Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Seating/Pricing Thread — Page 62

LxGstv said: "Lot666 said: "LxGstv said: "I don’t understand the frustration of someone paying less than you... price points have been announced way before tickets went on sale... if you paid $299, you were also paying for peace of mind of having a ticket..."

Not so. The price points that were set for various locations in the house when the tickets went on sale were subsequently thrown out the window at random. I was not "paying for peace of mind", I was paying for a ticket in a section of the house that was originally designated as "premium"; now, seats adjacent to mine are being sold at less than half what I paid.

LxGstv said: "this whole “how dare someone that paid $20 be seated next to me” mentality is a bit elitist and narrow minded... "

It's not elitist, nor is it about who is "being seated next to me". Again, the price points were set when the tickets went on sale and there was no indication then that the same seats would later be sold for considerably less money. They sent out emails and created this whole lottery system that made you feel like you had one chance at this, and you could only select seats that the website offered as "best available" for your date. Fast forward a month or so down the road and suddenly they're dumpinga whole pile of tickets into the system at prices far less than what those who bought early were led to believe could ever be possible.

If you bought what was presented by a real estate agent as the only available house in a high-demand neighborhood and discovered a month later that there was suddenly a whole slew of similar options on the same block for half what you paid, would you feel misled at best and ripped off at worst? And ifso, would it be "elitist and narrow minded" of you to feel that way? It's not about the person moving in next door to you."

But here’s the thing, they never showed what section was designated as premium... we all made assumptions based on the traditional model, which obviously doesn’t apply here... I would say that there are premium tickets for this show, not premium sections... so much so that they sell tickets in the balcony for premium prices as well!

Also, during every release period, they made the announcement that more tickets would indeed be available closer to showtime... at the time, no one really knew what that meant, if they would do more verified fan sales or what... now we know they are just randomly releasing tickets and changing the prices... so in a way, everyone that got tickets way earlier, myself included, were indeed paying for peace of mind of knowing we have tickets, because at the time we didn’t know that they would release more.

I’m not a fan of this system either, and it does feel a bit shady, but it appears to have stopped scalpers to a certain extent... I don’t see a lot of tickets on stubhub for it. And the reality is theycan only offer those 300 accessible seats if some people are paying premium prices."

No balcony seat is being sold at a premium price, and there are quite a few tickets on StubHub. If I had paid $299 per part for a seat, then had the opportunity to buy a similar seat for $20 per part after the return period had ended, I would be pissed too.

Forgot key detail...DressL row L 7&9

Here’s the thing...several people have mentioned the justification of paying $299 per seat per part for the “peace of mind” of having a ticket. As a traveler to NY who comes primarily for theater, I’m absolutely in that category. Because I have specific shows I want to see whenever I come, I buy tickets in advance to ensure I will get the best seats I can at my price point (often one or two below premium). I don’t roll the dice with rush, cancellation lines or TKTS (I will look for discount codes, of course, and for shows with plenty of availability will wait for them as long as I can hold out).

By doing this, I know that I may be “overpaying” $75-100 for some shows (for two tickets), but I got my choice of seats and have that peace mind, and don’t have to spend my vacation time waiting in lines. I also know I’m fortunate to be able to do that (I save money elsewhere so I can enjoy my theater trips), and I don’t get upset that someone next to me might have stood in line for hours to save that kind of money or was lucky enough to win a lottery.

For HP, however, the price difference is staggering. Even if orchestra seats end up going for $130 and not $40, that’s a $700 difference for two tickets. That is quite a bit for “peace of mind”. I think that’s why some of us on the negative end of this system are upset. If we could simply return our $299 tickets up to 48 hours or so in advance, we could decide for ourselves if we want to maniacally check TM every 10 minutes or just call it a day and have peace of mind. I, at least, would gladly do the former to save $700 or more.

I know people are upset by the dynamic pricing at play here, and it's all speculation as to why we are seeing the varying ticket prices and locations we are seeing, but there can be some legitimate reasons.

1. This can easily be a market correction on pricing. Lest we forget, ticket prices on Broadway are double what they are for the production in London. The time commitment and price points are major factors for why tickets may still available for most performances (albeit in limited supply). Unlike other shows, people in the city can't just pop in and buy a ticket for a single performance. As such, the ticket prices will go down as the performance time gets closer.  

2. It is entirely possible that some of these $40 seats in the orchestra are simply unsold or returned Friday Forty seats. While there is a trend to the location, we don't know the exact location of all 40 seats. (Officially, these tickets have been valued at $40, so they technically can't be sold at a higher price when the originally winner doesn't claim them).

3. Who knows how often tickets are being returned, but they will want to off-load those tickets as quickly as possible, so perhaps returned tickets are automatically re-sold at a lower price. 

