West Ham made history last week, beating AZ Alkmaar 0-1 away from home to secure a place in our first European final in 47 years.
West Ham hero Pablo Fornals popped up in the 94th minute to send fans into raptures and into a frantic scurry to book flights to the Czech Republic.
However, fans hoping to get to Prague will have to brace themselves for a hefty price tag, with prices for flights skyrocketing by more than 500%.
The final at the Fortuna Arena in the capital, the former home of West Ham duo Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal, is taking place on Wednesday the 7th of June. A return trip from London to Vaclav Havel Airport in Prague on Tuesday 6th and returning on Thursday 8th June now costs £519.
This takes just over five hours and includes a stop in Munich, but would get West Ham fans into Prague for 1pm. However, there is a quicker way to get to the final, with a 6am flight into Vienna, before connecting into Prague – although this will set Hammers fans back a whopping £546.
Research from BonusCodeBets has concluded that if you were to head to Prague a week earlier, it would cost tourists just £97 for the same amount of time. A week later there is an increase of 513% on prices because of the Final.
According to Google, travel to Prague typically cost between £60 and £150. Understandably, the high demand from the Hammers faithful to get to an incredibly rare European final has caused the surge in prices and will likely result in a rise in hotels, car rentals and various amenities across the country.
Being the prophet I am, I like many others knew this would be the case and booked my flights and accommodation before the final whistle went in the Netherlands – mainly because I didn’t have the bottle to do so before the game!
I’ve managed to get return flights to Prague from the 5th to the 8th of June, with accommodation, for £480 which I’m rather proud of now. This does involve a change in Brussels but if it gets me there and back safe and sound then I quite frankly couldn’t care less!
A huge number of West Ham fans are expected to make the trip to the capital to witness history in the making. It will be a special night regardless of the outcome and we can only hope that the boys make us proud.
A trip to desperate Leicester City on Sunday stands between David Moyes’ side and the final and we will have to hope that we make it through unscathed with a nice three points to boot.
Get those passports ready and see you in Prague!