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he was not honest about his review, it was not the airline that was at fault but the manufacturer boeing who became famous for betraying this airline, the 737 - the newest Max that we know
Noel mentioned that Lion had an average of one crash every two years but when he took this flight it was three years since the last one. That's a good sign, it suggests that they've improved their safety procedures. Their subsidiary Batik Air which flies to Australia seems to be OK.
@@rais1953It’s sad when your argument is, “See? It’s been 3 years since the last accident. That’s better than the 1 every 2 years they averaged before”. 😂😂
3:15 Indonesia is definitely on my list of countries to visit and I was well on my way before COVID shut everything down as I had just visited Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam with plans to visit Malaysia and Indonesia next. Glad to hear you love it there which makes me want to visit even more now since I know that you know what you’re talking about.
If you think Lion Air is bad, you should have flown Sempati Air, I did in the mid 90s from Yogaykarta to Denpasar, never have I been scared on flight other than this one, thank goodness it was only an hour. One of the stewardesses was literally holding the door release down the whole way.
I survived multiple Merpati, Indonesian Aerospace C-212 Aviocar flights to and from Jakarta Halim and Cilacap in the late 1980s. Wasn’t brave enough to try Bouraq or Mandala.
Pangkal Pinang (pronounced it nicely there Noel, locals would immediately know, Bangka island) is one of culinary havens in Indonesia. They are nowhere north of Indonesia, it settles right in the middle. The northern most point of that Sumatra region (Banda Aceh) is like 2 hours flight away.
As a pilot and plane owner I just Love your travels. Just think all the wonderful places you can go throughout this wonderful world. Just wish all of us could get a long and cherish our life here. Nice that all the seats were orange so they can see you floating in the water.....
I had the same experience with Lion Air when I traveled around Indonesia years back. Every single flight, they asked me if I wanted to move to the emergency exit and to assist with evacuation if needed. I had a feeling they needed to have at least one or two foreigners manning one of the exits lol
I think if an airline is doing manual check-in they will always be looking for some reasonably able bodied people to go in the exit rows. Even if you check in very early they might ask you. On another occasion I was called up just before boarding if I'd swap to an exit row. I said 'Yes please!)😀
Lmao I can't talk about Lion AIr because I'm never flown them but I think some airlines are probably a bit wack like that. I know if there's no one who's assigned to the emergency exit rows they'll look for some fit able-bodied people to move there, my sister and I were once asked while checking in if we wanted to upgrade to emergency exit (Jetstar) but we declined. I reckon if they asked Noel before the flight though maybe no one had booked those seats or the people who were sitting there weren't happy to help?
As ex Ezy crew I can say that we had a similar PA when going to Ibiza. We use to have load of seat belts and life jackets taken for people to then wear to the clubs. It used to be quite frequent that 2 or 3 used to go each flight. Every turnaround our checks included lifejackets to then replace missing ones!
That answers my question about why anyone would want an aircraft life-jacket. I would not impress anyone if I showed up at my local wearing an aircraft life-jacket. 🤣
This is about Indonesian carriers. The Gap between Garuda Indonesia Group (Garuda and Citilink) on reliability and safety record with others carriers is quite big. This is base on Skytrax assesment. Even some others international media in Airlines Industry assesment too. Still if you domestic in Indonesia you probably have to fly Lion Air group, because their widest networks coverage, and their cheaper prices.
Ive lived in Jakarta for nye on 30 years and flown Lionair many times. They are getting better. I remember getting rained on in the back seats of their md80's. Once you've risked your life on a motorbike in peak hour Jakarta traffic you won't be as worried when flying Lionair. You'll just be happy to have survived another day.
Luckily you weren't delayed since Lion Air is known for that XD Agreed with you about the airport particularly this particular terminal Honestly still in love with the aesthetics of Soekarno-Hatta's Terminal 2. It's like a calming, tranquil, serene tropical resort with the wood-like colors and ethnic designs especially the roof and ceilings plus the gardens they have between the subterminals. And personally this terminal is where my childhood flights always started from so it has a good place in my heart. Probably would really be more better than the new Terminal 3 if it weren't for the fact that Terminal 2 has no landside observation place besides from the hotel XP
A few years ago we had same thing with the life vests on the Airberlin-Shuttle down to Palma de Mallorca and when I talked to the crew later, they said it's pretty common on flights to "Party-Islands" that people try to take those vests with them so that they had always a few extra vests on their flights for the return flight.
I've flown with Lion Air several times, no problems except for the delay which wasn't too long. lion air is the largest airline in Indonesia, serving many routes that are not even served by other airlines. there have been several incidents of accidents that have made this airline a bad name, but in our opinion, what has made this airline so bad is not the accident, but the very long delays or cancellations of schedules. but people still choose to ride this airline because they have no choice 😆
Andd because it’s cheap, a lot cheaper than Garuda Indonesia Airways. The only annoying thing that happen to me so far with tgis airline is they can change your departure time to be much earlier. It happened to me pre covid days twice. I booked the last flight on that day and they moved it like 2-3 hours earlier which caused problem since I came from remote regency in west borneo. When i got to the airport, the last flight was actually still available so god knew what they moved my flight earlier. I don’t fly a lot nowadays because covid and I no longer work in Borneo so when I fly these days, they are actually quite punctual. I got delayed due to bad weather tho. Their landing are still not butter
I really wish that Adam Air was still available for in Indonesia, lion group is... Feels like betting my life on the line. Terrible safety records, badly maintenanced plane etc.
@@r3zaful adam air??? wow i suggest you to read the history of adam air before commenting. lion air isn't good but they are way better than adam air in terms of safety.
