Did Taylor Swift really take a 13-minute flight?

Taylor Swift has come under fire for allegedly taking a 13-minute flight, but evidence around whether she was actually onboard the plane is sketchy at best.

With growing knowledge around how global warming is impacted by carbon emissions, celebrities and the super-rich, like Elon Musk, are increasingly being criticised for taking extremely short flights on private jets for sheer convenience.

Swift is the latest to be scrutinised after an X/Twitter account that tracks the flights made by private jets reportedly that one onced owned by the singer showed the plane made a 13-minute journey from one side of the city of St Louis to the other.

The account is called “Taylor Swift Jets (Tracking)” and is run by college student Jack Sweeney, who also runs similar accounts tracking other celebrity jets.

In one post that has been viewed almost 49 million times, Sweeney shared a picture of the flight map of the 28-mile journey on 31 January.

In the caption, he added: “Flew from Cahokia/St Louis, Illinois, US to St Louis, Missouri, US 24 hours ago. Apx. flt. time 13 Mins.”

However, doubt about whether Swift was onboard at the time arose after it emerged the registration of the aircraft changed on 4 February, not long after the flight, suggesting the journey may have been used for maintenance or demonstration purposes and not to transport the singer.

A follow-up tweet stated: “The last few flights on this account are right around the time that N898TS was sold. Registration for the aircraft transferred 2/4/2024.

“These short flights are likely maintenance or demo flights. As of now Swift has one jet, N621MM.”

According to the Washington Post, Swift’s attorneys have threatened to take legal action against Sweeney for what they described as “stalking and harassing behaviour”.

In December 2023, the firm sent the college student a cease-and-desist letter which claimed his actions have worsened Swift’s “constant state of fear for her personal safety”.

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