Pick Your Seat/See View from Seat

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 4/13/09 at 11:01pm

Disney on Broadway does this.
Roundabout does this.
Pittsburgh CLO does this.

Why don't more theaters and ticketing companies let you

a) Pick your seat manually
b) See the view from your seat?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/13/09 at 11:04pm

I totally agree.

Radio City does it too; when I went to the Tonys, it gave me a great idea of the view.

I would love this feature on Telecharge or something.

And, sidebar, how about no more shows sell their tickets through Ticketmaster? Telecharge is so much better.

[lakezurich]

Posted: 4/13/09 at 11:15pm

Stupid Ticketbastard!

[winston89]

Posted: 4/13/09 at 11:31pm

I would actually prefer TIcketmaster over Telecharge any day. I find that telecharge nickels and dimes you more then ticketmaster does. For example, If I were to buy a ticket on my parent's card. I find it crazy that I would have to pay 4 bucks to set it up so that I could pick up the ticket under my name rather then the name on the card. With ticketmaster all you have to do is call them up and they do it for free.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 4/13/09 at 11:58pm

It costs money to switchover to a new system. Plus it takes a lot of time and is a headache. And then you have to train all your employees on the new system. And then you have to work out the bugs and troubleshoot.

But eventually, yes, all ticketing systems will become more user-friendly.

[yay_gerb]

Posted: 4/13/09 at 11:59pm

that might be true but with ticketmaster they tell you the price of the ticket...then a $2 charge and a $7 charge per ticket and then another charge when you get to the next screen and its way more confuzing than telecharge. instead of using your parent's card, what i used to do is load of those visa gift cards. you can put the tickets in your name without paying the $4 charge winston.

i completely agree with the seat view thing they should but then how would they sell the partial view tickets to unsuspecting customers? lol.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/14/09 at 1:27am

Ticketmaster sucks. They never have actual seating charts just generic ones.

And I wish I could pick like "I want seat A101" and then search to see the next time it's available. Like, i want to sit in the third row for Next to Normal, but there's way to find a seat in the third road center orchestra. It's all just trial and error.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 4/14/09 at 1:34am

The one thing I like about tickermaster better than telecharge is that they're easier to "trick".

Say I want a center orchestra seat to a ticketmaster show and I have a discount code. Tickermaster.com will only offer me partial view seats. But if I call and say "Hey, do you have any center orchestra seats for *blank* on *blank* day?" They say "Sure! I have a center seat in Row b! That'll be $125!" "Oh, I have a discount code." "No, problem." You get the orchestra seat for the discounted price.

But if you tried that with telecharge you lose the seat as soon as they enter in the discount code and they will only offer you less desirable seats.

That and the fact they'll mail you tickets at no charge are, for me, the only plus sides to ticketmaster.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/14/09 at 8:11am

When you want a specific seat you can always CALL Telecharge and have the customer service rep take care of it for you. I wonder if you could get better "DISCOUNT" seats that way as well...not telling them about the code until they tell you what seats. But, I know that for some discounts specifically don't allow center front orchestra. Certainly the theaters perogative.

I almost NEVER buy the first set of tix that telecharge offers....I keep asking to see the next set of tix. THEN I can make my decision.

But I agree....I would LOVE to be able to see ALL of the available seats for the date I am going and make my own personal decision. I would prefer to be further back than off to the far side of the house any day.

Updated On: 4/14/09 at 08:11 AM

[Eris0303]

Posted: 4/14/09 at 9:35am

" wonder if you could get better "DISCOUNT" seats that way as well...not telling them about the code until they tell you what seats."

Sadly, it doesn't work that way. As soon as they enter the discount the original seats are no longer available. I've tried it. I've been offered wonderful seats for telecharge shows only to be told they are no longer available once I give them the discount code.

And ya'll can say what you want about people who only use discount codes. Personally, I think it's better to see 10 shows a year for, roughly, $65 than one or two for $125.

"I would prefer to be further back than off to the far side of the house any day."

Exactly, I don't mind the sides if I'm close to the aisle but the closer you get to the wall the worse your sight line is.

btw...broadwaybox.com has a wonderful feature where they show you exactly where your seats are. Just click on "Seating Chart & Directions". You'll be prompted to enter your row and seat numbers. It doesn't show you the sightlines but the actual location which is better than nothing at all.

[Hest882]

Posted: 4/14/09 at 11:59am

Thanks for the Ticketmaster tip.

I also totally agree. Here in SF I'm used to being able to choose exactly the seats I want for plays, the Symphony, the Ballet, etc. It's aggravating when I hit Broadway to have to deal with a less sophisticated website.

[morosco]

Posted: 4/14/09 at 6:13pm

The Kennedy Center has a really good interactive seating chart. They also have view from seats. Here's a screenshot.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 4/14/09 at 6:22pm

I totally agree! It's so helpful and cool!

I would also love if they gave you a seating chart with all the open seats shown. That way you can really choose what you want.

[sally1112]

Posted: 4/14/09 at 7:53pm

I often order tickets on-line so I can play around with different seats, but every time I have called, the people (at various companies) are always nice to me.
Sometimes if it is the first show I am planning my trip around, I'll say, I am here these four dates, can I get a seat in the first two rows...and they'll keep checking all the dates for me.

[steven22]

Posted: 4/14/09 at 8:56pm

I hate ticketmaster sooo much!

telecharge is simple and easy to use

[Tom's Cat]

Posted: 4/14/09 at 9:19pm

There used to be a website called Broadwayonline.com (it's still there but it hasn't been touched in years). They had this absolutely fabulous software package that allowed you to specify any seat in any theatre and it would show you the view of the stage from that seat. Then, just for the fun of it, you could turn the view around and see the seat from the stage. In fact, you could move the little characters on the stage around and see the seat from any point on the stage. I ALWAYS checked the view before buying any tickets. It continued to work for about a year after the site was abandoned and then it was removed altogether. I keep looking for it to appear somewhere else (Rob?!!!, Craig?!!!) but I haven't seen it for a few years now.

[Tom's Cat]

Posted: 4/14/09 at 9:19pm

Oops - nervous 'enter' finger...

Updated On: 4/14/09 at 09:19 PM