England rugby fans in a mad scrum for World Cup final tickets as prices soar to more than £10,000-a-seat following heroic victory over New Zealand
- Demand soars for tickets to see England play South Africa in the world cup final
- It will be held at the International Stadium in the Japan’s Yokohama on Saturday
- Some seats for the game are costing well in excess of £10,000 on re-sale sites
- BA announced spike in interest for flights to Tokyo – which is 20 miles north-east
England rugby supporters face a mad dash for tickets and transport after the team’s heroic semi-final victory over New Zealand sent prices rocketing.
Demand for tickets to see England take on South Africa in the rugby world cup final in the Japanese city of Yokohama next weekend has seen prices soar, with some seats costing well in excess of £10,000 on re-sale sites.
British Airways also announced a spike in interest for flights to Tokyo – which is around 20 miles north-east of the final venue – as England’s passage to the final was sealed on Saturday morning.
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England rugby supporters (pictured in London yesterday) face a mad dash for tickets and transport after the team’s heroic semi-final victory over New Zealand sent prices rocketing
Google also noticed two spikes in searches for tickets over the weekend, the first coinciding with England’s victory on Saturday morning, the other in the moments before Wales’ match with South Africa kicked off on Sunday morning.
A British Airways spokesman said: ‘Since England’s amazing win, we’ve seen a 184 per cent surge in the number of people looking at flights to Tokyo on ba.com.
‘As it stands, we only have a tiny number of seats left on our twice-daily flights to the Japanese capital this coming week, but we’re exploring a number of options to help fans get there.’
British Airways announced a spike in interest for flights to Tokyo – which is around 20 miles north-east of the final venue – as England’s passage to the final was sealed on Saturday morning (pictured)
A shortage of seats on direct flights might also tempt supporters to look at making multiple stops around the globe in order to get to Yokohama.
England fan Mark Wood, who now lives in the Vietnamese city of Hanoi, said he booked his flight to Japan moments after the team’s win – but will be travelling without a ticket for the final.
The 25-year-old former Leicester Tigers season ticket holder, who works in marketing, said: ‘Straight away we were looking on tickets sites like Viagogo and StubHub, but they were all coming in stupidly expensive, over £1,000, which we weren’t willing to pay.
England fans (pictured in London) went wild as the country made it to the Rugby World Cup final after beating the reigning champions New Zealand in a thrilling 19-7 match
Owen Farrell (left) and Henry Slade (right) are pictured after their efforts helped England over the line in the Rugby World Cup semi final
‘If it gets closer to the game and that’s our only option we might be more inclined to spend that money, but we’re definitely looking for a cheaper option first.
‘Since then we’ve been looking on Twitter, Facebook, talking to friends we know who are out there just seeing if anyone’s got any leads on anyone selling tickets, any New Zealand fans who had them for the final, or now any Wales fans I guess that no longer want them.
‘We’re hoping we can hopefully get some of the cheaper ones – I think they go for about 25000 yen [£180].
‘Ideally the cheapest tickets we can get, it would be nice just to be inside the stadium, but if we don’t manage that then I think it’ll be the fan zone outside soaking up the atmosphere.
‘Some of the more expensive ones I’ve seen are up to £5,000 online, which is silly money.’
A shortage of seats on direct flights might also tempt supporters to look at making multiple stops around the globe in order to get to Yokohama (pictured yesterday)