Lion Air is better why?? Cuz Adam Air only concerned with money and operating a broken plane. Since the Adam 574 accident, Adam was demanded by the KNKT and the Ministry of Transportation to improve safety for 3 months, but 3 months passed they still didn't change and then went bankrupt in 2008. For Lion air it's still better because they are still holding maintenance but yes it has to improve airline safety and service.
thank you for sharing man, i have been living in Indonesia for almost a decade now, using lion airlines maybe 4 of 5 times, most of my traveling i use Citilink airlines, its good . again thanx for sharing and hope ur having a good time in Indonesia.
Wow Noel, you’re so brave!! I am such a nervous flyer I actually refuse to get on a plane. But seeing you do something like this gives me a bit more confidence 😅 Thank you for your videos!
think about it like this, ppl have a way higher chance to die on a car crash than a place crash. One more thing, pick an airline that have good safety records
From 1970 to 1999, Korean Air (aka KAL) wrote off nearly 20 aircraft in serious incidences and crashes, resulting in about 700 fatalities in the process. Since then, management has turned the ship around with better training and safety procedures. Hopefully, Lion Air makes similar changes. Frankly, I'm amazed people still want to fly with the Indonesian carrier, given its dodgy safety record. Management shouldn't take this for granted because even loyal customers will only give you so many opportunities to fix things before they walk away for good.
4:55 fyi that the 737 max was actually not lion's fault. they are some research about it. lion try to inform Boeing to train their pilot because of this new aircraft but Boeing refused they claimed that that plane was the same as the 737 900 and mocked lion staff as uncivilized
I laughed at the life vest bit. I work for a large life vest manufacturer, Lion Air is a new customer actually lol. But, yes! Believe it or not, people do take life vests. It does seem to be an issue on Asian airlines but I can't complain - keeps us in business 🤣 Some airlines will actually give away infant life vest specifically because they don't want them back after being handled by customers.
2:24 Having been to Indonesia nearly a dozen times, I can tell you that your impression of the airport is just as apt as an analogy for the country writ-large. Sheer chaos, with moments of absolute peace and serenity.
My job has me taking Lion air (usually) every few weeks to travel around Indonesia, I've never had a "scary" moment with them. The leg room is an issue like you stated but I have often been asked if I want to move to the emergency exit, just like in your scenario.
Even for the worst airlines in the worst countries, flying is pretty safe and the probability of a crash is low. It's just when compared to Europe, North America etc that it looks very bad in places like Indonesia. You'll be fine!
9:34 that might be the coolest thing I’ve ever heard👍🏽👍🏽. That’s truly awesome, I aspire to one day fly somewhere that I know absolutely nothing about and then arrive to find that I love the place🙌🏽.
My wife and I were due to fly Lion Air during our honeymoon last year from Bali to Ambon to visit her great grandfather's grave in the war cemetery over there. It was a 2 leg flight taking us through Makassar however Lion kept changing the flight times for each of the legs of the journey making the trip impossible over one day. Luckily they offered a free transfer onto their more premium sister airline Batik (although we did have to take a longer route through jakarta) which was nice. Overall not the worst experience with Lion (at least their customer service).
OMG! Air crash investigation full of Lion Air crash incidents. You are no doubt very courageous and special thanks to Lion Air management after so many incidents, till they are operating their normal business. Good to watch. Good luck both of you. Sending care from 🇮🇳
Noel - do you have a video where you talk about what essentials you take on your flights? Interesting to see if anything useful I should have on a flight
737-900 seem quite rare. I think in Europe your best bet to fly on one of those is with KLM. As for Lion air, I suppose statistically speaking it is still about as safe as an domestic long distance bus in the same country which most people would board without much concern. Lionair might be safer now that they have the world's eyes on them.
Noel, thanks for this video.... I worked out this is close to a prototype location & I will probably take this same flight to visit Bangka Island next month
Pangkal pinang is still considered on the south part of Indonesia actually. Indonesia is quite bigger than what even most Indonesians think. The northern big cities is actually even more north in latitude than Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. I'm quite Interested to know what brings you to PGK.
I think he's flying two different airlines to and from the island as it's just a 90 minute flight and will return to Jakarta on another one in an hour or two. Maybe Batik Air?
@@tiadaid No. It's just that Batik is a "child company" of Lion group. They have different management team and crews than Lion, all newer fleets, and finer services and punctuality according to most frequenters.
Maybe confusion over whether the rear stairs are going to be used is quite common. One time I was one of the first people to board, went through the door to the stairs on the air bridge & then towards the A320. No sign of the stairs to the rear door of the plane. About 10 other passengers and I stood there on the tarmac, for at least 2 or 3 minutes, before the guys with the rear stairs turned up & knocked to the rear door to have it opened. There had been no announcement about not using the rear stairs & obviously there had been a slip-up by the boarding gate staff leaving the door unlocked, or some sort of communication problem with the ramp guys.
You're a brave man Noel albeit we know the Lion Air Max 8 accident was certainly not all on the airline themselves. Thanks for doing this. Indonesia looks beautiful hope to get out there some day soon.
That flight doesn’t seem any worse than the mexican flight you took on the cessna caravan where the pilot was on his iphone most of the flight…now that was a scary one!
That’s why they’ve failed many times to get FAA approval to fly into the US. Most Indonesian carriers are category 2 meaning the country either lacked laws or regulations necessary to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards, or its civil aviation authority - a body equivalent to the FAA for aviation safety matters - was deficient in one or more areas, such as technical expertise, trained personnel, record-keeping, or inspection procedures. Garuda, Indonesia the flag carrier has a Category 1 rating but has chosen not to fly to the US due to their geographical focus on Asia.
@@JeanClaudeCOCO Garuda hasn’t flown to US since late 1997. I believe they’ve just cut the flight to London in 2021 due to financial reasons. So far only Amsterdam is the surviving long route this carrier has to offer.
In Indonesia, Lion Air Group and Garuda Indonesia Group is the 2 airlines that monopolies the market. Sometimes people have no choice to fly with lion because Garuda ticket price is almost 3 times lion.
