Nova’s Ash Bradnam misses flight to NRL Grand Final in ultimate travel blunder

Nova radio host Ash Bradnam has told of his wife’s rage after his major oversight left him and his young son in a desperate race against time to make it to the NRL Grand Final.

Nova 106.9 host Ash Bradnam. Photo: Instagram.

It’s every sports fan’s worst nightmare — missing your flight to one of the biggest events of the year.

For Nova radio host Ash Bradnam, that nightmare became a reality on Sunday morning as he and his youngest son, Archie, were en route to Sydney to watch the NRL Grand Final at Accor Stadium.

The trip, meticulously organised by Bradnam’s wife Jodie as a Father’s Day gift, required the pair to be up early, leaving their Gold Coast home at 4.15am to catch a 6.00am Qantas flight.

They arrived at Brisbane Airport just after 5am, with Jodie having already checked them in online.

Ash Bradnam and son Archie. Photo: Instagram.

As Bradnam and his footy-mad son made their way to the Qantas lounge for an early morning coffee and pancakes, disaster struck.

A staff member informed the father-son duo that their flight wasn’t departing from Brisbane Airport, but from Coolangatta.

“I show my ticket thing to the lady to come to the Qantas club, and she goes ‘this flight’s out of Coolangatta’,” Bradnam said.

In a moment of dread, Bradnam realised they had missed their flight.

“My heart sunk, and I said to Archie, I just turned to him straight away, and went ‘mate, we’ve missed the flight’, and the look on his face was just like, I don’t think I’ve ever felt worse,” Bradnam said.

Faced with breaking the news to his excited son, Bradnam quickly whipped out his phone to explore options.

After some frantic calculations, he figured they could still make it to Sydney by car — just in time for the game.

“I put into Maps straight away: Sydney, and from Brisbane Airport it came up like nine and a half or 10 hours.

“I’m like, ‘Archie, we can do it, regardless of what happens here, we are going to the game, but we might have to drive the whole day Sunday’.”

But before committing to the road trip, Bradnam had to face another challenge – calling his wife to deliver the bad news.

Jodie, understandably, “lost it,” according to Bradnam.

“I was like, ‘Jode, I’m at Brisbane Airport’ and she’s just lost it,” Bradnam said

“Without a doubt, it’s my fault. But I never knew Qantas flew out of the Gold Coast,”

Nova 106.9 host Ash Bradnam. Photo: Instagram.

Fortunately, luck was on Bradnam’s side this time.

Unlike last year when he missed out on the Broncos’ Grand Final due to fully booked flights, he managed to secure two last-minute seats from Brisbane to Sydney.

“I was grateful that the Broncos didn’t make the grand final, because there were still tickets available,” he said.

“This time last year, when the Broncs were in the grand final, I got tickets at the last moment but I couldn’t even get flights.”

While he wouldn’t disclose how much the last-minute flights set him back, Bradnam said he didn’t mind as he was “happy just to get there”.

While they made it to the game on time, the saga didn’t end there.

Bradnam later revealed one final hiccup — his return flight was booked to Coolangatta, but his car was parked at Brisbane Airport.

“I went, ‘can we change our flights back?’ because now I’ve got my car in Brisbane,” he asked Qantas staff, only to be met with a firm, “No, sir.”