England fans’ route to Yokohama will be neither easy nor cheap

England fans will struggle to secure direct flights to Japan for Saturday’s World Cup final against South Africa, according to travel experts.

Supporters clamouring for match tickets for the showpiece in Yokohama already face paying extortionate prices.

The cheapest ticket available on online ticketing agency Stubhub on Monday afternoon was priced at £1,386 – with some seats costing almost £13,000.

And demand for flights from the UK to Tokyo, 20 miles from the Yokohama Stadium, has soared since Eddie Jones’ side beat favourites New Zealand 19-7 in Saturday’s semi-final.

British Airways are considering laying on extra flights to Japan’s capital this week, but most fans face a stop-over and will then be at the mercy of resale sites for match tickets, with all 69,000 sold out months ago and none held back for the finalists.

“Since England’s amazing win this weekend, we’ve seen a 184 per cent surge in the number of people looking at flights to Tokyo on ba.com,” a British Airways spokesperson told the PA news agency.

“As it stands, we only have a tiny number of seats left on our twice daily flights to the Japanese capital this coming week, but we’re exploring a number of options to help fans get there.”

Emma Coulthurst, travel commentator for TravelSupermarket, told the PA news agency: “There is availability to get you from the UK out to Tokyo before this weekend, if you are prepared to go via a different destination and to take a while to get there.

“You will struggle to find a direct flight. As you can imagine, demand has been incredibly high since Saturday’s result.

“BA has said it is looking at other ways to get England fans out there so watch this space in case more availability is released.

“But, as it stands, you’ll be very lucky to find a direct flight and, if you do, it is likely to cost you.”

Indirect return flight ticket prices range from £660 per person to around £820pp, depending on the route taken.

“If you don’t have much leave and want to fly out for the game, flights which leave Thursday and get you there by Friday night and back on Sunday (arriving Monday night in the UK) start from around £760 per person,” Coulthurst said.

“But you’ll have to be prepared to take a while to get there and to make stops in places like Rome and Cairo.

“The flights are with low cost airlines such as easyJet and Vueling to Europe and then onward with other airlines.”

A cheaper option, starting from £660pp, would mean leaving on Wednesday and coming back the following Wednesday, with a 24-hour stop-over somewhere like Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam.

Shorter indirect flights are available and start from around £820pp with Virgin, China Eastern and Aeroflot.

Those options would also mean flying out on Wednesday via a short stop for a couple of hours in Moscow or Shanghai and returning to the UK the following Wednesday.

England fan Martin Underwood has criticised the Rugby World Cup for their handling of match ticket sales after buying his flights in advance last week.

He bought match tickets for himself and wife Linda for £1,000 each from New Zealand fans out in Japan who are no longer interested in the final.

“The official website is leaving fans in the wilderness,” said the 43-year-old from Rutland.

“I’ve been constantly going onto it to see if there are any tickets, but there’s no communication saying there have been a number returned and will be resold.

“The fans are being left to pay over the odds – they’re left with no choice.”