Batik Air Malaysia, formerly known as Malindo Air is launching a route that I find to be particularly fascinating (thanks to @LachlanB_ for flagging this). This also has to be the longest ”direct” narrow body flight in the world.
Continue reading: Batik Air’s Cool Perth To Auckland Fifth Freedom Route
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
More than 5 hours on a single aisle jet is a non starter for me. Also Batik Air is under the Lionair group which has questionable safety standards so definitely a no go.
Batik Air is NOT a full service carrier. It was rebranded as a low cost carrier a few years ago.
They are not a full service airline offering food and drinks for free.
I flew them a few months ago from Sydney to Bali - you have to pay for everything. Even water. No pillows or blankets either.
Batik Air is a joke. Unexplained delays that were not covered by Amex Plat travel insurance (AIG). Only customer service is email and WhatsApp. WhatsApp is operated by bots that are useless. Good luck.
Flew Batik domestically last year while Garuda was trying to get itself back together.. No complaints
Fast forward to today. Booked multiple domestic Batik tickets with 3rd party agent because they don't accept US CC. For no reason, moved me to another time slot which I couldn't make. Wanted another 50% of my original fare as a "change fee" to move me back.
Had agent cancel ticket. Despite my agent sending multiple requests for a refund, I haven't seen a dime in months. Ignores my emails forwarding the agents emails to them requesting refund.
Agent says they do this repeatedly and there are those who've been waiting even longer than me.
You are forewarned about this airline. Grifters
@KS..Batik Air is a full service carrier as they offer business class service, at least within Indonesia.
As many others have said, Batik are not full service in economy. They are BoB.
And as Patti said, no US CC accepted. Had to book through a third party. I would definitely pay more for a different airline in the future.
Batik charges for meals, which they say is to save food wastage, but let's be honest, they are just an LCC dressed up. They are going to do well out of this one as Air NZ is the only other carrier, and they are capacity constrained.
Good to see finally someone else is flying to Auckland apart from Air Newzealand
Also just went through this with them. Their customer service is non-existent. I booked a flight through them directly and they emailed me to say the flight had been cancelled 5 days before the day of the flight. But they didn’t reschedule me on another flight and they wouldn’t respond to any messages on what’s app or email (no phone number to call). After 3 days I eventually just decided to buy another flight. Of course a few hours after I did that I get an email with my updated schedule changed flight but at that point there was no way to get a refund on the other flight I just booked, and customer service was still MIA.
All in all the two tickets were only about $100 total so I just decided to cut my losses with this incompetent airline. Not worth the headache.
That's not what "full service" means - many LCCs offer business class.
Full service means that standard in-flight services like cabin baggage, hold luggage, food, drinks etc. are all included in the base fare. They seem to include luggage, but not the rest. I haven't looked into them since the Malindo Air days, but back then they were positioning themselves as a "premium" LCC as opposed to full service.
Is a 737 32" economy seat really significantly different in comfort to a typical widebody economy seat?
Apart from those wanting a flat bed in business class etc., I don't see what the issue is with the many people who won't fly long distance on a narrowbody?
Business class isn't even cheap for recliner seats! Also QF did fly this route a few years back with an A330 - dont know why they stopped it.
Ben - FYI - Your screenshots are from Batik Air Indonesia's website, which quotes in Indonesian rupiah. More likely, passengers on this route would book via Batik Air Malaysia's website (still branded as Malindo Air), which quotes in Malaysian ringgit, Australian dollars or New Zealand dollars, depending on the respective departure points.
Shall I say this is an "interesting" flight schedule and choice of plane.
Westbound will take longer because of the wind.
Flight time AKL/PER is scheduled as 7.40 hours, with a further 5.40 hours PER/KUL.
Either of those flights is long haul for a 737 MAX. If you fly the whole route it will take 14.20 hours!!
The real issue will be the fact that the 737 only has 3 toilets. 12 for business, and 150 for economy. There are queues for the economy toilets on Trans Tasman flights, which take 3 to 4 hours. Toilet queues will not be pleasant if a flight takes close to 8 hours.
I note Air New Zealand are flying PER/AKL with the A330. Should be a much more pleasant flight.
The longest one is, probably, Virgin Australia's Cairns-Haneda which is about 300 miles longer than Perth-Auckland. Operated by 737 MAX 8 too. This must be a very close second, though.
Agree with Callum. And just a word of caution: Drinks means "non-alcoholic" drinks, since Batik is a dry airline.
PER to AKL is really pushing at the limits of the MAX8's range. Any bad weather event at the destination airport will see the flight divert.
The reason I prefer widebodies isn't because of the seat, but due to the wider cabin, which results in more room to walk around and a feeling of spaciousness/airiness.
But, as you say, narrowbody and widebody seats are similar comfort-wise. Additionally, most modern NB have the same features as long-haul WB seats (IFE, power ports, and, in Business Class on an increasing number of airlines, lie-flat beds).
I actually wouldn't mind long-haul on a narrowbody if the seats are decent enough, but again, I still prefer widebodies because of the...wider fuselage.
Bravo Air Batek excellent customer service .........comparable to superb Air New Zealand
One aisle means you can't go to the toilet or otherwise move around while the service trolley is out
Never flew w Malindo-version of Batik, but I fear the overall experience would be just as bad with any Lion Air-associated entity. Flew once with Batik Air on an Indonesian-domestic flight, never again. First, the ground experience is really bad, 1 check in desk, manned by 2 staffers, with 30+ ppl on queue, with no attempts from supervisor to assist, Second, the boarding/de-boarding process - plane were parked on international terminal across the domestic terminal, so everyone had to be bussed in. The de-boarding was the same, plane was parked on a terminal, but then pax were bussed in to another to be dropped off, which affected the luggage delivery time.
It's a s**t-show overall, almost exact same experience with Lion Air.
Firm 'No' from me.