Purchasing Tickets

[Kris]

I was just thinking about the scrapping the queue part suggestion but like you say having an effective alternative needs to be in place first.

Maybe a loyalty scheme whereby previous attendees get early booking option as a reward for their support, say sales go live at 11am for those in this group with the next round of sales going live at 12pm for the general public?

I wish the guys well with solving this conundrum as it is a tricky one, what do you do next when it is growing in size year on year.

I am in support of the limiting the tickets per person sold in the sleepy queue to a reasonable level. I'm trying to remember when my wife camped out for Take That tickets i'm sure it was four per person.

Touch wood I have always fell lucky with my FF tickets, always had decent seats and good neighbours the last few years.

[morralex]

I think they should leave it the way it is. Some people are always going to be left out and it sucks but that's life. I can't see the ticketing system being altered too much next year and I imagine the sleepy queue will get busier, so we'll all have to get up a bit earlier.

[anoy yin barsted]

Yeah, no offence morralex, but I don't really agree with that to be fair.

R.e, people getting up earlier: the weekend passes go on general sale at 12.30 in the afternoon. They sold out forty minutes later. As long as you got up at 12.25 (allowing 5 minutes for the computer to boot), you were in with just as much of a chance as someone who got up at, say, 8.45. Or even the crack of dawn. Or someone who had not been to bed at all.

Now, if you were implying that people need to join the sleepy q a bit earlier, then that doesn't help matters either- it just prolongs the sleepy q, and, as has been noted on this board, could end up in sleepy qs that are 48 hours long. The sleepy q could end up superceding the amount of time that Frightfest is itself!

No mate, there is only one answer. A different sleepy 'q'- the sleepy quiz! Or not even a sleepy quiz. Just a quiz.

Now hear me out. How about the staff at the Empire- extra staff should be laid on for the day the w/e passes go on sale; we bring in enough revenue for the Empire, IMHO- ask potential weekend pass buyers a horror themed question, set by Andy Nyman*, or even the FF boys themselves. If the customer answers correctly, if they know their Baker from their Edlunds then they get to buy a ticket- if they fail, back of the phone queue, try again.

I think that this is something definetly worth pursuing.

Actually, I've just read it over, and I think it's a BRILLIANT IDEA.


* I know he doesn't really set the questions. Gimme a break. I'm trying to help here.

[morralex]

Haha on the quiz idea.

With getting up earlier I was suggesting what will probably happen as I'd imagine the ticketing system will not change next year. Maybe it should and the way it is currently isn't perfect but, like I said before, can't see it changing much.

[anoy yin barsted]

Haha on the quiz idea.

With getting up earlier I was suggesting what will probably happen as I'd imagine the ticketing system will not change next year. Maybe it should and the way it is currently isn't perfect but, like I said before, can't see it changing much.

I see now. But come on morralex, we shouldn't give up, we should work together on this, not just you and me, but the whole FF cohort!

Can we fix it?

[TheDukeAbides]

Yeah, no offence morralex, but I don't really agree with that to be fair.

R.e, people getting up earlier: the weekend passes go on general sale at 12.30 in the afternoon. They sold out forty minutes later. As long as you got up at 12.25 (allowing 5 minutes for the computer to boot), you were in with just as much of a chance as someone who got up at, say, 8.45. Or even the crack of dawn. Or someone who had not been to bed at all.

Now, if you were implying that people need to join the sleepy q a bit earlier, then that doesn't help matters either- it just prolongs the sleepy q, and, as has been noted on this board, could end up in sleepy qs that are 48 hours long. The sleepy q could end up superceding the amount of time that Frightfest is itself!

No mate, there is only one answer. A different sleepy 'q'- the sleepy quiz! Or not even a sleepy quiz. Just a quiz.

Now hear me out. How about the staff at the Empire- extra staff should be laid on for the day the w/e passes go on sale; we bring in enough revenue for the Empire, IMHO- ask potential weekend pass buyers a horror themed question, set by Andy Nyman*, or even the FF boys themselves. If the customer answers correctly, if they know their Baker from their Edlunds then they get to buy a ticket- if they fail, back of the phone queue, try again.

