JAKARTA: It was supposed to be a short two-hour flight home for 29-year-old Achmad Rifyannur. But when his Bali-Jakarta flight was cancelled on Sunday (Sep 6) due to volcanic ash as a result of Mount Anak Krakatau’s eruption, that trip turned into an arduous 27-hour journey on trains, a ferry and other public transport.“I was supposed to fly back to Jakarta from Bali at 7am on Sunday with AirAsia because I had work on Monday,” the travel influencer told CNA.
Achmad Rifyannur is seen here on a train in the late afternoon on Sep 7, 2026, from Semarang to Bekasi on his journey to return home to Jakarta from Bali after flight disruptions due to Mount Anak Krakatau. (Photo: Achmad Rifyannur)
Achmad - who has almost one million followers on Instagram - said that he initially tried booking another flight, this time to Bandung, a city in West Java about a two-hour drive from Jakarta. He managed to secure a 1pm flight on Sunday. But as departure time drew closer, that flight, too, was cancelled because of the same volcanic activities.The eruption has caused eight airports to suspend flight operations since Sunday morning, including the country’s main international gateway - the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten near Jakarta. According to the Indonesian Transportation Ministry, as of 9am on Monday, about 2,300 flights were either cancelled, delayed or diverted, affecting more than 270,000 passengers.
