Review of Batik Air flight from Jakarta to Yogyakarta-Java Island in Economy

Hello! I'm back with another edition of my reviews and this flight was part of my short 1-night trip to Yogyakarta in Indonesia because I had to accompany my father as he's attending the wedding ceremony of the son of his old friend who now resides in Yogyakarta. I will post both flight reports going inbound and outbound. This is my outbound flight and my father chose Batik Air so I reluctantly agreed with it. 2 days before the flight I checked in via the online web check-in page of Lion Group and chose seat 20F which is still on the middle area close to the wing, as Batik Air's A320's typically seats 30 rows.
Flight Information
Carrier: Batik Air (ID/BTK)
Flight Number: ID 6360
Origin Airport: Soekarno-Hatta Intl. Airport - Jakarta, Indonesia (IATA: CGK/ICAO: WIII)
Destination Airport: Adisutjipto Intl. Airport - Yogyakarta, Indonesia (IATA: JOG/ICAO: WAHH)
All time information are given in Western Indonesian Time (UTC+7.00)
Standard Time of Departure: 0540 hrs
Actual Time of Departure: 0556 hrs
Standard Time of Arrival: 0650 hrs
Actual Time of Arrival: 0650 hrs
Aircraft Registration Number: PK-LUH (MSN 7245)
Aircraft Type: Airbus A320-214
Aircraft Age: 1 year old (as of 2017)
Batik Air is an airline which is a subsidiary owned by Lion Air Group who alongside Batik Air, operates the low-cost carrier Lion Air and its niche-class provider that connects remote islands, Wings Air. Batik Air was founded in 2013 as a solution by Lion Air Group to create a full-service brand. It differs from Lion Air because it provides IFE (in certain aircrafts…), light snack service for economy class passengers, a business class with hot meal, and a complimentary 20 kg baggage. It quickly gained popularity due to its reasonable price, better time punctuality than Lion Air, a better seat pitch, and a vast array of connections between a lot of cities in Indonesia. It commence operations in 2013 with the inaugural flight from Soekarno-Hatta Intl. to Manado Sam Ratulangi Airport. During the early phase of operations the carrier utilised Boeing 737-900ER's leased from parent Lion Air Group while waiting for the remainder of the ordered aircrafts to be delivered. Batik Air is the starting point of Lion Air Group's long-term vision of creating an established aviation group providing various kinds of air transport services within Indonesia and surrounding countries.
4 years into operation Batik Air has expanded into a well-reputable carrier in Indonesia, becoming a favourite and a serious contender for GA in terms of domestic routes. Currently, they hold a fleet of 47 aircraft, which 35 of them are comprised of freshly-made Airbus A320-214ceo fitted with CFM International engines. The remainder 12 aircraft are Boeing 737-800/-900ER's leased from parent Lion Air Group. Starting from domestic routes, currently Batik Air operates into 26 destinations within Indonesia, and some airports abroad such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and most recently, on July 2017 commenced operations on the very busy corridor of Denpasar-Ngurah Rai Intl. in Bali to Perth International in Western Australia. Batik Air operates out of 2 airports in Jakarta, mostly from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, and more recently also operating some busy routes to major Indonesian cities like Denpasar-Bali, Surabaya, Medan from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta, to ease
the passenger movement in the overcrowded CGK airport.
As for this flight, I opted the flight to JOG from CGK and for domestic flights they operate out of the old Terminal 1. Having underwent some extensive enhancement and refreshment on the interior as well as the flow of crowd movement, I personally think that it's much better to fly nowadays out of the old terminals of CGK. It has quite a cozy feel and friendly atmosphere to it. The selection of shopping, leisure, and dining tennants has been significantly increased so one could feel good now without getting bored at the airport. Movement between phases of check-in, security checks, and boarding are also improved. This is obviously better than in T3 Ultimate, because during the return trip to CGK I walked an outstanding 1-ish kilometre just to get me from the airbridges to the pickup area. What a feat made to improve the experience of its passengers from the gateway of Indonesia.
Waiting for the bus to pick me up just outside gate C5 in Terminal 1

Finally inside the bus

Some sightings I managed to capture, but sorry by the way because photographing from a moving bus isn't that easy for a person who knows zero photography….. :)
A Citilink A320

