r/Jakarta • u/PKotzathanasis • Nov 26 '24
Bad Experience in Soekarno–Hatta International Airport and a question moving forward
So, today I am having a transit through Soekarno Hatta on my way to Jogja. My full transit is actually Athens-Doha-Jakarta-Jogja. Despite the assurances of the flight companies (Qatar from Athens to Doha and Garuda moving forward), after I checked in my luggage in Athens airport with the assurance I will pick them up in Jogja, the Qatar people called my name and told me that my luggage cannot move beyond Jakarta, and that I will have to pick them up, pass customs and then recheck. All that with a transit of 2.15 hours. Some local people I cooperate in Indonesia hired someone to pick me up, which hopefully will work, although not without a lot of stress.
My questions, however, is on my return, which has me from Jogja to Jakarta with Garuda and Jakarta to Jeddah with Saudia (one ticket) will I need to pick up my bags and recheck again? Because the transit is similar once more, 2 hours and 20 minutes. I hope someone can help
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u/xcellerat0r Nov 26 '24
Sounds like a question for the airline, Qatar’s local office or when you check in.
My last flight was Jogja to Sydney transiting in Denpasar and I didn’t need to pick up luggage to pass customs and re-check in, so I assume your return trip will be fine.
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u/BunnyCosmo Nov 27 '24
The airlines need to have a so-called interline agreement in place to check the luggage through to the final destination. I could not find it for Saudia and Garuda, but maybe someone who has better Google skills than me can. They do have a codesharing arrangement, so I would assume there is.
BTW, Indonesia is not the only country where you need to clear customs on the first port of entry. The US and China also do this for example (China is only based on what my travel agent told me, I have not tried it). Good luck at CGK. The Garuda check in counters for domestic are near door 5 (the ones near door 1 are international).
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u/Jktjoe88 Nov 27 '24
Every country does this. Just think about it.....how will they separate out you....the only international person on that last domestic plane. How will they be able to make sure you exit at a different door and go through the international exit whilst the other 150 passengers just go straight to the baggage carousel and exit. Or how do they arrange your bags to take a different route so that they get properly screened and not used for smuggling.
If you enter a country and then have a domestic flight you will always have to collect your bags and go through immigration and customs. If there is ever an exception to this it is extremely rare and I've never seen it.
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u/ollisweeel Nov 28 '24
This is exactly what the airline told me when I decided to leave the airport on my long transit (27 hours) on Vietnam. We need to collect the luggage if we decided to not staying in the airport and pass the immigration for transit and recheck again for the next departure. Same applied for transit or connecting with domestic flight.
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u/smile_politely Nov 27 '24
Garuda’s the same. Last time had to move luggage myself, I even managed to left my iPad and jacket somewhere in CGK due to stress caused by confusion and limited time. Same route: Doha - Jkt - Jogja
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u/lipoff Nov 27 '24
It is very common that your baggage needs to be picked up and clear customs at your first port of entry to a country, and then rechecked to your final destination in a country, just like you clear immigration at your first port of entry and then transfer to a domestic connecting flight. This is not specific to Soekarno-Hatta airport and I don't think it's fair to call it a bad experience or blame it on the airport. The exact same procedure applies in the US. (Mainland China is a little different). Ideally, your bag is tagged to come out first with a tight connection, but baggage is usually quite fast at CGK and rechecking is easy. You should be fine. You won't have to recheck going in the opposite direction as long as you are on a single ticket.
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u/Jktjoe88 Nov 27 '24
Every country does this - I would love to hear of a country that doesn't as it would not make any sense from a security or manpower standpoint. Just think about it.....how will they separate out you....the only international person on that last domestic plane. How will they be able to make sure you exit at a different door and go through the international exit whilst the other 150 passengers just go straight to the baggage carousel and exit. Or how do they arrange your bags to take a different route so that they get properly screened and not used for smuggling.
If you enter a country and then have a domestic flight you will always have to collect your bags and go through immigration and customs. If there is ever an exception to this it is extremely rare and I've never seen it and I'm betting anyone who does did it the other way....domestic forest then international which is a very different issue.
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u/besoksaja Nov 26 '24
When you entering Indonesia, you need to pass the customs before transferring to a domestic flight. This should have been explained by the airlines so you can plan the tansfer duration accordingly. It is their fault they didn't clearly explain this to you when you buy your ticket.