Jetstar cancels return flights from Bali after volcano erupts

Jetstar will resume flights in and out of Bali after a volcano eruption in Indonesia earlier caused headaches for travellers.

On Friday morning the airline cancelled around six flights over the risk posed by volcanic ash.

Jetstar says it will continue to monitor the situation closely and contact customers directly by SMS and email if there was any further impact to flights.

Mount Lewotobi Laki on Flores Island in Indonesia erupted around midnight on Thursday, sending ash 25,000 metres into the air.

“The community around Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki and visitors/tourists should not carry out any activities within a radius of 7 km and 8 km in the Southwest and Northeast sectors of the eruption center of Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki,” the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation has warned.

In a statement early on Friday Jetstar said impacted customers had been notified directly and provided with a range of options, including rebooking on the next available flight.

“At this stage, there is no impact to this afternoon’s scheduled flights. We continue to monitor the situation closely and will contact customers directly if there are any further changes to our schedule.

“We recommend passengers check their flight status on Jetstar.com before coming to the airport.“Safety is always our number one priority, and we thank this morning’s customers for their patience and understanding.”

Virgin Airlines said its meteorologists were closely monitoring ash cloud movement in Indonesia following the eruption and some disruptions were expected.

It’s understood that at this stage at least two flights heading to Bali may be affected and more may follow depending on the movement of the ash cloud.

No Qantas flights are impacted at this stage.

Adrian Taylor, Compare the Market’s travel insurance expert, said most travel insurance policies cover natural disasters as long as people take the necessary precautions in the affected area.

“However, depending on the insurer, you may be able to add natural disaster cover as an optional extra,” he said.

“For people who have travel insurance and are thinking about cancelling their trip due to the Mount Lewotobi volcano eruption, the first port of call would be to review their current travel insurance policy documents to see if their chosen policy covers them for these situations.

“Secondly, we would urge people to call their insurer and ask about potential timelines following the eruption to see if they would be covered in the case of cancelling their trip. If the trip is within the timeline set by insurers, financial relief may be available.

“This could come in the form of refunds for flights and accommodation or could cover the costs related to transferring flights and accommodation to later in the year. However, this will all depend on the level of cover that people had taken out.

“In cases where the time between the planned trip and the disaster is longer than any of the recovery efforts, claims on the travel insurance policy may be invalid for trip cancellations.”