Not always about the price. Garuda does not cover all of Indonesia, some route in Kalimantan is only flew by Lion or Wings, which is subsidiaries of Lion. Last week I just flew using Wings, 2 properlers, 4 seats wide ATR72 from Balikpapan to Tanjung Selor, very small airport and short runway it is an experience.
@5:17 yep thats what we call security breach in airport terms. crazy to me nowadays that theres still airports that doesn't have a digital padlock system or anything to prevent pax to just walk in down the bridge
Fly Garuda and its subsidiary Citilink. That's what I'm doing. Problem is for most Indonesian, Lion Air Group is the most affordable ones. Certainly they are now has the widest networks available.
Happy to see that you liked the terminal. It was designed by Paul Andreu, the same guy who designed the CDG airport and one of its ill-fated section of a terminal there 3:50 As Indonesia is Muslim-majority country, a Musholla is required in every place as to provide the Muslims with a place for them to pray but yeah the placement is a bit odd. Never understand why if there is a Musholla, it will always be built next to or near the toilet. Kinda makes it unsanitary and unholy for me
A few months ago I flew on a Batik Air Max-8, and I believe that they're a subsidiary of Lion Air. It was a weird flight because we flew from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, circled Singapore for almost an hour, then flew back to Kuala Lumpur, basically a nearly 3 hour flight to nowhere. The same aircraft took us back to Singapore a few hours later. It was all pretty bizarre.
Noel, you have balls of solid steel! 😁 I would not fly in an airline with such a bad safety record, even if you pay me to! No airline is perfect and there will be accidents in time, but then those should be non-fatal and far between, but this airline... NOPE! I may be crazy, but I am not stupid! 🤪
Hi Noel I used to live in Jakarta and regularly travelled home to Perth my choice if possible would be Garuda, but my last choice many times had to be Lion Air my answer to you is I'm still here but always a bit nervous flying them. Keep up the good work love your videos.
I'm surprised at all the negative and 'braver man than me' comments here. The Max is one of the newest and safest aircraft flying today. The software problems were ironed out after the accidents and the engineering on these aircraft is insane. The engine to fuselage ratio is reassuringly large l. Noel, it would be great to have more technical information about the aircraft you are on. To me, this would help dispel some of the fears and negativity around using certain airlines and aircraft. I love the Max and am just about to board a flight from Mexico city to Merida. I know I'm going to have a safe, quiet and and enjoyable flight with great views of CDMC on the way out.
I've done a search for Lion Air crashes and compared the actual death toll versus the potential and while some of the data is incomplete, out of a potential 1057 they've only killed 214 people. I was only able to find 7 crashes and obviously one of those was the infamous Lion Air 610. I'm willing to cut them a bit of slack on that one. Dangerous? Sure but if you've always wanted to experience a plane crash, Lion Air sounds like a good bet.
I am from Indonesia, and I always imagined that Lion Air is like Indonesia's *Spirit Airlines* where you get what you paid for and notorious for their very cheap flight price with (sometimes but not always) bad service. However, Lion Air isn't that really cheap as Spirit, but it's almost the same like Ireland's and Europe's favourite airline *Ryanair.* Talking about their customer service, sometimes they disappoint their own passengers (including their full-service counterpart Batik Air). For me, I would still prefer Garuda Indonesia and their low-cost counterpart Citilink Indonesia.
Not necessarily a fair comparison because even though spirit airlines is a no frills airline that gives you exactly what you pay for, Spirit airlines has a spotless safety record unlike Lion air
I'm frequent on Lion's flight, have a completly different opinion from others, never had an issue with them, very seldom run into delay, always a pleasant flight, prefer their -800 over the -900ER tho, it seems the seat pitch is much better on the -800.
@@cinevile technically speaking, on legal document, super air jet is not a subsidiary to lion group, but both owned by the same person, so... of course it's different and better
@@cinevile it's not. It's registered as a independent, separate company from lion group. Lion group's pr confirmed this back when super air jet just start their operational. But because they both owned by the same person, sometimes they are kinda helping each other on operational aspect like maintanence, etc. Lion group's crews that need a ride back to their base after a scheduled flight would sometimes fly on super air jet as an extra crew. But, other than that, it's a separate company. That's why you won't find any lion group's logo painted on super's fleet
I've flown with them between Thailand and Indonesia many times, always a pleasant experience, wouldn't recommend long haul though since they do fly to Australia, I'd suggest to just pony up the extra cash and fly Qantas or Thai Airways for that.
Thank you for reviewing Lion Air, and thank you for visiting Pangkalpinang. Yes, the airline has got many bad reviews from the passengers,but we have no other choice, since this airline provide us more routes and timeable which not covered by some the other airlines. And the main reason, this flight offer the most affordable price than others. While you're in Indonesia, please review Citilink or Super Air Jet.
Try Citilink please. Citilink is an airline from its parent Garuda Indonesia. In recent years, I only use either Garuda or Citilink in Indonesia. About Lion Air, I never used this airline in the past 10 years because I felt uncomfortable and dissatisfied with the service in the past. Just look at the seats, my knees feel hurt just seeing how tight is your seat. For me, seat is the first important thing before the services.
I have flown this airline many times since 2006, i havent got serious issues regarding safety unless its panctuality, Lion its only private owned airline that having a lot connecting hub around Indonesia island. Hopefully its getting better in the future.
Would usually never risk it but found out to fly to my home city, only Lion air services unless I want to fly to jakarta first.... so will fly my first ever flight on January...
Hey Noel! I did BKK to YGN on MAI last weekend. Cheap, full beverage service but planes old. But no complaints. My regional favourite is Nok Air. I just love the livery of the planes with bird beaks "nok" meaning bird in Thai. Cheap, clean and good prices. The urban story, not sure it;s a myth, is that the flight attendants are made redundant when they reach age 24! A bit different to Qantas. They don't have a chance of working internationally until 45 plus and 25kg overweight!
