Run out of toilet paper at the airport? Just SMS to 9900
Multa Fidrus The Jakarta Post/Tangerang
Travelers at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport can take comfort in the fact that toilet paper, or any other service or request, is just an SMS away.
Airport operator PT Angkasa Pura launched on June 1 a new service that allows travelers to summon assistance anywhere in the airport simply by sending an SMS to 9900. The SMS 9900 First Service also lets people inquire about the status of departing and arriving flights.
However, the service is only available in Indonesian and only for those cellular phone owners who use Telkomsel phone cards.
"For the time being the service is not available to everyone, but we will develop it in the near future," Angkasa Pura senior manager for general affairs, Sudaryanto, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
He said the company had begun to cooperate with other text message service providers besides Telkomsel and was also developing the service for English speakers.
The operator provides three main keywords for service users. They are JADWAL for information on flight schedules, STATUS for the status of flights and BANDARA to lodge complaints, suggestions and questions about airport services.
After typing in a keyword, users can then add specific questions.
According to Angkasa Pura's head of information, data and reports, M. Yasin, users can, for example, type STATUS (space) and GA233 to get information on whether flight number GA233 has departed, arrived or is boarding.
"The operator will reply back within five to 10 seconds, around-the-clock," Yasin said.
If users wish to complain about the airport taxi service, they must include the initials of the taxi company in the message.
The airport operator has officially registered 13 taxi companies serving people at the airport.
The taxi companies are Blue Bird (BB), Taxi Cab (CT), Dian Taxi (DN), Express Taxi (EX), Gamya (GM), Gading Taxi (GD), Koperasi Taxi (KT), Tiffani (MT), Primajasa (PJ), Royal City (RY), Ratax (RT), Sri Medali (SM) and Steady Safe (TF).
According to Yasin, a typical reply to a complaint about poor taxi service would be: "Terimakasih atas perhatian Anda dan akan kami tindak lanjuti." (Thank you for your attention and we will follow up on your complaint.)
The operator will also notify the user if the taxi is not registered with the airport.
If users want information on facilities at the airport, they can type BANDARA, TANYA (airport, queries).
Yasin said users, for example, could type BANDARA, TANYA di mana ada Bank Mandiri (where is Bank Mandiri), and the operator would send back the reply: di terminal IIE (in terminal IIE).
"If the operator cannot answer a question, it will forward the SMS directly to the related officials in charge, who will personally answer the SMS," Yasin said.
All of the information on the use of the system can be found on instruction cards at the airport, he said.
"We will use all of the input delivered to us through the SMS service as a yardstick to improve the airport's performance and services," Sudaryanto said.