getting home yesterday

[epsomraver]

Any body else caught up in the chaos last night? no buses waiting at the ground but plenty of police escorts, and complete chaos at the airport where there were  planes waiting 3 hours to go and no one there to process the passengers and again too few buses to get  to the planes? but IT WAS OUR FAULT FOR ALL TURNING UP TOGETHER!!! I thought Hamburg was picked as they were equipped for the big occasion but P*ss up in a brewery comes to mind, 4 hours to  get on a plane, if it had been any other teams fans there they would have wrecked the place :035:

[The Equalizer]

I heard that there still weren't enough planes this morning. 300 people were put on buses to a plane only to find out that it only had 156 seats! A joke. I am so glad we got a minibus!

[WhiteJC]

I was there, apparently Hamburg airport closes in the evening and they had to lay on staff just for the final!


you'd have thought that they would have used staff who knew what to do? still you can't beat German efficiency  :007:

[epsomraver]

"HOW DARE YOU ALL TURN UP AT ONCE"! WE DID NOT EXPECT THIS TO HAPPEN, yes I thought they were supposed to be efficient and organised!

[epsomraver]

I heard that there still weren't enough planes this morning. 300 people were put on buses to a plane only to find out that it only had 156 seats! A joke. I am so glad we got a minibus!

We had the opposite, we got on the plane and waited 40 minutes for 15 more people to get on to fill it  who were stuck at the terminal with no ferry bus to get them out!

[LBNo11]

...as mentioned in my reply to DragoMan:-

...I heard there were problems, but the Fulham Flyer had up until last night had very good reviews, perhaps it was the airports fault as I understand that they normally don't stay open all through the night, maybe the airport management had not given clear instructions to staff etc.,

Sorry about the problems though (and no I don't have anything to do with The Fulham Flyer set-up)..!

[Pata]

if it had been any other teams fans there they would have wrecked the place :035:

Not necessarily. But it seems that post-final airport travel chaos is par for the course when British teams are involved - the numbers/charters/etc. just seem too overwhelming for them.

[epsomraver]

You telling me Spam or Millwall or Spuds fans would put up with the chaos with such good grace, don't think so somehow

[Pata]

You telling me Spam or Millwall or Spuds fans would put up with the chaos with such good grace, don't think so somehow

From what I heard, post-match at the airport:

2008 CL final wasn't too bad but still a bit of a mare.
2007 CL final was an absolute disaster but at least there was public transport to the airport. Shambles at the airport, though.
2005 CL final was not as bad as 2005 but I am still not sure how people got from stadium -> airport, given that the said stadium was in the middle of nowhere with 1.5 roads connecting it with civilisation.

None of these ended in riots as far as I am aware. Just a load of tired people wanting to get back but faced with a high degree of disorganisation. Though I do empathise with the difficulties, Fulham fans aren't the only ones who had to go through them.

[epsomraver]

They didn't use Hamburg , they went out from Hanover and were bussed to the ground, same as the semi finals, that was how it should have stayed, Hamburg is not a 24 hour airport and it showed, if this has happened before according to you why is that not mentioned in all the reports on the chaos

[Serotonin]

I was one of the lucky ones. We were told to go to gate C9 and we boarded within ten mins and were off once the second bus load boarded. My thoughts with anyone left queuing for ages... not nice after a long and emotional day

[epsomraver]

You missed all the fun , we got to c8 and were told that they were all Luton flights so we went back into the mess.

[Pata]

if this has happened before according to you why is that not mentioned in all the reports on the chaos

Is that a serious question? :)

A couple of snippets:

Istanbul (5 years ago)

Getting back to the airports was also a disaster, but at least there were buses laid on this time. But nobody knew which bus was going to which airport, and plenty ending up at the wrong airport for their flight home. I was on a 7am flight back to Ankara from the main Istanbul airport that was allocated to AC Milan. On arrival there, it seemed all the flights to Milan had gone. There were no Italians to be seen. Meanwhile, as the Liverpool airport, fans were left in a tent for hours on end with delayed flight after cancelled flight. Some not returning until late the next day.

