Would you like a fairer way to buy tickets?

[NoBallGames]

I quite enjoyed the wake up at 2am, mashing buttons for 45 mins. The joy of getting through was awesome! The journey is part of the process. 

[guypjfreak]

im getting old cant type so fast as you youngsters plus a vet [ been over 15 times ] ive spent 10000s so i think we should get to buy our tickets a day earlier than you youngsters and newbies .....plus i think id pay for a glasto club which would mean we could buy tickets earlier ...PLUS id stop any reregestration AFTER the first sale ANNNNNNNND if you didnt have a good enough reason not to go you lose £40 of the deposit ............ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND   .......no thats about it for now

[Thunderstruck]

The current system is like a lottery. There's no queue, you just have to try and you might get lucky! Opening it up to a ballot would be a bad idea, everybody would apply even if they weren't that bothered. The way it's done now means the committed have a better chance of going!

[DeanoL]

47 minutes ago, djdavejohnson said:

Wouldn't be fair on those that are dedicated year round on trying to get a ticket. I'd love there to be a system that increases my chances however I think this would actually decrease them.

Fair means everyone has an equal chance. Biasing it towards those dedicated year round to get a ticket is unfair. I like it that way, but it's less fair, it rewards those with more free time, as well as just dedication.

46 minutes ago, bexj said:

No, not at all.  This system is as fair as it can get, and often rewards those who try hardest. 

A fair system wouldn't reward anyone over anyone else, the system isn't fair, it's biased in a good way.

37 minutes ago, djdavejohnson said:

Could a halfway-house measure work though? Something along the lines of how footy clubs offer season tickets. Say for instance, 10,000 tickets are offered each year to reward loyalty? The rest (majority) of tickets are sold as they are now? 

That's not a bad idea actually. I presume the other 125000 tickets would only be available to people who hadn't gone before?

Here's the thing: Glastonbury don't want to reward loyalty. Not loyalty that is just "turn up and enjoy". Loyal people don't bring anything to the festival that newbies don't. If you've been going ten years and you're still reliant on buying tickets (like me) then you're just a consumer. After ten years, if you were ever going to bring anything to the festival that was worthwhile, you'd have staff tickets by now.

9 minutes ago, jonny2mad said:

I think queue's are fairer to the people who really want to go . For kate bush's last night I went the day before the last night at 4 o' clock and was willing to queue all night, I would do that for any performance I really wanted to see

They're fair on people who can physically do that. I'd imagine if your wife ended up in hospital on ticket day, and you had to stay at home and look after the kid, you'd be complaining how unfair the system was. Or if you worked nights. Or were disabled.

[NoBallGames]

Just now, DeanoL said:

They're fair on people who can physically do that. I'd imagine if your wife ended up in hospital on ticket day, and you had to stay at home and look after the kid, you'd be complaining how unfair the system was. Or if you worked nights. Or were disabled.

Life happens and this is just a music festival? I work days and got up at 2am was up for an hour, went back to bed for 3 hours then went to work. It wasn't easy.

Fairness does not mean we have to account for every permutation. Fairness means everyone has the same shot at tickets. And we all have the same shot. 

[Jennings74]

3 minutes ago, guypjfreak said:

im getting old cant type so fast as you youngsters plus a vet [ been over 15 times ] ive spent 10000s so i think we should get to buy our tickets a day earlier than you youngsters and newbies .....plus i think id pay for a glasto club which would mean we could buy tickets earlier ...PLUS id stop any reregestration AFTER the first sale ANNNNNNNND if you didnt have a good enough reason not to go you lose £40 of the deposit ............ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND   .......no thats about it for now

I'm the same with the speed typing, but if you have your numbers on a digital note pad you can just 'copy & paste' on the booking page if you get lucky enough to get that far

[NoBallGames]

Just now, Jennings74 said:

I'm the same with the speed typing, but if you have your numbers on a digital note pad you can just 'copy & paste' on the booking page if you get lucky enough to get that far

I'm young and that is all I did. Control + C then Control + V over and over. I had registration numbers up, address, credit card info. We all know the questions the checkout is going to ask. 

[Jennings74]

1 minute ago, NoBallGames said:

I'm young and that is all I did. Control + C then Control + V over and over. I had registration numbers up, address, credit card info. We all know the questions the checkout is going to ask. 

we all take the easiest option when we can 

[jonny2mad]

The fairest system is a shop and a queue or lots of shops and lots of queues, yes something could come up to stop you from being in the queue but it could come up to stop you being online in time . if four people want to go you would need to have one person willing to to sit waiting for the shop to open for a long time . The real hardcore kate bush fans were the queue they were the people with sleeping bags willing to sleep on the street for a ticket  . same would apply to Glastonbury

[Jennings74]

should collect them in person from the farm...... and buy some milk or cheese while you're there.  Michael is very proud of his award winning milk

[Hugh Jass]

The idea of a loyalty scheme is a bad one too as it breeds a sense of entitlement. Just because we've been before doesn't mean we automatically deserve to go again. This will be my tenth festival so I'd class myself as a veteran, but I don't think I deserve a ticket more than someone who has never been before.

