Was it fair

[chubarker]

I'm not sure whether the doors for the advanced ticket Q on Saturday opened before the pay on the day Q, but as someone who started queuing in the advanced ticket Q before 8 o'clock, whilst one of my friends who decided to come with us at the last minute went into the other Q I know that he got into the venue at least five minutes before we did.

 

So what was the point of ordering advanced tickets, when we could have just Q'ed up on the day and got in five minutes earlier, got lower VTs and had more time to browse the stands.

 

We were on a tight schedule anyway and basically got the final autographs about ten minutes before we needed to leave. Of the four of use, my friedn who got in earlier was the only one who was not feeling the stress of rushing.

[BN7]

I noticed on Saturday the queue and pay line was being allowed in at the same time as our pre paid line, and while I couldn't swear on it I don't ever recall this happenng before. I mentioned it to a couple of friends and they couldn't remember it either.

 

On Sunday I made a point of looking again, and as our pre pay was going in the queuing to pay line was still being held outside.

 

We were so keen to get Peter Facinelli, that at 7.30am ish on Sunday we considered getting out of our 28th place in the prepay queue to join the shorter pay on the door queue. Decided against it though, and am now glad we did lol!

 

I don't know what SM policy is, but it was definitely different on each of the two days.

[chris_mk]

Normally, the doors open for both queues at the same time. The advantage of joining the pre paid queue, is that the pay on the door queue enters much slower, as they have to pay, which slows the process down.

[darthnad]

On Saturday I was about a thousand people back in the Pre-pay queue. My first thoughts were "s***, I'll never get any VTs".

 

BUT, to their credit, as soon as 9am hit I was in in about 7 minutes.

 

I do think the pre-pay should have all been let in before the pay-on-the-day queue, but it's not like we were inconvenienced all that much.

 

I do understand that to some on a tight schedule any queue is bad news, but if 7ish minutes is really gonna be make or break for your visit then a gold pass might be a worthy investment.

[showmasters]

i was the person letting in all the doors at the event each day and pre paid and on the day EB & Regular tickets

 

and i can let you all know that it worked like this

 

pre paid Early Bird door was let in first and when about 50 to 100 people were let in about 5 minutes later then we let the on day payments in that way the opening time is around the 9 am time

 

we do not hold off letting pay on the day people in till the pre paid people at all

 

why

 

well if you are pre paid or pay on the day you are treated the same

 

but pre pay entry is much faster as the pay on the day buying of tickets dose take some time

 

also we let you both in at the same time we get you all in much faster

 

so its fairer for you all rather than holding pay on day people back

 

in the end if you want to be first in the door then just get there early

 

and if you want to get is a bit faster then buy a early bird ticket as it is faster to get in

 

hope this clears this up for every one

 

jason

[Vitani]

The advantage of the pre-pay, as stated, is that the queue moves a lot quicker once the doors open. Both queues are allowed in at the same time though. I don't see why this is a problem; having the buy-on-the-day tickets go in at the same time does not slow down the speed at which the pre-paid queue gets in.

[BeatrixKiddo88]

Yeah, as a pre-paid person, I see no problem with both doors opening at the same time. As we have all said, the pay-on-the-day queue takes longer because you have to pay.

 

Sometimes people pay quickly and get in fast though, which is up to them being ready with cash or card as they get to the booth.

 

I saw no problems.

Edited July 20, 2009 by BeatrixKiddo88

[thedude57]

Yeah, as a pre-paid person, I see no problem with both doors opening at the same time. As we have all said, the pay-on-the-day queue takes longer because you have to pay.

 

Sometimes people pay quickly and get in fast though, which is up to them being ready with cash or card as they get to the booth.

 

I saw no problems.

 

i agree

 

i see no problem with this as well

 

the people in this queue are paying early bird as well, for chance to get in at 0900hrs along with us pre-paid people - if they had to wait until all the pre-paid are in it could be close to 0945/1000hrs before they start entering which makes makes a joke of the 0900hrs early bird entrance.

 

The only way SM could chance this is to make all early bird entrance pre-paid only, but this would likely anger people and affect sales

 

the dude

[riversidejon]

It did appear to me for a short time that the pay on the door were moving faster than the prepaid, whether its because they have the correct amount of money, and therefore, its very quick, I have wondered about going to pay on the door, however, knowing my luck, just like traffic queues, if I swaped to queue in the one that appears to be the faster, then that one would become slow and the slow one fast. So I will stay with what I have always done gone prepaid and just try to get there v.early.

[NatalieX]

I paid on the door, and was also surprised that our queue seemed to be going down just as quick as the pre-pay queue. I know I shouldn't be complaining, but that doesn't seem right XD

[thedude57]

I paid on the door, and was also surprised that our queue seemed to be going down just as quick as the pre-pay queue. I know I shouldn't be complaining, but that doesn't seem right XD

 

i noticed on Saturday that at first there was only 2 crew members taking peoples tickets at the pre-paid queue, but there were more then two counters for the pay on day queue - so it did seem at first that one was moving more then the other, i think this changed later when more crew members appeared to assist at the pre-paid queue

[Janet Ellicott]

My friend and I got there after 9am on Saturday and found that prepaying was still an advantage as there were only a handful of people left in the prepay queue and considerably more in the pay on the day, so I'd say it's always worth paying in advance if you can.

 

Janet

[Elspeth]

I think the system is fair, I was the 4th person in the pay on the day queue on Saturday, and I thought it was increadibly fair! I would have been irritated if the whole of the prepaid line got in first when I would have been queueing up for 2 hours longer than see of them!

 

I like the system, and think it's fair when I'm in the prepaid line too

[CosmicAvatar]

Yep, I think it's a fair system too.

[pdt1984]

It is a fair system, but I can appreciate the OP's point - When a pre-paid person gets in after their pay-on-the-day friend who arrived at the same time, it does make you wonder why you pre-ordered in the first place! Sadly, though, it's just one of those things...

[DavidB]

You pre-ordered in the first place because you wanted to be organised.

 

No one should be buying it because they think it guarantees them to get in before the entire pay-on-the-day people.

[Frstad1613]

when I got there at 9.30 I asked around for the golden ticket line, a lot of the crew did not know where it was. so they told me to go to the info booth.

[Queen_Sindel]

when I got there at 9.30 I asked around for the golden ticket line, a lot of the crew did not know where it was. so they told me to go to the info booth.

 

I'm not sure what you mean, maybe the crew you asked got confused too. Gold Passes go in with Early birds. So after opening (which was at 9) there wasn't a Gold Pass line anymore. They did the right thing when they directed you to the Organisers Booth. This is where Gold Passes were handed up after opening.