Athens (3 years ago)

On leaving the ground there were shuttle buses back to the airport that were unorganised chaos. Everyone on organised trips was issued with a coloured wristband when landing in Athens. These were meant to indicate who was on what flight home. Orange bands for the first 10 flights, blue bands for the next 10 flights etc. On arriving at the airport, Milan had been given the airport proper, we were processed through a temporary tent attached to the airport. I got through with no passport being checked, no boarding card, and onto the first flight out, which was my flight anyway.

I was told my flight was boarding at gate 5, or gate G, can't remember. But when I got there, it was just an open door out onto the tarmac, and every other gate was the same, with nobody manning the gate or doors by them. So the result was people just walking through the doors and onto the next bus that pulled up to take you to the plane. Nobody checking boarding cards, just once the bus was full, it pulled off. As I walked onto the plane, I dived into the nearest seat I found. There were 50 or 60 others walking up and down the aisles of the plane looking for a seat. It was a case of first come first served it seemed. Just get on the nearest plane. Those 50 or 60 then had to get off the plane and back to the temporary terminal, even though they insisted otherwise, showing they had boarding cards for that flight. They left and we took off with 50 to 60 people on the flight that shouldn't have been there. I hadn't had my passport checked any of the normal procedures. Boarding card hadn't left my pocket. Does airport security not apply to football fans?

Does some of that sound familiar?

[Pata]

Btw, how was getting to/into the ground for you? What about the facilities around/in the ground?

Also, many tickets knocking about? At what prices?

[epsomraver]

Getting to the ground was ok, we went early at 7 , later there were problems on the metro after a safety button was pushed, some fans late, buses were ok early on but later it got bad,not enough buses, UEFA insisted on the station segregation but not enough was done to make it work and on the trains to the airport the fans were all mixed together anyway,  there were people outside asking if we needed tickets but as we didn't ,got no idea of prices. It would seem that UEFA  have  a poor reputation at organising these events, makes Wembley look so good

[Sector9]

Btw, how was getting to/into the ground for you? What about the facilities around/in the ground?

Also, many tickets knocking about? At what prices?

Anyone else go to get on the metro at the reeperbahn and it was just totally fucked?  I was very very lucky to get into the ground on time, went up to the road and flagged down a random car and asked them to take us to the stadium otherwise we wouldnt get there. He did so (we let to atletico's hop in aswell), he took us as near as he could and then wouldnt accept the money we were offering for the lift. what a great guy.

Also epsom, you friend was splendid! gave him a hug when we scored!!

[chez]

We were stuck in a huge crowd of both sets of supporters queuing to get on the tube/bahn the singing/hugging, good luck between both was amazing, waited god knows how long on the platform with a packed train waiting to go (someone had pulled the emergency stop chord)

the time passed though as both sets of supporters tried to outsing one another, an amazing atmosphere with no hint of trouble, piled out of station to find buses waiting for us, got to the ground in time.

The sight of our end as i walked to go to my seat was one i will never forget just stood their for ages soaking it all up..... brillant!  :clap_hands:

[FatFreddysCat]

Chez i got there a few minutes late, forced my way onto the first train after that stuck train, but someone souted it's to packed and some kids were to squased so we got back off and got the next one. I walked up the stairs looked at our fans and welled up again. I just hope we all get to do something like this again. So so proud of the team and the fans.

[epsomraver]

Btw, how was getting to/into the ground for you? What about the facilities around/in the ground?

Also, many tickets knocking about? At what prices?

Anyone else go to get on the metro at the reeperbahn and it was just totally fucked?  I was very very lucky to get into the ground on time, went up to the road and flagged down a random car and asked them to take us to the stadium otherwise we wouldnt get there. He did so (we let to atletico's hop in aswell), he took us as near as he could and then wouldnt accept the money we were offering for the lift. what a great guy.

Also epsom, you friend was splendid! gave him a hug when we scored!!

















Richard said he enjoyed the game, the hug and your company, he is a life time supporter who nows lives in Bristol,  glad it all worked out, Dave

[epsomraver]

Chez i got there a few minutes late, forced my way onto the first train after that stuck train, but someone souted it's to packed and some kids were to squased so we got back off and got the next one. I walked up the stairs looked at our fans and welled up again. I just hope we all get to do something like this again. So so proud of the team and the fans.

Apparently someone pushed the emergency bell on the metro which caused the delays, Fred,  did you meet Mr  Finn, I scoured the place looking  for a hairy ex matelot in lederhosen and  a Fulham shirt , saw some sights but not that one