A dad from Leighton Buzzard has chartered a flight for Crystal Palace fans travelling to Germany to watch the south London side play in the Conference League final.
Chris O’Donnell, 39, had struggled to find affordable ways to get himself and his two sons to Leipzig for his beloved team’s big match against Madrid’s Rayo Vallecano this evening (Wednesday, May 27).
Chris and his sons. Picture: Chris O’Donnellplaceholder image
Chris and his sons. Picture: Chris O’Donnell
The former football referee had promised Lewis, 12 and Oscar, eight, he would take them to an away game, but faced expensive and complicated routes – using both air travel and the German railways.
He said: “As a dad, you want to fulfil those promises, right? But there was nothing easy [about getting there].”
The dad-of-three turned to AI to figure out the complicated details of chartering a flight, and reached out to fellow fans to see if others wanted to join.
Chris said: “I sent people my driving licence, my utility bill… people wanted to know this was legit.”
But he managed to fill the 189-seat Boeing 373 800 aircraft, with each seat costing £602.
Chris said that he wanted to charter the flight so normal people and families could afford to go on the special trip, at a time when commercial airline and fuel prices are soaring.
While researching how to get to the match, he found easyJet was quoting more than £1,300 for return flights from Gatwick.
He explained: “We all have those ridiculous ideas… you never act on it. And now, we’ve got 189 devoted Crystal Palace fans heading to Leipzig to watch Crystal Palace in the European Cup final – it just doesn’t get better.”
Chris will surprise his two football-mad boys with tickets to the match, as they think they will be going to the German city to soak up the atmosphere in the fan zone outside the stadium.
He said: “This final with me, and with their dad, and their granddad… they’re going to talk about it for years and years and years to come. It’s gonna be a core childhood memory.”
When asked what it would mean to be able to take his sons and his dad to the final, he added: “Everything”.
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