“This is just another example of how airline companies take advantage of football fans”
A Manchester United season ticket holder has revealed on Twitter how the cost of a flight from Dublin to Manchester increased by over 600% after the 2019/2020 Premier League fixtures were announced on Thursday morning.
After a ‘leaked’ fixture list showed Manchester United at home to Brighton on August 11 was circulated on Twitter earlier in the week, Enda Conway, who is based in Dublin, booked a return flight from the city to Manchester with Ryanair for €39.98.
Although it turned out the supposed leaked fixture list was inaccurate, it was revealed on Thursday morning that United would be playing at Old Trafford on August 11, hosting Chelsea instead.
15 minutes after the fixture list was published by the Premier League, Enda checked details of the exact same return flight to discover the price had risen to €272.32 – almost seven times what he had paid for his journey.
“I was lucky on this occasion, but this is just another example of how airline companies take advantage of football fans,” he told JOE.
“It isn’t just United fans like me. Liverpool fans and supporters of other clubs flying out from Ireland will have the same thing happen to them, too.
Booked flights yesterday after seeing the fixture leak which had United playing Brighton on August 11th. We are actually playing Chelsea at the same time instead. Look at that price hike. Hopefully United will be as lucky. #GGMU pic.twitter.com/0jK1oZpA8T
— Enda Conway (@EndaConway) June 13, 2019
“Airlines know there’s emotion involved in people following their teams and that it’s a big day out. That’s why they hike the cost of flights up so much.
“We accept over here that we’re going to have to take a bit of a hit on the costs of flights before big games, but this is crazy.
“You think of a father and son, for example, coming to a game – how are you supposed to gather up this kind of cash? You’ve spent £600 before you’ve even got out of bed on the morning of the game.”
At the start of the month, it was widely reported that Liverpool and Tottenham supporters faced huge price hikes in airfares to reach Madrid, where the Champions League final was staged.
