Bali Trip - Flight Cancellation

Garuda called me in the afternoon and informed me that my flight back from Bali to Sin had been cancelled!! AND I BOUGHT THE TICKETS IN DECEMBER!! So they will just plonk me in an earlier flight at 3pm!! Almost 6 hours from my initial departure!!! I was kind of dumbstruck... but I managed to mutter that I will not be able to catch that flight as there's a chance we will be in Lombok.... the person on the other line said "Oh then I'll call you back"

It didn't really sink in until after I hung up that losing 5 hours is a lot of time!! I could do the following..

1) Have a long therapeutic massage while Fai look after the boys

2) Shop till I drop along Poppies Lane

3) Hit the waves 

4) Have another round of Nasi Uduk at Warung Made

5) Go to Surf Warehouse and rummage through the discount bins

and list goes on....

Anyway I immediately called Esthel, who is in the travel trade and she suggested that I TELL Garuda to arrange an alternative carrier or give some sort of compensation or a full refund.. I knew that already but I just needed someone to reassure me that it can be done! She also said that with the current economic situation, a lot of carriers are cancelling their flight as and when they feel like it!!! uurrrghh

When Garuda called I was prepared with my questions .. the kakak was really helpful so I didn't see the need to be bitchy to get what I wanted.. :-) She offered the full refund but thinking of the hassle of finding another carrier is such a dread!!!

She said the initial 3pm flight has also been canceled so now I'm left with with an SQ flight at 4.25pm. Alternatively if i wanted to stay in Bali longer I could take GA via Jakarta... i told her travelling with 2 young children ALONE taking that route is almost unthinkable!! Can you imagine the kids flying from Bali at 8pm, reaching JKT at 10pm, wait for transit for another 1.5 hours the taking another 1.5 hour flight back??? I can't... it'll be so exhausting for them!

After much deliberation with Fai.. we decided on SQ... we get an upgrade and the kids will be more comfortable anyway... I hope this drama ends here... aarrgghhhh