An Aussie family still waiting to arrive home from Bali four days after being caught up in the world’s biggest IT crash have opened up about their holiday hell and being stranded by Jetstar.
David and Livia Sharp, from Sydney, and their two daughters, eight and 12, spent the recent school holidays on the Indonesian island and were due to fly back home last Friday.
But it was only when the family arrived at Denpasar Airport that they were informed their flight had been cancelled.
Their plane was grounded due to the faulty CrowdStrike update that caused PCs using Microsoft Windows to crash worldwide hours earlier.
‘We had the late flight so it was already 8.30om [Bali time], getting quite late, the kids were tired and there was no communication prior to us leaving for the airport,’ Ms Sharp told Sky News.
The family claimed that Jetstar offered them $10 food vouchers and informed them to go back to their hotel and that the airline would be sending updates.
But when the family hadn’t heard anything from the budget airline 24 hours later, the stranded Sydneysiders called Jetstar but claimed they received no assistance.
The family have vowed to never fly with Jetstar again.
‘There was no compensation around accommodation or anything else, food etc., which is probably going to run into the thousands at this stage,’ Mr Sharp said.
Although the family’s travel insurance should cover additional accommodation costs, they claim that Jetstar won’t cover other expenses racked up.
The airline offered the Sharps a flight back to Sydney this Saturday before they found an alternative Qantas flight a night earlier.
While an extra week in Bali may sound ideal to many holidaymakers, the family’s travel nightmare has left Ms Sharp feeling hopeless and drained.
‘My kids are so upset, everyone is ready to go home, they’re missing school, David’s missing work, we’re also in the process of selling our house so that was quite stressful,’ she said.
Hours have been spent on hold on the phone to both airlines and insurance companies instead of enjoying their extended holiday, Ms Sharp said.
Daily Mail understands that like other low-cost airlines globally, the tech crash impacted multiple systems with the airline, including the system used to communicate with customers.
On Friday night, more than 150 flights were cancelled with Jetstar offering customers free flight moves up to 14 days or a voucher refund.
A Jetstar spokesperson told Daily Mail they can appreciate how ‘frustrating’ the experience has been for their passengers.
‘[We] thank them for their patience and understanding as our teams worked through the impacts of the IT issues to get them on their way as quickly as possible,’ they said.
The Sharps has been offered and accepted an alternative flight departing Wednesday.
The majority of customers impacted by international flight cancellations have now been moved onto other Jetstar and Qantas flights, or took the option of a full refund.
Daily Mail understands that all impacted flights are being compensated, including those on the day of the tech crash.
The software crash, that impacted 8.5 million computers worldwide, has caused a loss in revenue that is believed to be at least $1billion nationally.