I think that this is something definetly worth pursuing.

Actually, I've just read it over, and I think it's a BRILLIANT IDEA.


* I know he doesn't really set the questions. Gimme a break. I'm trying to help here.

I've said this for years about any ticket sales.

A quiz at the box office or online that is band specific should easily root out any touts (search engines would take longer).

Then there is no need for photo, RFID's and anyone Big Brother stylings the Eavis and the hippy-ideal sold out to long ago.

It would still mean going to London.

Unless, of course, the quiz is sent out on a mailing list a month before - a deadline 2 weeks before sale. And then those with the highest scores get a special code for pre-sale (another idea I'm generally against).

As long a we're spit balling ideas of course.

[ArghZombies]

I don't see the purpose of this quiz malarky, what is the problem it's trying to solve? I am not aware of touts being a problem at FrightFest in the past, and I doubt they've been a problem this year either. I don't want to be quizzed on horror when buying a ticket, that's way too elitist, plus it's a free market so anyone should be allowed to buy tickets if they want to without having to jump through such hoops to do so.

A lot of tickets go early because of the sleepy Q, but that's because there are a lot of people in that queue. They then go on sale on the website for the remainder of the tickets to be taken up.

It seems to me that there is currently just about enough tickets available for the hardcore elite to get their weekend passes, the only people who are missing out are those with credit cards registered in different countries, or those people I see on Twitter who hear about the festival in passing a few days after the tickets have gone on sale who then try to get full passes.

[morralex]

I think the quiz thing may be a joke.

[ArghZombies]

I think the quiz thing may be a joke.

Well yes, that's how it appeared at first, but it seems to be being taken more seriously as the thread progressed!

[anoy yin barsted]

What sort of questions do you think would be suitable?

Let's have a dry run.

[DJBenz]

What sort of questions do you think would be suitable?

None, it's a ridiculous idea. And as mentioned above, touts aren't particularly a problem for FF so all you're doing is creating a tier of fan "worthiness" based on arbitrary general horror film knowledge.

[Malky]

What sort of questions do you think would be suitable?

Let's have a dry run.

How many passes would you like? and where would you like to sit?

[Wolfshade]

I don't see the purpose of this quiz malarky, what is the problem it's trying to solve? I am not aware of touts being a problem at FrightFest in the past, and I doubt they've been a problem this year either. I don't want to be quizzed on horror when buying a ticket, that's way too elitist, plus it's a free market so anyone should be allowed to buy tickets if they want to without having to jump through such hoops to do so.

Exactly, there's never been a problem with touts at FF, plus even if there was they'd easily be able to search on google/wiki/whatever to find the answer to any questions! I did dreadfully in the quiz at the August event last year, so does that mean I don't deserve to go this year? Should the trainspotter geeks with an encyclopedic knowledge of horror get first pick of the tickets every year? Anyway, I don't really worth debating this, as such a ridiculous idea will obviously never be implemented.

Also even if there is no limit on tickets per person, I didn't notice anyone buying vast amounts of passes for all the friends or anything this year, so I don't think this is a problem. It seems the vast majority of people don't have a problem getting down to the Empire on the morning of sale, and this guarantees a pass, so I don't really see a problem.

[bump3r1]

Unfortunately you cant really base ticket allocation on the amount of times someone has as attended in the past or who has got a better knowledge of the genre, first come first served is the only fair way, there should be a cap on how many tickets a person can buy bt that's bout it. U can't say to someone "sorry you can't have a ticket because the guy behind u as been 8 times and this is only your second" its the same as any festival/gig/concert if u want tickets u got to be on the ball.

[anoy yin barsted]

What sort of questions do you think would be suitable?

Let's have a dry run.

How many passes would you like? and where would you like to sit?

Could that be the bonus round?