Passengers on the Australian airline Jetstar involuntarily flew eight hours over Australia shortly before New Year’s Eve. A communication error was to blame.
The Australians love Bali as much as the Germans love Mallorca. Indonesia is the second most popular overseas destination for Australians. Sandy beaches, coral reefs, rainforest and especially parties attract them to the country – even on New Year’s Eve.
On December 27th, vacationers wanted to fly to Bali with the Australian airline Jetstar for the turn of the year. However, even the departure of flight JQ35 from Melbourne to Denpasar became a challenge, like «Yahoo News Australia« reported. The Boeing 787-8 with the registration VH-VKE did not take off until 11:14 p.m. with a five-hour delay.
U-turn around 35 minutes before Bali
It got really annoying for the travelers after around four hours of flight time. The machine turned around, flew a U-turn over the north-west coast of the continent and went on its way back. After around eight hours of flight time, the machine landed back at its departure airport in Melbourne.
U-turn after four hours flight time. (Image: Screenshot Flightradar24)
The reason for the reversal was not a technical defect, but according to the airline a “miscommunication”. A spokeswoman for Yahoo News Australia said: “We switched yesterday’s flight from Melbourne to Bali to a larger Boeing 787 to carry more customers during the holiday season.” The airline regularly uses an Airbus A321 on its flights.
The problem: The airline had not informed the Indonesian supervisory authority about the change of aircraft in advance and had not obtained landing rights for the wide-bodied aircraft. Authorities refused to land shortly before leaving Australian airspace and Flight JQ35 was forced to return.
travelers upset
The customers then vented their displeasure on social media. They described the airline as “stupid” or “the worst airline in the world”. A couple’s honeymoon is said to have been spoiled and others asked whether Jetstar had now got Qantas, like its parent company, by launching mystery flights – i.e. flights on which passengers are only informed of the destination shortly before departure.
There was a small consolation in the end. In addition to paying for hotel and other transport costs, all those affected received a travel voucher worth 200 Australian dollars.