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.