Jetstar passengers stranded in Ho Chi Minh City after issue with door on plane to Melbourne

Jetstar passengers have been left stranded in Vietnam due to an issue with the door of a plane that was supposed to fly them to Melbourne.

Flight JQ64 from Ho Chi Minh City was supposed to leave at 10.30pm on Monday and arrive in Melbourne on Tuesday morning.

But passengers have claimed due to a technical issue, they have boarded and disembarked the aircraft twice and are still yet to leave.

‘We are all stranded in Ho Chi Minh City, trying to get home since 10.30pm,’ one passenger told journalist Jacqui Felgate.

‘We have boarded the plane twice and disembarked twice without any reason, it is now 2.45am and we’re all still waiting.

‘This is so unreasonable.’ 

A Jetstar spokesperson said the flight is expected to leave on Tuesday night.

‘Unfortunately, one of our flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Melbourne has been delayed due to an issue with an aircraft door, which may require a part to be flown in from Singapore,’ they said.

‘Customers are being provided with hotel accommodation and other reasonable expenses and the flight is expected to depart Ho Chi Minh City tonight.

‘We never want to delay a flight but safety is always our number one priority and we apologise for the inconvenience.’

The delay comes after passengers on another Jetstar plane spent seven hours on the tarmac after it made an emergency stop in Alice Springs.

The JQ30 flight from Bangkok to Melbourne took off at 9.30pm on Saturday night but was diverted to land in the Northern Territory town at 7.30am (CST) on Sunday due to a passenger having a ‘serious medical emergency’. 

After landing, an electrical fault was found meaning the plane’s passengers were stranded until a replacement plane could be flown from Sydney.

Frustrated passengers wait onboard a Jetstar flight that was stranded for hours at Alice Springs after being diverted to land on a flight from Bangkok to Melbourne because of a medical emergency

Travellers were not allowed to disembark during the wait because Alice Springs has no international customs area.

The 320 people on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner began posting on social media that they had spent seven hours in the grounded aircraft without food being offered.

‘Passengers are having panic attacks on the plane, several children under three years old are onboard,’ one passenger posted on Instagram.

‘No food has been provided yet.’

Passengers were informed they would need to wait until about 6pm (CST) Sunday to be picked up by the replacement plane being flown in.

Sandwiches were eventually distributed to passengers and they were also offered the chance to disembark and stay in a sealed off space in the Alice Springs terminal. 

A spokesperson for Jetstar thanked the customers for their ‘patience and understanding’.

‘We appreciate this has been a lengthy and frustrating delay and the experience has been very uncomfortable,’ the spokesperson said 

‘We worked with Border Agencies, the NT Police and the local Airport Authority to provide passengers with the option to disembark into a specially partitioned section of the Airport.

‘They will then transfer directly onto the replacement aircraft. We have also been working with the local Airport to provide passengers with food, drinks and snacks.’

After seven hours stuck inside a grounded plane Jetstar passengers were finally able to get off the aircraft and wait for their replacement flight in this bare section of Alice Springs airport