Lion Air Boeing 737

Today's flight is operated by PK-LUH

Based on the knowledge I obtained from daily reading and viewing of social media related to aviation, avgeeks in Indonesia says you are very unlucky if your Batik Air flight is operated by an aircraft which registration is PK-LU*. It is simply becaused the IFE's in these series of aircrafts aren't finished being installed yet so you pay for the price of Batik Air but minus the IFE service which for some people is a deal-breaker. And this time it seems I'm one of the unlucky guys flying on one of those fleet :). Luckily it's a very short hop so I don't really put things too seriously.
Compulsory wing shot before boarding

Finally seated in 20F. The layout for seating in Batik Air is ABC-DEF instead with ABC-HJK in Garuda Indonesia. Also, economy starts on row 4 instead on row 20 in Garuda Indonesia.

Here is a view of the IFE screen that is disfunctional. If you take a close look, you will see a grammatical error. It says "In-flight entertainment is not available, apologize for the inconvenience". Does it mean that we're the ones that are supposed to be responsible for the lack of IFE on board……??? I laughed myself so hard seeing this, to be honest:)))

Legroom in ID, I think it's very sufficient for a person of my height (169 cm/5'6.5") and the seatbelt fits perfectly fine as well.

A glimpse of the safety instruction card. Simple enough and clearly legible.

Interior situation shortly before pushback. I have no idea how high is the load factor but is certainly packed. Saturday morning flights out of Jakarta is very busy indeed.

Row 20F

Morning situation outside my aircraft before pushback

As the monitors were disfunctional, safety demonstrations were done manually, the old-fashioned way

Before the safety demonstration was made, the captain made the preliminary announcement addressing the passengers and welcomed us on board. The captain also gave details about the flight and weather information. The captain said that this flight would take about an exact hour and the aircraft will ascent to its cruising altitude of 25,000 feet. Flying distance is 456 kilometres and weather upon landing in Yogyakarta is reported to be sunny with minimum cloud cover with an air temperature of 24 degrees celsius.
Flight path of today's flight (source: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/pk-luh#f46d3bf)

Shortly after take-off, the airplane makes a very sharp turn to head southeast and immediately passing the cities Tangerang, South Jakarta, Depok, and the rural vicinity of Jonggol before reaching its cruising altitude above the mountainous part of West Java. The plane flew north above the city of Bandung, which happens to be where I go to university and gives a very nice look of it and also giving a nice view of the mountains in the Eastern Parahyangan region. The pilot announced the commencing of descent just as we are about to enter Central Java and flying low along the Southern Coast of Java gives a clear imagery of the scenery of the regions Cilacap, Kebumen, and Purworejo, before finally entering Special Region of Yogyakarta and making our final approach to Adisutjipto Intl. Airport.
The process from pushback, taxi, and lining-up for take-off is a very short one and in no time at all we are entering the runway

Moments just before clearance, a Lion Air B737 is queueing right behind us

And we're up and flying. I'm not lying, I guess that the plane rotated in less than 5 seconds since the thrust was maxed up. It's the fastest take-off I've ever experienced in my life. I can't really explain why because I think the flight is pretty loaded and weekend is on full swing so everyone's going with their belongings so what's behind the rush anyways I can't still figure it out.

This is an aerial view of GMF AeroAsia's hangar. GMF AeroAsia is a subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia which handles the maintenance of the aircrafts owned by the Garuda Indonesia group, which comprises of GA and Citilink. A long time ago, its operations were still strictly under supervision from its parent company but now it has become an independent company with some shares owned by GA group. Since it has become independent as well, it also receives orders from local and foreign companies for aircraft maintenance.

You can see that the recently-retired PK-GSH GA B747-400 is still parked waiting for its next fate to be determined. The jumbo-jet served for around 23 years with Garuda Indonesia, mostly operating on the hajj routes between several cities in Indonesia and Medina/Jeddah, and sometimes serving some busy domestic routes as well. It served its last flight on October 27th, 2017, accumulating 89,900 flight hours and around 15,000 flight cycles.
Banking very sharply southeastwards

Continuing to FL250

Hilly and mountainous terrain from the central part of West Java

Within 10 minutes from take-off the seatbelt signed has been switched off and the cabin crew spontaneously distributed the meal service for today.

