Taylor Swift fan 'devastated' as bird hitting flight leads to missing Edinburgh concert

Swifties broke the attendance record for stadium concerts three nights on the bounce.
-Credit: (Image: 2024 TASRM and Getty Images)


Irish Taylor Swift fans have been left "devastated" after a flight delay to Scotland caused them to miss the popstar's concert. The Cruel Summer singer was playing three sold-out shows at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium last week.

Many Swifties were unable to attend the highly-anticipated concert on Sunday, June 9 after a lunchtime flight from Belfast International Airport to the Scottish capital did not take off until after the concert had already got underway.

A bird strike on the aircraft meant the easyJet flight which was supposed to depart at 12:45pm did not leave Belfast until 7.35pm - over an hour after Taylor Swift took to the stage for night three of her tour, Irish Star reports.

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One upset fan, Kathryn Gallagher, went online to share her experience after being left in tears at having to miss "what should have been one of the best days of [her] life".

Kathryn 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. It's an absolute atrocity."

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After trying other options, such as booking flights to other UK airports and putting herself on reserved lists for the next flights to Scotland, the mega fan was still unable to find a way to Edinburgh in time to see the show.

"I did try every possible I could think of," she said. "Every single flight before 8pm was sold out. Instead, I'm going to put my outfit on, take my curls out, order a takeaway, and watch the extended version of the movie on Disney Plus."

A spokesperson for easyJet told the Irish Star said: "We are very sorry for the delay. The bird strike 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.

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"While this was outside of our control, we did all possible to minimise the disruption for customers and provided refreshment vouchers. We understand customers' disappointment and we always advise them to have travel insurance to cover unforeseen issues. The safety and wellbeing of customers and crew is easyJet's highest priority."