Fans That Missed World Cup Semi Final To Demand Compensation
So Spain have won the Jules Rimet trophy after defeating Holland in the World Cup final in South Africa. But the tournament wasn’t all happy for some Spanish fans, as approx. six hundred of them weren’t able to get to the Semi Final game (despite having tickets), after numerous flights from South Africa’s King Shaka airport were delayed or cancelled as a result of congestion.
According to reports, the congestion was down to an increase in private jets as stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Paris Hilton, flew in to the airport, as well as FIFA officials, South Africa’s president Jocob Zuma and Spain’s King Juan Carlos.
The planes were apparantly directed to land at a different airport in Durban, although the private jets apparantly ignored these directives. They were originally asked to redirect in order to cut down congestion and free up airport parking places reserved for scheduled flights.
According to some reports, fans had spent up to around $1,300 for tickets, only to find that they couldn’t get to the stadium in time. The company overseeing the airports in the South Africa (ACSA) has now accepted some responsibility and has put $52,000 aside for those affected by the situation.
What’s not clear however is whether or not this amount is enough to compensate the passengers, as many have said that missing that game completely ruined their holiday.
Penelope, a Spanish national team fan living in the United Kingdom, had this to say:
“It’s not as if we’ve just spent the money on those internal flights. We didn’t have enough for the final aswell so we just came out for the quarter final and semi finals. They can pay us pack the internal flight fees but what about the hotel? Or the Manchester airport parking for the last fortnight? Or travel insurance? Or the fact that we were stuck in South Africa with nothing to do, and two expensive tickets that became worthless to us. It’s not fair that these famous people just get to do what they want.”