Heard the stories about Lion Air many a time & if ever I fly to that part of the world I’m not convinced they would be my first choice of operator! Glad to see you escaped unscathed!
Honestly, Lion's been very safe these past couple of years, especially since their 2018 MAX incident, aside from the occasional annoying delays, broken/missing seatbelts on some of their planes, they've been the only airline making a profit in the pandemic, so big up to them.
Having lived in Jakarta for 9 years…. Indonesian people really appreciate Terima Kasih (for thank you) & Jakarta airport is Soekana Hatta named after previous President & his deputy….enjoy your vlogs…took Lion many times.
If you used to buy tickets using credit/debit card, I wonder how many of those airlines will try to steal its data. When I was in Indonesia - one of them (it seems you haven't tested that one) actually tried as I've used virtual card created just to buy tickets online over one specific website and then it was frozen, yet ~6 months after I got notification that some one tried to authorise it to use in some local Indonesian app.
Noel, I think your most bizarre flight was across the Gulf of California, between mainland Mexico, and Baja California. As I recall, the pilot of that puddle jumper played with his phone, then fell asleep, and drifted off course. I was prepared to see you move into the right seat, and take control of the flight. Lion Air seems like a typical budget airline. Low fares, regional destinations, crowded cabin. Sure, I'd risk a flight on that carrier -- occasionally. As a regular commuter? No, I don't think so. The odds don't add up.
I had the same announcement about leaving the lifejackets on the plane when I flew Hawaiian Airlines last year. Clearly this was a problem, but I didn’t think it should be
I am glad that you decided to try Indonesia Lion Air because i flown this airline 2 times from Jakarta to Singapore and VV and at the time i think Lion Air is a good airline before officially the world's worst airline in 2022. Also, Lion Air is the launch customer of the Boeing 737-900ER. At the time of comment of this video, Lion Air has 112 aircraft including 2 MAX 9.
Soekarno-Hatta is truly a beautiful terminal, however the boarding process is a total logistical mess. Noel, you should fly out of HLP in Jakarta to experience true insanity. There are some amazing food outlets in the departure lounge, though. I'd love to see you fly into Medan in the future, too (KNO)
As James said, mainly Boeing error and their attempts to keep pace with Airbus. Not excusing Lion Air, but if you watched the documentary, which covered the Ethiopian crash, you would have seen that Boeing admitted it was due to their new system and the lack of training provided by Boeing
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Thank you for sharing Noel, happy to support your channel! For anyone interested check out the link above and let us know if you have any questions.
Noel I want to ask you a personal question!
Send your email so it will be personal
I remember the crash!
north of Jakarta (north west)... not north of Indonesia... you are welcome 😉
Noel the type of guy to point out all the safety issues with an airline, and then take the exact same flight from the last fatal crash lol. Love it
Thats actually pretty clever, what are the odds that the same airline chrashes on the same route twice 😉
Jakarta beautiful.? Not if you know it.
But did he die?, 👀👀
he was not honest about his review, it was not the airline that was at fault but the manufacturer boeing who became famous for betraying this airline, the 737 - the newest Max that we know
@@hollythx Sure maybe the last crash wasn't their fault... but what about the other crashes
I remember a story about an ex-Lion Air pilot refuses to fly with Lion Air itself except if it was him that flown the plane lol
Noel mentioned that Lion had an average of one crash every two years but when he took this flight it was three years since the last one. That's a good sign, it suggests that they've improved their safety procedures. Their subsidiary Batik Air which flies to Australia seems to be OK.
@@rais1953It’s sad when your argument is, “See? It’s been 3 years since the last accident. That’s better than the 1 every 2 years they averaged before”. 😂😂
@@Jmotwa87 they should put that on their terminal billboards: "It has been two years since our last crash."
@@Jmotwa87 Yes. But it's a hopeful sign.
@@fitzyman4552 "2 days accident free!"
All those hours you logged on Russian carriers a year or so ago and now Lion Air! You're a far, far braver man than most, Noel.
Facts
3:15 Indonesia is definitely on my list of countries to visit and I was well on my way before COVID shut everything down as I had just visited Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam with plans to visit Malaysia and Indonesia next. Glad to hear you love it there which makes me want to visit even more now since I know that you know what you’re talking about.
If you think Lion Air is bad, you should have flown Sempati Air, I did in the mid 90s from Yogaykarta to Denpasar, never have I been scared on flight other than this one, thank goodness it was only an hour. One of the stewardesses was literally holding the door release down the whole way.
Sempati was horrible. I wonder how bad Bouraq was?
@Springbok295 pretty bad. I did them once and it was enough. I have also flown Adam and Batavia. Still alive
I survived multiple Merpati, Indonesian Aerospace C-212 Aviocar flights to and from Jakarta Halim and Cilacap in the late 1980s.
Wasn’t brave enough to try Bouraq or Mandala.
how do you get him to get on a plane that has long been bankrupt 😆
Damn you're old af dude, nobody even remember about that particular airline.
Pangkal Pinang (pronounced it nicely there Noel, locals would immediately know, Bangka island) is one of culinary havens in Indonesia. They are nowhere north of Indonesia, it settles right in the middle. The northern most point of that Sumatra region (Banda Aceh) is like 2 hours flight away.
As a pilot and plane owner I just Love your travels. Just think all the wonderful places you can go throughout this wonderful world. Just wish all of us could get a long and cherish our life here. Nice that all the seats were orange so they can see you floating in the water.....
If the body not scattered on impact..
I had the same experience with Lion Air when I traveled around Indonesia years back. Every single flight, they asked me if I wanted to move to the emergency exit and to assist with evacuation if needed. I had a feeling they needed to have at least one or two foreigners manning one of the exits lol
I think if an airline is doing manual check-in they will always be looking for some reasonably able bodied people to go in the exit rows. Even if you check in very early they might ask you. On another occasion I was called up just before boarding if I'd swap to an exit row. I said 'Yes please!)😀
Lmao I can't talk about Lion AIr because I'm never flown them but I think some airlines are probably a bit wack like that.
