Scrapped Jetstar trip sees ‘skyfall’ in for Adele fans
There was at least one empty seat at Thursday’s Adele concert - it was Emma Miscall’s.
She missed the concert after Jetstar cancelled her flight from New Plymouth to Auckland.
‘‘I missed the concert of a lifetime,’’ Miscall said.
The 35-year-old was supposed to be meeting her mum Vicki, twin sister Sarah Timihou and sister’s wife Krystal at the show.
Miscall, who lives in Wellington but was working in New Plymouth, said at about 1.30pm she got a text from Jetstar saying the flight to Auckland was cancelled.
She left work and drove to the airport to try to book another flight, but they were all full.
‘‘I went to Jetstar but they couldn’t offer me another flight, or even a bus ticket.
‘‘I told them I had paid $330 for my concert tickets, but they said there was nothing they could do.’’
Miscall said she’d been through a rough few years, having battled hodgkins lymphoma twice and undergone a stem cell replacement.
And as a result of all the chemo Miscall, who walked down the aisle in March last year to Adele’s Make You Feel My Love, was now unable to have children.
‘‘I’m gutted. This was something I was really looking forward to,’’ she said.
‘‘I’ve now made it my life mission to see her in another country.’’
Timihou said the concert was incredible but without her sister she was unable to fully enjoy the evening.
‘‘I had to sit next to an empty chair all night.’’
A Jetstar spokesman said the airline cancelled two flights from New Plymouth to Auckland due to pilot sickness at short notice.
Customers were advised of the cancellations by text and email prior to 1pm and offered the option of a full refund or alternative transport to Auckland by bus, he said.
Adele fan James Leigh said after receiving a text and email from Jetstar he made a snap decision to drive to Auckland.
‘‘We checked the traffic reports and headed to Papakura, parked up and jumped on a train,’’ he said.
‘‘We literally go there just in time. We got to our seats just as she as she opened with her first song.’’
Leigh said he couldn’t believe Jetstar had cancelled the flights but was thankful he made it.
‘‘You forget about all the crap when you’re watching someone like that. Words can’t describe it, she was phenomenal. Just outstanding.
‘‘But I’m still annoyed. We drove back after the concert and I was annoyed in the car.
‘‘I won’t book with again.’’
An quick decision to drive, and disability parking permit, also meant Nicky Lord and her friends were able to make the concert with 15 minutes to spare after the flight cancellation.
Lord said they heard about the cancellation about 2pm.
They got everyone into the car and set off as soon as they could, she said. Jetstar
‘‘We got into a panic. One of my friends was going to try and get hold of Jetstar and we said, ‘forget that, just get in the car we’re going’.’’
They drove up with one eye on the SATNAV, which was estimating the time they were going to get there, she said.
‘‘By the time we got up here the traffic was clear. We had nice drive straight drive to the stadium. Lucky, we’d missed everyone else they were already seated. We pulled into the stadium at 7.15pm, we were cutting it fine.’’
They had a disability parking badge, she said.
‘‘We rang ahead to check where to park and were allowed to park at the stadium, otherwise we would have been late. We got seated on time by the skin of our teeth.’’ But it was all worth it, she said. ‘‘Adele was amazing. Absolutely brilliant, everything we thought she would be and more. Well worth the effort and the panic.’’
And they got a full refund for both flights from Jetstar.
‘‘It took a lot of arguing. They’re like, but the return flight is still going. We said, but we’re in the car.’’
Another to miss the concert completely was Beth FindlayHeath.
Findlay-Heath got to the point where she had to decide whether she would jump in the car and go.
But eventually, she decided she didn’t have time. ‘‘I’m pretty annoyed. I had to jump through a few hoops to get the tickets and go in the first place.’’
Findlay-Heath said trying to contact the airline had been a mission.
‘‘I got the online assistant, which is shocking. I had no luck on the phone. Tonight I got hold of them around 6pm - she was very good to deal with and did give me a refund,’’ she said on Thursday.
Luckily she was able to sell her ticket to a friend in Auckland, she said.
‘‘But I’m unlucky missing an amazing experience. I’ll just have to suck it up.’’
Publicist Bridget Delaunay said news that some fans had missed the concert because of flight cancellations was ‘‘terrible’’.
She said the promoters Live Nation were working to get Findlay-Heath and Miscall tickets to a Saturday or Sunday show.