The moment an NFL player clinches their spot in the Super Bowl, their significant other likely erases any plans made for that Sunday in February. It's the biggest day of the football calendar, a spectacle in the sports world and the final chance of the season to support that player.
Of course, Taylor Swift is not any ordinary significant other. She is arguably the most popular musical artist — and one could make a case for most popular person — in the world. Her shows sell out in a matter of minutes, and her concerts might be the only tickets that can rival the Super Bowl for scarcity and secondary market costs.
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She was able to support her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, at many of his games throughout the final stretch of the season, as her immensely popular Eras Tour was on a break. But starting on Feb. 7, she went back on the road. Complicating matters further is that Swift will be performing in Tokyo on Saturday, Feb. 10, the day before the Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
Swift has all the resources needed to make an impromptu trip from Tokyo to Las Vegas. But it won't be as simple as hopping on a plane to Kansas City.
How will Swift be able to reach Las Vegas to support Kelce and take in the Super Bowl? Here's what you need to know.
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Tokyo to Las Vegas flight time
- Flight time: 12 hours
A flight from Tokyo to Las Vegas takes roughly 12 hours. That's a long time to be spending in a plane, though flying private will certainly make the experience quite a bit more enjoyable than flying coach.
What time is it in Tokyo?
For those in the Eastern Time zone, the time in Tokyo is 14 hours ahead. For those in Las Vegas and the Pacific Time zone, Tokyo is 17 hours ahead.
The massive time gap can often lead to confusion, particularly those who travel there by going west. That means crossing the international date line, the point at which the time zones stop going backward and instead jump a day forward. Because of that, Tokyo is often a day ahead of most American cities.
Can Taylor Swift go to the Super Bowl?
Swift's concert is slated to begin at 6 p.m. Japan Standard Time. On average, her concert has clocked in between three hours and 15 minutes and three hours and 30 minutes.
That would mean Swift's concert would end approximately at 9:30 p.m. Japan Standard Time. If it took her even an hour to get from the concert to the airport, that would put her at 10:30 p.m. Japan Standard Time.
Though there is some uncertainty as to whether she will be able to fly directly into Las Vegas, let's say that she is able to do so. If her flight takes off at 11 p.m. Japan Standard Time on Saturday, Feb. 10, she would land in Las Vegas 12 hours later, which would be around 6 p.m. PT on Saturday, Feb. 10. That would mean Swift would have about a full day before the start of the Super Bowl to get comfortable and take her time getting to the game.
Let's say though she can't land in Las Vegas, and instead has to fly to Los Angeles (a 10 hour, 35-minute flight). She would then land at approximately 4:35 p.m. PT on Saturday, Feb. 10, and could then get in a car to drive over four hours to reach Las Vegas. That would still get her into Las Vegas before midnight on Saturday, and still allow her to have plenty of time to get to the Super Bowl in time.
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Getting to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas right after singing four straight nights in Tokyo sounds exhausting. But is it feasible? It certainly is.
Even the Embassy of Japan in the U.S.A. said with confidence that Swift should have no problem making it from Tokyo to Las Vegas, saying it can "Speak Now to say that if she departs Tokyo in the evening after her concert, she should comfortably arrive in Las Vegas before the Super Bowl begins."
"We know that many people in Japan are excited to experience Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, so we wanted to confirm that anyone concerned can be Fearless in knowing that this talented performer can wow Japanese audiences and still make it to Las Vegas to support the Chiefs when the take the field for the Super Bowl wearing Red," the statement read.
🇯🇵 Statement from the Embassy of Japan on Taylor Swift’s Reported Travel from Japan to the United States ✈️🏈 Are you ready for it? pic.twitter.com/wFKadehTJk
— Japan Embassy DC🌸 (@JapanEmbDC) February 2, 2024
The biggest question for Swift might not be arriving in time so much as it would be about finding a place to keep the plane. The Associated Press reported the four airports around Las Vegas have a collective 475 parking spaces for planes, and FAA spokesman Rick Breitenfeldt said they're all full.
The best option could be for Swift's plane to "drop-and-go," where the pilot drops Swift off then flies to another airport to park.
Taylor Swift jet emissions
Swift's flights in her private jet have led to public scrutiny for the pop star.
The Associated Press reported that if she attends the Super Bowl, going from Los Angeles to Tokyo then to Las Vegas, that will be over 19,400 miles by private jet. That would be about 200,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, according to University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Systems co-director Gregory Keoleian. To put that number in perspective, that is nearly 14 times the carbon footprint of the average American household in an entire year.
As noted by the AP, there are reasons it makes sense for her to fly private instead of public, due in large part to the amount of attention she would draw if she were to fly a commercial flight.
And there are ways she can help to balance the scales tipped due to her private jet usage. Her publicist said she "purchased more than double the carbon credits needed to offset all tour travel" before the start of her tour. Often, those who frequently use private jets will give money to plant trees or support other sustainability initiatives.
It still might not be a perfect solution, though, as pointed out by Jonathan Foley, executive director of Project Drawdown.
“Offsets are still the Wild West of climate change and have been riddled with fraud, failed projects, and dubious effectiveness,” Foley told the AP. “Planting trees, for example, might work — or not — depending on how the forests are managed in the long run.”
