Bigdemand forflightsto Europafinal
Chartered flights set to jet hundreds of Ayrshire Rangers fans to Seville were axed after prices rocketed by £100,000.
An Ayr travel agent has told how they were left with limited options as they frantically tried to book in supporters desperate to jet off for the Europa League final next week.
The Good Travel Company have told how they faced 800 calls in two hours as desperate fans enquired about flights.
The Newmarket Street travel agents attempted to book two charter flights since the clamour for seats to Spain started after the Light Blues’historic win on Thursday, May 5.
But they were forced to cancel plans after hitting too many hurdles.
A dramatic price hike saw a chartered plane direct to Seville originally priced at £125,000 available on the Friday soar to around £230,000 by Monday.
And attempts to book the original flight on the Friday failed, when the booking office slammed shut over the weekend, with the team returning on Monday to see prices direct to Seville hitting eye-watering levels.
As a back-up, flights to Malaga were available but‘coach chaos’caused panic over how hundreds of fans would make the three- hour journey north to Seville, with coach firms in Spain unable to give assurances they would be able to cart fans without restrictions.
Manager Vanessa Good admits it has been a crazy week.
She said:“The phone was ringing off the hook, we stayed up for four nights with literally no sleep.
“Ultimately, we wanted to look after our customers, we were not going to let them travel to Malaga and then risk not making it to Seville.
“On the Friday night, we had a charter flight for 146 passengers costing just over £120k.
“But we couldn’t get the flight over the line because the office in Spain closed for the weekend and no one was there to pick up our booking.
“By Monday the flight had gone and other options had soared to over £200k.
“You were talking £999 per person just for flights alone.
“By Tuesday the demand was there to fill a plane three times over.
“We looked at another flight which was cheaper flying to Malaga, but we were concerned about the coach situation.
“We made the very difficult decision to pull out of the charter due to the risks involved.”
Several fortunate customers managed to book package holidays before Rangers’semi-final clash with RB Leipzig in the hope they would win.
Instead of paying almost £1000 for flights alone, lucky supporters were able to get a standard all inclusive deal on the Costa Del Sol for £430.
Vanessa added:“All the prices for flights just straight after the game had finished, the day before customers were able to book a full holiday for the standard price.”