Single mother of two Kerryn Draper had not gone on a holiday overseas in more than 20 years.
When she finally treated her family to a trip to Bali, they were left stranded for a week.
According to Ms Draper, it was the lack of communication from her airline that left her mentally and financially drained following their flight cancellation on November 12.
Here’s how her experience unfolded and her tips for others who might find themselves in a similar ordeal.
Confusion from the get-go
Ms Draper and her two children, aged 18 and 20, were already buckled into their seats, waiting for their plane to take off when the first signs of trouble surfaced.
Initially, passengers were told to expect a delay due to a power supply issue at the airport, but were later informed of the possibility of being re-routed to Perth instead of Melbourne.
The captain later announced that the eruption of Mount Lewotobi’s Laki Laki, about 1,200 km from Bali, just an hour before the scheduled departure had made take-off impossible, as thick volcanic ash rose into the sky.
Thousands of Australian holiday-makers and travellers were caught up in the disruption caused by the volcano.
One of the other alternatives presented to passengers involved flying out from Indonesia and in to Perth instead of Melbourne said Ms Draper. (AAP: Darren England)
After about four hours of being grounded on the tarmac, all passengers were escorted off the plane and to the boarding lounge, where Ms Draper said Bali airport staff were waiting to render help.
Ms Draper said: “Then we were told that we would have to go back out of the airport and were going to get bussed to somewhere.
“There was no communication — it was just word of mouth.”
It was only when they returned to the check-out counter that she was handed the address of a hotel where affected passengers would be taken.
She was told to keep checking Virgin Australia’s website, her emails and text messages for further information.
Along with other affected passengers, she made her way out of the immigration checkpoint and followed the crowd to a line of busses, and jumped on one that was headed towards the allocated hotel.
Struggle to find accommodation
Upon checking in, Ms Draper described the hotel as “substandard” as the air-conditioning system was not working well and there was no water in the shower.
But what had bothered her more was the lack of information as to who would be footing the bill and for how long her family would need to stay there.
“We weren’t told anything. We were just put there,” Ms Draper said.
After enquiring at the front desk, she was told that Virgin was covering meals for that night.
It was only after chatting with other delayed passengers that she found out Virgin was paying for one night’s stay.
Ms Draper later received an email from Virgin informing her a return flight had been rescheduled for a week later, on November 19 – the same day as her daughter’s high school graduation.
This email was the only direct form of communication Ms Draper had received from Virgin. (Supplied: Kerryn Draper)
Not wanting to risk missing the graduation, she tried to request an earlier flight, while working out the need for alternative accommodation.
“When you call Virgin’s call centre, they said nothing could be done,” said Ms Draper.
A couple of days later, Virgin put a statement on its website saying flights in and out of Bali would resume, but unfortunately, Ms Draper did not make the list.
A hefty price to pay to be in limbo
Left with no choice, Ms Draper went looking for options to cater for an extended stay.
“We went from the hotel from hell back to our original hotel to see if they could help us … but they couldn’t accommodate us,” she said.
A hotel employee rang about six other hotels, but only one came through with one night available for a bed that sleeps two and a couch to bunk on, for $400 a night.
Eventually, her son found a space for the remainder of their stay. It amounted to about $2,500.
Lost income added to the cost
Ms Draper was not just losing money in Bali, but was also losing income back in Australia.
“I’m not being paid at work because I don’t have enough annual leave, so I had to take leave without pay,” she said.
Finances weren’t the only thing that caused concern throughout the time in limbo.
“I was stressing very much, as was my daughter, that we wouldn’t make it back for her graduation ceremony,” said Ms Draper.
And as the volcano remained active during her time in Bali, she said: “We were constantly anxious about when and if we were going to get home.”
Here are some of her takeaways from her ordeal, backed with insights from two travel experts.
1. Never travel without insurance
Barrister John Ribbands, who is the president of the Aviation Law Association of Australia and New Zealand (Victoria), believes travel insurance is a non-negotiable when travelling outside of Australia.
And while natural disasters will generally be covered, he advised to look out for exclusions within the policy.
Canstar’s data insights director Sally Tindall said coverage often depended on the following factors:
- The type of disaster
- Whether the disaster was a “known event” before the insurance was taken out
- The wording in the product disclosure statement (PDS)
“Travellers might not, however, be covered if the event was already known to you, or others, before you took out the policy,” Ms Tindall said.
Ms Draper had bought private travel insurance ahead of her Bali trip and is in the process of applying to get some money back for the accommodation in Bali and the additional car parking costs at Melbourne airport.
However, the loss of income and food expenditure in Bali will not be covered, which Ms Draper says is “significant” as a single parent.
2. When you do get insurance, don’t scrimp
Mr Ribbands says travel insurance can be a saving grace especially when you need to urgent medical help, as repatriation flights can cost up to $120,000.
