Chelsea fans stranded at Gatwick

Football fans never got to Moscow

Travel Insurance News - 26/05/2008

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Hundreds of football fans missed the much anticipated Champions League final match this week after their flight to Moscow was cancelled. For fans without travel insurance, the cancellation cost them thousands of pounds in addition to intense disappointment.

According to reports, 224 Chelsea supporters were stranded at Gatwick airport. They expected their flight to leave at 05:55. Airport staff told the fans that the flight would be delayed until 13:00. At that time, fans were told that because of the hydraulic problem, they would not be flying to Moscow at all.

One fan, Neil Turner, said the turn of events left him "absolutely gutted". His biggest problem with what happened was that he may have been to make alternative travel arrangements if he had been told immediately that the flight had been cancelled. By 13:00, however, it was too late.

"This is the pinnacle of our Chelsea years," he said. "We are choked about the way we have been treated," said Turner, who, along with the other fans on the chartered flight, paid about £1,000 for the trip.

Unfortunately, £1,000 was not all many of the fans lost on the flight. It is estimated the fans on the flight that never left lost an estimated £1,500 each on their transportation bookings, accommodation reservations and match tickets.

Instead of travelling to Moscow to watch the match in person, fans spent most of the day waiting at the airport, then rushing to secure some kind of arrangement to watch the evening’s match.

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