Australians who landed in Bali were delighted at the start of the year with an innovation at Denpasar Airport: new electronic passport scanners are designed to speed up the arrival process. But taking off is still a problem, as one traveller pointed out. Many passengers almost “missed their flight” due to the “huge queue and chaos” – something many tourists are not even aware of.
Dasha Daley wanted to leave the holiday island after two and a half weeks, but long queues led to a two-hour delay in entry, which caused “great annoyance” among many people.
“When you enter Bali, you can skip the queues if you have a visa and pay the tourist tax,” Daley told Yahoo News Australia. However, when you leave, that option is not available, she said.
Talking to other travelers, she realized that few knew there would be a line to exit, as it usually starts right when you arrive. “Everyone was super annoyed and people barely made their flights and I’m pretty sure some missed theirs,” she said.
Videos show “nightmare” at Denpasar airport in Bali
The Perth model shared a snap of the ordeal on TikTok, saying: “If you think travelling to Bali airport is bad, try leaving Bali airport.”
“People are missing their flights because we have to wait two hours at immigration and there’s literally nothing you can do about it. It’s such a nightmare here,” she said, giving a brief overview of what she and others have had to contend with.
The video shows hundreds of people standing in line after security checks. The travelers, many of them desperate to get home, appeared to be motionless at all.
Australians flock to Bali
As of March 2024, Australia was the largest feeder market for direct foreign tourists to Bali. According to Statista, over a million Australians visit the island annually. School holidays are particularly busy with families travelling abroad for the holidays, so expect long queues and crowded airports – but Dasha said she was careful to avoid this time.
“I made sure to go outside of school holidays in Australia because that’s when it’s busier,” she told Yahoo. “But I guess that’s also the time when Australians want to escape the winter – and Australia is our most popular holiday destination.”
Although she couldn’t say for sure, the Perth model suspected that most of the people in line were “a mix of Europeans and Australians.”
Things didn’t improve when she finally boarded her Jetstar flight. She had previously told Yahoo that the flight crew had refused to give her water – a move her fellow Australians described as “ridiculous” and “upsetting.”
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