Family ‘broke’ after Bali ash emergency

Family ‘broke’ after Bali ash emergency
By Hannah Edensor


A Perth couple say their Bali holiday has left them broke after their flight home was grounded because of a volcanic ash cloud.

Leigh-Ann and Ross McNulty say they spent $3000 to fly their family of four home with AirAsia on Friday after their Jetstar flights were cancelled.

But they faced at least another day in Bali after Denpasar airport was closed until 9.30pm because of ash from Mt Raung.

They’re desperate to get home as Mrs McNulty has run out of medication and Mr McNulty needs to work.

They weren’t able to claim the costs under their travel insurance and were borrowing money from friends.

“My husband’s self-employed, we might have to end up declaring bankruptcy now because things have got that bad,” Mrs McNulty said.

“This has just financially ruined us really.”

Mr McNulty said they pleaded with Jetstar to prioritise them for medical reasons, but nothing worked.

“It’s turning out to be the Bali holiday from hell basically,” he said.

“We love the Balinese people, but we’ll probably never come back as a result of the debacle of the airlines.

“I realise they’ve got to put the safety of passengers first, but the actual way they’ve been so quiet and not let us know is just devastating.

“It’s not good enough, we paid good money to board these flights and the least they could do is look after us when they make so much money.”

Others were more relaxed about the situation.

Sam, from Sydney, said the most frustrating thing was the lack of information.

“It’s very difficult to get through to them [the airlines] and I think there should be helpdesks set up out here,” she said.

“Bali’s a nice place to be stuck.”

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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