Royal Ballet Autumn booking

[Lenore]

Disappointed this morning to have logged onto the ROH website, refreshed at 9AM on the dot, only to see the grey 'Sold Out' for all performances of Jeux & Sea of Troubles. Refreshed several times to no avail... only to log off 5 minutes later & realise there were tickets available. I just couldn't see them when I was logged in. Really strange. 

 

Sat in in the queue for 8 minutes & luckily managed to get a ticket for Jeux so am feeling slightly successful now. Sea of Troubles was still sold out, but at 9:30am a few tickets appeared for the 27th, so was lucky enough to nab one of those as well. 

 

Afterwards i I logged in & out & yes, could only buy tickets when logged out first. Logged in everything was showing as sold out. Seems to be okay now though. 

[Bruce Wall]

ROH website seems to have gone lame for a bit just now.  I've tried on two different computers - both of which are otherwise working well ... and you get the regal background and very little else .... for a very long time ... .  

 

Don't know if anyone else has noticed this. 

[Lizbie1]

Yep, not working for me either.

[aileen]

Nor me.

[Bruce Wall]

Got on and got a ticket to SEA OF TROUBLES ... There were 17 tickets for 26.10 when I left ... 

[Ian Macmillan]

Just tried out of interest following the above - and I can't access the ROH on my normal bookmark or via the Book Tickets button on this morning's email.  Oops - "Server Error: Service Unavailable (503") has just appeared.

[alison]

Me too ^^

 

Just glad I printed off my e-ticket earlier

[aileen]

Just got onto the site via this morning's e-mail and booked a Sea of Troubles ticket - and gave even had an e-mail confirmation.

[Bruce Wall]

The banner says:  WEBSITE ALERT: PURCHASES ARE CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE WHILST WE RESOLVE A TECHNICAL ISSUE, PLEASE FOLLOW US ON TWITTER FOR UPDATES.

[aileen]

Yes, I saw that message when I booked my ticket but the booking still seems to have gone through (fingers crossed).

[alison]

Normal service appears to have been resumed.

[Aruna S]

4 hours ago, alison said:

 

You had to join the queue at 8.57?  I couldn't even get into it until after 9 am.

Yes, I was wondering about this too. I was hovering over the keyboard and clicked on 'Buy' as soon as it appeared, at 9 a.m., and found about 1100 people before me in the queue. 

[Don Q Fan]

Another "World Class" experience.... not - from reading the above. How is it that few other websites have these repeated issues? 

[cavycapers]

Am I missing something here?  Why, when general booking opened at 9am this morning, was there only a handful of seats for Concerto / Le Baiser de la fée / Elite Syncopations?  I know, as a mere mortal, I usually only get the crumbs, when general booking opens, but normally the ROH holds back quite a good assortment of tickets for general booking.  Why has this not happened for this production?  Does anyone know who got all the tickets?!

[penelopesimpson]

9 minutes ago, cavycapers said:

Am I missing something here?  Why, when general booking opened at 9am this morning, was there only a handful of seats for Concerto / Le Baiser de la fée / Elite Syncopations?  I know, as a mere mortal, I usually only get the crumbs, when general booking opens, but normally the ROH holds back quite a good assortment of tickets for general booking.  Why has this not happened for this production?  Does anyone know who got all the tickets?!

I am sitting here asking the same question?  Who has the tickets?  

[Pulcinella]

I managed to get a ticket for the Thursday performance, for which there were more seats available than for the Wednesday. It was the first programme I went to at 9 o'clock and then managed to get the Sylvia tickets I wanted.

[Coated]

1 hour ago, Don Q Fan said:

Another "World Class" experience.... not - from reading the above. How is it that few other websites have these repeated issues? 

The Almeida, National Theatre for anything popular - it's really not that uncommon

[alison]

1 hour ago, cavycapers said:

Am I missing something here?  Why, when general booking opened at 9am this morning, was there only a handful of seats for Concerto / Le Baiser de la fée / Elite Syncopations?  I know, as a mere mortal, I usually only get the crumbs, when general booking opens, but normally the ROH holds back quite a good assortment of tickets for general booking.  Why has this not happened for this production?  Does anyone know who got all the tickets?!

 

Yes, I went straight for that, and there were no tickets outside the amphitheatre.  I thought the ROH kept aside 20% of seats throughout the house?

 

Hmm, nothing but upper slips and standing ...

[Anna C]

19 hours ago, alison said:

 

I thought Access list members were allowed to book before the general public?  Very unfair if not, given the limited supply of usable seats, I'd have thought.

 

Anna, unless you're particularly attached to The Judas Tree, would you not at least be better off going to see Song of the Earth at the Coliseum in January?

 

No, I've been asking for years if Access Members could book even one day earlier than Gen Public - to no avail.     They won't even consider letting Access members book on the same day as Students.

 

I must say this was the worst experience I've had for a long time with no suitable seats in SC, stalls or even DG.  

