QG 1673 Citilink in their A320 Economy Class from Lombok (LOP) to Denpasar, Bali (DPS), Indonesia 🇮🇩 – a short asian Budget airline experience

A short hop from Lombok to Bali – with Citilink QG 1673 we reached our destination faster than expected and surprisingly relaxed. The seat pitch was a bit tight, but the timing, service and even a free bottle of water were better than our indonesian experience with Lion Air some weeks ago. If you want to know how cheap flights can still be fun, then read this review!

Review #65

Departure – planned (actual)	29.12.2024 – 14:35 (14:33) hrs
Arrival – planned (actual)	29.12.2024 – 15:30 (14:53) hrs
Flight time – planned (actual)	0:55 (0:20)
Delay	Departure: 2 min early Arrival: 37 min early
Aircraft type (call sign)	A320 (PK-GQA)
Travel class	Economy
Seats	7A & 7B

Arrival

We arrived from our two wonderfully relaxing nights at the brand new The Sira located in the northwest of the island and took a pre-booked transfer for the 2 hours to the airport. A tree had fallen on the road on the originally planned route, so we had to take the alternative route through the mountains. However, the really scenic and beautiful route also caused us a few moments of gasping for breath due to risky traffic maneuvers by other road users and occasionally made us doubt we would make it to the airport in time for our flight.

Of course, the crew at the hotel planned everything perfectly and we arrived at Lombok International Airport well in time.

Airport

The not so newish anymore Lombok International Airport is located south of the island’s capital Mataram somewhere in no man’s land. It has a total of 6 gates and a relatively large number of food outlets and souvenir stores.

It seems difficult to reach the airport except by car. So you probably arrive at the drop-off zone and take the short walk from there to the ticket hall.

Check-in

Citilink had 4 entire counters open to check-in our flight – all of them exclusively for baggage drop-off, however. You have to check in online beforehand with this airline.

There wasn’t much going on at all and so we were able to check in our two suitcases right away, were good to go within a few minutes and could head straight to the lounge.

Waiting area / lounge

Lounge

As American Express Platinum credit card holders, we also got a Priority Pass, so we were eligible to visit the Concordia Lounge at Lombok Airport. This only lounge at the airport serves all airlines and, as it felt, all credit cards worldwide which also offer lounge access were also granting access here as well.

The lounge is located on the second floor of the terminal (you have to take the escalator) near Gate 6 and your access authorization will be checked at the entrance. The lounge rooms themselves are built with quite a low ceiling and very dark around the front area. The seating consists exclusively of armchairs and low tables.

The coffee bar and dessert buffet are located directly by the entrance area. In the larger room at the back is the hot meals area. As I was pleasantly surprised by the professional coffee machine and the offer of freshly prepared coffee from a that machine, I ordered a cappuccino and an Americano for us, but was bitterly disappointed along with the food. To put it bluntly: we tried everything briefly and then left simply put it aside. And to put it kindly: it wasn’t tasty at all.

Waiting area

After our experience in the lounge, we decided rather quickly to head straight to the waiting area by the gates and Fabi treated himself to a coffee at Starbuck’s.

The waiting area itself is bright and open. It is quite pleasant here. There were enough seats for all passengers and the 5 gates on this level are very easy to see from anywhere.

Boarding

Citilink began boarding flight QG 1673 10 minutes ahead of the actual boarding time. Interestingly, the passengers were simply informed by a shouting staff member not using a microphone that boarding was about to begin. I didn’t even notice this at first, but the other passengers started to line up and were immediately taken care of.

There was no specific gate system at Citilink, although there were signs asking passengers to line up in two groups according to their row of seats. After the gate entrance, we had to walk another 300 meters to get to the passenger bridge where our plane was parked – so the gates are not at the actual parking position but at a central location from where you walk to your flight.

Also it was rather funny that another flight arrived during our check-in and the guests mixed up in the corridor leading to the gates! Accordingly, the boarding pass was checked again directly at the aircraft door.

Welcome

On boarding, we were greeted with a typical Balinese greeting of joined hands and a welcome.

Boarding itself took a relatively long time. However, as we had already started the boarding process early, we were ready in good time so that we could still take off on time.