For someone like me, who lives in New York and works in Rockefeller Center, I can easily wait to get lower-priced tickets. I completely understand the frustration for those who don't live or work in the area. But there is definitely a pattern to the ticket releases and pricing, so if you are a solo traveler or a duo, it may be worth the risk to simply wait a week or two until before the performance and then see what's available.

Meant to post this earlier, but took some great shots from ORCH S 3 - showing the view, overhang and then looking back at the projector mechanism, which juts out from the center section of the dress circle for an extra couple of rows.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNdrmNB_WYbO5nZcybDrt61MEYn-aAbHsse4Obd89-2fmRAP5oi2R4Qf1fnvKkshQ?key=N1JNTTVnUWVsclY4bmxkS213UjV4ZC1QZHREQkNB

Also, paid $299 for S 1 and 3 thru the fan presale.  I didn't feel cheated when I discovered there were less expensive seats that showed up later, that's just the nature of the biz.  It's like buying early thru TM or stubhub - chances are if you wait until closer to showtime you can get a better deal.  But if it's important to you, it's best to lock it down.  Also, I switched seats for this 3 times (from mid mezz to mid row orch Q to aisle S) so I felt at my price point I had worked the seats to my advantage. 

 

 

Hmmm I didn’t know the box seats were $40 per part I thought they started at the $80 per part price. But anyways I sat in the balcony box, and it was a pretty good view. You were closer to the stage than the dress circle/ balcony, so you could see their faces much more clearly. (I was in box b and was on top of 10th row orchestra). You do have to lean a bit though. Without leaving you can see most of it, but leaning will help you see almost all of the stage (besides the very extreme corner of the Side your on). I posted a link with pictures somewhere on this thread with my view, but it’s probaby buried in it, so let me know if you want me to post the link again

A couple $40/part tickets are available for Nov 7th.  They're balcony row E seats 2-4.  

LxGstv said: "It’s the equivalent of the Hamilton lottery, I don’t think the folks in the second row are pissed people in the front row paid $10 a ticket."

You're comparing apples and oranges. There's nothing hidden or mysterious about the Hamilton lottery; they're very up-front about it and the way it works is clearly explained on the show's website. Passing on the lottery is perhaps the closest that your "paying for peace of mind" claim comes to reality. The lottery only works for people who have the luxury of attending a show on relatively short notice, so the rest of the ticket-buying public does indeed get "peace of mind" when they buy a full-priced Hamilton ticket.

This is not at all what's going on with HP. They are arbitrarily changing the price of seats throughout the theatre, from day to day, and this is not proactively disclosed to the public. When you buy a HP ticket, the site does not advise you that similar seats can and will be arbitrarily sold to others at substantially lower prices than what you're paying. If you could select your own seat from a map (like you can for Hamilton), then you could see whether moving one seat or row would cut the price in half. But you can't; you can only select the seat (and price) that the site offers.

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Updated On: 5/9/18 at 08:32 AM

I said it myself the system isn’t ideal... buying tickets for this show is actually a nightmare... but it is what it is... what can be done about it really?! Hotels do the same thing all the time... book a room in advance and depending on the location and the hotel you’ll pay more than $300 a night... waiting to book a hotel on the same day, you might find the same room available for $75, or you might not... same for Harry Potter tickets... do you continue to look for a cheaper hotel once your accommodations are settled?

Also, again, I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that these $20 or $40 seats that were once premium are single seats... which doesn’t really help couples or families that are visiting... I scored a deal and I went by myself since they only had the one left, my husband still hasn’t seen it because we haven’t found another accessible priced ticket...

Just so you know. If you want a specific seat that is available when you are buying for 2 but unavailable when you just want one, you can use multiple browsers to manipulate what seat the system gives you. 

Any chance I can just see part 1 again for $40? Has there been any good releases for just one part?

My thoughts on row K of the orchestra. Many people have called it the ideal row, because of the legroom. In my opinion, it's not. The problem is that there is no rake between rows J and K, so, even with the gap between them, the people in row J can block your view significantly if you're short. A friend was sitting in row K, and needed a seat cushion to see over the heads in row J. Fortunately, seat B 1 was empty for most of both parts, so she was able to move up for the final act.

ebizzle said: "crispyscool said: "Any chance I can just see part 1 again for $40? Has there been any good releases for just one part?"

Yes, there is that option on Ticketmaster. I was able to see part 2 last night in row c of the dress circle for only $20 per part!"

How does one find these single affordable tickets? Maybe a silly question, but anytime I put in buy single performance on ticketmaster it shows nothing is available at all. Do you just continuously check that calendar for changes? And to find the cheaper tickets, do you have to constantly click in to multiple dates for a $20/40 per part ticket to randomly become available? Is there an easier way to find these?