“I am disappointed. If it stays like this, I will sell my ticket” – The Irish Times

June 27, 2024

Taylor Swift fans from all over the world who wanted to travel to the concerts in Ireland this weekend have become embroiled in the Aer Lingus pilot dispute.

Due to industrial action, a total of 270 Aer Lingus flights scheduled to operate between Wednesday 26 June and Tuesday 2 July have been cancelled.

This falls on what could be Dublin’s biggest weekend of the year, with Swift’s three sold-out shows at the Aviva Stadium and the Dublin Pride Parade both falling within the scheduled period.

After the planned strike was announced, Swifties who had traveled from abroad to see the pop star expressed their displeasure on social media, with some calling on Swift herself to intervene.

Lynsey Van der Putten booked flights from Belgium to Dublin for herself and her mother in February after getting a ticket for the Eras tour that Saturday. She said she chose Aer Lingus over Ryanair because she knew the latter had been involved in industrial action in recent years. The concert was to be Van der Putten’s first time seeing the singer live.

“She had only made it to my country once before, on the Speak Now tour in 2011, and I wasn’t a Swiftie then,” says Van der Putten.

A few weeks ago, she received an email from Aer Lingus saying her flights might be affected but she would have to wait for an update.

Then, last Friday, Van der Putten received a text message and an email informing her of her new itinerary. The flight to Dublin remained the same, but the return flight was moved from Sunday evening to Monday morning.

“I panicked a little because it meant I had to find a hotel for the extra night, preferably close to the airport as it was an early flight. On Saturday morning I booked the hotel and also checked in for the new flight. I even paid extra to make sure my mother and I got a seat on the plane home,” says Van der Putten.

“Right after everything was done, I got another email saying that the flight to Dublin was cancelled. I then asked customer service if there were any other flights that day so I could make it to the concert that evening.

“To this day I have not received a response. On Saturday evening I received a new text message and email saying that I once again have a new itinerary and the flight to Dublin has been postponed until Sunday morning – which means that from now on I cannot come to the concert.”

The hotels booked by Van der Putten can be cancelled up to 48 hours before arrival, so she still has time to decide what she will do and is waiting to see if anything changes at the time of writing this article.

“I checked other airlines, but the prices were disgusting and I can’t pay what they are asking. If it stays like this, I will sell my ticket. I am disappointed, but I also try to stay positive and hope that something might change,” says Van der Putten.

“I wanted to go to the concert alone and was a bit nervous. And all of this made me even more nervous.”

Fortunately, the young woman also has tickets for Swift’s second concert series in August at London’s Wembley Stadium. Nevertheless, she is sad about the situation she now finds herself in and is considering selling her ticket for Dublin.

( Taylorwatch: Taylor Swift’s team has arrived in Dublin, but where is the star herself? )

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Leonie Bründl’s return flight to Munich, Germany, was cancelled and postponed twice, she says.

“So I will have to book an expensive return flight with another airline. Everything is still so uncertain and at this point I don’t even know if I’ll make it to Dublin. I hope that my flight there won’t be cancelled and that none of us will miss any important events,” says Bründl.

“With the Eras Tour on Saturday, which my girlfriend and I have been planning for almost a year, this trip was super important for us since she’s from the US and I’m from Germany and we don’t see each other often! We actually met on Twitter because we’re both huge Swifties! She’s one of my closest friends now.”

Bruendl had originally booked a flight to Dublin on Friday with Aer Lingus, which was due to fly back home on Sunday. At the time of writing, her flight to Dublin has not been affected, but she has heard of flights being cancelled by people at the gate and is “super nervous and stressed” about it.

Bruendl says she has called and sent messages to Aer Lingus several times in the last week but has not received a response. She will likely book a flight with another airline for Thursday, the day before she leaves for Dublin for the concert on Saturday.