I know if there's no one who's assigned to the emergency exit rows they'll look for some fit able-bodied people to move there, my sister and I were once asked while checking in if we wanted to upgrade to emergency exit (Jetstar) but we declined. I reckon if they asked Noel before the flight though maybe no one had booked those seats or the people who were sitting there weren't happy to help?
Is it because foreigners are mostly taller than locals, so they need more leg room, and easier to open the emergency exit window?
@@Si_nengatcha more leg room and they know white people don't screw stuff up.
Jokes
not foreigner necessarily, probably just taller or fitter looking people
As ex Ezy crew I can say that we had a similar PA when going to Ibiza. We use to have load of seat belts and life jackets taken for people to then wear to the clubs. It used to be quite frequent that 2 or 3 used to go each flight. Every turnaround our checks included lifejackets to then replace missing ones!
That answers my question about why anyone would want an aircraft life-jacket. I would not impress anyone if I showed up at my local wearing an aircraft life-jacket. 🤣
This is about Indonesian carriers. The Gap between Garuda Indonesia Group (Garuda and Citilink) on reliability and safety record with others carriers is quite big. This is base on Skytrax assesment. Even some others international media in Airlines Industry assesment too. Still if you domestic in Indonesia you probably have to fly Lion Air group, because their widest networks coverage, and their cheaper prices.
Well garuda is national flagship carrier they basically run on gov money.
Ive lived in Jakarta for nye on 30 years and flown Lionair many times. They are getting better. I remember getting rained on in the back seats of their md80's. Once you've risked your life on a motorbike in peak hour Jakarta traffic you won't be as worried when flying Lionair. You'll just be happy to have survived another day.
😂😂😂😂😂 tough luck mate.. cheers from yahukimo
happened to me once too, on their MD flight, i was like tf is this water from aircond? but no it was water leaking from outside 🤣
Luckily you weren't delayed since Lion Air is known for that XD
Agreed with you about the airport particularly this particular terminal
Honestly still in love with the aesthetics of Soekarno-Hatta's Terminal 2. It's like a calming, tranquil, serene tropical resort with the wood-like colors and ethnic designs especially the roof and ceilings plus the gardens they have between the subterminals. And personally this terminal is where my childhood flights always started from so it has a good place in my heart.
Probably would really be more better than the new Terminal 3 if it weren't for the fact that Terminal 2 has no landside observation place besides from the hotel XP
i lived in Indonesia for 10 years and flew lion air domestically all the time , i wont lie i was scared shitless every time
A few years ago we had same thing with the life vests on the Airberlin-Shuttle down to Palma de Mallorca and when I talked to the crew later, they said it's pretty common on flights to "Party-Islands" that people try to take those vests with them so that they had always a few extra vests on their flights for the return flight.
Mr. Noel Phillips has now reviewed Garuda, Lion Air, Batik and NAM Air. What a man.
Noel, you survived SCAT. You can do Lion Air.
Twice!
I've flown with Lion Air several times, no problems except for the delay which wasn't too long. lion air is the largest airline in Indonesia, serving many routes that are not even served by other airlines. there have been several incidents of accidents that have made this airline a bad name, but in our opinion, what has made this airline so bad is not the accident, but the very long delays or cancellations of schedules. but people still choose to ride this airline because they have no choice 😆
Andd because it’s cheap, a lot cheaper than Garuda Indonesia Airways. The only annoying thing that happen to me so far with tgis airline is they can change your departure time to be much earlier. It happened to me pre covid days twice. I booked the last flight on that day and they moved it like 2-3 hours earlier which caused problem since I came from remote regency in west borneo. When i got to the airport, the last flight was actually still available so god knew what they moved my flight earlier. I don’t fly a lot nowadays because covid and I no longer work in Borneo so when I fly these days, they are actually quite punctual. I got delayed due to bad weather tho. Their landing are still not butter
I really wish that Adam Air was still available for in Indonesia, lion group is... Feels like betting my life on the line.
Terrible safety records, badly maintenanced plane etc.
@@r3zaful Adam Air? you must be joking, right?
@@r3zaful adam air??? wow i suggest you to read the history of adam air before commenting. lion air isn't good but they are way better than adam air in terms of safety.
Lion Air is better why?? Cuz Adam Air only concerned with money and operating a broken plane. Since the Adam 574 accident, Adam was demanded by the KNKT and the Ministry of Transportation to improve safety for 3 months, but 3 months passed they still didn't change and then went bankrupt in 2008. For Lion air it's still better because they are still holding maintenance but yes it has to improve airline safety and service.
thank you for sharing man, i have been living in Indonesia for almost a decade now, using lion airlines maybe 4 of 5 times, most of my traveling i use Citilink airlines, its good . again thanx for sharing and hope ur having a good time in Indonesia.
Wow Noel, you’re so brave!! I am such a nervous flyer I actually refuse to get on a plane. But seeing you do something like this gives me a bit more confidence 😅 Thank you for your videos!
He must have nerves of steel.
think about it like this, ppl have a way higher chance to die on a car crash than a place crash. One more thing, pick an airline that have good safety records
Safer than driving just remember
@@Thefallenpea I'd still rather be in a car crash than plane crash. At least I won't be falling thousands of feet out of the sky
@@Thefallenpea Trust me I know all the statistics but my anxiety says No 😅
As an Indonesian myself, i would rather spend more money to fly within the country with Garuda Indonesia than with Lion Air group...
From 1970 to 1999, Korean Air (aka KAL) wrote off nearly 20 aircraft in serious incidences and crashes, resulting in about 700 fatalities in the process. Since then, management has turned the ship around with better training and safety procedures. Hopefully, Lion Air makes similar changes.
