Frontline Covid hero’s Bali holiday ruined after Jetstar loses bag with $3,000 worth of scuba gear

A frontline Covid worker had ruined his much-anticipated vacation in Bali after Jetstar lost his $3,000 bag full of scuba gear.

Malcom’s wife Toni planned the surprising Indonesian diving vacation for her husband’s 60th birthday after spending two years on the front lines during Covid-19.

The pair flew to Bali despite long delays and multiple flight cancellations from Melbourne via Darwin.

However, when they arrived in Bali, they discovered that Jetstar had lost one of their checked bags that contained $3,000 worth of diving equipment.

Malcom labeled the whole experience “terrible” and said he was told that Jetstar couldn’t find his bag.

“It’s actually been terrible,” Malcom told the Today show on Thursday.

‘At check-in we had three bags checked and only two came from Darwin.

‘Unfortunately, it was a festive holiday to go diving in Indonesia, which is a fantastic place to dive, but they (Jetstar) have lost my diving equipment.

“The sad thing is that Jetstar can’t give us any idea where the bag is, they scanned it and the problem is they can’t even tell us where it is now.”

Malcom’s wife Toni claims the airline has told her they have “no record” of scanning the baggage.

Toni said she had been planning the vacation for a long time.

“I’m really disappointed for Mal,” Toni said. “I think in a past life he was a fish because he has to be on or under water and this was a vacation he really needed.

“He was frontline shift during Covid for the past two years. This is a vacation I’ve been planning for a long time.

“It held many surprises for him. This wasn’t something I intended to do.’

Both Malcom and Toni are awaiting notification from Jetstar, despite being told they would be contacted via email within 24 hours of reporting their lost bag.

The couple called Jetstar three times, but it feels like the airline doesn’t care or understand their concerns, labeling their treatment as “disgraceful.”

‘Nothing. No emails, no phone calls, no texts, nothing,” Toni said.

“No acknowledgment whatsoever, and we spent hours trying to get through to them.”

Jetstar told Daily Mail Australia it “sincerely apologizes” for disrupting Malcom and Toni’s journey and is doing everything it can to find their missing bag.

“This is clearly not the experience we want for our customers and we sincerely apologize to Malcolm and Toni for the disruption to their journey,” Jetstar said in a statement.

“Our customer team is working hard to locate the missing bag and will be in touch with Malcolm and Toni to discuss further support we can provide.”

The airline vowed to do everything it could to address recent operational challenges, including hiring more staff, adding special services for disruption support and creating a buffer between flights.

“We thank our customers for their understanding and patience as we continue to improve our business,” said Jetstar.

Toni claimed that Jetstar (pictured, queues at Jetstar’s departure terminal at Sydney Airport) told the couple they had ‘no registration’ of the luggage and said they hadn’t heard from the airline despite being told that would be contacted within 24 hours with an update

It comes after the airline canceled further flights just days after apologizing to customers for continued flight disruptions.

On Wednesday, passengers were informed that their flight from Honolulu to Melbourne had been dumped 24 hours before its scheduled start.

Travelers were notified of the cancellation prior to arrival at the airport and were given $300 vouchers for accommodation as they worked ‘around the clock’ to replace a damaged windshield on one of their planes.

“We understand how frustrating and inconvenient disruptions are and we sincerely apologize to customers affected by this inevitable change,” said a statement from Jetstar.

Two days earlier, the airline promised travelers that flight disruptions are a thing of the past.

Jetstar chief operating officer Matthew Franzi told 9News on Monday that “bad luck” was primarily to blame for the disruptions, acknowledging that the budget airline had “failed to meet customer expectations.”