Merpati sally

I am writing about the adventure of traveling on Merpati Nusantara Airlines.

I made travel arrangements for what I was told was a direct flight from Bandung to Denpasar. Upon checking in at 10:20 a.m., I learned the flight was delayed from the original 11:15 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. At 1:15, I was called to the ticket counter and told that the flight was canceled because a "state visit" had disrupted Merpati's schedule. About a dozen other travelers from Bandung and I got on a 3:15 flight to Surabaya which didn't leave Bandung until 3:40.

Upon arriving in Surabaya at 4:20, all of the travelers from Bandung were surprised to learn that no one in Surabaya knew of the routing change. After about 30 minutes of haggling with Merpati personnel, we were ticketed on a flight scheduled to depart Surabaya at 6:10 that evening.

The Surabaya to Denpasar flight finally left at 7:35, arriving in Denpasar at 8:45 p.m. After adjusting for one time zone, it had taken nine hours and 25 minutes to make it to Bali. I had lost almost five and a half hours of a three-day getaway to celebrate my 14th wedding anniversary.

Upon finally reaching the hotel in Bali, I learned that Merpati does not fly direct between Bandung and Denpasar. Having uncovered this "new truth", I resolved not to go through a similar experience returning to Bandung. I was delighted to experience the performance of Garuda Indonesia between Denpasar and Jakarta. I was also impressed with the "Parahyangan" train service between Jakarta and Bandung.

After including almost a full hour for the ground transfer in heavy traffic between Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport and the Gambir train station, the trip from Denpasar back to Bandung took the same time as my Merpati adventure. I left Denpasar at 3:40 p.m. and was at home in Bandung by 11:30 that night, which, after adjusting again for the one hour time difference, was nine hours and 10 minutes.

KENNETH J. WHITE

Bandung, West Java