Avoiding Scams After Landing at Jakarta Airport: My Personal Experience 🥹

Domestic flights to Jakarta land at Terminal 3, and if you need to catch a connecting flight to Surabaya, you’ll have to make your way to Terminal 2. Unfortunately, these two terminals are not connected, but there is a convenient skytrain service available during the day. However, this service is not operational at midnight.

Due to a mix-up with my timing, I was in a rush to check-in and fell for a scam at the entrance. A guy convinced me to take a taxi, which ended up costing me 300,000 Indonesian Rupiah [Sigh]—that’s about 140 RMB [石化R]. As the second picture shows, the actual distance between the terminals is less than 3 kilometers 🤮.

It was a costly mistake on my part for not converting the currency in time; 140 RMB felt like highway robbery. In a country where the average monthly income is only around 1,000 RMB, being scammed out of 140 RMB is quite a hit 😠. Later, I discovered on Xiaohongshu that there is actually a free 24-hour shuttle bus service [笑哭R].

My companions walked over, and it took them about half an hour. I just panicked and only thought about getting there as quickly as possible. I’m sharing this experience to reflect on my mistake and to help others avoid falling into the same trap!