Most international flights to Indonesia come through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which is also known as Cengkareng to locals. Cengkareng is used for its international airport code “CGK.” The airport is located in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. However, aside from all the advantages as a big city, Jakarta has its disadvantage, which is traffic congestion that sometimes becomes a deadlock. Therefore, careful planning on flight scheduling is important to avoid this inconvenience, especially after a lengthy flight that at least about 20 hours. When scheduling, a late arrival or an early departure will be the best.

Arriving

Upon arrival, as soon as you disembark the plane, retrieve your luggage, and if you haven’t had a visa, you go to the cashier window to pay for a Visa on Arrival (VOA) for $35.00 per passenger. The VOA will allow you to stay in Indonesia for 30 days. You can extend your visa as long as you have a ticket within the one-month extension. Fill out the forms, have a photo available, and pay another $35.00 per person for the visa extension. Be sure that you do this more than a week before the visa expires.

At the arrival area, you can find money changer booths that are open late. However, their exchange rate is quite low compared to those outside the airport. So far, “Golded Money Changer” is a money changer who can give you good exchange rates. Remember to bring with you a very pristine condition and in higher denomination (USD 100).

The next thing you do is have your VOA checked and stamped by the immigration officer.

If you haven’t had any transportation arranged for you, there will be a lot of transportation available when you are exiting the arrival gate. You can get Blue Bird Taxi, the most preferred taxi in Jakarta, or a shuttle bus to your hotel.

In case you need to go to the restroom, there is only a squatting toilette and spray water for cleaning, but no toilet paper provided. So please, keep in mind to always take with you a toilette travel pack with toilet paper, liquid soap, sanitizer and toilet covers.

Departing

There are two security checks at the airport. The first is the security check-in that will open at 04:00 am (04:00 WIB) local time, and the airline’s counters will accept check-in at 05:00 am (05:00 WIB). At this security check-in, the officer will allow you to take bottles of water inside. Take the opportunity to have your meals and to drink your bottles of water at the check-in, as there are restaurants and shops available. However, once you go through the boarding security check, you cannot take any bottles of water with you and there is no store inside.

All passengers traveling out of Soekarno-Hatta Airport will have to pay the airport tax at the airline check-in counter. For international flights, the airport tax is IDR (Rp) 150,000.00 per passenger, while the domestic flights are Rp 40,000.00 per passenger

If you need to go to the restroom, there are western style toilets available in this area. In this toilet, toilet paper and hand dryers are provided.

Related terms in English and Indonesian: