Crows fans priced out of AFL semifinal as airfares surge

Diehard Adelaide Crows fans are facing a significant challenge in attending their team's knockout AFL semifinal against Brisbane on Saturday night, as surging airfares threaten to price them out of the game.

The Crows will travel to The Gabba to take on the defending premiers this weekend, after defeating the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval on Saturday. Tickets to the upcoming match went on sale this morning, with many fans eager to secure their spot.

Airfares skyrocket

However, fans have been left reeling as airfares have increased dramatically. Crows fan Janice Regan said, "Flight prices had gone through the roof." While some tickets had previously cost less than $100, a return flight from Adelaide to Brisbane might now cost in excess of $1,000.

Crows fan Judy Bray said airfares before tickets went on sale to members were "around $500 each". But just before tickets went on sale, she said, they almost doubled — putting the game out of reach. "At that stage they were up to about $1,000 each," she said. "[I'm] extremely disappointed. I feel sorry for the club, if they other supporters feel the same way, they're not going to have good representation in the crowd, which is disappointing."

Flights and accommodation costs add up

By 12pm on Monday, the cheapest one-way flights to Brisbane were priced at over $500 across all the major carriers. A "Lite" fare on Virgin Australia with no-checked baggage was $578.11, transferring via Sydney, while a Jetstar Starter fare was $504.00. Single flights back to Adelaide were also above $500, with a direct Jetstar flight starting at $643, and a Virgin flight via Melbourne priced at $565.

Ms Regan, who is the president of the Eyre Peninsula supporter group, was at a West Lakes travel agent trying to arrange a flight on Monday morning and was told it would be cheaper to fly to Brisbane with an international transfer. "They shocked me first up by saying, 'It's just about [as] cheap to go from Adelaide to Singapore and Singapore to Brisbane', and I went, 'Oh my goodness me — it's going to be out of reach'," she said. "The price has tripled, basically, from the moment the final siren went."

Crows player praises fans

Crows forward Darcy Fogarty was full of praise for the fans, saying they were crucial to the club's successes. "The Brisbane fans are pretty passionate as well when they get 'Country Road' going — it's hard to sort of stop that momentum," he said. "We've got passionate fans as well and we always travel pretty well, so it's exciting, so hopefully they can get up there. We want to ignite that and give them a reason to cheer."

Airlines respond

In a statement, Virgin Australia said it would "continue to monitor demand throughout the AFL finals series and add more flights where possible to help keep fares affordable for fans". In a statement, Qantas said it had added a flight from Adelaide on Friday, and a return flight on Sunday "after seeing a surge in demand". The airline said it would continue to monitor demand and urged fans to book early as "the cheapest seats sell fastest".