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