As a late Pablo Fornals strike last Thursday night handed West Ham a 3-1 aggregate lead over Europa Conference semi-final rivals AZ Alkmaar, the scenes that shook the away end produced moments that would last a lifetime.

For the first time in 47 years, despite straddling the bottom half of the Premier League table for the entirety of the 2022/23 season, The Irons have a European final jotted down in their calendar.

In the heat of the moment, as their Dutch hosts seethed upon their exit, travelling fans dressed in claret and blue could only boast positives.

However, West Ham fans had their taste of bad news the following day when they were taken aback by the expenses necessary if the east Londoners wished to travel to Prague on 7th June to watch their team have a shot at glory against Fiorentina. 

  • Do you want the good news or the bad news?

According to research from BonusCodeBets, flights from London to Prague have increased by a staggering 513% in the wake of West Ham's victory. 

While a round trip for a two-day excursion to Prague between May 31st and June 2nd costs just £97 a week before the final at the Fortuna Arena, flights rise to a stumbling £519, with a stop in Munich, on the week of the fixture. 

An alternative that has been advised in case flights get sold out is to fly to Vienna before moving onto Vaclav Havel Airport. However, this would bring an even more expensive option at £546.  

Unfortunately, good news always comes with a price - something West Ham fans, a group commonly represented as a working-class community, are the latest to discover.

In a period permeated by anxiety through a cost-of-living crisis, questions will continue to be raised over the staging of football fixtures, domestically, continentally, and internationally.

Although the host city was decided long before the first kick of the season, more can be done to put the focus back on the fan.

Suggestions among those affected include an extended period between the semi-finals and the final, while others turn to airlines for answers.

Nevertheless, if West Ham are crowned the second-ever victors of the Europa Conference in two weeks, mirroring José Mourinho's Roma triumph in the competition's debut season last year, money might be the least of their worries.