In Reply to: Garuda's "City Check-in" Facility posted by Putu_Les on Friday, 4. January 2008 at 07:46 Bali Time:
Les, is it only Garuda that insists on flight confirmation or do all all airlines out of Bali have that policy?
Since Garuda dumped Adelaide, although I've always thoroughly enjoyed the service, mid arvo arrival and ridiculously good value of its Exec Class option, I'm a bit over the hassles and added expense of domestic connections. So Singapore airlines gets the nod for this years expedition. That's if I can get a flight...unless I'm prepared to pay an extra $3000 for Biz class, the flight options via the Singa website appear to be incredibly limited over the next couple of months - getting there is OK, getting back is another story!
There's always Malaysia Air but that adds some hours to the journey and forces an overnight in KL, I think. Still...I can imagine worse ways to get to Bali :)
Actually, on the subject of lost direct flights, do you have any idea of the number of pax out of Adelaide to Bali these days? Ads are appearing regularly in the dailies selling Bali so I'm guessing there is healthy interest in the destination.
Although Oz visits to bali are still 60K+ short of the 04/05 figures I'm wondering what the real correlation is between lower visitor numbers and reduced seat avails into Bali. It's obvious that fewer seats means fewer visitors but what's not clear is how many seat sales have been lost to Bali simply because people have opted for destinations that offer more convenient travel options.
As I'm yet to see the "House Full" sign go up in Bali - and probably won't see it any time soon - I'm guessing reduced flight options to Bali has much to do with tourism numbers ex australia. But that also makes me wonder about the hotel industry on Bali. With so much at stake, I'm surprised that we are not hearing from industry lobby groups putting greater pressure on the airlines.
When Garuda dumped Adelaide and Brisbane it effectively removed over 250 flights a year out of those two ports. Of course, those flights were not always full nor, at least in Adelaide's case, solely filled with pax from that port.
But Garuda didn't just dump those two ports, it also reduced the frequency out of Melbourne and Sydney - and with that, went lost opportunity. Qantas simply followed suit.
Economic rationalism is important - without it, commercial failure is imminent. But there is an old adage that says..."when you do nothing, nothing happens". Well, from our point of view not much has been happening for quit some time. Sooner or later someone is going to take the bull by the horns and not just seize, but create opportunity in Adelaide and Brisbane.
Let's but hope it comes sooner than later.
Cheers - keviin