How A Taylor Swift Concert Helped Me Score Another $800 Travel Credit From Porter Airlines

I decided to stay an extra day as my flight was full of Swifties

This month is one of the lightest travel periods for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season. Unfortunately, the downside of a lighter schedule is that I’m in and out of cities as quickly as the games end, heading straight home.

Take last week, for example: we were in Washington, D.C. for what was supposed to be a sub-24-hour trip. The Leafs had played at home the night before, and with a day off following the D.C. game, I had planned to take the afternoon flight back home.

Visiting friends in D.C. is one of my favorite perks of the road. It’s a city I love stopping in, and it sucked knowing this was our only visit this season. Luckily, the Swifties came to the rescue.

The day after the game, Luke Fox from Sportsnet and I were booked on Porter Airlines’ 1:45 p.m. flight to Toronto. We made our way to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), where I had promised to introduce Luke to one of my favorite airport hangouts: the Capital One Lounge.

If you haven’t experienced it, this lounge is incredible—easily one of the best perks of having the U.S. Capital One Venture X card. This card alone is a reason I got into the U.S. credit card game years ago, and if you’re considering it, let me just say, you should. But I digress.

Photos of the Capital One Lounge at IAD Airport.

Luke ran into some trouble with his TSA PreCheck not showing up on his boarding pass—something I’ve seen happen with Porter before. (Pro tip: the workaround is to create a profile on Porter’s app and make sure you check in there.) I went with him to the check-in booth, where they informed me that our flight was oversold.

Just last month, I had scored an $800 travel voucher by volunteering to switch to a later flight, so I decided to see if I could repeat the magic. When we got to the gate, I saw loads of Taylor Swift shirts, clearly making their way for her concert residency in Toronto that kicked off this evening. That explained the oversold situation. I asked the agent if they were looking for volunteers to leave later. He confirmed they might be and mentioned the bidding would start at $200. I smiled and said, ‘That’s fine, but if you can guarantee me $800, I’m in.’ He thought about it for a moment and agreed.

The only hiccup? I forgot to negotiate a hotel stay. Thankfully, a colleague’s place in D.C. was vacant since they were out of town, so I had a free spot to crash. That night, I met up with some friends, enjoyed a fantastic meal at a restaurant called Balos, and flew home the next morning.

Lamp (left) and Octupus (right) at Balos Estiatorio in Downtown DC.

I’m still working through the first $800 voucher I scored, and this second one has been a massive help in booking upcoming Leafs road trips. Plus, you still earn all the points, segments, and other benefits when you rebook flights, which makes it even sweeter.

The Leafs’ next road trip isn’t until the end of the month, with stops against the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. That first game, in particular, will have a special significance for yours truly—but more on that in a future post.