Hamilton Cancellation Line — Page 24

lunch said: "If you object to the craziness of the Hamilton cancellation line then stop posting here.  As long as this thread stays active and on the first page of BW.com, the cancellation line will grow. Capped at 30 won't change much because it's the first 10 spots that people are fighting for.

That's how I got tickets in February. Would never have known about line sitters if I didn't read about it here from the critics of the sitters.  Just saying.

 

"I didn't learn about line sitters here, I discovered them on the #ham4ham hashtag on Instagram.  I had no clue how prevalent their business on this line was, now I've seen them at work twice with my own eyes.  So now I personally know to have a sure bet of a ticket and be #1 or #2, you or your sitter of choice must be in place no later than 7pm


When I decided to try the cancellation line last week, with all of the reading here I did, a 6am arrival sounded promising.  During a night of insomnia, I wanted to see some Hamilton hashtags on Instagram, specifically the #Ham4Ham and when I did, its where I saw the line sitters advertising their services via photos with vague arrival times and current temperatures throughout the month of Feb. The earliest I saw was 2:43am so I figured arriving at 3am was better than 6am.  Apparently not early enough.  At 3am, I was #9 in line, waited 17 hours total and no ticket.  I don't object on the craziness of the line, it is what it is.  I think posting is important to share as much information of what is currently going so those who feel that "the early bird catches the worm" knows how early of a bird you gotta be.  Posting assists this message board and it's members to information that can help one plan accordingly to get that worm!  Book a sitter at XX time?  Personally show up at XX time?  Forget about it altogether?  The choice is a personal one and the information is all here and relevant =)

 

Updated On: 3/17/16 at 01:41 AM

MyFavoriteBrunette said: "NJ_BroadwayGirl said: "Would it really work if they set a time when people can start lining up? It's unlike most line scenarios since there's not enough for everyone. Things could get ugly with a bunch of people all arriving at say 6 am. 
 
Yes, you are right about things getting ugly at 6am with everyone showing up all at once instead of staggered.  Staggered now is arrive 26 hours before the next show begins.
 
20 years ago, The NY Yankees/Ticketmaster used for the World Series ticket sales a  bracelet.  In 1996, I lined up after work at 7pm and at 3am I don't know what happened, a melee and stampede broke out.  Tens of thousands of fans alllll running towards one open gate.  At the end there were broken portable TV's, radios, tents and chairs all over the place and people hurt.  The next time the Yankees made it to the World Series, the Yankee organization did not allow overnight lines of that magnitude and instead directed fans to arrive to the stadium between this and that time, attached a numbered bracelet on you until they ran out and you were on your way home, good night's sleep and you'd arrive the next morning to be placed in your section in line and then wait to buy tickets.

 

"

That may be viable for a one time situation but this is a daily one so idk if that would work.

Masteroftickets said: "First change of probably more to come.

Effective today there will be no more spot swapping allowed on the cancellation line after the Richard Rodgers box office opens.

 

Stay tuned.....

 

"

That just means that the line sitters make more money, as you can pay them to buy your tickets for you as well.  Now people don't have the option of having the line sitters for most of the time but not all of it, although I guess you can swap out at 9:45 am since the box office opens at 10.

I don't know if that's true or not, but a no leaving/swapping rule could help.

 

If people know they can't swap or leave, they will be less likely to line up at early hours. But then there is no way RRT staff will be able to enforce this until their box office opens.

 

I think that when the box office opens, they should take names, which should match an id and photo. In order to claim your ticket, you must present your id and it must match the name on the list. This prevents line-sitters, swappers,  cutters and holders.

They need to make a waiting list like popular restaurants do for people who want to dine at a certain day/time. If there's a wait list then there's no need for a line outside.  

People would just need to be by the theatre on their requested date to be notified and pick up tickets. I didn't really think this through, but anyone want to start a waitlist app? lol 

And one more thing- I'm so OVER the online lotto. I never win  

A wait list app wouldn't work; you would have robots manipulating it. It should just be a separate lottery with a very brief window to register (maybe 30 minutes) and called shortly before showtime. Maybe if people had to enter their credit card information at the time of registering, knowing they risk being charged for premium seats if chosen, would keep it slightly in check.

