'A disgrace': Bali-bound passengers angered after flight was forced to turn back over 'miscommunication'

Passengers on a Jetstar plane heading to Bali which was sent back to Melbourne after a "miscommunication" with Indonesian authorities have labelled the airline "a disgrace."

The flight, JQ35, had been in the air for four hours when it turned around and headed back to Victoria.

Jetstar has blamed a decision to change the aircraft for a bigger one for the blunder and admitted it was "extremely frustrating" for customers.

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JQ35 was due to leave Melbourne at 6.15pm and arrive in Denpasar at 9.15pm, with passengers set for a New Year holiday.

The flight was already delayed to 11.02pm but then instead of landing in the sunny holiday island, returned to Melbourne, landing at 9.47am.

The airline said passengers would fly today.

However, some travellers, like Deanna said it wasn't good enough.

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The stuff-up meant she missed her cousin's Balinese wedding.

"We are pretty pissed off, (and) just tired to be honest," she told 9News.

A Jetstar spokeswoman said: "We swapped yesterday's Melbourne to Bali service to a larger Boeing 787 aircraft to carry more customers during the holidays.

"Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication, the aircraft swap was not approved by the local regulator in Indonesia.

"As soon as we became aware, the flight returned to Melbourne, and we have rebooked passengers on a flight later today."

Jetstar said it had put passengers up in hotels and given them food vouchers, plus $200 flight vouchers.

The airline had promised to be more reliable over Christmas, after months of issues.