Air Malta's UK football tickets

I refer to Air Malta's marketing and PR manager's Guaranteed Tickets For UK Football (December 2). The football league existed before airplanes were invented and Air Malta was not the one to discover that tickets for football matches can be sold. So much for this "new and exciting product".

Two noteworthy points regarding Air Malta's excursion into the business of selling UK football tickets are price and legality.

Tickets for matches can be purchased directly via the clubs themselves if one is a member and from certain clubs even if one is not a member. Exactly one year ago, I paid £50 to watch Arsenal v. Birmingham on the long side of the pitch and £51 to watch a Champions League match, Arsenal v Rosenborg at Highbury. I had my tickets in hand before I even left Malta! Air Malta advertises Arsenal v Sunderland at an exorbitant Lm102!

In October 2003, I paid Lm28 to watch Arsenal play Chelsea with an excellent seat on the North Bank. On that day, ticket touts near Highbury stadium were asking £200 for seats for the game, and were open to offers. Air Malta's Lm235 for this coming fixture on December 18 beats even the black market price!

Tickets touts hanging around Parson's Green on September 11, 2004 offered me tickets for Fulham v Arsenal at £100. Air Malta's price for this fixture next March is Lm77, somewhat above the black market price.

Another matter worth noting is that when one purchases a ticket for an English Premier League match, the precise section of the stadium where the seat is located is always given together with price.

It must be said that the "long side of the pitch" that Air Malta boasts about doesn't really say much, as it could mean anything and encompasses the far left to the far right near the corners, not considered to be the best of views. On any long side, there will be a range of varying prices depending on the view of the pitch. I have had seats at English grounds behind the goals and had excellent views of the pitch sometimes surpassing those from the far sides on the long side.

Apparently when one purchases a ticket through Air Malta, one doesn't know exactly what one is getting before being handed the ticket at the "hotel in London". Not quite fair trading.

I have booked seats at White Hart Lane - Tottenham Hotspur (of which club I am not a member) over the phone and had excellent long side of the pitch central upper tier seats for between £45 and £60 over the last few years. Tickets were picked up one hour before kick-off from the club itself - a very simple arrangement that allows one time for a pint and a kebab before the game.

It is a criminal offence to re-sell or offer for sale Premier League clubs' tickets without the written consent of the club. Can Air Malta confirm that it has the written consent of all the clubs advertised on page 11 of the latest Flyaway Tours brochure: Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Tottenham, West Ham, Liverpool, Manchester United and Newcastle United to sell their tickets at the advertised prices?