A five-hour delay, a four-hour flight towards Bali – then a Jetstar error sent them back to Melbourne

Jetstar has apologised after holidaymakers heading to Bali from Melbourne were turned around four hours into their flight because the airline failed to get approval from Indonesian authorities to use a different plane. Flight JQ35 left Melbourne for Denpasar on Tuesday at 11.02pm – after being delayed for almost five hours – but was then sent back to Melbourne once it had already flown across Australia and was above the Timor Sea near Broome. By the time passengers arrived back in Victoria’s capital, they had spent about eight hours in the air. The route from Melbourne to Denpasar usually takes five hours and 40 minutes. A Jetstar spokesman on Wednesday said the airline had upgraded the plane from an Airbus A321 to a larger Boeing 787 to carry more customers during the busy holiday season, but “due to a miscommunication, the aircraft swap was not approved by the local regulator in Indonesia”. “As soon as we became aware, the flight returned to Melbourne, and we have rebooked passengers on a flight later today,” the spokesman said. A spokesman for Jetstar said hotel rooms were offered to all those affected, but some passengers disputed that.<br/>