Sally Tindall encourages people to read the product disclosure statement for any type of cover. (Supplied: Canstar)
Ms Tindall agreed, and cited travel insurance as the “ultimate safety net” for overseas trips.
“Some hospitals might even refuse treatment unless you can prove you have cover,” she said.
Mr Ribbands said: “What you are really doing is you’re making an assessment of risk.
“Sometimes people think, ‘I can save $50 on my travel policy by not having the higher level of cover’, [but the] trouble is, it’s there because when you need it, you really need it.”
While some airlines may offer comprehensive travel insurance for an additional fee, Ms Tindall said, “don’t just assume when you book it, everything is covered”.
Like any insurance, she emphasised reading the PDS to understand the extent of what is covered.
Australia has reciprocal medical rights with 11 countries that cover urgent and essential medical care when travelling abroad.
“However, travel insurance, particularly comprehensive cover, includes a lot more than just medical costs, so it’s well worth taking out cover even when travelling to one of these 11 countries,” warned Ms Tindall.
3. Consider booking through a travel agent
John Ribbands says travel insurance is a must-have, especially on overseas travels. (Supplied: John Ribbands)
Mr Ribbands said consulting a travel agent to take a policy could help as they could provide back-up services such as a 24-hour call centre.
“It’s not a matter of simply receiving a payout, but it’s also about the help offered when you need it on the ground.”
Ms Draper said she wished she had booked through a travel agent after her experience.
“Even if they couldn’t have helped to get us home earlier, I would possibly have had an advocate and someone to ‘hear’ me,” she said.
What are your rights if you are stranded overseas?
“If you think you’ll need help or to make a claim, reach out to your travel insurer as well to understand what they might and might not cover,” Ms Tindall said.
For those without travel insurance, Mr Ribbands suggests contacting the Australian Consulate for guidance around claim options and processes. They will, however, not be able to provide any financial assistance.
Several airlines affected by the recent volcanic eruption in Indonesia have also set up a page on their website for customers to apply for compensation, refunds and claims.
However, there are limits to compensation if the flight cancellation or delay is due to reasons outside of the airline’s control, such as bad weather and border closures.
Most airlines are committed to flying passengers to their scheduled destination, but whether they’d pay for any extra costs or expenses incurred would be at their discretion.
If the airline does not meet your expectations reasonably, your first option should be to contact the airline directly, or the agent who handled your booking.
Alternatively, you may also make a complaint to the following bodies:
- Your state’s consumer protection agency,
- Airline Customer Advocate (ACA)
- Australian Competitor Consumer Commission
A ‘disempowering’ experience altogether
While Ms Draper did land back home a few hours ahead of her daughter’s graduation ceremony, the experience had left her scarred.
Ms Draper’s 18-year-old daughter was worried about missing graduation after her first holiday overseas left her stranded for longer than intended (Supplied: Kerryn Draper)
She wished for more human interaction from staff, saying the apology stopped at the plane apart from updates on the airline’s website.
“It feels really disempowering, like nobody cares about you.
“You’re in another country, and the airline just cancels and puts you on another flight.
“You don’t have any say. There’s no-one to ask a question.
“Nobody tells you anything.”
Virgin says staff worked ‘diligently’ to rebook passengers
When the ABC contacted Virgin Australia about their handling of delays due to the natural disaster, the spokesperson said the iarline had made direct contact with impacted guests, in addition to posting updates to their website.
The spokesperson said operations were “briefly suspended” as volcanic ash in the surrounding airspace “made it unsafe to operate flights” on November 12 and 13.
They added:
“At the time, we proactively reached out to guests whose flights were cancelled to offer an alternative flight option.
“We also communicated to guests with upcoming bookings, encouraging them to stay updated on the latest flight information available via our website.
“Guests with upcoming bookings to and from Bali were provided with additional flexibility to rebook to another Virgin Australia-operated service within 14 days of their original departure date at no extra charge (subject to seat availability) or cancel their booking to receive a refund to their original form of payment, or a travel credit.
“We resumed flying as soon as it was safe to do so on 14 November and our team worked diligently to rebook all impacted guests to their destinations as safely and promptly as possible, including on the additional recovery flights we operated between Bali and Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne to support our guests.”
However, according to Ms Draper, this was not the case for her.
She has submitted a compensation claim and complaint to which Virgin has replied to her via email:
We would like to apologise for the disruption to your travel plans and that your overall experience with us has failed to meet expectations. We always want our guests to have an enjoyable and trouble-free experience with us, and we are sorry this has not been the case for you on this occasion.
In the same email, the staff member also acknowledged the absence of communication and support services during the ordeal.
They said they were unable to offer her any compensation, citing that her “flight was disrupted for reasons outside of our control”.
