Liverpool to refund Champions League tickets for fans with cancelled flights

Liverpool will refund the cost of a match ticket to any supporter who is not able to travel to the Champions League final because of flight cancellations.

Hundreds of fans were affected when three flights were cancelled after Widnes-based travel operator Worldchoice Sport failed to secure landing slots at Boryspil Airport in Kiev.

One of those planes was rescheduled to leave Liverpool John Lennon Airport on Friday morning but the other two flights remain cancelled leaving 650 supporters stranded.

Liverpool issued a statement on Friday afternoon, which read: "In light of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the belated cancellation of flights to Kiev, Liverpool FC is offering affected supporters a full refund on match tickets bought directly from the club.

"Supporters who were booked on flight numbers ET8704 and ET8706, and those who were unable to travel on the rearranged ET8700 flight booked through Worldchoice Sport, will be able to claim the refund.

Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson insisted he was "working really hard" with Kiev's mayor, former world heavyweight champion boxer Vitali Klitschko, to find a solution for all those who face missing the match against Real Madrid.

In a video posted on Twitter on Friday, he said: "We've had more discussions this morning with Mayor Klitschko and also the director of the airport.

"Now they're trying to do a couple of things for us - they're trying to look and see if we can use an airport nearby either to get an airbus in there or some smaller crafts either today or tomorrow."

He added: "We are trying to help as much as we can but we'll try and keep you updated, so just stay tuned and we'll try and update you again shortly."

A few minutes later he posted an update saying his team was in talks with a carrier that could possibly lay on two or three flights from John Lennon Airport to Kiev on Saturday, arriving in the early evening.

He said: "The mayor [of Kiev] has said he will lay on transport to take people to the grounds which is about 40 minutes away."

Mr Anderson finished: "That's what I'm hoping. I can't confirm or promise anything 100 per cent."

Worldchoice issued a statement saying: "We can't apologise to our customers enough about the situation they find themselves in.

"We feel terribly let down by Kiev airport and can assure all customers affected will be getting a full refund over the next seven days."

via Sky Sports