Jetstar flight cancellations leaving Aussies stranded overseas

The budget carrier has been slammed for its last-minute flight cancellations that have left Aussies stranded in Bali, Thailand, Singapore and Japan.

People trying to leave Australia for an international holiday, have also been shunted off cancelled or delayed Jetstar flights since September 1.

Chris Hitch, his wife and their three children were due to fly home on September 5 after holidaying in Singapore. But, at 9.56pm the day before their Jetstar flight they received a text it had been cancelled.

The replacement flight Jetstar offered was six days later, and it was via Bali.

"There's thousands of people already stranded in Denpasar [Bali]," he said. "For us to commit to flying via somewhere that is already in peril, we were a bit shocked that they would even offer that.

"You come to expect that it's not going to be perfect, but to be offered something in six days time is probably a little bit unrealistic."

The couple's children had already missed a week of school for the holiday, and Mr Hitch's work commitments meant they couldn't stay away another six days.

In the end they booked a direct flight back to Melbourne two days later with Singapore Airlines that cost $10,700.

Their extra two night's accommodation in Singapore cost $2700.

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Jetstar offered the family just $150 a night for a hotel, and $30 daily for each person for food.

Compensation of $150 a night may be adequate in Bali, but Mr Hitch said in expensive Singapore it's far from adequate.

A Jetstar spokeswoman said families can be reimbursed for more than one room in addition to other "reasonable expenses".

The spokeswoman would not confirm how many flights have been cancelled or how many passengers affected, but ACM understands many thousands of people are impacted.

"A small number of other services across our international network, including Singapore, have been impacted by the unplanned Boeing 787 engineering requirements this week," she said. "Our teams are working hard to get passengers on their way as soon as possible.

"Customers have been re-accommodated on the same day as their original flight where possible. However, unfortunately some have had to wait longer as there are very few spare seats due to flight being so full," an airline spokeswoman said.

She blamed cancellations on "a lightning strike, a bird strike, damage from an item on the runway and delays sourcing a specific spare part from the US due to global supply chain challenges".

"We currently have four Boeing 787 aircraft still requiring engineering work before they return to service.

"We expect one aircraft to return to service tomorrow [Thursday] and two more back operating next week, leaving only one aircraft temporarily out of operation.

"We are very sorry for this and our teams are working hard to get passengers on their way as soon as possible."

Jetstar offered the family a refund for the cancelled flight, but it will take 14 days to process.

Mr Hitch has put in a claim through his travel insurance and he's hopeful it will be covered.