Money blog: Supermarkets closing early for England final on Sunday – and opening late on Monday | UK News
With England reaching the Euro 2024 final, many football fans will be trying to bag last minute tickets for the match in Germany.
In fact, since England’s semi-final win against the Netherlands, Google data shows searches for “Euros Final Tickets” skyrocketed by 790%, alongside “Flights to Berlin” which rose by 253%.
For supporters who were fortunate enough to get a ticket via the initial UEFA sale, prices were much cheaper.
There were different categories available at four price points, starting at £76 and going up to £844.
Seatpick found the cheapest tickets to the Euro 2024 final start at a huge £1,700 – more than double the price of England’s semi-final game starting from £668.95.
On the other end of the scale, it found some tickets were on sale for more than £80,000 – equating to around £894 per minute of play-time.
The Money team had a look online for tickets and found some were up on re-sale sites for as much as £35,000 (that’s for a hospitality suite).
We also found several being sold for thousands of pounds.
The cheapest we discovered was £995 – but many came in at between £1,000 and £4,000.
Hotels and flights
The cost of a hotel for Sunday night is showing as double the usual price and a one-way flight on Sunday morning costs three times more than standard, research by Sky News found.
The price of a one-way flight to Berlin from London would usually be around £75, according to Google Flights.
However, if you can find one, a one-way flight on Sunday is now showing at around £243 – a 320% increase.
Meanwhile, for accommodation, fans are facing paying double for a typical three-star hotel in Berlin with prices coming in at £166 compared with the usual average of £88 a night.
Fans will also find it hard to travel from England to Berlin at any point over the weekend.
EasyJet’s 12 flights to Berlin from Birmingham, Bristol, Luton and Gatwick between Friday and the match are fully booked.
Cost to drive
The cost of fuel alone to drive from Birmingham to Berlin is around £175, according to the Via Michelin cost calculator – with the journey taking roughly 14 hours.
The cost for a standard one-way ticket for the Eurotunnel from Folkestone to Calais – a vital aspect of the journey – seems to have remained stable.
If you were to book a ticket for Sunday, between 7am and 10am, the price is around £178. Either side of those times, the standard price decreases slightly to £140.
This means the rough total cost to drive one-way to Berlin is £325. And of course, fans will need to get home.
Reserved parking online in Berlin city centre is around £40.
Train tickets
The standard cost of a train ticket has also seen an increase.
The cost to travel one-way from London to Berlin on Saturday afternoon, arriving early Sunday morning, is about £410, according to Trainline.
The same ticket a week later costs around £255.
Bookings on the rail travel app have grown by 825% by fans making their plans for the final in Berlin.
Bus, boat or bicycle…what lengths have you gone to get to Berlin to watch England in the final? We are looking for fans with the quirkiest stories.
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