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TAYLOR SWIFT FANS are among those affected by Aer Lingus flight cancellations as a result of industrial action.
The American pop star is set to play three nights at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, beginning this Friday, 28 June. Tickets sold out instantly when they went on sale a year ago — but now a few are back on the market, as fans across the world have been forced to resell after Aer Lingus cancelled and altered hundreds of flights.
One fan, Lynsey Van der Putten, had booked her flights from Belgium to Dublin back in February to be able to see the show, as Swift wasn’t stopping in Belgium on her acclaimed ‘Eras Tour’.
She received an email from the airline stating that industrial action may come into effect, but it was only on Friday that a message came from Aer Lingus informing her that her flight was to be changed.
“I got a text message that said due to the industrial action, this is your new itinerary,” she told The Journal. “The flight to Dublin was still the same, so it was fine. I would be able to get to Dublin and go to the show that evening.”
However, her flight home had been changed from Sunday evening to Monday morning, meaning she had to rush to secure accommodation for the Sunday night.
“Obviously I was in a bit of a panic,” she said. “Because it was already really hard to get a hotel back in February for just the evening itself.”
She found accommodation, booked it for the Sunday night, and was then told by Aer Lingus that her Saturday flight to see the concert that evening had now been changed to Sunday morning.
“That means I can’t make it to the concert,” she said. Lynsey tried to contact Aer Lingus’ customer service to see if they could put her on a flight the day she had booked to fly out, but received no response.
She is planning to wait until tomorrow to sell on her ticket and apply for a refund, in the hopes that she may manage to get a place on an earlier flight.
Another fan, Chrissy from Germany, told The Journal that she was forced to sell her tickets when Aer Lingus cancelled their flight to Dublin.
“I’m a huge Swiftie, that’s why I wanted to do as many concerts as possible,” she said. “I really fell in love with Dublin last time I was there.”
She bought the tickets in July of last year and booked her flights with Aer Lingus in mid-May to attend the Saturday concert.
“When we found out about the strike, Aer Lingus cancelled our flight on Saturday at 2 pm and rebooked us to the Friday 2 pm flight.”
However, Chrissy and her travel companion can’t get the Friday off work to travel so close to the date, and Ryanair is now fully booked for the dates needed.
“That’s when we faced the fact that we can’t attend the Eras tour in Dublin and sold our tickets,” she said. They have requested a refund from Aer Lingus, but are yet to receive it.
Other fans have taken to X to implore the airline to make amends with pilots’ union IALPA. Over 35,000 passengers have been disrupted as a result of industrial action, as Aer Lingus pilots seek a pay increase of 23.8%.
Aer Lingus had a full year operating profit of €225 million in 2023 – a 400% increase on the year prior.
Earlier this morning, Taoiseach Simon Harris urged the airline and IALPA to “engage” rather than “put people through agony and chaos”, as the dispute over pay continues.
Aer Lingus and IALPA are due to attend separate Labour Court meetings later today.
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Selective condemnation as per usual. Not a word from our lackeys in government about the imprisonment of Julian Assange
@Ronaldo Blanc: Exactly, or Snowden or Chelsea Manning.
@Ronaldo Blanc: different thing. Assange ain’t no hero, he committed crimes and two independent Investigatory bodies and court systems are holding him.
Russia does not have independent system. Very corrupted. Try to keep up lad.
@Tom Ripley: ones man terrorist is another’s freedom fighter Tom
@Tom Ripley: Assange committee no crimes, was wrongfully accused and is wrongfully held because he exposed WAR CRIMES. Navalny is no hero but is simply a useful mouthpiece for the west to end the Nordstream pipeline project in Europe. He is no hero.
@Tom Ripley: come off it, the only “crime” which Julian Assange was convicted of was the breach of his bail conditions, in the case to extradite him to the USA on the back of sealed secret charges and punish him for revealing the truth through wiki leaks.
In his position I suppose you would just happily wait to be extradited to face trumped up charges in a foreign jurisdiction, with the prospect of being sentenced to 200 years in prison…
@Tom Ripley: … and if the U.S beurocrats are successful in Theo attempts to end the Nordstream pipeline Europe will be forced to pay through the nose 3 times the price for gas from the U.S so it is you who clearly needs to “keep up” Mr. “Ripley”
@Tom Ripley @David cotter @Paul Wrenn @David Van-Standen @Ronaldo Blanc.: Assange was not convicted of any crime. He was not even charged with any crime. He is being held in maximum security Belmarsh prison. He has been held against his will in the UK for over 10 years. He’s a Journalist. He’s being held because of his journalism. He’s a political prisoner. He should be freed immediately to be with his Wife and Children.
@Tom Ripley: He was stitched up by the Americans because he was releasing their dirty secrets. Get with it you dummy and don’t believe everything you see on Fox TV.
@Tom Ripley: Assange, war crimes whistleblower, enemy of the US and UK .
Navalny, western backed useful tool to put an end to Nord Stream Two.
@Ronaldo Blanc: wheres Frances Black on this!!!!
Countries will condemn this in a quick statement but no actions will be taken. That will be it….
@Local Ore: you are absolutely right. Ireland should do more. We should invade Russia.
We worry because it is in the headlines. Those Catalan politicians and community leaders that organised the referendum a number of years ago received lengthy prison sentences by the Spanish and are still in prison. There was uproar at the time but life moves on…….
We could send the health minister over to check it out.
But complete silence from the hypocrites when they lock up Assange who threatens their war crimes and weapons industry sales.
Simon Coveney shakes fist @ clouds!
To be honest this is hypocrisy. Why is the Irish Government not concerned about Julian Assange. Because he compromised American Information! Why are they interested in Navalny ?because it is a chance to take a dig at Russia. Imagine if Putin told the courts in the Uk to release a UK citizen from jail.
Navalny was a business man in Russia before blogging. Ask yourself the question how clean was he? Did he pay all his taxes? Well he got caught. They were nice to him but he went too far. In Ireland he would be called and treated as a Tax Cheat. Why does n’t the Irish government stand up for irish tax cheats when revenue starts prowling?
Yes Bring back the CCCP
And what’s that going to do?
You will know if a comment posted anywhere is that of an Irish person
Patronizing. Try to keep up lad.
@Michael Fitzgerald: Can we have that in english please…
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