With deep-vein thrombosis slowly creeping in as they flew cattle class from Oslo to Tel Aviv for the European U-21 Championship that began Wednesday, several Norway players noticed some seats going begging in the business class section of their Turkish Airlines flight.
They decided to try their luck in blagging their way from economy, through the curtain and into the promised land of hot towels, premium sandwiches and sweet, sweet leg room.
Sadly for the four players in question, they decided to pull on their finest candy-striped seersucker suits and straw-boater hats and try to woo their air hostesses into out free upgrades with a hastily-assembled barbershop quartet.
You may be surprised to learn that it didn't work.
"We tried to start a song in Turkish but it didn’t really work," midfielder Harmeet Singh told newspaper Verdens Gang. "We were told to return to economy class."
Striker/lead tenor Flamur Kastrati rued his backing group’s lack of vocal harmony: ”The charm worked, but not the singing voice,” he said.
Tough luck lads. Fell down at the last (and first) hurdle there.