Merpati sally

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