If you didn’t score tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, there may be other ways of seeing the concert – or at least the venue.
Samantha Meany posted a TikTok video last week in which she appears to approach the flight deck on a Southwest Airlines flight to ask the pilot whether the plane would fly over Inglewood, California, where the pop star is wrapping up a six-show run at SoFi Stadium, on its way to Los Angeles International Airport.
“It depends which runway they clear us to land on, but yes. Either way, we’re going to be close to being right over Inglewood,” the pilot said in the clip, which Meany posted Thursday.
“OK, because the Taylor Swift concert’s happening right there, right now, and I think that’d be super cool if we fly over it,” Meany, whose TikTok username is @idkitssammy, responded.
The pilot assured her that the plane would fly over the area. The flyer also wore a headband that read “birthday girl,” and the pilot wished her a happy birthday before inviting her to see the flight deck and take a photo. The video has amassed around 7.7 million views as of Wednesday.
In a later video, Meany said she made the request during a layover – security rules prohibit entry to the flight deck while a plane is in operation – and asked a flight attendant if she could approach the pilot first. However, she did not realize SoFi Stadium had a roof, she added, and was only able to see the outside of the venue and nearby traffic.
Meany and her best friend were flying from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Maui in Hawaii for Meany’s birthday at the time, she told USA TODAY in an interview. The 29-year-old has enjoyed Swift’s music “since the beginning” of her career and had originally hoped to see the concert in Los Angeles, but the prices were too steep.
“The whole entire trip for both of us was cheaper than one decent ticket,” she said, noting that she used some Rapid Rewards points toward the airfare and a Companion Pass.
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“We’re happy that the pre-planned flight path, coincidentally, passed over the venue and that our customer made a terrific memory while traveling with us,” Southwest told USA TODAY in an emailed statement.
While Swift may have been hidden from view, Meany was still glad to get a glimpse of the stadium. “I was hoping it was going to be open, so we’d fly over and actually be able to see (the show), but that wasn’t the case,” she said. “But it was still really cool to see.”
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him atndiller@usatoday.com.
