416 posts
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Post by schuttep on Oct 3, 2016 9:34:41 GMT
Just booked a single seat on the RSC website and left a single seat next to me. Good on them!
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3,475 posts
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Post by showgirl on Oct 3, 2016 10:40:37 GMT
Just booked a single seat on the RSC website and left a single seat next to me. Good on them! Wow, an achievement indeed! Though maybe they have amended their system. Last time I had this issue with them - for a London performance - I had to ring Stratford before I was allowed to book my chosen seat.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Oct 3, 2016 17:42:49 GMT
Good idea. The Barbican is another one for the praise list. Yes, Thank You to whoever left an excellent single Barbican Theatre seat for me to step into to see Michael Clark Company at very short notice. Because I Must
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Post by talkingheads on Jun 6, 2018 8:37:38 GMT
So glad there's a thread for this. This is one of my most irksome pet hates, because I more often than not go to the theatre on my own, trying to buy a good ticket in the front few rows and then denied because it'll leave a single seat. However what really got me was this morning when I tried to book two tickets and was again denied because it left a single seat. The outcome being that I decided not to bother at all. So, in essence, they'd rather I didn't splash the cash on two tickets because of the possibility of a party of three coming along at some point? I have realised there's a very easy way round this, going on Private Browsing, selecting the single seat then gong back to the main one where you're now able to book, but it's a lot of faff for one ticket.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2018 9:50:05 GMT
Oh, THERE'S a thought. I've often done the sneaky thing of placing the single seat I would like to leave in my basket in Internet Explorer, purchasing the ticket(s) I actually want in Chrome, then setting the unwanted unpurchased single seat in IE free. It hadn't occurred to me to try using an incognito tab instead of a separate browser. Does that truly work? And, if so, would it also work when joining a queue on booking day; could I join the queue in normal Chrome and join the same queue in incognito Chrome and be treated as two separate people, with two separate queue numbers?
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Post by talkingheads on Jun 6, 2018 10:22:51 GMT
Oh, THERE'S a thought. I've often done the sneaky thing of placing the single seat I would like to leave in my basket in Internet Explorer, purchasing the ticket(s) I actually want in Chrome, then setting the unwanted unpurchased single seat in IE free. It hadn't occurred to me to try using an incognito tab instead of a separate browser. Does that truly work? And, if so, would it also work when joining a queue on booking day; could I join the queue in normal Chrome and join the same queue in incognito Chrome and be treated as two separate people, with two separate queue numbers? I imagine that would work. Hell, I used two tabs in the same browser window once and it treated me as two different transactions.
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577 posts
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Post by christya on Jun 6, 2018 14:44:25 GMT
That works great if you're buying a pair of tickets and it won't let you take two and leave one free.
When you try to book the single, you can put it in your basket because it still leaves two tickets. Then buy the remaining pair in the other window and release the single.
You can do a similar thing with one out of two seats sometimes, if the same seats are available from more than one ticketing site. They don't all apply the same restrictions.
I've gotten used to a few tricks of this type, since I get so annoyed at being denied the seat I want that I'll just not go if I can't find a way to get it.
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874 posts
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Post by daisy24601 on Jun 6, 2018 15:50:55 GMT
That's a good trick! I couldn't get two for Les Mis recently as it left one empty but I rang the box office and they did it for me.
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ivy
Auditioning
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Post by ivy on May 25, 2022 23:53:32 GMT
I've just run into this problem when attempting to book to see Lea Salonga at the Marlowe in Canterbury. I was horrified, after all the begging to support theatre after it was ravaged by Covid.
It's a problem I've known about for years but this is the first time it's stopped me from being personally able to attend a show, and for an artist I've been desperate to see for years. A ticket to this was going to be a much needed treat to myself during the most difficult time in my life but my money isn't good enough.
I'm distraught and disgusted.
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647 posts
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Post by ptwest on May 26, 2022 5:55:00 GMT
Ticketmaster are offering single seats for that particular performance. I hope you are able to find something.
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Post by Jan on May 26, 2022 6:07:59 GMT
That works great if you're buying a pair of tickets and it won't let you take two and leave one free. When you try to book the single, you can put it in your basket because it still leaves two tickets. Then buy the remaining pair in the other window and release the single. Yes we had a thread about this years ago when the loathsome ATG started imposing restrictions at the Old Vic and elsewhere, this trick used to work fine.
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2,379 posts
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Post by robertb213 on May 26, 2022 6:08:38 GMT
Often theatres will accommodate single seat bookings if you ring them.
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Post by NorthernAlien on May 26, 2022 12:41:08 GMT
Often theatres will accommodate single seat bookings if you ring them. Yes - I rang the Bridge after it wouldn't let me buy a solo ticket online (and whilst they were still 'Social Distancing' - so it felt like a very odd restriction). The person at The Bridge was very helpful and sorted it out for me over the phone with excellent service, which given that I was also buying at the cheapest price point I felt was very good of them to be so patient - they did suggest that there was some sort of quirk in their system at the time that had meant I wasn't able to buy it online, and that I should really have been able to do so. But to agree with others in this thread, as a frequent solo attendee, this annoys me - although if you're solo and able to be spontaneous, you can sometimes get a good bargain if they reduce the price of the scattered lone seats because they think no-one will want them!
