Manchester United and Tottenham fans heading to Bilbao for the UEFA Europa League final face major travel disruption.
The Red Devils are back in Bilbao after knocking out Athletic Club in the semi finals – with the latter still sealing a Champions League place for next season – as they face off with Spurs on May 21 at the Estadio San Mames.
Both squads are due to fly out in the coming days but fans travelling from the UK could be impacted ahead of the all-Premier League showdown.
Europa League travel issues for United and Spurs fans
As per reports from the Daily Mirror, industrial action will disrupt certain flights leaving the UK ahead of the final, as plans are made.
The industrial action affects flights out of Gatwick Airport in London on Tuesday May 20 and the following day [the final], as supporters fly to Bilbao. Refuelling staff – who work for Redline Oil Services Limited – are taking strike action after talks collapsed over new working terms.
Alongside the issue of actually getting planes off the ground heading to Northern Spain, there is also the potential for supporters to be priced out of last minute flights, due to sky high prices.
Flight prices to Bilbao soar for United and Tottenham supporters
Ahead of the final, the report claims budget airline EasyJet are still selling flights from Gatwick to Bilbao for £900-plus even though they could be delayed or cancelled and those journeys would not be covered for compensation as it is seen as an exceptional circumstance.
There is the potential for a breakthrough, to ease the passage of flights, and prevent a bottleneck of fans arriving in Bilbao.
As members of the Unite union at Redline are still in talks over a resolution but the current strike schedule is from Friday, May 16 to May 20 and then from May 23 to May 27 after they rejected the company’s new pay offer. Easyjet is one of the firm’s main clients.
