new Denpasar airport open for international arrivals today

[LonePine]

Currently in Bali and picked up an English newspaper which stated that the new airport opened for arrivals today. No mentions of departures.

It did say that VIP lounges were on the third floor so we'll check that out in a couple of days...

 

[jetlagger]

Currently in Bali and picked up an English newspaper which stated that the new airport opened for arrivals today. No mentions of departures.

It did say that VIP lounges were on the third floor so we'll check that out in a couple of days...

Ironically, I was thinking of DPS today.. Would like to hear about your experience at the new terminal.
It has certainly come along way since my last visit & shall be a welcomed improvement for Bali arrivals & departures.

 

[Globetrotter]

It looks nice The New Development of Ngurah Rai International Airport - YouTube

 

[LonePine]

Read today that international departures begin 29September. We leave for Thailand 24September: (

We come back through Denpasar in a month, so we'll get to experience both then.

 

[CaviAck]

So I'm assuming the planes make ferry flights to another airport after arriving at this airport? Considering Departures haven't started and arrivals already have.

 

[Pushka]

So I'm assuming the planes make ferry flights to another airport after arriving at this airport? Considering Departures haven't started and arrivals already have.

The new airport is right next to the old one. They will just use buses. Our flight arrived in front of the new airport last month and we bussed it to the terminal.

 

[CaviAck]

The new airport is right next to the old one. They will just use buses. Our flight arrived in front of the new airport last month and we bussed it to the terminal.

So is this a new airport or just a new terminal building?

 

[Pushka]

So is this a new airport or just a new terminal building?

Terminal buildings I guess. The same old runways. The new buildings are massive though. Very striking indeed.

 

[get me outta here]

It looks nice The New Development of Ngurah Rai International Airport - YouTube

I see this link says 25million pax pa. That's mind boggling for such a little island.

 

[womble123]

Just back and the new airport arrivals are as bad or worse than the old one in terms of processing - the queue for visa purchase and passport control was almost two hours long....
departures worked well in terms of process but the lounges are not yet open, there is minimal seating and announcements are few and far between.

 

[Pushka]

The airport has been open over 12 months and they still have it wrong?

 

[dajop]

departures worked well in terms of process but the lounges are not yet open, there is minimal seating and announcements are few and far between.

I caught a KLM flight back to SIN from Bali during June. Once I passed through immigration and duty free I reached what would be best described as a zoo. People sprawled over the floor etc etc.

BUT - I walked only 2 or 3 gates away and the place was deserted. I had a whole gate area to myself for about 20 mins before eventually 3 or 4 other people joined me. Walk further along and there were more empty gates. I really don't understand why people are scared of missing their flight from what is only a 3 minute walk away. When I returned just around the start of boarding the gate area it was back to the zoo again. But I just queued and was onboard within 5 mins.

 

[jsoprano]

I went through DPS a few weeks ago and my initial reaction looking at the place was: OMG! The carpets in arrivals are completely wrecked (how old is the terminal again, 12 months or years?); if you look at the walls and joints and ceiling you will just be shocked about the quality of workmanship. I know the architect and designer who was looking after the delivery of the F&B outlets (a small Cairns-based office) for the F&B operator (Dutch company HMSHost btw), and he told me some shocking stories. They had such a great opportunity to deliver something amazing, but it still is a shoddy, coughpy building, just that it looks great from afar. The F&B outlets do look good though !

Arrivals was quite okay when we went through without any long waits, but departures was a zoo! We were flying VA on an overnight flight, leaving 10:30pm so it was busy with plenty of AU and Asian departures around that time, plus KLM. A few observations:

• Plenty of people stocked up with water at the retail outlets, only to then put it in a bin at the pathetic 3rd security screening at the gate.
• The order of gate numbers is confusing; I think we were leaving from gate 11 or 12 can't remember exactly, which is located - of course - between gates 2 and 3 I think (the order of gates is something like 1-2-11-12-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10); we realised when walking halfway along the pier and at gate 7 finally figured out the confusing signage.
• As we were boarding from a bus gate, these are located downstairs. Once you get through the final security and down the stairs, there were exactly - I took the time and counted - NIL seats in this waiting area, which actually wasn't a waiting area at all but just a section of the Arrivals corridor, cordoned off with a Tensa barrier. There were 2 flights scheduled to board at the same time through this gate, our packed VA flight to MEL plus the one to SYD, so 320 or so pax cramped into this area. (Boarding was complete shambles as well with both flights about to board at the same time through one gate, but the screen above showing a Brisbane flight. Then when they were boarding SYD first the manage to change the display to MEL...)
• The gate (i.e. glass door) itself was departures and arrivals at the same time so while departing pax were walking out to the bus a load of arriving passengers would be dropped right outside right in front of the door. First the gate agents then paused the boarding process and waited until arriving passengers were all inside, but as there was literally a bus arriving every 3 minutes, boarding for the SYD flight took forever and and some point they must have realised timing is an issue so they simply let departing pax mix with those arriving... it was literally a zoo.

Anyway, enough vented. I probably expected too much from a new terminal, but it was an experience of true Indonesian efficiency...

Regarding the Premier Lounge, there are actually 2 temporary lounges: when you come to the gate area, you will need to turn left and follow the long corridor. Then on the right at some point with be the 1st temporary lounge. This is the one we went in, and it was crowded and cramped. There is a second temporary Premier lounge at the next gate area, so when you come across the first one just keep going. When we were there we only realised after leaving the lounge to get to the gate. The 2nd lounge was less crowded (actually it was almost empty), and from outside looked much nicer.

 

[Deleted member]

Gosh , not inspiring stuff.
I'm travelling through there in March '15. I suspect the usual 2 hours leeway to attend an international flight is perhaps a bit adventurous?

 

[Pushka]

You are connecting to an international flight and only in transit? You will be fine. The queue is to get the visa.

 

[Danger]

It maybe a new airport but the corruption is still old.

I passed through a few days ago with some friends. My APEC again proved its worth, seeing me pass through Immigration without having to pay the USD35 arrival fee. My friends weren't so lucky. There was a huge line to pay the arrival fee and then another line to pass through Immigration. After paying the uSD35 may friends approached an airport employee wandering the lines and each gave him AUD20. They were through Immigration in a couple of minutes.

 

[Kceips]

It maybe a new airport but the corruption is still old.

I passed through a few days ago with some friends. My APEC again proved its worth, seeing me pass through Immigration without having to pay the USD35 arrival fee. My friends weren't so lucky. There was a huge line to pay the arrival fee and then another line to pass through Immigration. After paying the uSD35 may friends approached an airport employee wandering the lines and each gave him AUD20. They were through Immigration in a couple of minutes.

$20 well spent! It took us 3 hours to get from our plane to the outside of the airport last January. Our driver was patiently waiting for us.

 

[jetlagger]

$20 well spent! It took us 3 hours to get from our plane to the outside of the airport last January. Our driver was patiently waiting for us.

IMO the DPS airport is a joke during peak hour arrivals.
I spent 1.5 hours in the immi. line last week due to 3 wide body arrivals & very lax immi. staff in very slow motion. :evil: