Which OTA?

[The man with no name]

Shortly I'll be taking my first trip outside Australia since the pandemic upended everyone's travel plans. On this trip I've got multiple short hops around Indonesia but I'm having trouble booking flights directly with the local airlines. Specifically, multiple credit cards are being declined. Given the number of cards declined I suspect it is the airlines rejecting the foreign card, not vice versa.

That leaves me looking at OTA's to make the booking. The specific flight I've been looking for is DPS-LBJ and many of the larger, more legitimate OTA's such as Expedia or Webjet, do not recognize LBJ. That rules those guys out.

What's left is the more questionable end of the OTA spectrum, companies such as Gotogate have appalling reviews so I am reluctant to book with them. Does anyone here have a suggestion to either get around the Indonesian credit card block or a middle ground OTA that will probably be ok to book these flights?

 

[ksthommo]

Have used Traveloka for Indonesian Domestic Flight Bookings previously.
Aussie credit cards used to work fine.

 

[RooFlyer]

I know you specifically asked for a OTA but was there a reason why you excluded a regular travel agent? They can more easily get around little blocks like this than the regular punter on their own.

 

[Scarlett]

I’ll second @ksthommo with a recommendation for:
Cheap Flights & Tickets: Lowest Price with Traveloka.com (mobile site)
Or if you’re ok with Bahasa Indonesia you can equally use:
Tiket Pesawat Online Harga Terbaik + Promo Terbaru di tiket.com (mobile site)

They are the largest OTAs in Indonesia. I’ve used both multiple times with no issue for flights and trains as well as booking direct with the airlines. (but can’t remember whether I used AUS credit card for points or my Indonesian bank account… must have used Aus cc a couple of times!)

In order I’d recommend Citilink, Batik, …daylight…, Lion, Air Asia then Wings but flight timings may be more important for you.

Enjoy Labuan Bajo and Komodo! Friends who were there a fortnight ago had many good things to say about the diving and snorkelling off Labuan Bajo.

 

[The man with no name]

I know you specifically asked for a OTA but was there a reason why you excluded a regular travel agent? They can more easily get around little blocks like this than the regular punter on their own.

Only that I gave up using bricks and mortar TA's about 10 years ago. I know this site has one or two wonderful TA's (not sure where they're based) but I'm not sure Flight Centre would be able to help me.

In the end I solved the problem by purchasing the flights via Agoda.