scams on air transport are common, but more worrying is that Indonesian airlines were classified among the most dangerous in the world. Despite this, it is always safer to fly than drive.
Travellers seeking cheap rates may be duped into buying fake tickets offered through social media and text messages. Some pages mimic those of airlines and offer fantastic promotions to attract people to make payments via ATM or credit card. Scammers can make reservations, but never pay for them, so that victims learn they were torn when trying to check in an airport. These scams are easily avoided by booking via the actual sites of the airlines or using reputable travel agents.
Other fake pages for airlines offer lucky draws for free tickets just for clicking the 'Like' button or 'sharing' of a picture and write a review. In short, these pages may not appear as scams because they do not ask for money. They are actually "like herding" or "like-baiting," which was banned by in late 2014. Pages with high ratings of popularity can be used to spread malware via malicious links or to collect the information of people to sell to traders. They can also be sold to criminals who then offer fake or phish for credit card details.
Offline, there are a lot of scams on the ground at airports. At the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Jakarta (actually located in the province of Batam), the main targets for scams are migrant workers who seek their fortune as domestic servants. Many have been forced to pay exorbitant amounts for the allegedly incomplete documentation before being allowed to leave the country. On their return, maids were forced to change money at the wrong rate and take extortionately expensive transportation back to their hometowns.
Foreigners are often targeted, taken aside to interview rooms to pay bribes for parasites offenses, such as travel with a bottle of alcohol on a domestic flight, or having a return ticket with another airline to airline, they arrived on. Some agents have no shame in asking money, electronic goods or clothes tourists. Sometimes customs officials seek bribes to expedite the release of imported goods.
the Outright theft also occurs. Police Soekarno-Hatta recently arrested four employees of Lion Air, the largest airline in the country, for stealing passenger baggage. One suspect told police he had been forced - by threats of physical violence - to take part in such flights since joining Lion in 2014. He said that the products were divided with guards of security. the airport police later said at least 12 of Lion baggage handlers were involved in the union. An official of the Lion Daniel Putut Adi Kuncoro, admitted the airline was suspicious when some staff had left the work with five to six mobile phones.
More recently, police January 19 arrested seven Lion Air baggage handlers at Kualanamu North Sumatra International Airport suspected of stealing diamonds worth Rp.250 million in a passenger bag .
New flights has raised concerns that the twisted baggage handlers could plant drugs or even explosives in bags being loaded onto planes. Also worrisome is the prospect incompetent drivers. Four Lion Air pilots have been arrested for drugs in the last five years. This is just a fraction of more than 1,000 drivers in the airline, who earn Rp.45 million per month on the rise in seniority and flight hours. Lion has been criticized in the past for running a pay system fly, called "e-learning", in which aspiring foreign pilots could pay US $ 44,000 for 500 hours before starting to gain under contracts of four years.
Much worse than theft, extortion or security problems is being murdered by an airline. This was the fate of Munir, foremost human rights activist in the country, which in 2004 was killed during transport on a Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam. During a stopover at Singapore Changi Airport, an off-duty Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto named, who had been assigned to the flight at the request of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), put a lethal dose arsenic in a cup of coffee and he gave Munir. The activist goes on board the flight and died in agony about seven hours later.
Garuda has never apologized for the murder of Munir. Instead, he challenged the prosecution by the widow of Munir all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 2011 ordered the company to pay compensation. Pollycarpus was in 2005 sentenced to 14 years in prison for the murder. He was released a year later after the Supreme Court overturned his conviction. The resulting outcry and criticism of the time, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono led to a judicial review and Pollycarpus was in 2008 sentenced to 20 years in prison. The Supreme Court then cut his sentence to 14 years and was paroled in late 2014 under the supervision of President Joko Widodo.
former president director of Garuda, Indra Setiawan, served a year in prison for complicity in the murder. The brains of the murder was never punished. The officer who contacted BIN Pollycarpus in the period surrounding the murder, Muchdi Purwopranjono, was acquitted by South Jakarta District Court in 2008. The authorities have rejected subsequent efforts to reopen the case. Muchdi was most recently in the news last October to suggest the National Human Rights Commission be dissolved.
worse world?
Indonesian airlines have long been criticized for lack of security. the country's airline industry has for decades been dominated by Garuda, which began operating in 1949 as a national carrier. In 1962, established state-owned Merpati to serve domestic remote locations. In 1969, two private airlines were launched military owned Mandala and Sempati. In 1970, a recording businessman based Buraq airlines so that it can fly more regularly to Kalimantan.
In 1983, Indonesia had only 5.6 million air passengers. The number rose to 17 million in 1996, then dropped to 8 million in 1999 due to the Asian financial crisis. Deregulation of the aviation industry in the same year saw the emergence of many budget airlines including Lion. In 2014, there were 94.5 million airline passengers and 26 commercial airlines.
Rated AirlineRatings.com Indonesian airlines as among the least safe in the world this month.
The annual survey site covered 407 airlines, which have been given ratings from one star (the most dangerous) to seven stars (the safest). On 10 airlines get a one-star rating, nine from Indonesia: Batik Air, Citilink, Kal Star Aviation, Lion Air, Sriwijaya Air, TransNusa, trigana air service, Air and Wings Air Xpress. Garuda received three, while there were no stars Susi Air, founded by Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti.
The site says its assessments are based on audits of governing bodies and aviation associations, and specific security data airlines.
Last year, more than 200 people died in plane crashes in Indonesia. In June, a military Hercules transport carrier sank in northern Sumatra, killing 143 people. In August, a Trigana flight crashed in Papua, killing 54. In October, a Aviastar plane crashed in South Sulawesi, killing 10. Officials have admitted there are aviation inspectors is insufficient to audit airlines for compliance with safety standards.
When you take your next flight, consider that most deaths airline in the world in 2015 were caused by malicious acts rather than accidents. This may not be so reassuring if Indonesia is now witnessing a resurgence of terrorism, but the worst things to happen on the roads and in the air.