[ninamargaret]

See my first posting to this thread. I tried to book for the Macmillan triple with Concerto as soon as the lowest level of Friends booking opened and there was virtually nothing left except poor amphi seats. Rather like the booking for Ed Watson's Mayerling . Probably a lot of tickets have been allocated to the other companies involved, although given the huge numbers of higher level Friends, Patrons and everything else it's becoming virtually impossible for ordinary mortals to get decent tickets for the more popular programmes. It's worth keeping an eye on the web site though. I can often get pretty good opera seats nearer the date of performance at a reasonable cost even though nothing has shown as being available during Friends or the start of Public booking.

,

[Josephine]

A few tickets are currently available for the MacMillan Insight on 13 Oct: http://www.roh.org.uk/insights/insights-the-legacy-of-macmillan

[Geoff]

11 hours ago, Coated said:

The Almeida, National Theatre for anything popular - it's really not that uncommon

 

I raise you the Barbican: never mind what it's like to go there, just try doing an online order on the first morning of booking! Not getting through in the first place / false information online / after half an hour's work selecting a whole lot of tickets and putting them in a basket, that basket inexplicably emptied before one can pay so the selected tickets are lost / hopeless, inefficient and unhelpful follow up by so-called box office staff...Just a few of the problems with booking at the Barbican over the last three years. 

[Coated]

24 minutes ago, Geoff said:

 

I raise you the Barbican: never mind what it's like to go there, just try doing an online order on the first morning of booking! . 

 

You win, though I'd nominate the Barbican site for worst booking any day of the calendar - I often only find things in their labyrinth because I definitely know they are on at the Barbican before I get to their site.

 

For general crashing I'd also like to nominate the Young Vic and for length in queue, Glyndebourne is definitely up there with the best of them (6hrs was my 'best' recently).

 

Most of these places are victims of their own success, and you'd never please a prospective audience when everyone is after your (good) tickets. Sure, these places could spend millions of getting a super speedy, crash proof IT system, but I'd rather they have something that mostly works and the cash gets spend on art and artists.

[cavycapers]

8 hours ago, Anna C said:

 

No, I've been asking for years if Access Members could book even one day earlier than Gen Public - to no avail.     They won't even consider letting Access members book on the same day as Students.

 

I must say this was the worst experience I've had for a long time with no suitable seats in SC, stalls or even DG.  

I'm not sure that booking a day earlier would have given you an advantage even.  I was in the queue and got into booking at 9am exactly, and there was very little left then.

 

[Jan McNulty]

9 hours ago, ninamargaret said:

See my first posting to this thread. I tried to book for the Macmillan triple with Concerto as soon as the lowest level of Friends booking opened and there was virtually nothing left except poor amphi seats. Rather like the booking for Ed Watson's Mayerling . Probably a lot of tickets have been allocated to the other companies involved, although given the huge numbers of higher level Friends, Patrons and everything else it's becoming virtually impossible for ordinary mortals to get decent tickets for the more popular programmes. It's worth keeping an eye on the web site though. I can often get pretty good opera seats nearer the date of performance at a reasonable cost even though nothing has shown as being available during Friends or the start of Public booking.

,

 

 

Please see my previous posts too.  Unless Scottish Ballet or ENB have had an allocation, fans of BRB and NB have had no preferential treatment whatsoever.  My friend is a Friend+, she managed to get me a ticket for one of the NB evenings but not where I wanted.  There was nothing worth an overnight stay with consequential hotel costs left for either of the BRB performances.  Bangorballetboy, who is an even higher level reported few tickets were left when his level got booking.

 

I'd love to know who has got the tickets!

[capybara]

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

 

Please see my previous posts too.  Unless Scottish Ballet or ENB have had an allocation, fans of BRB and NB have had no preferential treatment whatsoever.  My friend is a Friend+, she managed to get me a ticket for one of the NB evenings but not where I wanted.  There was nothing worth an overnight stay with consequential hotel costs left for either of the BRB performances.  Bangorballetboy, who is an even higher level reported few tickets were left when his level got booking.

 

I'd love to know who has got the tickets!

 

I know of no allocation for ENB patrons/friends either.

[cavycapers]

So basically, if I understand this correctly, it seems to me increasingly that for the most popular performances, once the Premium 2 Friends, Premium 1 Friends, Supporting Friends, Friends+, and Friends have had their pick of the tickets, the general public will only have access to the back rows of the Amphi?  Surely there is something wrong in a system that requires you to have a special status to buy a decent ticket?

[Jan McNulty]

On 28/06/2017 at 11:57, bangorballetboy said:

I imagine a sizeable number of tickets for the MacMillan shows and events have been held back for the other participating companies.  When I booked (when Premium 2 Friends booking opened), the entire front stalls section was unavailable for some of the main stage shows and there were only a small handful of tickets for some of the Clore events.  Accordingly, I'd suggest keeping an eye out for more tickets going on sale at a later date.

