How a $6,000 mistake by a Qantas worker turned an Aussie couple's trip of a lifetime into a nightmare
Nadia Hall, 40, and her partner booked a flight from Perth to London, which departed on May 5.
Due to an unexpected medical episode mid-flight, the plane was forced to make an emergency landing in the Maldives, where the couple became stranded.
They waited for hours without knowing what to do until, Ms Hall received an email from Qantas advising that the flight could not be rebooked.
Without any way of calling the airline and no sign of Qantas staff at the airport, the Melbourne couple made the difficult decision to head home after an eight-hour wait.
They tried to find alternative options to get to the UK but local airport staff simply just 'shrugged' without offering help, Ms Hall claimed.
Qantas didn't provide any reason for the cancellation at the time, so Ms Hall had no other option than to fork out the money for new flights to return to Australia.
Things did not get any easier when they returned home, where Ms Hall waited two months before Qantas finally agreed to provide a refund.
Ms Hall believed she only received the refund because she went public with her nightmare ordeal.
'I literally had to take this to the media before Qantas would lift a finger for me,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
'This has been a huge setback. We're relieved it's over but I'm still recovering.'
Ms Hall endured 65 hours without sleep and spent 34 hours in the air across five countries and five time zones as she worked to get back from the Maldives.
Ms Hall has fibromyalgia and dysautonomia, which are triggered by stress.
She had planned to spend her 40th birthday in the UK reuniting with family she hadn't seen in decades.
She hopes to head there next year but has vowed to not fly with Qantas.
'We'll probably try booking the trip again in April or May next year, on a different airline obviously,' she said.
The return trip home took Ms Hall and her partner through Kuala Lumpur and Auckland before they finally returned to Melbourne.
When they returned, Ms Hall found out that she had in fact been provided a replacement flight from Qantas, which she never received.
An airline employee misspelled Ms Hall's email, which meant she was never notified of the details about the replacement flight.
'I don't like to throw the word traumatised around, but given what this trip actually meant to me... It was my source of joy for so long... I'm heartbroken,' she said.
'Something so tiny took away something so big.'
Ms Hall spent $6,109 to get back home, which she then needed to fork out another $200 to get back thanks to her insurance excess.
Qantas has confirmed that it will fully reimburse Ms Hall.
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