Frankly, I'm amazed people still want to fly with the Indonesian carrier, given its dodgy safety record. Management shouldn't take this for granted because even loyal customers will only give you so many opportunities to fix things before they walk away for good.
Got to say stunning scenery on approach. You are a brave guy Noel flying these airlines like Lion Air
Many thanks!
4:55 fyi that the 737 max was actually not lion's fault. they are some research about it. lion try to inform Boeing to train their pilot because of this new aircraft but Boeing refused they claimed that that plane was the same as the 737 900 and mocked lion staff as uncivilized
I laughed at the life vest bit. I work for a large life vest manufacturer, Lion Air is a new customer actually lol. But, yes! Believe it or not, people do take life vests. It does seem to be an issue on Asian airlines but I can't complain - keeps us in business 🤣
Some airlines will actually give away infant life vest specifically because they don't want them back after being handled by customers.
2:24 Having been to Indonesia nearly a dozen times, I can tell you that your impression of the airport is just as apt as an analogy for the country writ-large. Sheer chaos, with moments of absolute peace and serenity.
They have another branch called Thai Lion Air that operates in Thailand, they are always full.
Another great video and I enjoy watching as always. For a future video one day, could you review a Kenya Airways airline?
My job has me taking Lion air (usually) every few weeks to travel around Indonesia, I've never had a "scary" moment with them. The leg room is an issue like you stated but I have often been asked if I want to move to the emergency exit, just like in your scenario.
Even for the worst airlines in the worst countries, flying is pretty safe and the probability of a crash is low. It's just when compared to Europe, North America etc that it looks very bad in places like Indonesia. You'll be fine!
9:34 that might be the coolest thing I’ve ever heard👍🏽👍🏽. That’s truly awesome, I aspire to one day fly somewhere that I know absolutely nothing about and then arrive to find that I love the place🙌🏽.
My wife and I were due to fly Lion Air during our honeymoon last year from Bali to Ambon to visit her great grandfather's grave in the war cemetery over there. It was a 2 leg flight taking us through Makassar however Lion kept changing the flight times for each of the legs of the journey making the trip impossible over one day. Luckily they offered a free transfer onto their more premium sister airline Batik (although we did have to take a longer route through jakarta) which was nice. Overall not the worst experience with Lion (at least their customer service).
You're lucky 😂
That's because you're foreigner. If you're locals and complain about it...they probably will told you to swim to ambon.
you should go to koh samui airport, really cool airport where everythings outside. Theres no inside terminal😍
OMG! Air crash investigation full of Lion Air crash incidents. You are no doubt very courageous and special thanks to Lion Air management after so many incidents, till they are operating their normal business. Good to watch. Good luck both of you. Sending care from 🇮🇳
Noel - do you have a video where you talk about what essentials you take on your flights? Interesting to see if anything useful I should have on a flight
I'd never set foot on a lion air flight after talking to a third party check pilot I sat next to on the way to SEA.
Noel! Very very brave individual 😂 taking a trip that most wouldn’t…
Thanks for watching.
737-900 seem quite rare. I think in Europe your best bet to fly on one of those is with KLM. As for Lion air, I suppose statistically speaking it is still about as safe as an domestic long distance bus in the same country which most people would board without much concern. Lionair might be safer now that they have the world's eyes on them.
United flies 737-900s frequently out of IAH (Noel’s home airport)
Noel, thanks for this video.... I worked out this is close to a prototype location & I will probably take this same flight to visit Bangka Island next month
Jakarta is the most underrated city in Asia. Cannot wait to get back there
Another interesting thing about this airline is even the CEO said "my airlines is the worst in the world, but you (indonesian) have no choice"
Oh shit 😂
Wow, that is.... incredible!
Noel, glad you are coming to Indonesia. Please add the Indonesian subtitles to attract the audience and get many subscribers.
Pangkal pinang is still considered on the south part of Indonesia actually. Indonesia is quite bigger than what even most Indonesians think. The northern big cities is actually even more north in latitude than Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
I'm quite Interested to know what brings you to PGK.
I think he's flying two different airlines to and from the island as it's just a 90 minute flight and will return to Jakarta on another one in an hour or two. Maybe Batik Air?
@@ninettemurk7492 Batik Air is just another name for Lion Air!
@@tiadaid Seriously? They have different livery on their planes.
@@tiadaid No. It's just that Batik is a "child company" of Lion group. They have different management team and crews than Lion, all newer fleets, and finer services and punctuality according to most frequenters.
Maybe confusion over whether the rear stairs are going to be used is quite common. One time I was one of the first people to board, went through the door to the stairs on the air bridge & then towards the A320. No sign of the stairs to the rear door of the plane. About 10 other passengers and I stood there on the tarmac, for at least 2 or 3 minutes, before the guys with the rear stairs turned up & knocked to the rear door to have it opened. There had been no announcement about not using the rear stairs & obviously there had been a slip-up by the boarding gate staff leaving the door unlocked, or some sort of communication problem with the ramp guys.
Nice video! The remedial flight after your flight was cancelled before 😁. Thumbs up from Indonesia!
Thanks! 😃
Thanks for the recommendation of downloading Ground News! 😄
You're a brave man Noel albeit we know the Lion Air Max 8 accident was certainly not all on the airline themselves. Thanks for doing this. Indonesia looks beautiful hope to get out there some day soon.
Please come here mister to Indonesia
That flight doesn’t seem any worse than the mexican flight you took on the cessna caravan where the pilot was on his iphone most of the flight…now that was a scary one!
TSA would be having a heart attack with that security protocol
That’s why they’ve failed many times to get FAA approval to fly into the US. Most Indonesian carriers are category 2 meaning the country either lacked laws or regulations necessary to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards, or its civil aviation authority - a body equivalent to the FAA for aviation safety matters - was deficient in one or more areas, such as technical expertise, trained personnel, record-keeping, or inspection procedures.