 

14 minutes ago, cavycapers said:

So basically, if I understand this correctly, it seems to me increasingly that for the most popular performances, once the Premium 2 Friends, Premium 1 Friends, Supporting Friends, Friends+, and Friends have had their pick of the tickets, the general public will only have access to the back rows of the Amphi?  Surely there is something wrong in a system that requires you to have a special status to buy a decent ticket?

 

 

I don't think that is what has happened in this case cavycapers, please see BBB's quoted post.  Occasionally friends have booked on my behalf and booking has looked busy but more seats have appeared on general booking day.  For these performances most of the tickets seem to have gone before P2F went on sale.  As I keep saying, I would love to know who has got them!  

[Don Q Fan]

All this kerfuffle for the MacMillan bills begs the question why don't ROH do cinema relays of all 3 bills? Not that I particularly like MacMillan, I'd still like to see the other companies taking part in these special bills.

[Lizbie1]

Here's my rather boring theory: the first of the Concerto programme evenings, being the opening of the MacMillan commemorations, is in effect a special occasion akin to a gala or the opening event of a festival. This means that a higher than usual proportion of the best seats may have been allocated to important sponsors of the five companies as well as friends and associates of the MacMillans. Combine this with it being effectively a very short run of a popular programme (no Judas Tree to put people off!) and low ticket prices (the accountants must be rueing this) and you put great pressure on the remaining tickets.

 

22 minutes ago, cavycapers said:

So basically, if I understand this correctly, it seems to me increasingly that for the most popular performances, once the Premium 2 Friends, Premium 1 Friends, Supporting Friends, Friends+, and Friends have had their pick of the tickets, the general public will only have access to the back rows of the Amphi?  Surely there is something wrong in a system that requires you to have a special status to buy a decent ticket?

 

By chance I saw a good number of decent tickets available maybe an hour after General Booking had opened - I think their release must have been accidentally delayed, which though frustrating shows that good tickets were held back.

 

As for "special status", I pay a little under £100/year to improve my chances of getting the tickets I prefer; in my view, membership quickly pays for itself through the ability to buy better value tickets. Anyone with £100/year discretionary income (and I imagine that this includes most on this forum) is at liberty to do so.

[ninamargaret]

1 hour ago, cavycapers said:

So basically, if I understand this correctly, it seems to me increasingly that for the most popular performances, once the Premium 2 Friends, Premium 1 Friends, Supporting Friends, Friends+, and Friends have had their pick of the tickets, the general public will only have access to the back rows of the Amphi?  Surely there is something wrong in a system that requires you to have a special status to buy a decent ticket?

Can assure you that the lowest level of Friends get very little special treatment. It seems to me that those who pay the higher rates of Friends membership then buy the cheaper seats in Stalls Circle, and Front Amphi. I try for side stalls circle and can rarely get it. When I became a Friend I thought it would help me to get tickets - it doesn't! Can easily get them for less popular triple bills (not Macmillan) but otherwise - forget it!

[penelopesimpson]

50 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

Here's my rather boring theory: the first of the Concerto programme evenings, being the opening of the MacMillan commemorations, is in effect a special occasion akin to a gala or the opening event of a festival. This means that a higher than usual proportion of the best seats may have been allocated to important sponsors of the five companies as well as friends and associates of the MacMillans. Combine this with it being effectively a very short run of a popular programme (no Judas Tree to put people off!) and low ticket prices (the accountants must be rueing this) and you put great pressure on the remaining tickets.

 

 

By chance I saw a good number of decent tickets available maybe an hour after General Booking had opened - I think their release must have been accidentally delayed, which though frustrating shows that good tickets were held back.

 

As for "special status", I pay a little under £100/year to improve my chances of getting the tickets I prefer; in my view, membership quickly pays for itself through the ability to buy better value tickets. Anyone with £100/year discretionary income (and I imagine that this includes most on this forum) is at liberty to do so.

You are probably right, but I just don't think I should have to do that.  Tickets are expensive enough.  I accept not having my pick of seats, but this business where there aren't any seats is getting ridiculous.i 

i am semi-retired so can spend days checking the ROH website which usually results I my getting something close to my preferred choice of tickets, but others don't have the time.  To my mind there should be a ticket  price and that's it.

[taxi4ballet]

19 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

As for "special status", I pay a little under £100/year to improve my chances of getting the tickets I prefer; in my view, membership quickly pays for itself through the ability to buy better value tickets. Anyone with £100/year discretionary income (and I imagine that this includes most on this forum) is at liberty to do so.

Not this forum member & family - £100 per person is pretty much our entire annual theatre-going budget. 

 

Frustrating too, not just for me, but for everyone either on the way to work or already there (with no opportunity to sit on a computer for hours waiting for the ROH website to get its act together) at the very time all the general tickets are released. Nowt much left but crumbs for us lot by the time we get a look-in 

 

It also appears to be disappointingly difficult for people needing to book accessible seats.