Port Adelaide fans rocked by cancelled flight ahead of final

Port Adelaide fans have been left furious over a text message sent by Qantas ahead of Friday night’s preliminary final blockbuster.

Thousands of Power fans are making the journey from Adelaide to watch their team face the Swans at the SCG — but the fairy tale is turning into a nightmare for some.

The national carrier on Friday morning dropped a bomb on fans when informing Adelaide passengers the special 10am (AECT) QF734 service to Sydney had been cancelled without warning.

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It has been a crushing blow for some fans, who are facing the prospect of paying a small fortune to secure seats on another flight in order to make it to the stadium in time for the start of the game at 7.40pm (AEST).

Other fans have been left scrambling after Qantas placed them on various indirect routes to Sydney with some offered travel via Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane.

As first reported by News Corp, those lucky enough to be booked on the Canberra flight will arrive in Sydney just two hours before the start of the game.

Qantas has confirmed some of the passengers booked on later flights to Melbourne and Brisbane will only make it to the Harbour City at 6.45pm.

A Qantas spokesperson said: “We understand this disruption is frustrating and apologise to passengers for the inconvenience.

“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.”

Passengers were not told why the service was cancelled, but a spokesperson has confirmed it was because of an engineering issue.

That is cold comfort to those that were left at Adelaide Airport.

There had already been anger at the response from airlines to the spike in demand for interstate travel during the AFL finals series.

It was reported on Saturday — the morning after the Power’s semi-final win over Hawthorn — the cheapest available Qantas flight from Adelaide to Sydney on September 20 was $597.

According to News Corp, economy flights to Sydney on September 20 ranged up as high as $1723.

Qantas, Virgin and Jetstar were also widely criticised for reported price hikes ahead of Carlton’s elimination final journey to play the Lions in Brisbane earlier this month.

Fans had previously complained about the cost of seats on the QF734 service, which was specially arranged just days ago to meet the demand of footy fans.

Fans at the airport — already wearing the Power’s black, white and teal colours — voiced their frustrations while waiting for their new travel arrangements to be confirmed.

Port fan Joy Higgins, who was booked on the QF734 service and had already checked in, said she was only informed about the flight cancellation around an hour before it was scheduled to depart via a text message.

“There are a lot of upset and angry people trying to work out how the hell they’re going to get to Sydney,” she said.

“It’s disgusting. It’s really disgusting that you can send out a text, once we’ve checked in and everything, to say ‘unfortunately your flight’s been cancelled’ with no explanation.

“We booked with Qantas because they’re reliable and this is what happens. I expect that from the other carriers, not Qantas.”

Higgins told news.com.au she and a friend have since paid about $1000 return for two people to make the trip on a different service.

The SMS sent to passengers stated: “Unfortunately, your flight QF734… has been cancelled.

“We are finding you a new flight and will be in touch soon.”

Another Power fan, Adrian Gatto, told News Corp from Adelaide Airport he had already coughed up around $1000 to be on the special flight to Sydney before its cancellation.

“I’m annoyed, pissed off, disappointed,” he said.

“They’ve made us pay through our nose. Hopefully there’s a good reason behind why it’s cancelled.

“It’s not ideal to go to Canberra but it’s out of my control.”

Thousands of fans had already made the journey to Sydney on Thursday with the team cheered on by supporters during their final training run at the SCG.

Port Adelaide has not lost to the Swans since 2016, but are still heavy outsiders with bookmakers.

Port Adelaide is coming off one of its biggest ever wins when they held on for an enthralling three-point victory against Hawthorn on Friday night.

The result was largely overshadowed by the drama that surrounded Port coach Ken Hinkley’s verbal stoush with Hawthorn players.

Port Adelaide fans will be hoping for much smoother sailing when the players run through their team banner on Friday night.