Dozens of young footballers face missing the biggest tournament of their lives after easyJet bumped them from their flight.
Coach Sam Driscoll was looking forward to flying out to Italy with his Juventus Academy Devon players in the middle of June.
The group of 87 were due to go head-to-head with other promising young footballers aged 11 to 14 from across the world in the inaugural outing of a youth tournament organised by the super club.
Sam's excitement turned to despair when an accompanying parent discovered, by chance, that there was an issue with their flight.
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Without telling any of the group, easyJet had bumped the team off their service on the evening of Saturday 18 June, and split them between two morning flights - scheduled before the team's games.
Before the flight was eventually cancelled, tickets for three times the price Sam and the kids paid were available for the original flight.
After much frantic and frustrating emailing and calling, the 25-year-old was told they could fly the following day instead, meaning the kids would miss school and their parents would have to fork out for a night in a hotel.
Sam is stumped about what to do given that the original tickets cost £100 return when he bought them in February, while suitable alternative flights now cost £300 or more.
"It's absolutely insane," Sam, who also works as a special needs teacher, told The Mirror.
"It's an incredible opportunity. It's a world cup. The kids are extremely excited. Now I'm having to tell them that there's all this going on.
"I'm responsible for all the kids on the trip. One flight is at 7.20am, the other at 11.50am. There's four hours between.
"They expect me to have 11-year-olds waiting for me at Gatwick Airport.
"If we got back on Sunday the kids would miss school on Monday because we'd be home really late. We would be back at 6am on Monday morning.
"I've tried calling but you can only talk to bookings and not complaints. There is no way to complain.
"We might have to cancel the trip. We will not be flying with easyJet in the future."
A spokesperson for easyJet said: "We’re sorry that this group’s flight from Milan to Gatwick on 18 June has been cancelled.
"Our customer team are currently discussing their options with them including looking at flights on other airlines to fly them to the tournament in time.
"We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused."
EasyJet customers have found themselves frustrated before and on the way back from trips in recent weeks.
Yesterday an IT glitch led the budget airline to cancel hundreds of flights, with more than a dozen more grounded this morning.
Long lines formed at Gatwick Airport as passengers waited up to two hours to check-in with easyJet.
To read more about the chaos click here.
