Unfortunately, the only morning services from Denpasar to Yogyakarta was offered by Lion Air. I initially booked Air Asia, however a few weeks prior to my flight in Aug 2024, Air Asia emailed to announce they did not do this route anymore.
I was wary of Lion Air with the overwhelming challenging reviews. However, the only other carrier was Garuda Indonesia which only have 1 afternoon flight, and I was keen to be in Yogyakarta earlier in the morning.
The check in process was a shemozzle. There are no clear instructions. It is a 2 step process.
Step 1 involves going to the self service kiosk to check yourself in.
Step 2 involves bringing your luggage to get checked in and dropped off at a counter.
If you were unlucky enough to spend an hour in the queue to end up at the counter without having self service kiosk checked in, you have to start again.
The check in counter process itself is a curiosity of bad organisation to observe.
There are some 'signed' Lion Air kiosk, which do not have flight numbers displayed. I assume any counter would do as long as you are flying with Lion Air?
Also, the 'queueing' is pretty loose. No guide rails, just people standing in a loose 'queue' formation.
The counters have no 'number, 'next please', 'open' or 'we are closed' signs.
There is no way for the check in person to let you know the last person they served was their last prior to closing for a break.
Big parties travelling together hedge their bets by placing individuals in each queue. You would never know that the party in front of you is checking in 40 people until its their turn.
The flight itself was simple and pleasant compared to the check in experience.
As I was on a Monday Morning 7am flight, it was full, of fly in fly out locals travelling to their 2 week stint in Eastern Java from other islands.
You can buy food and drinks on the plane, or bring something you bought at the airport on board.
The whole check in experience took me about 2 hrs (for a domestic flight). Please make sure you make the time!