Thousands of Aussies are left stranded in Bali after multiple Jetstar cancellations, some are even willing to fork out hundreds of dollars to book flights on a different airline. Video / Carly Douglas / NewsWire
One Kiwi traveller claims multiple flight cancellations left her $2500 out of pocket after she and her nine-year-old daughter were trapped in Bali for seven days.
On July 9, Aucklander Cathy Carpenter took her daughter to Bali for a two-week holiday. However, the trip ended up costing far more time and money than anticipated after Jetstar cancelled their flights, twice.
Months later, Carpenter is “furious” with the airline’s lack of reliability and communication.
Carpenter and her daughter were booked to fly from Bali to Melbourne on Saturday, July 23, at 12.45pm. Their second overnight flight would arrive in Auckland on Sunday at 5am.
Then, the day before their flight, they received an email from Jetstar saying their Melbourne to Auckland leg was cancelled. Carpenter then spent four hours trying to get through to the online customer service chat.
During the wait, she was relieved to be able to check the Jetstar website and see there were several flights from Melbourne to Auckland on Monday, July 25.
After connecting to a customer service employee, Carpenter asked if their Bali to Melbourne flight could be moved to Sunday and be rebooked on one of the several Melbourne to Auckland flights on Monday.
“I know there are no flights to Auckland after 8pm on the 24th so I wondered if we could change our first leg (Bali- Melbourne) until Sunday so that we don’t have to stay in a hotel in Melbourne?” she wrote.
Jetstar refused, for a reason Carpenter said travellers should be wary of.
In a message on the Jetstar website’s online chat feature, she was told: “As the flight is connected or as one we cannot change the flight that has been cancelled without changing the entire return tickets. That means we will need a new flight from DPS – AKL.”
Jetstar would have to rebook all return flights, the rep said. The next available flight was two days later, on July 26, and included an extra domestic connection between Melbourne and Sydney before continuing to Auckland.
Carpenter and her daughter would arrive home on Wednesday morning.
Desperate to get home for work, Carpenter asked if they could keep their Saturday flight to Melbourne, stay overnight and have accommodation costs covered. Then, they would take the next available flight home to Auckland.
The Jetstar rep said there was a direct flight from Melbourne to Auckland on July 26, however, it would be classed as a new booking, and two tickets would cost AU$1168.
“We can keep the flight DPS MEL but if we opt to change the flight that has been cancelled MEL AKL , yes, fees to book the new flight will incur.”
Carpenter said the system didn’t make sense and was something all travellers should be warned about.
“One leg can ruin a whole flight,” she claimed.
Refund offers little relief
The other option was to take credit or a refund for the cancelled Melbourne to Auckland flight. The refund would be for $366.18, but according to Carpenter two tickets from Melbourne to Auckland on July 25 would cost around $1000 per person.
After she double-checked there were no earlier flights, Carpenter agreed to the new flights on July 26.
Except, just days later, while preparing to leave for the airport, she got another email, cancelling their Bali to Melbourne flight due to ‘operational issues’.
Second time lucky
Returning to the online chat feature, Carpenter agreed to have their itinerary totally rebooked for July 29. Fortunately, they could fly from Bali to Auckland with just one stop in Sydney.
Aside from the stress and time,…
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