No show, no dough
No show, no dough
Gee, Merpati sure knows how to show tourists a good time! After devoting too much time (and money) getting to Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara and back, I must take a few extra minutes to express my deepest appreciation for a recent Lombok experience "a-la-Merpati". I completely sympathize with Mr. Roland W. after having the same relaxing nightmare in August.
The scenario -- Aug. 15, 1995 my parents arrive from Canada, I assure them we have everything booked for a great Lombok weekend ahead and, despite the Merdeka holiday that week, everything would go smoothly. Heh, we're flying Merpati what could go wrong? Well it was a grand introduction to Indonesia and a swell start to our vacation.
Upon arrival at Merpati in Jakarta (and with no prior notice) the flights to Surabaya was canceled. The stunned Merpati executives at the check-in counter offered no explanation, shrugged their shoulders and suggested, "maybe you go tomorrow?" Yes, another first in Hoover history -- giant vacuum sucks up entire flight never to be seen again. They did, however, assure us the Surabaya-Mataram connector will still be flying later that day. It was really comforting to know there would be three extra juices for the Hoover to suck back when it decided to erase that flight.
After several attempts and more state of the art Merpati service, we (AMEX and I) were able to nab the last seats in business class on a Surabaya bound Garuda bird leaving in 20 minutes. So off we go, the blue hairs and I, we set an airport land speed record and barely make the connector to Surabaya. We calmly head straight for the Merpati transfer desk, and amazingly the Lombok shuttle was just boarding and still catchable. All I had to do was exchange our "old sector" tickets and buy "new sector" tickets and I would be totally refunded next week when I got back to Jakarta.
Witti assured me that today's canceled flight was very rare and the coding stamp she endorsed would ensure full compensation for these new sector tickets as well as my recently acquired Garuda tickets. So who am I to argue, at this point my Dad's ulcer is working overtime, and we just want to hit the beach.
So we (AMEX and me) buy three more tickets and return the vacuum passes to Jakarta. Well you guessed it -- three months later and no refund! Another act of Hooverism -- the giant vacuum sucked up all my agent's paper work and 1.4 million cold hard rupiah. I feel bad for the fine folks at Sona Topas Travel since they have refunded me, but are still waiting for the experts at Merpati to wake up and smell the coffee. Atiek and staff at Sona Topas (Panin Center) deserve top marks for their efforts and continue to give excellent service despite the fact the airlines they represent are totally clueless.
It turned out to be a longer weekend than planned as the Sunday flight back to Surabaya had 74 happy relaxed people confirmed on 44 seats. At this point the Monday meeting back in Jakarta was going to be starting without me, and Mom was saying she read somewhere that Silk Air now flies from Singapore to Lombok. Flying via Singapore et al fiscal tax still would have been cheaper and quicker.
I phoned from Lombok that Monday and told the boss I had a bad case of Merpati-zoic amoeba, and to date we're still waiting to see if my travel agent gets their compensation. Bottom line is that Sona Topas does a great job and they will be glad to book your Lombok excursion on Silk Air via Singapore.
BRIAN FRANKS
Jakarta