Flight Comparison Sites: Advantages and Drawbacks

There are many flight comparison websites online that allow you to compare prices between different airlines with just a few clicks. Comparison tools help you quickly find the lowest fares and often offer promotions you won't find if you purchase your ticket directly from the airline's website.

However, if you buy your airline ticket through a comparison site, be aware that customer service will be either nonexistent or extremely limited. Double-check that all the information entered at the time of ticket purchase is correct, and that your travel dates are final. If you purchase a ticket through a comparison site, you won't be able to contact the airline directly for any reason. You'll have to go through the website that sold you the tickets, which often turns out to be a real nightmare (Travelgenio) and can also prove very costly when the only way to reach customer service is through a premium phone number (Edreams).

Our Tips for a Comfortable Flight

1. Choose flights with as few stopovers as possible

Every traveler will tell you: on long journeys, the most tiring part isn't the plane itself—it's the layovers. Yet whether departing from Europe or Canada, there are no direct flights to Indonésie. To avoid spending too much time in airport lounges, choose airlines that offer short stopovers at the beginning or end of your journey.

From Europe, the most direct flights allow you to reach Indonésie in 16 hours. Airlines like Air France, Swiss Air, Singapore Airlines, or Turkish Airlines offer very interesting flights: short layovers (one to two hours) in Amsterdam or Istanbul early in your journey, or in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur at the end. For the most restful flight possible, try to avoid Middle Eastern airlines that offer routes with a Middle Eastern stopover that cuts your journey in half, sometimes in the middle of the night. While the airports in Dubai (Emirates Airlines) or Doha (Qatar Airlines) are relatively well-equipped and offer rest areas with numerous restaurants and shops, steer clear of flights on Saudi Arabia Airlines that transit through Jeddah. An inevitable passage for all pilgrims traveling to or from Mecca, the transit area at Jeddah airport is usually overcrowded. Resembling more of a vast train station than an international airport terminal, there's also no opportunity to eat or rest. The few shops are limited, offering only beverages and a few snacks.

If you're in Quebec, you'll need about 23 hours to reach Indonésie via the fastest routes. Departing from Toronto or Montreal, airlines like Cathay Pacific, KLM, or Air Canada allow you to reach Jakarta or Bali with just one stopover in Hong Kong, Shanghai, or Amsterdam.

2. Choose door-to-door tickets for greater peace of mind

You live in Lyon and want to visit Indonésie starting with Yogyakarta on the island of Java? Comparison sites allow you to easily purchase combined routes with both domestic and international flights, even with different airlines. The advantages? You check in your baggage at your departure airport and don't worry about it until you arrive at your destination. Your baggage transfer happens automatically. Another benefit: if one of your flights is delayed, you don't have to worry about missing your connection. The airline will make sure to wait for you, and if that's not possible, will arrange another flight to get you to your destination. While door-to-door flights are often more expensive than the same flights purchased separately, they guarantee a worry-free journey!

Our Tips for Budget-Friendly Flights

The only secret to traveling on a budget is not to rush into buying the first flight you find and to take time comparing different options based on your departure and return dates and your departure and arrival airports.

1. Book well in advance and avoid holiday periods

For long international flights, start looking at ticket prices 12 to 9 months ahead. For domestic or intercontinental flights (Paris-Amsterdam or Kuala Lumpur – Yogyakarta), you'll find the best prices by booking 6 to 4 months in advance. Air Asia is by far the most efficient and cheapest low-cost carrier in Asia. It offers numerous domestic flights in Indonésie and connects many Indonesian cities to Southeast Asian countries. If you're booking with Air Asia, regularly check prices and wait for "Promo" flights to become available (usually 4 months in advance). For flights arriving in or departing from Indonésie, you can also use the sites Ticket.com and Traveloka.com to compare prices from different local airlines.

2. Book from major airports and avoid arriving in Bali

Take time to compare the different options and flight combinations available to you. If you live in Belgium, you can try departing from different cities: Brussels as well as Geneva, Paris, or Amsterdam. If you're departing from Quebec, compare prices from Montreal and Toronto.

As Indonésie's tourist capital, flights landing directly in Bali are often much more expensive than flights arriving in Jakarta, which in turn are more expensive than flights to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. Many airlines connect major European and Quebec cities to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur at unbeatable prices. From there, you can reach Indonésie in about two hours by plane. No visa is required to leave the airport at either Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, making it a great opportunity to spend a few days before or after your trip to Indonésie.

Budget-conscious European travelers will likely fly with one of the Gulf airlines, with Saudi Arabia Airlines often offering unbeatable prices far ahead of other carriers.

Quebec travelers should compare the different options available, especially since you have the choice of reaching Indonésie by heading east (via Europe or the Middle East) or west (via Vancouver and/or Japan, South Korea, or Hong Kong).

3. Be flexible with your dates

If you don't have fixed travel dates, take time to compare price differences by varying your departure date, arrival date, or both. Skyscanner, a flight comparison metasearch engine, even offers an option that lets you find the lowest prices over a given period.

4. Account for all costs

Found a great promotional flight from Geneva to Singapore? Before booking, make sure to estimate all the costs involved: if you're taking a flight from a city where you don't live, search travel forums for approximate prices for getting there.

Also check your flight times: if you're departing very early in the morning or arriving late in the evening, you'll likely need to spend a night in your departure or arrival city. Sometimes it's more worthwhile to book a slightly more expensive flight arriving directly in Jakarta than to pay for a hotel night and stay in Singapore for a day with all the associated costs (food, transportation, etc.). If you're planning to transit through Kuala Lumpur, note that the airport is very far from the city. If you only plan to spend one night there, you'll likely need to stay in a hotel near the airport, which will inevitably be expensive.

You now have all the tools you need to choose your ticket... Get to your keyboards... Ready? Search!

And, if you're definitely averse to any online flight searching (or simply don't have the time to deal with it), please note that Azimuth Adventure Travel Ltd can help you find the best flight at the best price (from over 200 airlines) thanks to the OptionWay tool, which allows us to:

• filter results to find flights that perfectly match your needs
• perform multi-destination searches across over 200 airlines
• once results are filtered, generate and share with you (via email) a personalized link where you just need to click to view the filtered results

After reviewing the flights we've selected for you, you'll be in a position to purchase the flight you prefer.

All these services are free for you. OptionWay simply pays us 5 € per flight purchased.

Don't hesitate to reach out to us:

Have a great trip to Indonésie!

Article written by Lisa C.