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2022 12:53:48 GMT
I fully agree as often I prefer to fly solo going to shows. I negate by booking late but not ideal if you want to see a popular show
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2,379 posts
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Post by robertb213 on Sept 7, 2022 17:12:50 GMT
Back on the topic of solo theatregoers, one of my reviewer friends has sent up a Twitter community for people looking to find other stagey friends and maybe meet up when they have spare tickets etc. Thought it may be useful to anyone looking to maybe make some new theatre chums 😁 twitter.com/i/communities/1567431904131010560
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1,177 posts
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Post by joem on Feb 4, 2023 10:28:39 GMT
A new twist (for me) on the annoying "computer says no" techno-pedantry where you are unable to buy two seats because there's three available together - clearly due to the theatre/ticketseller leaving those three seats unsold. Sadler's Wells will not sell you two tickets next to a restricted view, you have to buy the restricted view as well.
Are there many threesomes amongst theatregoers or do these tickets end up eventually being sold?
I do really hanker for the old days of human contact and where theatres preferred to employs their own box office staff rather than farm this off to anonymous behemoths obviously increasing the price of tickets to the punters.
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Post by yokollama on Feb 4, 2023 10:53:26 GMT
Reserve the single seat. You should then be left with 2 seats available for booking.
Otherwise call up box office.
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1,445 posts
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Post by steve10086 on Feb 4, 2023 11:58:51 GMT
Yeah, had this exact thing this week. Just reserved the single seat on another device, than booked the 2 I wanted.
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Post by fiyerorocher on Feb 4, 2023 13:18:52 GMT
My current gripe is with TodayTix's software not letting leave a single seat, but also not letting you buy two different price bands at once. So when there are only two seats together and each is a different price, it is impossible to buy either one...
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4,962 posts
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Post by TallPaul on Feb 4, 2023 14:10:16 GMT
It does suggest that some theatres don't appear to know who their audience is. Single theatre seats are bought by people who, for whatever reason, go to the theatre singly. As we all know from this forum, there are many thousands of us.
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851 posts
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Post by longinthetooth on Feb 4, 2023 16:28:07 GMT
I actually rang the box office of my local theatre when the seating plan refused to let me leave a single seat. The guy on the end of the phone was equally adamant that a single seat could not remain. He refused to entertain the idea that someone might wish to go alone!
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1,265 posts
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Post by mkb on Feb 4, 2023 16:51:17 GMT
My partner and I will often take two single seats if the only available doubles are poor value or poorer view/comfort. We're taking seats off the theatre's hands that they sometimes wouldn't sell, especially in the provinces, which don't have so many solo theatregoers as the West End.
Maybe theatres should be incentivising the hoovering up of singles when there are a lot of them left? Say a free programme for splitting a booking?
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Post by hadeswasking on Feb 4, 2023 17:01:34 GMT
My partner and I will often take two single seats if the only available doubles are poor value or poorer view/comfort. We're taking seats off the theatre's hands that they sometimes wouldn't sell, especially in the provinces, which don't have so many solo theatregoers as the West End. Maybe theatres should be incentivising the hoovering up of singles when there are a lot of them left? Say a free programme for splitting a booking? ATG are usually good at this with their touring venues, if you book a single seat you can usually get it at one of the lowest price points. They also allow you to leave single seats. No idea why other theatres don't do this if they can't sell single seats.
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4,564 posts
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Post by Mark on Feb 4, 2023 18:49:44 GMT
LW Theatres also massively reduced the cost of singles for the Palladium Panto.
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3,927 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 4, 2023 20:12:24 GMT
I actually rang the box office of my local theatre when the seating plan refused to let me leave a single seat. The guy on the end of the phone was equally adamant that a single seat could not remain. He refused to entertain the idea that someone might wish to go alone! I once had that, when the Leicester Curve box office refused when I phoned them. Given it takes me a couple of hours each way to get to Leicester, I didn't see want to go unless I could get a decent seat. I complained on Twitter, tagging in the theatre. About 10 minutes later I got a call back saying I could buy a single seat after all!
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1,265 posts
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Post by mkb on Feb 4, 2023 21:34:07 GMT
I've found the customer service at Curve to be consistently poor ever since they opened. I could cite numerous examples.
One was when I took out a standard membership once they had reopened after the first Covid lockdown. A benefit was 20% off at the bar and café. One month later they reduced it to 10% and applied it not just to new memberships but to existing ones too. In the financial world, this would be mis-selling. They also cancelled the next six months of shows and would not extend memberships. They also withdrew 2-for-1 nights from standard members that was supposed to be another benefit.
Some of the email replies I had when I complained about the 27C temperature in the stalls following their decision to refit with as many seats as possible would properly be termed gaslighting.
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3,059 posts
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Post by Dr Tom on Feb 5, 2023 15:38:24 GMT
I got a really fun single seat error on TodayTix today.
A pair of seats next to each other, in different price bands.
Single seat booking is not allowed, as it will leave another single seat.
Booking the pair of seats isn't allowed, as they're in different price bands!
Unsurprisingly, they weren't sold before the show went off sale (I didn't go in the end).
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594 posts
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Post by og on Feb 5, 2023 19:57:50 GMT
"You cannot leave an empty seat" is a somewhat ironic warning given the fact that in many circumstances by preventing me from booking this seat, I will in fact be leaving this seat unsold ergo empty.
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734 posts
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Post by dippy on Feb 6, 2023 9:00:59 GMT
I managed to buy a single seat out of a pair of seats on todaytix yesterday, maybe it depends on the show? The other seat did sell at some point during the day as there was someone sat next to me.
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577 posts
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Post by christya on Feb 6, 2023 10:26:29 GMT
I can usually manage to fudge it by booking the other seat in a different window or via a booking system that doesn't have the restriction, but on the odd occasion I haven't been able to do it, I'd rather just not go. No, I won't take one of the scattered single seats at the back of the stalls when there are seats front of circle that you just don't want to sell me. I want the best view available, and if the seat is free and I'm not allowed to buy it just because I happen to be visiting alone, well, I have other places to spend my money.
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