Airlines operated by the Lion Group, which include Lion Air and Wings Air, are known to be among the most affordable low cost carriers in Indonesia, but travelers who travel with lots of luggage will be seeing significantly higher prices from Lion starting with tomorrow’s scrapping of their previous free check-in baggage allowances.
As reported by Kompas, Lion Group announced over the weekend that, starting Jan 8, Lion Air will no longer offer free checked-in baggage allowances of up to 20 kg, while Wings Air will no longer offer free checked-in baggage allowances of up to 10 kg.
Instead, passengers will be have to purchase baggage plans prior to their flights, charges for which may differ depending on the route. For a Lion Air flight from Jakarta to Bali, for example, you would have to pay around IDR155,000 (US$10.99) for a baggage allowance of 5 kg.
However, passengers are still allowed to bring up to 7 kg of carry-on cabin baggage, provided that it’s limited to one article per person and its dimensions do not exceed 40 cm x 30 cm x 20 cm.
The reaction to the new policy has been, understandably, quite negative.
Why do you make it soo easy to abandon you @LionAirID https://t.co/lKOsA8Nxhu
— #GetVaccinated Aditya Lesmana (@adityalesmana) January 4, 2019
Boikot #LionAir tak usah pakai lgi sdh delaynya keseringan mana mau penghapusan free bagasi cooek kau #LionAir pic.twitter.com/zxAylPn6gL
— Alfurqan (@mks_furqan) January 4, 2019
Boycott Lion Air, don’t use them anymore. Not only are delays commonplace but now they’re removing free baggage
Due to complaints from the public that the new policy presents added burden to customers, the Ministry of Transportation says it’s going to summon Lion Group representatives for an explanation about the new charges, and whether or not they are at odds with existing aviation regulations. The House of Parliament is also planning to summon the ministry and Lion Group to see if the policy can be reversed.
In a 2017 study, Lion Group was recorded as having the most domestic market share in the Indonesian aviation industry, accounting for 51% of passengers carried from 2005 to 2017. In terms of individual airlines, Lion Air was the most dominant with 34% — still higher than the combined market share of Garuda Group (33%), which consists of flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and its low cost carrier wing Citilink.
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