Jayne Insch thought she had it all sorted.
A resident of Mackay, Queensland, Ms Insch was looking forward to reuniting with her 12-year-old son, Nick, who has been spending some time with his father in Perth and was meant to take a direct Virgin Australia flight from the Western Australian capital to Brisbane on 11 January.
"He was supposed to be home before my birthday on 16 January, where we planned to spend that day in Bundaberg, with friends and family," Ms Insch told SBS News.
But just two days before Christmas, Virgin Australia cancelled the 11 January flight and moved Nick to a flight departing Perth on 10 January and arriving in Brisbane two days later, via Melbourne and Hobart.
According to the new booking, the 12-year-old was expected to spend more than 24 hours in Hobart on his own and Ms Insch found that “completely unacceptable”.
"While he's mature enough to fly alone, there is no way he could spend more than 24 hours in a strange airport with no adult that he knows," Ms Insch said.
So she decided to give Virgin Australia a call.
"The auto message said 60 minutes wait, [but] it was three hours 20 minutes before I even talked to a person."
While her son has been issued a new ticket to travel direct from Perth to Brisbane on 24 January, Ms Insch said that’s not good enough because her son’s school resumes on that day.
"He won't be able to start back at school until 27 January, which means he will miss the first two days and all of the important things that happen in that time," she said.
Ms Insch is not alone.
Travel plans of thousands of Australians are being impacted by flight cancellations.
A spokesperson for Sydney Airport confirmed 80 of 500 domestic flights scheduled on Christmas Eve were cancelled, without providing a reason for the mass cancellations.
At Melbourne Airport, at least 52 Christmas Eve domestic flights were cancelled.
Distressed travellers took to social media to express their frustration.
"Every single flight we book with Jetstar gets cancelled days before we are meant to leave! Pointless going through them anymore," Stacey Sellars wrote on the airline’s Facebook page.
A spokesperson for Jetstar says the minimum viable number of staff to crew the flights have been impacted by many of them being identified as COVID-19 close contacts, which has forced them into isolation.
"Unfortunately, like many people in Sydney and Melbourne, a large number of our frontline team members are being required to test and isolate as close contacts, given the increasing number of cases in the general community," a Jetstar spokesperson told SBS News.
"As a result, we have had to make some late adjustments to our schedule. We have worked to minimise any delays and have re-accommodated the vast majority of passengers within a few hours of their original departure time so they can get to their destination in time for Christmas," the spokesperson added.
Qantas's Facebook page is full of complaints too.
While the airline was largely unaffected by flight cancellations on Friday, travellers expressed concern about long waiting times to get in touch with the Qantas staff when assistance is needed.
"I would just like to say I love being on hold for two hours only to be cut off and no call back. Really Qantas?" Jay Chadwick posted on the airline’s Facebook page.
"Three hours on hold so far Qantas," wrote Lauren Love.
According to Qantas, the delays are a result of the call centres being inundated with calls.
"The past year has been incredibly challenging for our customers with constant border closures and openings, driving a huge number of calls to our call centres and customers have been experiencing longer wait times as a result," a Qantas spokesperson told SBS News.
"Our customer teams are working really hard to respond to everyone’s enquiries as quickly as possible to reduce waiting times. We know it’s hard, our customers have been very understanding and we appreciate everyone’s patience," the spokesperson added.
But not everyone has had their grievances addressed.
Queensland resident James Brown was looking forward to flying from Adelaide to Brisbane on a Virgin Australia flight on 7 January along with partner Cherie, daughter, Ella, 6, and son, Emit, 8.
But the airline cancelled that flight and put the family on a different flight that travels on the same day from Adelaide to Brisbane via Melbourne.
"No way [am I] flying my family into a place that has close to 2,000 new COVID cases," Mr Brown told SBS News.
"We couldn’t get hold of Virgin to organise any other flights, so [I] have had to buy a new flight [through] Qantas. I tried phoning Virgin but after three hours [on] hold, gave up. I’ve seen stories of people being on hold [for] over four hours … it’s all overwhelming," Mr Brown said.
He said last-minute disruptions due to rising COVID-19 cases and staff having to isolate or get tested are understandable, but it is harder to understand why flights are being cancelled several days or weeks ahead of their schedule.
"This service was cancelled due to operational requirements," Virgin Australia told Mr Brown via Facebook Messenger.
SBS News contacted Virgin Australia for a comment but received no response.
