The Air New Zealand A321neo left concert-goers in the lurch after nine-hour engineering delay.

Air NZ scrambles to rebook Taylor Swift fans after cancellation

Author: NZ Herald,
Publish Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2024, 2:08PM

An Air New Zealand flight to Sydney carrying fans to a show on Taylor Swift’s Eras tour was cancelled after almost nine hours of delays.

Flight NZ109 from Auckland was hit by engineering issues yesterday, leaving Swifties in the lurch.

Passengers originally booked to land in Sydney for 9.45pm ahead of four shows at the Accor Stadium were worried if they’d get there at all.

The A321neo was eventually taken out of service last night.

Faced with the prospect of an overnight layover and time-sensitive service, the airline said it scrambled to find a replacement flight.

Air New Zealand short haul general manager Jeremy O’Brien said he was conscious many customers were travelling for the Taylor Swift performances.

“We know many customers on board were Swifties travelling to Sydney for the Eras tour, so our teams worked quickly to set up a recovery flight,” O’Brien said in a statement to the Herald.

While the airline said the swift sourcing of a replacement flight was not due to the large number of concert-goers, he said: “We always ensure we get our customers to their destination as soon as possible.”

Affected passengers were invited to apply for a refund on reasonable accommodation costs, food and sundry as a result of the delay.

“All customers were either rebooked on a recovery service [the following morning] which departed at 5.30am, or will be on services later today, ensuring they will still get to the concert on time.”

Tomorrow sees the first of four shows in Sydney, following record crowds at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Due to the absence of shows in New Zealand, airlines saw a boom in travel queries regarding the Australian host cities.

Air New Zealand upweighted transtasman services in response to demand and added 14 additional services.

The airline has 11 flights a day flying into Sydney during the lead-up to the run of sold-out stadium concerts and expects to carry 20,000 concert-goers over a total of seven shows.

Last weekend, Air New Zealand indulged fans with some airplane karaoke while returning from Melbourne.

The airline played the star’s hit song Shake It Off via the plane’s PA system.