In Batik Air, hot meal is only served for business class passengers. Economy class would only get a snack box consisting of if not one, then a few kind of snacks and a bottle of mineral water. No additional drinks are served so you can't request for another glass of orange juice, apple juice, milk, or any other kind of drink because it is not served at all.
More cloud formations over West Java

So this is the meal served on our flight today. It's just a piece of bread with onion chicken filling and a bottle of water. No boxes to contain them either. Batik Air does know a lot about simplicity and caring more about the environment:)

Personally I think it's just average. It's not really good bad it's not bad either.
The city of Bandung, the capital of the province West Java. Home to 2.4 million people and centre of Sundanese culture.

Another view of Bandung as we continue to head eastwards

The mountains east of Bandung formed by the Pacific Ring of Fire. A lot of volcanoes with high geothermal potential.

Not very long after the meal was distributed, the flight attendants came back to retrieve the plastic trash and disposed them into trash bags. Meal service must be done quickly because this is a very short flight.

After staying for a while on its coursed finally the aircraft changed heading a bit.

Welcome to the Southern Coast of Java.

Beautiful landscape formed by a blend of forests and grasslands along the coastline of the Indian Ocean somewhere between Kebumen/Purworejo Regency, Central Java.

In love with the scenery

The shift of topography from flat, lush plains to some hilly terrain marks our entrance into Yogyakarta Special Administrative Region.

Here are the beautiful scenery of the greenery-covered lush hills of Kulon Progo Regency, showing the vicinity of Kalibiru and Sermo Reservoir

The fasten seatbelt signed has been switched back on, and we are on our final approach

Flying low above metropolitan Yogyakarta. The city limit itself is a pretty small area, but the hub for trade, commerce, and educational activities extend to the surrounding areas like Depok in Sleman Regency and Timoho and Banguntapan in Bantul Regency. Those districts are not part of the city but still a part of the urban agglomeration.

Aerial view as we close into the central part of the city. Shown here is the Alun-Alun Lor, or transliterated as "Northern City Square". Sprawled within this square is some famous landmarks in Yogyakarta namely the Keraton (Sultan's Palace), Fort Vredeburg, and the Grand Mosque.

Getting really close

Directly over Maguwoharjo Stadium, a medium-sized stadium mostly hosting football matches of the Indonesian Football League.

Eastern part of the metropolitan area and the main ringroad that connects the outskirts

We're closing in

Touchdown! They definitely used maximum reverse thrust due to the high load factor and the short 2.2-km length of the runway

Immediately turning left into the apron

It turns out that our plane was parked in the easternmost spot of the apron so therefore a little walk is needed to reach the arrival hall. No bus service is available in the airport since it's a very small airport for its caliber.

Baggage handling services on its way already!

Disembarking situation

The cargo hatch has been opened and the staff has started processing the baggage

Another view from the stairs

Thank you, LUH!

Welcome to Jogja

Here a Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737-8U6 PK-GNJ operating GA203 is set to depart for Soekarno-Hatta Intl. (WIII/CGK) in Jakarta, while in the foreground a Lion Air B737-9GP(ER) PK-LHS is also taxiing to the runway to depart for Pekanbaru Sultan Sjarif Kasim II Intl. Airport (WIBB/PKU)

PK-GNJ

Coordinates for one of the gates

People are walking out of the departure gate to depart for Jakarta on GA203

Another Lion Air B737 that I haven't managed to catch the registration number

Finally reached the arrival hall after a stroll along the apron

Arrival hall

Free charging facility is provided

The conveyor belt to claim your baggage if you're bringing any

The restrooms

After we exited the building we are directed to go through this outdoor hallway where some facilities like ATM and information counters are available

The information counter

We then proceed to the pickup area that is connected to the rest of the arrival hall via a tunnel

The pickup and parking area, where public transport connections like TransJogja city bus and DAMRI bus connections to several cities like Magelang, Purworejo are available. A train connection is also available through the integrated Maguwo Railway Station here after exiting the tunnel.