Passengers from a Malindo Air flight from Bali to Brisbane stood at the baggage carousel in horror early on Monday morning, realizing that only about a dozen or so people retrieved their luggage before it was announced there were no more bags coming out.
The bags were still sitting in Bali—the luggage of over 60 passengers from the flight was left behind at the Indonesian island’s Ngurah Rai Airport.
The flight, which was scheduled to depart Denpasar on Sunday at midnight ended up getting delayed after the pilot said that the flight had a “weight discrepancy.”
This announcement apparently came mid-boarding. Passengers who had already boarded the flight were stuck on the plane while ground crew ‘figured things out’. To make matters worse, all three of the toilets on the Boeing 737 were out of service—an issue that Malindo Air technical staff also had to work on.
Nearly two hours later, by about 2am, the pilot announced the weight issued has been “fixed” and the plane took off. Things seemed to be improving for the weary travelers, until they landed in Brisbane five hours later, only to realize the luggage of 63 passengers never made it on the plane, according to Australia’s 9 News.
A newlywed couple who had just tied the knot in Bali said they “luckily” decided to carry on the bride’s wedding dress.
“They tried to make my wife, Ashlee check in her wedding dress back in Indonesia too. Luckily she refused,” Amit Chacko told 9 News.
“We saw about 14 people pick up their luggage, then that’s it, the carousel stopped,” Chacko said.
“They called out overhead, there are no more bags, and to please see baggage services.”
It’s not clear if it was removing all 63 passengers’ baggage in Bali was the airline’s way of fixing the reported “weight discrepancy” or if they were just never loaded in the first place.
Malindo is a Malaysia-based budget airline, but is a joint venture between Malaysia’s National Aerospace and Defence Industries and Indonesia’s Lion Air Group.
The low-cost carrier started running daily flights between Bali and Brisbane earlier this year, in March.
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