Port Adelaide Football Clubs fans furious after $1000 Qantas flights to Sydney’s game cancelled
Chaotic scenes unfolded at Adelaide Airport on Friday, where many Port Adelaide Football Club fans have been left stranded because of a last-minute cancellation of their flight to Sydney for tonight’s AFL preliminary final.
Qantas last week announced it was adding additional flights from Adelaide to Sydney to help fans get to Port Adelaide’s do-or-die clash against the Sydney Swans on Friday night.
But the 10am QF734 flight was cancelled an hour before boarding on Friday morning.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Some ticket holders were offered a direct flight that arrives in Sydney at 6.45pm, meaning they would likely miss the game’s kickoff at the SCG at 7.40pm.
Customers said they paid “premium price”, $1000 return, with the expectation there would be no issues with their flights.
“It’s just ridiculous … we went with Qantas because they’re supposed to be the reliable one,” Port Adelaide fan Joy Higgins said.
“It shouldn’t happen. You don’t put on flights and then cancel them. It’s just not good enough.”
Port Adelaide super fan Pina Tridente was on the way to the airport, spirits high, when she got a text message that her flight had been cancelled.
She will now have to fly with Virgin Australia early Friday afternoon after shelling out another $700.
“It’s terrible. Firstly, all the airlines were charging so much to get there … now people have used that money to get there only to find out it’s been cancelled and there’s no other (direct Qantas) flights.”
Qantas said the 10am flight was cancelled because of an engineering issue.
It said most customers were accommodated with the earliest possible flights to Sydney via Melbourne or Canberra.
Some customers opted to take the direct flight to Sydney, arriving at 6.45pm.
“We understand this disruption is frustrating and apologise to passengers for the inconvenience,” a Qantas spokesperson said.
“Our teams have worked hard to get footy fans on their way as soon as possible and all customers impacted are due to arrive into Sydney in time for the game.”
Trudy Fenton and Marcus Roberts managed to book another flight via Melbourne, arriving in Sydney at 5.15pm just enough time to dash over to the Sydney Cricket Grounds.
They’re now anxious, if another flight of theirs is cancelled, they will miss the game entirely.
