Jetstar's 27h Bali Adelaide Delay Causes Passenger Discontent

16th Jun 2016

Jetstar passengers who booked a ticket for the flight JQ1128 that was to take them this Monday from Bali to Adelaide didn't have the best of time this Monday and Tuesday as their plane was delayed by 27 hours. Poor communication from the low cost carrier also didn't help the matter and quell customer anger.

According to one of the 175 passengers, Shannon O'Leary, Jetstar failed to communicate properly with its customers and inform them about what is going on and why was the plane being delayed. O'Leary further commented that she and the other passengers waiting until around 2:30 in the morning, local time at the airport in Denpasar before the LCC finally organized some overnight accommodation for them. That was nearly three hours after the original intended departure time.

She also added that, when the passengers returned to the Ngurah Rai International Airport later that day, hoping to depart at 3:00 PM, were informed that the plane was now delayed until 11:00 PM.

Finally, the plane left the airport on Tuesday at 2:20 AM, around 27 hours after it was scheduled.

This has caused the plane and its passengers to arrive in Adelaide at 9:15 AM on Tuesday and not at 6:30 on Monday as was scheduled.

Ms O'Leary said:

"Everyone was so tired and frustrated."

Another passenger Sarah Marling said:

"There has been no personal contact from Jetstar and there are no Jetstar representatives here at the airport to keep us informed about what is going on. There are nearly 200 people stuck here in the airport tired and very unhappy about Jetstar's handling of situation and just wanting to get back to Adelaide."

The airline issued an apology for the delayed:

"Jetstar could have done a better job of communicating throughout this extended disruption. We're reviewing the handling of this delay closely and will be contacting affected customers to apologize."

A spokeswoman for the airline also said that the delay was caused by "engineering requirements" and that because of it; a new plane had to be flown over from Australia to pick up the passengers.