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Hopeful travelers line up overnight for flight promotions
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The annual fair, which is slated to run until Sunday, not only offers special promotions on return airfares to the airline company's selected 12 destinations, but it also involves travel agents selling tour packages at competitive prices. (Shutterstock.com/Santi Rodriguez)
T
raveling the world usually comes at a high price, especially in terms of plane tickets. So it's not unusual to see large crowds queuing for discounted tickets when a travel fair is held.
Antonius, 23, said he had been lining up since 3 a.m. on Friday to get his hands on Singapore Airlines promotion tickets to Europe sold during a travel fair at the Gandaria City shopping mall in South Jakarta.
The annual fair, which is slated to run until Sunday, not only offers special promotions on return airfares to the airline company's selected 12 destinations, but it also involves travel agents selling tour packages at competitive prices.
By noon, Antonius had secured a seat for himself and a friend to travel to five countries across western parts of Europe, with destinations including Rome, where they would fly to before continuing on to Milan, Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Brussels and Amsterdam.
He said he was willing to wait in line for long hours because of the cashback rates granted with a minimum amount of purchase, a deal made possible due to the collaboration between the agents and travel fair co-host Bank Central Asia (BCA).
Antonius further noted that he actually had a queueing tactic, saying that he and a friend had switched spots in the line so that they could get breaks while waiting.
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After spending almost Rp 20 million (US$1,464) for a package for two people with a cashback of Rp 3 million, Antonius said that the time spent waiting was worth it.
"Actually, if you want to say it's cheap, it's not really cheap, but I think it's worth it because it's Singapore Airlines and the price probably can't be found elsewhere," Antonius told The Jakarta Post following his purchase on Friday.
Singapore Airlines public relations manager Glory Henriette said the lines began the night before, long before the travel agency and airline booths at 10 a.m.
While all of the Singapore Airlines destinations are available at the fair, Glory said the listed 12 were specially selected to cater to the Indonesian market.
"We want to promote destinations that are sometimes forgotten by people, while others are included because they are already popular destinations," Glory said.
Popular destinations for the Indonesian travel market include Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok, with return flights starting at Rp 900,000.
More exotic destinations for the market include Dusseldorf, Germany;Wellington, New Zealand; and Cape Town, South Africa, with prices starting at Rp 7 million.
The remaining cities on the list are Hiroshima, Beijing/Shanghai, Mumbai, Maldives, Canberra and Houston. (kes)
