John Mallinson Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 New arrangements are announced here for what will now be called Friday Rush Tickets. At 1pm on any Friday 47 tickets will be available for any of the next seven days' performances and can be booked in person, by phone, or online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 From an email received today from ROH: New – Friday Rush Tickets starting next weekWe are making changes to our Day Ticket scheme which will be renamed Friday Rush Tickets from the start of the 2016/17 Season. Instead of having to queue up outside the Royal Opera House to buy one single ticket for that day’s performance, you will now be able to book two tickets from the comfort of your home or place of work for a performance in the next seven days (Saturday to Friday). We hope this change will enable you to plan your week better and give you more choice and a more efficient way of securing tickets. How it will work At 1pm every Friday* a limited number of seats (formerly called Day Tickets) will be made available for each performance the following week Saturday to Friday The tickets will be available online Each customer can purchase two tickets per person per performance The tickets will be available as e-tickets The first Friday Rush ticket day will be 9 September 2016 at 1pm, then every following Friday at 1pm. Please take time to read our FAQs so you can make the most of our new feature. *When the Friday falls on a Bank Holiday an alternative date will be identified and advertised in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Hmm, I think I can see as many negatives as positives in this idea, although I must admit I did wonder how the temporary box office was going to cope with the day tickets queue. I'm sorry they've got rid of the day tickets, because there are always people who won't be able to organise themselves well enough in advance to benefit from these new tickets - whatever they may be. I'm not sure I like the idea of no returns/exchanges either, because either the ticket is simply likely to be lost if someone can't go, or it'll probably end up on eBay or whatever. There are already numerous instances of no-shows e.g. in the standing areas where people don't appear to have returned tickets to the box office when they are unable to attend, and I think this will only make the situation worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 I see your points Alison. Isn't it better for those who do not live in Town though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunrise Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 I think a week ahead is ideal though and it gives a chance to those who can't book way in advance and those outside of London. I hope the choice of tickets is an improvement to the stalls circle sides which I found too restrictive, and the back of the amphi which is too far away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted September 2, 2016 Author Share Posted September 2, 2016 I suspect they will be he same tickets in the same locations as have been available under the old system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwissBalletFan Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 (edited) I suspect they will be he same tickets in the same locations as have been available under the old system. From the link in the first post. Which seats are available? There are 49 tickets available, in the Stalls Circle (sides), Amphitheatre (rear) and Balcony sections of the auditorium. The Balcony tickets are for standing places. Surely the best thing about this is that you don't have to queue outside, and then stand during the ballet too. I did this once in Vienna, pretty much took up most of my afternoon, but it was definitely worth a ticket for a sold out show. Also, I would imagine that these tickets will be snapped up by IT savvy fans with a quick internet connection, rather than maybe the more determined fans on a budget who would queue, which I would not see as a positive development. Edited September 2, 2016 by SwissBalletFan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted September 3, 2016 Share Posted September 3, 2016 I think it's a shame that people who are prepared to wait in a queue will get beaten by the Internet users, the old system started at 10am for the queue then any remaining tickets were put online around 10.30am which seems fairer and was a tradition. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 3, 2016 Share Posted September 3, 2016 Well, I have to admit that the 10 am deadline was always a pain: I might have been working 5 minutes away from the ROH at one stage, but our flexitime core hours required us to be in the office between 10 and 4, so I was never able to benefit anyway. And I'm afraid that yes, yet again, non-Internet users are being discriminated against, but that seems to be so widespread as to be cultural now I do particularly regret the option to be able to buy tickets on the day (unless returns are available), but on the other hand I suspect that not all the day tickets were always snapped up, so it may be that the ROH would prefer to see them used rather than not. With e-tickets now being more commonly available, I hope that more people who would previously not have bothered returning tickets will now do so once they're aware that they're unable to attend - I always get particularly irritated to see empty spaces in the auditorium when I know there's been a returns queue desperately waiting for tickets outside. By the way, what's happening to the returns queue at the moment - is it inside the entrance, or at the temporary box office? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunrise Posted September 3, 2016 Share Posted September 3, 2016 But the old system barely gave audiences outside London a chance to get tickets for otherwise sold out shows. 10am wasn't the real start - sometimes you had to start queuing 8 am at the latest to be guaranteed a seat. It was fun to queue now and then when I was a student but I also felt it could be a huge waste of time standing cold and tired for 2 or 3 hours and I'd inevitably end up tired for the performance as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coated Posted September 3, 2016 Share Posted September 3, 2016 By the way, what's happening to the returns queue at the moment - is it inside the entrance, or at the temporary box office? The queue was by the temporary box office during the Bolshoi season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 I've just been on the National Theatre website and they do exactly the same thing, Friday Rush at 1pm, tickets for the next week, but they do keep back a few for on the day personal callers, a nice gesture for the ROH to copy as it's the only way to get a ticket for a last minute cast change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 That was my worry: what if there's a significant cast change within a week of the performance? - or at least between the relevant Friday and whenever the performance is (which could be the following Friday, as I read it). I mean, say everyone grabbed the rush tickets for an Osipova performance, and then she got injured - it's not unknown, after all - and was replaced by a much-loved ballerina, possibly making a debut, who quite a few people would want to see anyway. There's no returns/exchanges, possibly a lot of the Osipova fans might just decide not to go, and write off the tickets, and the people who actually really *wanted* to see M-L B wouldn't be able to. OTOH, suppose you want to get tickets for the National Theatre *and* for the ROH in the same week? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 There's no returns/exchanges FAQs just say "no exchanges", not "no returns" so it's possible the usual resale terms might apply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 Oh, sorry, I misread/misremembered that, then. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it all pans out. As I said, since they're e-tickets I can't see that there would be a problem with returning them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 On 02/09/2016 at 14:49, bangorballetboy said: *When the Friday falls on a Bank Holiday an alternative date will be identified and advertised in advance. Friday Rush is of course Thursday Rush this week 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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