England's highly anticipated quarter-final match against Sweden takes place on Sunday. Photo / AP
England's highly anticipated quarter-final match against Sweden takes place on Sunday. Photo / AP
With the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup happening this weekend, what can you do if you find yourself stuck on a flight during the action?
For many England fans, it's not great timing - as their highly anticipated match with Sweden takes place when the summer holiday season is in full swing.
Well, certain airlines are actually streaming it live on board, so some will be in luck, MailOnline Travel reports.
For only the second time in history, the Sport 24 live sports channel - which only broadcasts on airlines and cruise ships - is streaming Fifa World Cup matches on its network.
The first quarter final, between Uruguay and France, takes place on Saturday at 1.30am (NZ time), followed by Brazil v Belgium at 5.30am.
The clash between England and Sweden kicks off at 1.30am (NZ time) Sunday, followed by Russia v Croatia at 5.30am.
Owned and operated by IMG, Sport 24 has been showing football's biggest event live from Russia to over 750 aircraft on its international airline partners.
There are 13 airlines that have Sport 24 as part of their on-board entertainment, although none of them are British carriers.
They include AeroMexico, Air Italy, American Airlines, All Nipon Airways, Emirates and Etihad.
The rest are Garauda Indonesia, Hong Kong Airlines, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and WestJet.
Some airlines also offer on-board Wifi meaning football fans could ask family or friends for score updates via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or iMessage.
But some of the UK-based airlines that don't offer these services have other ways of keeping England fans in the know about the big match.
British Airways told MailOnline Travel that if England manage to get past Sweden and make it to the semi-finals, they will put out an ACARS message (a message sent to pilots) to its long-haul aircraft.
The message will start with the words "football's coming home" followed by the score.
Flight crew will then announce the result to customers but will read out a spoiler alert before revealing the score, in case any fans want to catch up with highlights of the match when they reach their destination.
Virgin Atlantic also told MailOnline Travel that its aircraft does have onboard Wifi so customers may be able to get live updates from those on the ground.
However, any announcements of the score by the flight crew will be made at the captain's discretion.
Emirates is among the airlines screening FIFA World Cup matches. Photo / 123RF
Norwegian Airlines confirmed that it has four flights departing from Gatwick that will be airborne during Saturday's quarter final including a service to Gran Canaria that has a 3pm departure time.
A spokesman for the airline said: 'Flying Norwegian means passengers using our free Wi-Fi on flights from London Gatwick to Europe can keep track of the score and social media updates from kick-off to the final whistle at 35,000ft.
"It's an exciting day for England fans and we understand that some passengers would rather not receive updates, so they can watch the game upon arrival.
"As such, our attentive pilots and crew can provide match updates as the goals go in at their discretion and upon the request of our passengers."
While those on holiday flights on Thomas Cook will also be kept up to date by crew.
A Thomas Cook Airlines spokesperson said: "We have been keeping our customers updated every step of the way during the World Cup.
"After winning in the penalty shoot-out against Colombia, customers on board one of our flights started singing 'it's coming home' throughout the cabin!
"On Saturday, we will of course keep our UK customers in the air up to date, as well as our Swedish customers flying with Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia."
US-based carrier Delta Air Lines told MailOnline Travel that its pilots won't be making specific announcements on any World Cup scores.
However, as its aircraft are fully Wifi enabled, the airline says that customers following and interested in the latest score will be able to follow the match in real time.
