Originally Posted by TheJamaicanP.M.
My first away trip was to Paris during the last qualifying campaign. I went with 3 mates. We booked together with 747. The price was 499euros with 25euros tax to be paid later. Michael promised us match tickets and promised a boat trip along the Seine as part of the package. He later rang us to ask us would we be willing to pay an extra 30euros to upgrade to a better hotel (at this stage we hadn't even been told what hotel we were going to be in). We said no, we didnt want to pay extra for the hotel. A few weeks later, Michael rang us to say he'd taken the boat trip out of the package and upgraded our hotel instead. He told us we were getting a good deal because the hotel upgrade was more valuable than the boat trip (as if he would lower his profit margin!). As it happens I had no interest in going on a boat trip but I was ****ed off because it just felt like 747 were conning us. How were we to know if he had actually upgraded our hotel?
Three weeks before the match, Michael told us he had 4 match tickets ordered for us at a cost of 45euros each. He said that the face value was 35euros but that the French ticket agent added a 10euro charge to each ticket. That was fair enough because the ticket agent was charging that price 10euros extra per ticket. We paid 747 for the tickets immediately. I went in one week later to pick up the tickets. Michael was all flustered though. The fcuker had given our tickets to some other group. He went downstairs and came back up with 4 tickets that belonged to some other poor customer. At this stage I was glad to take them. However, after I left the shop I noticed that the face value on the tickets was actually 23euros. That means that he charged us 12euro extra per ticket so he owed us 48euros. Taking the advice of foot.ie member Don Vito, I decided not to bother returning to complain. At that stage, we were just so p!ssed off with the tricks that 747 were coming up with.
Before the plane even left Dublin airport, we had each spent 570euros for 2 nights in Paris. I found Michael to be a smarmy pr!ck. That was my first trip away to support Ireland and I would never go back to him.
Then you have Ray Tracey who charges extortionate prices. It seems to me that Tracey has a monopoly on the market.
From now on, I'm going to book trips on my own. This summer four of us are going to Germany for a few days for the World Cup experience.
Our return flight to Hamburg cost 118euros. We're spending 5 nights in 3 cities (Hamburg, Hannover and Berlin). We booked city centre hotels in each of the cities which came to a total of 179euros. Therefore, for 297euros each, our flights and accommodation have been taken care of. That price is significantly less than the cost of going to Paris.
I would advise every fan on this forum to book their trips independently. Travel agents should be a last resort.