Garuda, Indonesia the flag carrier has a Category 1 rating but has chosen not to fly to the US due to their geographical focus on Asia.
@@JeanClaudeCOCO Garuda hasn’t flown to US since late 1997. I believe they’ve just cut the flight to London in 2021 due to financial reasons. So far only Amsterdam is the surviving long route this carrier has to offer.
You have some nerve flying Lion air on the same route as the one that crashed,balls of steel Noel,
In Indonesia, Lion Air Group and Garuda Indonesia Group is the 2 airlines that monopolies the market. Sometimes people have no choice to fly with lion because Garuda ticket price is almost 3 times lion.
Not always about the price.
Garuda does not cover all of Indonesia, some route in Kalimantan is only flew by Lion or Wings, which is subsidiaries of Lion. Last week I just flew using Wings, 2 properlers, 4 seats wide ATR72 from Balikpapan to Tanjung Selor, very small airport and short runway it is an experience.
city link are famous to
for the steps down from the jetbridge is used for maintence and sometimes for boarding from the tail
@5:17 yep thats what we call security breach in airport terms. crazy to me nowadays that theres still airports that doesn't have a digital padlock system or anything to prevent pax to just walk in down the bridge
Absolutely love your contents Noel
Thank you William!
Fly Garuda and its subsidiary Citilink. That's what I'm doing. Problem is for most Indonesian, Lion Air Group is the most affordable ones. Certainly they are now has the widest networks available.
great video as always, I'm glad you're enjoying your time here in Indonesia
Thanks! 😃
Oh My God... I'm excited and happy you try Indonesian Airline. Thank you.
Happy to see that you liked the terminal. It was designed by Paul Andreu, the same guy who designed the CDG airport and one of its ill-fated section of a terminal there
3:50 As Indonesia is Muslim-majority country, a Musholla is required in every place as to provide the Muslims with a place for them to pray but yeah the placement is a bit odd. Never understand why if there is a Musholla, it will always be built next to or near the toilet. Kinda makes it unsanitary and unholy for me
A few months ago I flew on a Batik Air Max-8, and I believe that they're a subsidiary of Lion Air. It was a weird flight because we flew from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, circled Singapore for almost an hour, then flew back to Kuala Lumpur, basically a nearly 3 hour flight to nowhere. The same aircraft took us back to Singapore a few hours later.
It was all pretty bizarre.
No doubt it was a weather diversion. Kuala Lumpur is often the alternate for Singapore.
@@tiadaid It was.
They didn't tell you it was weather?
@@chrispekel5709 Eventually they did, but it caused some people to miss connecting flights.
Jakarta and Bali are on my bucket list!
Go to Munduk in Bali. South Bali is too crowded these days
Noel, you have balls of solid steel! 😁 I would not fly in an airline with such a bad safety record, even if you pay me to! No airline is perfect and there will be accidents in time, but then those should be non-fatal and far between, but this airline... NOPE! I may be crazy, but I am not stupid! 🤪
Hi Noel I used to live in Jakarta and regularly travelled home to Perth my choice if possible would be Garuda, but my last choice many times had to be Lion Air my answer to you is I'm still here but always a bit nervous flying them. Keep up the good work love your videos.
Your a brave man Noel with their track record but Garuda used to have that reputation too ..but lovely video as always 😊
Thank you 😁
I'm surprised at all the negative and 'braver man than me' comments here. The Max is one of the newest and safest aircraft flying today. The software problems were ironed out after the accidents and the engineering on these aircraft is insane. The engine to fuselage ratio is reassuringly large l. Noel, it would be great to have more technical information about the aircraft you are on. To me, this would help dispel some of the fears and negativity around using certain airlines and aircraft. I love the Max and am just about to board a flight from Mexico city to Merida. I know I'm going to have a safe, quiet and and enjoyable flight with great views of CDMC on the way out.
I've done a search for Lion Air crashes and compared the actual death toll versus the potential and while some of the data is incomplete, out of a potential 1057 they've only killed 214 people. I was only able to find 7 crashes and obviously one of those was the infamous Lion Air 610. I'm willing to cut them a bit of slack on that one. Dangerous? Sure but if you've always wanted to experience a plane crash, Lion Air sounds like a good bet.
A very good Monday morning to you all from Wellington Somerset in the UK
Lion air is big not only in Indonesia, but also in Malaysia ( malindo and batek) and Thailand.
"Thankfully didn't go for a swimming lesson" 😂😂 killed me
Enjoyed the video! Watching this while flying from Denver to Baltimore.
Glad you enjoyed it!
That first shot - I initially thought you were on an airplane and that window was amazingly huge!!!!! 😆
I am from Indonesia, and I always imagined that Lion Air is like Indonesia's *Spirit Airlines* where you get what you paid for and notorious for their very cheap flight price with (sometimes but not always) bad service. However, Lion Air isn't that really cheap as Spirit, but it's almost the same like Ireland's and Europe's favourite airline *Ryanair.*
Talking about their customer service, sometimes they disappoint their own passengers (including their full-service counterpart Batik Air). For me, I would still prefer Garuda Indonesia and their low-cost counterpart Citilink Indonesia.
Not necessarily a fair comparison because even though spirit airlines is a no frills airline that gives you exactly what you pay for, Spirit airlines has a spotless safety record unlike Lion air
@@victormartinez2941 noted. Thanks for the input!
the leg room is only fitted for Indonesian I guess. but its the like riding an interstate bus that can fly
You're a brave man, Noel. You take your life in your hands flying Lion Air.
I'm frequent on Lion's flight, have a completly different opinion from others, never had an issue with them, very seldom run into delay, always a pleasant flight, prefer their -800 over the -900ER tho, it seems the seat pitch is much better on the -800.
super airjet which another lion's subsidiary has better seat pitch that lion itself
@@cinevile technically speaking, on legal document, super air jet is not a subsidiary to lion group, but both owned by the same person, so... of course it's different and better
@@chris22capt its not under lion group?
