've flown out of CGK that has charged me for overweight luggage or for upgrades have always requested me to go to a payment office around the departure hall.

I was in good spirits and breezed through immigration. I made my way through and settled at one of those credit card lounges. This lounge was recently involved in the blaze that gutted T2 at CGK.





The lounge had a decent selection of warm and cold dishes as well as a wide range of assorted drinks. As far as I could remember, it was a dry lounge. The lounge provided wifi, a massage area which was decently priced as well as a smoking room.

I settled down for some light bites.

Cute themed breads
<a href="http://s1189.photobucket.com/user/soarbeyond/media/The%20Ultimate%20CGK%20Flight%20Guide/P_20140719_180218.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z436/soarbeyond/The%20Ultimate%20CGK%20Flight%20Guide/P_20140719_180218.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo P_20140719_180218.jpg"/></a>

The time was whiled away thinking back on the past few days as well as planning our next meet up. She would arrive in Singapore for day in within the next two weeks before it was off to Bangkok for a shopping getaway.

I made my way past through security, which was a real pain. They seem to want to make you go through the scanner a few times... Removing shoes first, then the belt, then your watch then your chain... It took me four attempts through the scanner before I was finally cleared.

Departure for tonight's return flight to Singapore was from gate D4(which seems to be the gate most flights to SIN utilizes) and I headed straight onboard the plane. The crew welcomed every passenger onbaord and the cabin was bright and fresh.

I made my way a few rows down to seat 5A and settled in for the relatively short trip back to Singapore.

Really dirty window


Adequate legroom


The doors were closed relatively quickly and we seemed to have a load of around 30-40%. It was after this that I dozed off all the way till we descended into Singapore.

I was jolted awake by a loud thud and and the airplane moving out of position? I don;t know what happened but we proceeded to arrive after a flight time of only 1 hour 10 minutes.

This wraps up another flight and I can;t wait to bring you all more recent reports!

Takecare and have a pleasant week ahead everyone! Thanks for reading!

[9V-JKL]

Congratulations soarbeyond!!

[Flyerfly]

Congratulations soarbeyond !!

I actually skipped the flight parts and just read the proposal part. Amazing experience !

[SQGamespeed]

Congratulations soarbeyond!

May you have a long and happy life together.