Winners and losers as footie fans made trip to Spain for Euro final
Airport boosted but not everyone made it to Seville...
Rangers fans headed to watch their team in action in Seville have provided a welcome boost for bosses at Glasgow Airport.
The Abbotsinch site has seen “probably the busiest week since the start of the pandemic”, as between 10,000 and 15,000 fans headed to the Spanish destination.
More than 30 speciallychartered aircraft left the site carrying fans to the Andalusian capital for last night’s Europa league final match against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Several others boarded flights to other destinations in Spain and Portugal for onward travel to the city.
A spokesman for Glasgow Airport owners AGS, said: “This week we’ve had over 30 charter aircraft carrying Rangers fans out to the final.
“That’s charter flights specifically for them.
“We’ve also had Rangers fans fly out on various scheduled flights to a number of destinations across Spain and Portugal.
“This has probably been the busiest week since the start of the pandemic.”
But a Houston ex-pat is among those who proved not so lucky.
William Stuart was one of a group of four fans left sickened after losing out on the “trip of a lifetime”.
The former Renfrewshire resident was one of a quartet left thousands of pounds out of pocket when their flight from New Zealand was cancelled at the last minute.
His group, including pals Graeme Thomson, Gordon McCabe and Allan McDonald were due to depart from Auckland, headed for Doha on Sunday evening before flying on to Madrid for the showpiece match in Seville.
But as they approached the gate to board their Qatar Airways flight, an announcement was made that it had been delayed.
By the scheduled take off time, passengers were advised to make their way back through check-in where they would be put up in a hotel for the night.
The flight was rescheduled for
Wednesday evening - just hours before Rangers were due to kick after Rangers faced Eintracht Frankfurt over 12,000 miles away in southern Spain.
And the quartet, without tickets for the big game but who had planned to party with thousands of other Gers in the Spanish city, decided to abort their plan and stay in New Zealand to ensure they see the game on TV.
Gers diehard William had spent 6,000 New Zealand dollars on the trip, the majority of which he fears he won’t see again.
But it’s missing out on seeing his heroes in the showpiece final that hurts the 39-year-old most.
William, who played professionally for Stirling for Albion and East Stirling before emigrating, said: “I’m not even that bothered about the money this was literally a once in a lifetime trip and experience for me.
“I missed the last final in Manchester 14 years ago as I was living in Sydney and have always regretted that – this trip was going to put that to bed.
“I feel sick, especially seeing all the videos coming out of Seville with the fans arriving.
“The trip was an early 40th birthday present from my wife, she knew how desperate I was to get there and cost us about $6,000.
“I have no idea how much of that I will get back, all our train tickets and accommodation in Spain are gone as are our flights from Spain to Scotland, we were all coming back to Scotland for the Scottish Cup Final”.
The four ex-pats, along with other passengers, were booked into Auckland hotels by the airline.
They were told the flight would depart at 6pm on the Monday.
But by Monday morning that had changed to Wednesday - with no explanation for what was going on.