Aussie passengers on an aborted flight to Bali have revealed exactly what happened when the plane suddenly did a U-turn four hours into the journey.
People on the Melbourne to Bali Jetstar flight on Tuesday were already furious after their 6.15pm flight was delayed until 11pm. But that was just the start of their trip from hell.
When they finally thought their ordeal was over, customers noticed the plane turning around on their flight maps just before it was about to descend into Bali.
Airline crew initially said it was a ‘glitch’ in the system before confessing the plane was heading back to Melbourne after spending four hours in the air.
‘We thought it was a joke because (a male passenger) was watching the flight monitor, and he’s looked at it and gone, “Why is the plane turning backwards?” and then the stewardess goes, “Oh, there’s a glitch in the monitor, we’re gonna reset it in 10 minutes”,’ one couple said.
A Jetstar flight (above) from Melbourne to Bali was forced to turn around four hours into the flight after passengers had already endured a five-hour delay
One passenger (above) said Jetstar’s handling of the flight and announcement that it had to turn back to Melbourne was ‘shocking’.
Customers noticed the plane had turned on their flight map (above) before staff made an announcement
One upset passenger said he had to ask staff to check in with the captain before they were told about the situation.
‘There was no announcement made until we grabbed one of the stewardess guys and he said “I’ll go see the captain”. Within five minutes there was an announcement put over which I thought was pretty horrendous,’ the passenger told the ABC.
‘There was a lot of pretty nervous people on the plane.’
Another passenger said no-one reacted angrily, but that was probably due to ‘being exhausted from flying for seven hours’.
‘Thank you Jetstar for the worst travel experience of my life,’ they said.
Frustrated customers boarded the flight at 11pm on Tuesday but were told at 3.30am on Wednesday they were heading back to Melbourne Airport (pictured, passengers in Melbourne)
Frustrated customers (above) landed back in Melbourne shortly before 10am and were given accommodation and meal vouchers
Another passenger told the ABC: ‘People behaved incredibly well but everybody was devastated and angry.
‘Some people had connecting ferries that they needed to catch on limited holidays. Ours was only a 12-day break and now it’s down to 10.’
Passengers on the rescheduled flight to Bali on Wednesday afternoon said there were further problems with delays.
The flight was scheduled to leave at 4.45pm but didn’t depart until 6.15pm, a whole 24 hours after the original flight was scheduled to take off.
‘Things slightly escalated this afternoon,’ one customer said.
‘There was a 20 minute delay to boarding and some passengers booed so (staff) advised they wouldn’t board until Australian Federal Police arrived as a few people were being quite aggressive.
‘All boarded now but the plane is yet to leave so we’re now an hour late.’
The passenger then went on to say another person on board was caught smoking in the bathroom, almost grounding the flight.
‘That person doesn’t deserve a holiday at this point!’ they said.
Some customer shared their complaints online, with one calling it the ‘worst travel experience of my life’ (above)
Jetstar later said in a statement they were unable to land the first flight in Bali because they had upsized the plane and forgot to obtain clearance from Indonesian authorities.
‘We swapped yesterday’s Melbourne to Bali service to a larger Boeing 787 aircraft to carry more customers during the holidays,’ it said on Wednesday.
‘Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication, the aircraft swap was not approved by the local regulator in Indonesia.
‘As soon as we became aware, the flight returned to Melbourne and we rebooked passengers on a flight later today.’
Passengers landed back in Melbourne from the first flight shortly before 10am on Wednesday.
They were given accommodation and meal vouchers until they could board a new flight, which landed in Bali shortly before 9pm local time.
Passengers (above) landed in Bali shortly before 9pm local time on Wednesday but faced new problems with pre-organised accommodation and transport
One passenger (above) said the new flight on Wednesday was also delayed and faced being grounded after one person was caught smoking in the plane’s bathroom
However, the compensation did little to smooth things over with those who had to handle changed accommodation and transport.
One frustrated customer said she’d missed her cousin’s island wedding because of the airline’s mistake.
‘I’m pretty p***** off. I’m tired to be honest,’ she told Nine News.
Another passenger said she’d flown to Melbourne from Sydney and had spent 38 hours travelling by the time the plane landed back in Melbourne.
‘Jetstar just doesn’t seem to have it together,’ another passenger told the ABC.
‘The flights we paid for were four times what they should have been, they’ve gouged the flights and then mismanaged their execution. It’s shocking.’
Jetstar issued an apology, stating: ‘To thank customers for their patience, we’re also reaching out to them to provide a $200 travel voucher.
‘We’ve begun a review to understand how the miscommunication happened so we can prevent it from occurring again.’
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