TKTS - which booth?

[amygbrooks]

Posted: 4/17/18 at 1:45pm

Hi everyone, this is my first post after lurking on and off for years.

I'm headed to NYC tomorrow for a solo vacay/Broadway binge. I'm seeing five shows in three days, and I already have tickets for three of them (Dear Evan Hansen, My Fair Lady, and Phantom).

I have two slots remaining, for Wednesday (tomorrow) afternoon and Thursday evening. I already pretty much know what I want to see (Waitress and The Band's Visit). I'm staying near Times Square and had assumed I should just use that TKTS booth, but I just looked up the hours of all the other ones and I see Lincoln Center's booth opens at 12pm on Thursdays, a full three hours before the Times Square one says they will start selling for that evening's performances.
 

Am I crazy or is this accurate? If so, it seems better to hike up to Lincoln Center and have my tix for the evening in hand before they even go on sale at Times Square. Am I overlooking anything?

Any insight is appreciated!

 

 

 

[theNYCpro]

Posted: 4/17/18 at 1:49pm

You are correct. That booth opens at noon for evening shows and the booths downtown and in Brooklyn open at 11am for evening shows. While they MAY release better seats closer to the performance, I always err on the side of having tickets in hand earlier, as you are considering. Also, you will spend far less time waiting in line at the other booths than you will in Times Square, so more time to enjoy the city. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 4/17/18 at 1:49pm

I typically walk up to Lincoln Center now to buy TKTS. Never a line, plus it's indoors.

[greenifyme2]

Posted: 4/17/18 at 1:53pm

I would advise against traveling to the Brooklyn location. Any time I've gone it's been just 1 guy at the window and the line moves painfully slow. 

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/17/18 at 1:54pm

I pretty much only use the Lincoln Center booth anymore and have never waited more than 5 minutes. 

[amygbrooks]

Posted: 4/17/18 at 1:58pm

Thanks, this is exactly the info I needed!

For tomorrow's matinee, I don't expect to make it to Midtown until 11:30am or so (plane lands just after 10am, then taking the airporter), so I figured I'd stick with the Times Square booth, hoping the line will have died down a bit by then. But then I'll use the LIncoln Center one when I buy tix for a Thursday evening show.

Updated On: 4/17/18 at 01:58 PM

[nealb1]

Posted: 4/17/18 at 3:18pm

I always go to the Brooklyn location as you can get matinee tickets the day before.  And, if you are looking for same day performances, they open at 11am, rather than at 3pm in Times Square.  It's a 1 man operation there, and he's very, very nice.  There used to be another guy there who was just a nightmare to deal with.  But, he's long gone now.  

[LxGstv]

Posted: 4/17/18 at 3:27pm

nealb1 said: "I always go to the Brooklyn location as you can get matinee tickets the day before. And, if you are looking for same day performances, they open at 11am, rather than at 3pm in Times Square. It's a 1 man operation there, and he's very, very nice. There used to be another guy there who was just a nightmare to deal with. But, he's long gone now."

You can also get next day matinee at the Seaport and Lincoln Center locations.

Interesting reading all these reports with the Lincoln Center location, I only went once and the line was enormous, so I never really went back there...

[WanderFul]

Posted: 11/9/18 at 10:46am

Hoping someone can answer my question - headed into the city on Sunday morning and will be starting off downtown. We are hoping to catch the 3pm matinee of Once on this Island, but don't want to head to midtown until curtain. Would you agree that I should just go straight to Seaport booth and try and grab tix when they open? Would the odds of getting better seats then, versus Times Square around 2:30, be most likely favorable?

[CarmenA3]

Posted: 11/9/18 at 11:35am

Yes, I would recommend you hit the Seaport booth. OOTI is "in the round", there really isn't a bad seat in the theatre.  That gives you more time to enjoy the City :)

That being said, another option is to try the in-person lottery and if you don't win, you can then go to the TS booth. It depends on how much time you want to spend getting tickets.