London Eye - help with understanding tickets

tea_lover

I know this should be in the UK travel section but it's so quiet in there.... so please let me get some answers before moving this!

Could anyone please explain the ticketing system for the London Eye?

If I book standard tickets online, I have to choose a date and time. How soon before this time would I need to turn up? Are the tickets guaranteed for that time, or is there a chance I could be queuing for hours?

We won't have time for lots of hanging about but I can't afford the more flexible tickets. If anyone can help me out with the differences between the tickets that would be great.

I've read the website info but it just doesn't seem that clear to me.

TIA.

onlyroz

From what I remember, at the London Eye there are two queues. One queue is to buy the ticket and the second is to get on the eye itself. If you already have a ticket then you should be able to go straight to the second queue, at the time that your ticket says. That's not to say that you won't still have to wait in line for a while, but it does save a bit of time.

FatVonD

I recall that, even once you have your time, you have to queue for about half an hour to actually get on?

chunkychocky

I read on their FAQ that if you already have your ticket you should join the queue roughly half an hour before the time on your ticket so that you are getting on the eye at approximately the right time. If you haven't already got your ticket you have to queue for that first.

londonsurrey

If you want it cheap and not to hang around for long, then your best bet is to get there at least 20-30 minutes before the first rides.

People like their beds. Fewer people turn up early.

tea_lover

Thanks all.

From what I've read so far then, I think if I get standard tickets with a time on then get there at least 30 mins before that time I should be ok.

aimee21j

We went on it yesterday. Prebooked standard tickets (with river cruise- well worth the extra) and turned up at 9.20ish. Short queue to get tickets and then was front of queue to board and got on very first capsule thing. If you don't mind getting there early, it's not worth the extra for beat the queue- they went on at exactly the same time as us.
Try not to leave it much later as queue got quite big quickly.

FatVonD

tea_lover wrote: »

Thanks all.

From what I've read so far then, I think if I get standard tickets with a time on then get there at least 30 mins before that time I should be ok.

As long as you have the actual physical tickets in your hand, if you've paid online but need to pick them up you'll need to figure in another 10 minutes or so.

claire16c

I went on it years ago but I seem to remember I got my tickets cheaper on lastminute.com dont know if you still can?