Arsenal and Chelsea fans face nightmare journeys to the Europa League final in Baku, with direct flights from London to the Azerbaijan capital already sold out.
Both teams last night won through to the final which is being staged on the shores of the Caspian Sea, 2,469 miles from London.
Baku is served by just three direct overnight flights from Heathrow: at 10.05pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays on Azerbaijan Airlines.
However, the flight out on May 28 — the day before the final — and the return the day after the game are full.
Fans could now be forced to endure mammoth journeys involving transfers and stop-overs, or hope that enough charter flights will be laid on by travel companies.
Thomas Cook Sport is offering return economy flights for the game from £979 per person.
Fans today criticised the huge cost, as well as Uefa’s allocation of just 6,000 tickets for each side. A further issue is the need for a visa to visit the former Soviet Republic.
Arsenal supporter Ben Leader said: “Which idiot at Uefa decided that Baku was a solid idea for a final!? No direct travel, game during half-term, £1,000 per flight, visas needed. Then to add insult they think 6k tickets each in a 70k stadium is a fair allocation to both sides!?”
Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur fans demanded extra charter flights to their Champions League final on June 1 after prices to Madrid skyrocketed.