 

in terms of the normal online lottery, I frankly think they should limit that also to a 30 minute registration time, just as they do in person. It would make the statistics of winning something at least within the realm of hopeful possibility. As it is now, didn't I read they have an average of 30,000 people playing the online lottery for every performance? That's what you get when you have 6 hours to register.

Updated On: 3/17/16 at 11:37 AM

" It just means you have to have the line sitters buy the tickets for you, which the line sitters are set up to do anyway...."

 

Not quite because A) a lot of people hire the line sitters to sit for the first few hours, then they will replace them and B) the "main company" refuses to actually purchase tickets on clients' behalf. They will stand for you up until a certain point, but will make you switch with them at the last minute. The owner said this prevents him from getting stuck with a ticket if the clients bail and also the theater may get suspicious of the same men buying tickets every day. Their whole deal is to minimize as much contact with RRT as possible and not cause trouble with them.

vdirects said: "" It just means you have to have the line sitters buy the tickets for you, which the line sitters are set up to do anyway...."

 

Not quite because A) a lot of people hire the line sitters to sit for the first few hours, then they will replace them and B) the "main company" refuses to actually purchase tickets on clients' behalf. They will stand for you up until a certain point, but will make you switch with them at the last minute. The owner said this prevents him from getting stuck with a ticket if the clients bail and also the theater may get suspicious of the same men buying tickets every day. Their whole deal is to minimize as much contact with RRT as possible and not cause trouble with them.

 

"

I think the "main company" now purchases tickets for you if you ask (you need to pre pay the ticket price).  I know of someone that had them do this within the last week and it worked out very well.  What the RRT could do to change things is only allow the same person to purchase tickets from the cancellation line within a one month window (or whatever amount of time they deem fair) or something so that you don't have the same line sitters every night.  That would make it harder for line sitting companies  since they couldn't continue to send the same people.  The theater could just maintain a simple database of names....  I would think that would be the fairest solution if they really felt that the line sitting companies were the issue....

...and nyskier beat me to it

Hellob said: "MyFavoriteBrunette said: "20 years ago, The NY Yankees/Ticketmaster used for the World Series ticket sales a  bracelet....fans to arrive to the stadium between this and that time, attached a numbered bracelet on you until they ran out and you were on your way home, good night's sleep and you'd arrive the next morning to be placed in your section in line and then wait to buy tickets.

 Hellobsaid: That may be viable for a one time situation but this is a daily one so idk if that would work.

 

"Theater can have 15 Tyvek sticky bracelets per performance to give out at that's it.  Come back 2 hours before showtime to see if your bracelet # which determines your place in line gets you a ticket.  15 is actually generous considering at two tickets per person, there are never 30 tickets and even if everyone wanted just one, there are never 15 tickets to one performance.  

This structure wouldn't be to deter line sitting, this is more to prevent the mess that's going on with the people lining up 24 hours before. making other businesses upset.  If the Marriott REALLY wants to mess with us, they may prevent us from using their bathroom on the 2nd or 8th floor (GASP)!  That would be TERRIBLE!  It was a Godsend especially that is was so close to the line!

This isn't completely thought out--what's to stop a line from forming to get the bracelet?  LOL!  

I TRIED!  LOL!  it's fun to speculate and reinvent the wheel =)

 

QueenAlice said: "They should probably just create a separate lottery for cancellation / standing room tickets.

 

"nooooooooooo!  No more lotteries!  LOL!"

 

11 pm to 11 am is 12 hours, not 24...

i don't understand this. you are all overthinking it way, way too much.

there should be a waitlist for the cancellation.  first come, first serve. that simple.  why do they need people to wait in line?  just give your name, phone number, email address and card information. at 7:00 or 7:30pm, you are notified if you're eligible for the ticket. you have a certain window of time to CONFIRM what you want and they charge your card.  ticket is waiting for you when you arrive.  what's the big deal?  there are plenty of systems and software that can do it...