Jetstar Bali blunder sees hundreds of passengers’ luggage removed from flights to Denpasar

Hundreds of angry passengers traveling on two Jetstar flights had to make do without their luggage during their Bali vacation after the airline removed it from the planes without explanation.

Bags loaded onto Denpasar-bound Jetstar planes from Perth and Melbourne were strangely removed, apparently to make room for additional fuel, on December 28.

That meant the passengers, including frustrated Perth couple Declan Carruthers and Somaya O’Donnell, had no belongings when their flight, JQ116, touched down in Bali.

The error comes after a Bali-bound Jetstar JQ35 was forced to return to Melbourne because the airline did not have approval for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to be used for the flight.

Somaya O’Donnell criticized Jetstar in a social media post for failing to tell passengers where their missing luggage was. Pictured is Ms O’Donnell and her partner Declan Carruthers, who called Jetstar “lame”.

The Australian travelers said their luggage was delivered separately at Denpasar airport, but they did not know this because Jetstar did not inform them at the time. Since then, the luggage has been reunited with its owners.

Ms O’Donnell criticized Jetstar in a social media post for failing to tell passengers what was happening to suitcases and bags removed from planes.

“$1300 roundtrip flight, no bags for four days, zero updates and a non-English speaking helpline,” he wrote.

‘Wow lol Jetstar Australia you suck.’

In a Facebook group for Australians traveling to Bali, another affected woman said Jetstar did not contact her to explain where her luggage was.

When he called Jetstar to try to find out, the call went unanswered.

He said a friend contacted Denpasar airport and a worker sent him a photo of the missing luggage.

It had arrived and was waiting to be picked up, but Jetstar did not tell the passengers.

Another woman posted a similar account claiming that Jetstar did not tell passengers that the missing luggage arrived, so it was stored in a corner of the Bali airport.

While Jetstar told Daily Mail Australia that all lost luggage had arrived by January 1, passengers who had gone several days without their bags had to purchase replacement items such as clothing and footwear.

A man posted online that his vacation was “ruined” and that he had “spent a couple hundred” dollars buying replacements for items in his suitcases.

Hundreds of angry passengers traveling on two Jetstar flights had to make do without their luggage during their Bali vacation after the airline removed it from the planes without explanation.

said Mr Carruthers news.com.au he saw baggage handlers remove luggage from the plane and place it on the tarmac while passengers waited to board.

He noticed that the bags were not reloaded and when he asked an airport worker why, he was told that the “bad weather” in Perth was to blame.

But Carruthers said Perth was fine and 30 degrees that day.

He criticized Jetstar for its miscommunication about the whereabouts of passengers’ luggage.

“It’s pretty pathetic that Jetstar doesn’t contact their customers to let us know our bags weren’t on the plane,” Carruthers said.

When passengers on his flight from Perth to Depasar went to look for their luggage, much of it was missing. Only a small amount of luggage arrived.

A Jetstar spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that the luggage was removed from flights due to bad weather in Bali, but had now been reunited with its owners.

“Due to thunderstorms around Bali on Wednesday, we had to carry more fuel on some of our flights to Denpasar, in case we had to divert to a different airport,” the spokesman said.

“This meant we couldn’t take all of our checked baggage on two of our flights.”

The spokesman said that as of January 1, all bags had been delivered to customers.

“We know it’s frustrating when your bags aren’t available when you land and we thank customers for the feedback we need to provide more regular updates,” they said.

‘We will review our processes so we can do better next time. We also thank customers for their patience.’