Budget-friendly, beautiful and warm; Bali has long been a favourite holiday spot for travellers from Australia and New Zealand . Photo / 123rf
Budget-friendly, beautiful and warm; Bali has long been a favourite holiday spot for travellers from Australia and New Zealand . Photo / 123rf
A spate of cancelled Jetstar flights have left thousands of travellers stranded in Bali.
Several flights between Bali and Australia have been axed since September 1 due to engineering issues, leaving holidaymakers unable to get home.
Around 4000 Australians have been impacted by the cancellations, a Jetstar spokesperson told NCANewsWire, and some have waited up to five days before getting booked onto another flight.
On Monday, around 200 passengers were waiting for a new fight, according to the spokesperson.
Some have resorted to paying hundreds of dollars to book a flight home with another airline and many have taken to Twitter to vent their frustrations to Jetstar directly.
@JetstarAirways I’m in Bali like a lot of others, I can see flights available to Melbourne - but your team refuse to let me travel on the flight as my original destination is CBR. That can’t be right, please help 🙏
Kiwis have also been caught up in the disruptions. Currently, there are no direct flights from New Zealand to Bali, so travellers must fly via Australia, often through Melbourne or Sydney.
Aussies pay thousands to get home
One traveller from Melbourne said their trip had been flawless until their return flight.
Meagan Mulder, her husband Adrian and two children had taken a holiday with 60 friends and family and many of them were impacted by Jetstar cancellations.
"We had 12 friends who were on the midnight flight last night, they had their flight cancelled, they can't get another flight anywhere for seven people until Friday this week, so they've had to get more accommodation and everything," she told NCA NewsWire.
Four of Mulder's friends were forced to pay more than $11,000 to book alternative flights with a different airline, which involved a stopover in Kuala Lumpur.
"For us, it's a seven-hour delay but we're getting home," Mulder said.
@JetstarAirways wow... Delayed for 12hrs then changed it back to delayed for only 15 mins within 2 hoursbefore the flight. How do you expect someone to get there on time?? I am hoping to get a good explanation at the counter now that I will miss this flight. pic.twitter.com/LGrggQtOO0
Other passengers have also had to consider purchasing new tickets with another airline.
Casey Emmerson and her girlfriend Kim were booked to fly home on September 1 but were stuck in Bali for five days after their flight was cancelled.
The pair from Cranbourne said their return flights have been cancelled twice by Jetstar.
Emmerson spoke to other travellers who had paid $6140 for four people to fly home on a different airline but said she could not afford this.
"Our only option to get home faster is via Qantas, which is over AU$1500 each, which isn't something we can afford," she said.
"We still have accommodation, meals, dog sitter fees etc to pay whilst here before getting reimbursed by Jetstar."
Jetstar said the next available flight would be on September 8 and arrive in Cranbourne on September 9, according to Emmerson, who said this wasn't good enough.
"I am self-employed and my girlfriend is a BAS agent … since being stuck in Bali, between us we have lost about AU$5000 income.
Budget-friendly, beautiful and warm; Bali has long been a favourite holiday spot for travellers from Australia and New Zealand . Photo / 123rf
Hey @JetstarAirways you have left me https://t.co/DNDGFtRV0U flight from Bali tomorrow is cancelled. Yes received your text guiding me to book another flight. NOTHING available before next Friday (overnight in melb) The next direct flight is next Sat.
Another Melbourne traveller named Kylie, who was travelling with her partner and two kids, said the most challenging part was a lack of information about changes to their Sunday flight.
"The most frustrating thing was that we weren't told about three of the delays, no information, no updates. Even online, you couldn't find the information," she said.
The Jetstar spokesperson told NCA NewsWire that "engineering requirements" were to blame for many of the cancelled flights between Denpasar, Bali and Australia.
"Unfortunately, our Boeing 787 fleet has been impacted by a number of issues, including a lightning strike, a bird strike, damage from an item on the runway and delays sourcing a specific spare part for one of our aircraft due to global supply chain challenges. The part has to be road freighted across the US.
"Our teams are looking at every option to get passengers on their way as soon as possible, including seats on Qantas flights and operating ad-hoc services where possible."
Most passengers had been re-accommodated on new flights, but those who did not want to be put on a new Jetstar flight could receive a flight credit or refund.