Start & Routing

We left a little ahead of time and, due to the low volume of flights in Lombok, taxied onto the runway without any further waiting and were able to fly off straight away. The flight time is generally around 20 minutes on the direct route. However, Denpasar Airport is usually so busy that regularly all flights have to do a few extra rounds before landing. We were therefore expecting a longer flight time and were very pleasantly surprised that we were able to land in Denpasar after only 20 minutes without any detours.

Cabin & seat

Citilink’s fleet consists of 50 A320 aircrafts, complemented by 2 A330-900 NEOs and 4 ATR 72-600s. In all aircrafts, except the two long-haul ones, the cabin consists exclusively of Economy Class seats. The A330s though also feature a Premium Economy cabin.

The seats in Citilinks A320s are standard economy class seats of an older date, but the space between the rows is really incredibly small. We both bumped our knees against the seat in front when sitting in a normal position.

With the exception of the first row and the rows at the emergency exits, there is equally little space everywhere and all seats are of course also equipped with tables.

Citilink can thus fit an impressive 31 rows of seats in its A320s in a standard 3 – 3 configuration.

Entertainment

There is absolutely none – so the same applies here as on most Asian low-cost flights: if you can just look out of the window and enjoy the fantastic views.

Amenities

Of course, there is no such thing because of the low-cost airline branding.

Food, drinks & snacks

We were both given a small bottle of water each by the flight attendant just before take-off. Interestingly, we were asked by name and our seat number whether we were really sitting at our assigned seat and only then were we given the water. Apparently the drink was included in our fare – perhaps because we had booked with suitcases? In any case, most of the others didn’t get any water and the distribution remained rather mysterious for us…

Lavatories

Unfortunately, on this short flight the seatbelt sign remained on the entire time and so we were unable to test or take photographs of the washrooms for you on this Citilink flight. However, as you could already see in the seatmap, there are 3 toilets available for all passengers.

Service

Well. There is no catering and no in-flight sales. So the service on our very short flight only consisted of us being given a bottle of water before take-off.

Arrival

Shortly before landing, the captain only informed the flight attendants in the cabin that we were about to land – but there was no further information beyond that. Only after landing were we welcomed to Bali by the flight attendant and informed about the current weather, temperature and time.

After landing, we had to stop and wait just in front of our parking position after a relatively short taxi. We still had to wait for a while sitting on the apron until we could continue to our final parking position at the passenger bridge. After a few minutes we were able to disembark relatively quickly. Interestingly, passengers were also able to use the rear exit where a staircase was waiting.

Destination airport

We arrived at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar on Bali at the domestic terminal and therefore didn’t have to go through any further passport control. We didn’t have to prove that we had paid the tourist tax, nor did we have to show our customs pre-registration or health pass. So please bear this in mind – if you arrive in Bali on a domestic flight, you don’t have to pay the infamous tourism tax, which causes incredibly long waiting times for international arrivals.

It wasn’t a long walk from the gate to the baggage carousel and because our seats were quite far forward in the cabin, we got there rather quick, but had to wait a good quarter of an hour for our bags to arrive on the carousel.

Costs

For this flight with Citilink, we paid IDR 2,339,000 for two people booking the tickets 2 months before departure, which was the equivalent of 127 euros at the time of our booking. We booked directly with the airline (as always, if possible).

Conclusion

This flight offered everything we expected and only disappointed with the extremely cramped seating. We departed and arrived on time. Check-in and boarding were relaxed and the staff were friendly. We didn’t expect any food or drinks, but even got a bottle of water for this short 20-minute flight. On Lombok and Bali, we were checked in at a gate with a passenger boarding bridge and were therefore able to board and disembark very comfortably. Our suitcases were also on board – so no complaints here either.

Apart from the seat pitch, everything went exactly as expected.

Airline Homepage

Citilink

Rating

We award 9 out of 10 possible points for this flight with Citilink from Lombok to Bali. We only deduct one point for the extremely cramped seating.

Recommendation

We can recommend Citilink as a low-cost airline subsidiary of the state airline Garuda Indonesia to all travelers. If you are a tall person, just bear in mind that it is really, really cramped and try to get a seat in the front row or at the emergency exits. Basically, this is not just an issue for this airline, but for all Asian low-cost airlines. As many passengers as possible have to get on the plane in order to remain profitable at these low prices.

YouTube Review

For more exciting insights into our trip from Lombok to Bali, take a look at our YouTube review of this flight. As always, we’d love you to stay tuned!