Northern Irish Taylor Swift fans were left heartbroken after a flight delay to Scotland caused many to miss her concert on Sunday.
Swift is currently on the European leg of her record-breaking Eras Tour and finally brought her show to the UK, performing three sold-out nights at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium over the weekend.
Unfortunately, a number of fans were unable to attend the eagerly-anticipated concert on Sunday after a lunchtime flight from Belfast International Airport to Edinburgh did not take off until after the concert had already begun, due to a bird strike on the aircraft.
The easyJet flight EZY326 was originally scheduled to depart at 12.45pm from Belfast but it was delayed until 7.36pm.
It arrived in Edinburgh at 8.23pm, over an hour after Swift began her performance for the third night of her tour.
A spokesperson for easyJet told The Standard: “We are very sorry that flight EZY326 from Belfast to Edinburgh yesterday was delayed.
"This was due to a bird strike on the aircraft’s previous flight which meant the scheduled plane was unable to operate and so we flew an alternative aircraft in from Luton to operate the flight later in the day.
@kathryngallagher Replying to @rebeccaf123 Cant even talk about it right now 🥲 @Taylor Swift dreams shattered 💔 Easyjet genuinely have a lot to answer for - all those devasted people - who arent even getting compensated because it’s ‘out of their control’ 😔 So many little kids devasted too - a shambles #erastours #night3edinburgh #erastouredinburgh #erastouruk #erastourupdates #swifttok #storytime #storyupdate #easyjet #flightdelayed #nightmare
♬ original sound - K A T
“While this was outside of our control, we did all possible to minimise the disruption for customers and provided refreshment vouchers,” they added.
“We understand the disappointment this will have caused to customers and we always advise customers to have travel insurance in place to cover unforeseen issues. The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority.”
In the wake of the flight cancellation, one disappointed fan was left in tears at having to miss “what should have been one of the best days of [her] life” and took to social media to share her disappointment.
Despite exploring alternative options, like reserving seats on flights to other UK airports and joining waitlists for subsequent flights to Scotland, she couldn't find a way to reach Edinburgh in time for the concert.
In the TikTok video, which has been viewed over 460,000 times, she said: “I'm actually devastated - I'm so sad, a lot sadder than I thought I was going to be.
“I was just so excited this morning.... and there's just no way to get there” before calling the experience an “absolute atrocity”.
The heartbreak comes as Swift prepares to bring her tour to Liverpool this Thursday for three sold-out nights before arriving to Wembley Stadium on Friday June 21 and Saturday June 22 for the first of her London shows.