@@cinevile it's not. It's registered as a independent, separate company from lion group. Lion group's pr confirmed this back when super air jet just start their operational. But because they both owned by the same person, sometimes they are kinda helping each other on operational aspect like maintanence, etc. Lion group's crews that need a ride back to their base after a scheduled flight would sometimes fly on super air jet as an extra crew. But, other than that, it's a separate company. That's why you won't find any lion group's logo painted on super's fleet
Thank you for sharing Noel, happy to support your channel! For anyone interested check out the link above and let us know if you have any questions.
I've flown with them between Thailand and Indonesia many times, always a pleasant experience, wouldn't recommend long haul though since they do fly to Australia, I'd suggest to just pony up the extra cash and fly Qantas or Thai Airways for that.
Lion Air don't fly to Australia. Their Indonesian subsidiary Batik does, as does Batik Air Malaysia
At Auckland Airport in NZ we also have a praying room in the domestic terminal! :)
Thank you for reviewing Lion Air, and thank you for visiting Pangkalpinang.
Yes, the airline has got many bad reviews from the passengers,but we have no other choice, since this airline provide us more routes and timeable which not covered by some the other airlines. And the main reason, this flight offer the most affordable price than others.
While you're in Indonesia, please review Citilink or Super Air Jet.
Try Citilink please. Citilink is an airline from its parent Garuda Indonesia. In recent years, I only use either Garuda or Citilink in Indonesia.
About Lion Air, I never used this airline in the past 10 years because I felt uncomfortable and dissatisfied with the service in the past. Just look at the seats, my knees feel hurt just seeing how tight is your seat. For me, seat is the first important thing before the services.
Glad you made it to your destination! Brave man.
Thanks!
I have flown this airline many times since 2006, i havent got serious issues regarding safety unless its panctuality, Lion its only private owned airline that having a lot connecting hub around Indonesia island. Hopefully its getting better in the future.
Would usually never risk it but found out to fly to my home city, only Lion air services unless I want to fly to jakarta first.... so will fly my first ever flight on January...
Prayer rooms are quite common around the world actually. Lots of airports have chapels, multi faith rooms, prayer rooms etc.
I guess everything went great with LION AIR. Love your show.
Hey Noel! I did BKK to YGN on MAI last weekend. Cheap, full beverage service but planes old. But no complaints. My regional favourite is Nok Air. I just love the livery of the planes with bird beaks "nok" meaning bird in Thai. Cheap, clean and good prices. The urban story, not sure it;s a myth, is that the flight attendants are made redundant when they reach age 24! A bit different to Qantas. They don't have a chance of working internationally until 45 plus and 25kg overweight!
great video as always, I'm glad you enjoyed your time in Indonesia
Thanks so much!
Heard the stories about Lion Air many a time & if ever I fly to that part of the world I’m not convinced they would be my first choice of operator! Glad to see you escaped unscathed!
Tbf one of those crashes was the MAX which wasn't there fault. Very brave of you though 😂
I must say, Noel is so British-unfailingly polite yet critical.
Honestly, Lion's been very safe these past couple of years, especially since their 2018 MAX incident, aside from the occasional annoying delays, broken/missing seatbelts on some of their planes, they've been the only airline making a profit in the pandemic, so big up to them.
Yeah just missing seat belts. After all, they’re optional items
Having lived in Jakarta for 9 years…. Indonesian people really appreciate Terima Kasih (for thank you) & Jakarta airport is Soekana Hatta named after previous President & his deputy….enjoy your vlogs…took Lion many times.
If you used to buy tickets using credit/debit card, I wonder how many of those airlines will try to steal its data. When I was in Indonesia - one of them (it seems you haven't tested that one) actually tried as I've used virtual card created just to buy tickets online over one specific website and then it was frozen, yet ~6 months after I got notification that some one tried to authorise it to use in some local Indonesian app.
Noel, I think your most bizarre flight was across the Gulf of California, between mainland Mexico, and Baja California. As I recall, the pilot of that puddle jumper played with his phone, then fell asleep, and drifted off course. I was prepared to see you move into the right seat, and take control of the flight.
Lion Air seems like a typical budget airline. Low fares, regional destinations, crowded cabin. Sure, I'd risk a flight on that carrier -- occasionally. As a regular commuter? No, I don't think so. The odds don't add up.
I really waiting for your next trip in Indonesia and try to take some of Indonesian train trip, it will be fun! Thank you for visiting, cheers!
You beat the odds ! I never try stuff like that !
Great video Noil!
Glad you enjoyed it
I had the same announcement about leaving the lifejackets on the plane when I flew Hawaiian Airlines last year. Clearly this was a problem, but I didn’t think it should be
I am glad that you decided to try Indonesia Lion Air because i flown this airline 2 times from Jakarta to Singapore and VV and at the time i think Lion Air is a good airline before officially the world's worst airline in 2022. Also, Lion Air is the launch customer of the Boeing 737-900ER. At the time of comment of this video, Lion Air has 112 aircraft including 2 MAX 9.
The fact there was the first 737 900 er that lion air first ordered next to the plane that you are on is just crazy
Soekarno-Hatta is truly a beautiful terminal, however the boarding process is a total logistical mess.
Noel, you should fly out of HLP in Jakarta to experience true insanity. There are some amazing food outlets in the departure lounge, though.
I'd love to see you fly into Medan in the future, too (KNO)
I had just watched the documentary on the max crash last week. Mainly pilot error. Looking forward to your next hop.👍🏻
Not pilot error. Boeing error and lack of documentation
As James said, mainly Boeing error and their attempts to keep pace with Airbus.
Not excusing Lion Air, but if you watched the documentary, which covered the Ethiopian crash, you would have seen that Boeing admitted it was due to their new system and the lack of training provided by Boeing