Taylor Swift would have to shake off a handful of ground-level challenges to attend the Super Bowl after her concert in Japan the night before —but she could do so in time-reversing style, with hours to spare.
Even before the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, sending boyfriend Travis Kelce and his teammates to pro football's ultimate game, Swift's fans have been crunching the numbers to figure out whether she could play a Feb. 10 show in Tokyo and be at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas the next afternoon.
The answer is yes, thanks to time zones that put Tokyo 17 hours ahead of Las Vegas.
“It’s certainly doable,” FlightAware spokesperson Kathleen Bangs, a former pilot, said Monday. “She could probably do this in 10 hours" of in-flight time.
Actor and talk show host Drew Barrymore even whipped out the whiteboard recently to show the feasibility of a Swift Tokyo-to-Las Vegas trip.
Under Barrymore's calculations, if Swift really pushed it and left Tokyo at "Midnights" (wink, wink), she could even have lunch on the Strip on Super Bowl eve.
"She would arrive somewhere in Las Vegas around 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 10," Barrymore said. "She really could make it to the Super Bowl."
Barrymore’s calculations are a few hours off. If Swift took off at 12:01 a.m. Sunday from Tokyo and went straight to Las Vegas, she’d probably land in the late afternoon or early evening in Sin City.
Swift's primary challenge could just be securing a private jet that could cover the 6,000 miles from Tokyo to Las Vegas.
She's been closely associated with the Falcon 900LX and Falcon 7X. The latter has a range of more than 6,000 miles and could make it to Las Vegas without stopping.
And Swift could also rent another plane just for this journey, such as a BombardierGlobalExpress, which would easily make it to Las Vegas without refueling, Bangs said.
Kenny Dichter, the founder of the private aviation company Wheels Up, said, “If Taylor Swift wants to go to this football game, then Taylor Swift will be at that football game.”
Then the next question would be how quickly does Swift want to get to nearby Haneda Airport.
Under ordinary late-night traffic, that's no more than a 45-minute drive — perhaps more with Tokyo Dome traffic or less with a police escort.
Swift could even afford a short night of sleep in Tokyo if she wants to take her time, as flying internationally as a VIP has fewer hurdles than flying as a normal passenger. She wouldn't have to arrive at the airport hours before departure.
"It's minutes, however many minutes you get there," Bangs said. "Maybe they'll look at your passport. But a lot of that can be done ahead of time, and you would be ushered right from the limo to the airplane itself."
Swift also benefits from Haneda Airport rules that allow business jets to take off 24 hours a day, according to the transport ministry.
Swift wouldn’t want to go to Tokyo’s other airport, Narita International, which is much farther out of town and limits such flight from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Swift’s Eras Tour concerts have been testaments to maximum efficiency and reliability.
Swifties can practically set their watches to Taylor's elevating to the stage at about 8 p.m. or 8:15 p.m. to "Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince" before strutting off to "Karma" at about 11:15 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
If she follows the same script at her Feb. 10 Tokyo Dome gig, she'd be done no later than 6:30 a.m. PT on Super Bowl eve Saturday.
Now, if Swift were a commercial-flying mortal, making it to Las Vegas by kickoff at 3:30 p.m. PT Sunday would be a considerably bigger challenge.
First, there are no nonstops from Tokyo to Las Vegas.
In theory, a commercial traveler could get on a 12:50 a.m. Sunday flight out of Haneda aboard All Nippon Airways, landing at Los Angeles International Airport at 5:50 p.m. Saturday, before finding a short hop to Las Vegas.
The commercial flyer would more likely have to take a Sunday 1:05 p.m. flight on American Airlines out of Haneda arriving at LAX at 6 a.m. with plenty of hours to make it to Las Vegas.
Spending a night in Los Angeles would be no issue and might even preferable for Swift, who owns the Samuel Goldwyn Estate in Beverly Hills.
Of course, Swift doesn't fly commercial.
A rep for her team could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
