Cowboys fans sweat on flights

FLIGHTS from Cairns to Sydney are the hottest tickets in town as desperate Cowboys fans scramble to see their heroes play this Sunday.

Cairns local and long-time Cowboys supporter Christine James said the exorbitant cost of flights, game tickets and accommodation meant a trip south of the border was out of the equation this year.

“Even if we did get tickets to the game, flights are just so expensive,” she said. “Prices would be up on accommodation as well, which makes things a little unaffordable.”

Jetstar, Virgin and Qantas have largely sold out of economy tickets from Cairns to Sydney on Saturday, with only business-class seats – starting from about $1300 – remaining.

Many Cowboys members were yesterday holding their breath as the club tried to arrange a charter flight from Townsville, but it stressed tickets were not guaranteed.

Mrs James said the club had done everything it could, but was frustrated at the airlines for not putting on more flights from Cairns.

“The Cowboys have been jumping over hurdles,” she said.

“They can only do so much. But I get cranky at the airlines for trying to make a buck out of everybody.”

Cowboys supporter Marion Adcock was also anxiously organising flights to Sydney yesterday.

“It’s very stressful – we’re holding our breath that we can get on board a charter flight,” she said.

“We could go down a few days beforehand, but then we’d also have to organise accommodation.”

A Cairns Airport spokeswoman said it was unlikely airlines would add extra flights to Sydney this week.

“The grand final falls within the busy school holiday period when air travel is already in high demand,” she said.

“Airlines always maximise the use of aircraft on their networks so it is difficult to operate one-off extra flights for special events.”

A Jetstar spokesperson said a packed holiday schedule was why the airline could not offer additional services.

“Due to the nature of the competition, we don’t get much notice about where the demand will come from,” the spokesperson said.

Virgin Australia said the airline was “continually assessing whether additional services (from Cairns) were required” ahead of the final.