Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

anotheruser

So I've been looking at tickets for this play, for two people, both parts in the same day but there clearly seems to be some sort of foul play here.

1) The Friday 40 is a farse. Are they seriously telling me that more than 40 people booked tickets for the date I was looking at AND they managed to get chosen instead of me, all within the space of about 3 minutes? I hardly think so. Perhaps I mis-understood and it's 40 tickets across all the dates they list.

2) One ATG Tickets it says sold out, yet Nimax website says there are some available.

3) I note I can buy premium tickets for October next year, yet the normal priced ones (£145pp still!) come up with: "There was an error whilst attempting to hold the requested seats: Unable to offer seats"

4) It's even more strange as I can choose many different dates, select my tickets and the good old "error: unable to offer seats" comes back again. They have a key for dates that are sold out... so if they're sold out, why can I even select tickets? Poor administration and if my suspicions are true, I'm surprised they're able to get away with it.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason which seats are premium, which aren't, and whether you can book for a specific date or not.

Just gonna slum it on the balcony for £85 and be done with it. Would have spent more to sit further down but I'm not spending close to £600 for tickets, nor am I spending nearly £800 to stay overnight (I guess this is where the Friday 40 come from).

Can I call the theatre to ask more? No.

Just hate that they know people will pay so it appears they make a number of the cheaper tickets unavailable, even though I am now going to spend less with them

Anyone else seen it and think it was worth it?
Where did you sit? How much did you pay?

Oakdene

Had this on an email today....

anotheruser wrote: »

On Wednesday 6 December at 11am GMT, a further three months of tickets will be released for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre in London, for performances from 24 October 2018 to 13 January 2019. Tickets are priced from £15 and there are over 300 tickets for every performance at £20 or less per part. For the best chance of purchasing tickets for these performances, please visit the Ticket Information page between 10.30am and 11am GMT on 6 December.

From 10.30am you will be able to click on the ‘Waiting Room’ buttons for the opportunity to enter the 'virtual waiting rooms' to access tickets via either Nimax or ATG, our official UK ticketing partners. You can enter the 'virtual waiting rooms' at any time between 10.30am and 11am, and when tickets are released at 11am all customers in the waiting rooms will be randomly assigned a Queue Number. You can join the 'virtual waiting rooms' any time from 10.30am until 11am; it will not affect which Queue Number you receive.

The randomisation of the Queue is to enable the purchase of tickets to be fair as possible, and to protect our customers from bots and ticket touts. For more information, please visit the official play website. Please be aware that entry into the virtual waiting room and queue is not a guarantee of tickets, and that customers entering the queue after booking opens at 11am are very unlikely to be successful in this release. Tickets are limited to a maximum of 6 per part per transaction. If you have access requirements, please call [URL="tel:+44%20330%20333%204410"](+44) 0330 333 4410[/URL].

anotheruser

Yeah, that's not particularly going to solve any of the problems.
I suspect it'll just me more dates to throw out "unable to offer tickets" error... even if I did have three different sources choosing tickets (IE, phone, PC, tor browser (so looks like I am coming from abroad)).

EDIT:
Gonna leave the balcony seats. Apparently all you see are people's heads - actors and people in front! https://seatplan.com/london/palace-theatre/
I'd rather spend half as much again and get seats in either of the circles (but not paying £200 for them!).

p00hsticks

anotheruser wrote: »

EDIT:
Gonna leave the balcony seats. Apparently all you see are people's heads - actors and people in front! https://seatplan.com/london/palace-theatre/
I'd rather spend half as much again and get seats in either of the circles (but not paying £200 for them!).

Theatre monkey is a really good site for seating plans, tips on bookings and reviews of which seats are best value for money

http://www.theatremonkey.com/PALACEbooking.htm

TBagpuss

anotheruser wrote: »

So I've been looking at tickets for this play, for two people, both parts in the same day but there clearly seems to be some sort of foul play here.

1) The Friday 40 is a farse. Are they seriously telling me that more than 40 people booked tickets for the date I was looking at AND they managed to get chosen instead of me, all within the space of about 3 minutes? I hardly think so. Perhaps I mis-understood and it's 40 tickets across all the dates they list.

Yes.They are seriously telling you. Why would they lie? It's extremely popular and the friday 40 lets people get tickets much more cheaply.
I know several people who have succeeded in getting tickets but it usually takes several attempts and a willingness to be flexible on dates.

2) One ATG Tickets it says sold out, yet Nimax website says there are some available.

Yes, they each have their own allocation of seats.

3) I note I can buy premium tickets for October next year, yet the normal priced ones (£145pp still!) come up with: "There was an error whilst attempting to hold the requested seats: Unable to offer seats"

Why is that strange? The booking process normally lets people chose tickets and gives them a set period of time to complete the purchase. During that period the tickets won't be available to you, but may not show as sold until they are actually sold.

4) It's even more strange as I can choose many different dates, select my tickets and the good old "error: unable to offer seats" comes back again. They have a key for dates that are sold out... so if they're sold out, why can I even select tickets? Poor administration and if my suspicions are true, I'm surprised they're able to get away with it.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason which seats are premium, which aren't, and whether you can book for a specific date or not.

whether of not they are premium usually depends on where they are in the theatre. It depends from one theatre to another and sometimes to different shows within the same theatre, it's primarily about where you get the best view from,
plus how comfortable they are - things like leg room, whether there are safety rails, sound decks or pillars which affect the sight lines and so on.

Just gonna slum it on the balcony for £85 and be done with it. Would have spent more to sit further down but I'm not spending close to £600 for tickets, nor am I spending nearly £800 to stay overnight (I guess this is where the Friday 40 come from).
Can I call the theatre to ask more? No.

Why not? there is a contact number and an e-mail address in the question section of the website and there is a number for the box office on the website, if you click on 'book tickets'

Just hate that they know people will pay so it appears they make a number of the cheaper tickets unavailable, even though I am now going to spend less with them

Anyone else seen it and think it was worth it?
Where did you sit? How much did you pay?

I saw it in previews.
I enjoyed it. I thought the price I paid was worth it for me, and I'm going again next summer, from a different area in the auditorium. Friends who have seen it enjoyed it too. Costs were broadly what I'd expect to pay if I decided to see a matinee and an evening show elsewhere in the west end.

The price is high because the play is in 2 parts so you're effectively booking to plays, but also it's a pretty big production - big cast, lots of special effects and,more backstage and front of house staff than usual, all of which I assume add to the running costs.

Compared with prices for other theatres and other productions in London the prices are not out of the ordinary (if you think of it as 2 plays not one) - prices seem to be broadly similar for things like Hamilton, and they do make a lot more affordable tickets available than most theatres can or do.

I do get that it is really frustrating if you haven't been able to get the tickets you want, but I think that a lot of the issues are probably down to the fact that it is very popular. You could e-mail the theatre about the sof tickets showing as unavailable but I suspect it's just about other people getting there faster.

If you do buy tickets, I hope you enjoy the show.

Ladylusiphur

I know people who've been successful with the Friday 40 but only after many attempts. I think perhaps people underestimate how popular this show is. Thousands of tickets have been sold up to a year in advance, so it stands to reason that more than 40 will be waiting each week poised to click as soon as the option becomes available.

When we booked our seats it was over a year in advance (I think I booked about March 2016 to see it April 2017. We were lucky as we chose a side view on row 4 at £80 per ticket/part, but by the time the show came around they'd removed our seats from the theatre altogether and re-worked the front rows, so we ended up on the second row right in the middle!

Best thing I've ever seen in a theatre, worth the money if you've got it. Worth keeping trying with the Friday 40 if you haven't.