Everyone gets the same chance whether they're new or old goers.

[little_jim]

1 hour ago, porthoshsc said:

The current system of a free for all on one (two including coach) day seems a bit archaic. People get very frustrated with the site going down. People who aren't available at that time often miss out.

Would you prefer a system where you simply submit your request for a ticket or tickets for a group and your payment details at any time? Then on a given date, it randomly allocates them?

"people who aren't available at that time often miss out"

 

Well if you really want to go, you're going to make sure you are available. I tend to work every Sunday but as soon as the ticket date is announced I make sure I've that day off. In the last few years I've been the lucky one in my group to get the tickets. Ive always had a rule, if your're up trying yourself I will try my best to help you get a ticket (more often than not I'm hanging like the rest of my mates). But if I can only get 12 tickets and 14 want them, If 2 of those are still in the land of nod not helping the group they will be the ones to miss out, its only fair.

 

In other words what I'm trying to say is the system is fair, people have plenty of notice when the tickets go on sale, if they complain they weren't ready for ticket day its their own fault (of course I can't speak for everyone there are major obstacles that may hinder some, but not registering or being hung over from the night before is not one of them) 

[jonny2mad]

2 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

The idea of a loyalty scheme is a bad one too as it breeds a sense of entitlement. Just because we've been before doesn't mean we automatically deserve to go again. This will be my tenth festival so I'd class myself as a veteran, but I don't think I deserve a ticket more than someone who has never been before.

Everyone gets the same chance whether they're new or old goers.

Ive been going longer than I remember and I agree with you 

[incident]

3 minutes ago, jonny2mad said:

The fairest system is a shop and a queue or lots of shops and lots of queues, yes something could come up to stop you from being in the queue but it could come up to stop you being online in time . if four people want to go you would need to have one person willing to to sit waiting for the shop to open for a long time . The real hardcore kate bush fans were the queue they were the people with sleeping bags willing to sleep on the street for a ticket  . same would apply to Glastonbury

Bollocks.

Where are you planning on putting these shops? How are you planning on allocating tickets between these shops - does Dundee get the same number of tickets as London? How do you intend to account for the people who live 2 hours away from the nearest one?

[bekimo]

I'm really not sure that is a "fairer" system.

[porthoshsc]

3 minutes ago, little_jim said:

"people who aren't available at that time often miss out"

 

Well if you really want to go, you're going to make sure you are available. I tend to work every Sunday but as soon as the ticket date is announced I make sure I've that day off. In the last few years I've been the lucky one in my group to get the tickets. Ive always had a rule, if your're up trying yourself I will try my best to help you get a ticket (more often than not I'm hanging like the rest of my mates). But if I can only get 12 tickets and 14 want them, If 2 of those are still in the land of nod not helping the group they will be the ones to miss out, its only fair.

 

In other words what I'm trying to say is the system is fair, people have plenty of notice when the tickets go on sale, if they complain they weren't ready for ticket day its their own fault (of course I can't speak for everyone there are major obstacles that may hinder some, but not registering or being hung over from the night before is not one of them) 

Well some people like to go to the festival on their own. If they fall ill the week of ticket sales then they would miss out. Of course, your statement is true for most people, I agree.

[jonny2mad]

2 minutes ago, incident said:

Bollocks.

Where are you planning on putting these shops? How are you planning on allocating tickets between these shops - does Dundee get the same number of tickets as London? How do you intend to account for the people who live 2 hours away from the nearest one?

how did the system work before they started online sales , remember what I said i didnt que the year before they started online sales, no queue just walk in the door buy tickets, it was the whole online sales thing that started people having trouble getting tickets

[Heartbreaker]

 

3 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Everyone gets the same chance whether they're new or old goers.

This, exactly this. of course there will be some disparity between internet connection speeds depending on where you live; however, them being sold online and going on sale to all at the same time with no ballots, no queueing at a ticket shop and no 'loyalty scheme' gives the most people the fairest opportunity to get tickets.

[DeanoL]

7 minutes ago, jonny2mad said:

The fairest system is a shop and a queue or lots of shops and lots of queues, yes something could come up to stop you from being in the queue but it could come up to stop you being online in time .

How is that fairest? That's rewarding effort. Same way the current system does just to a lesser extent. It rewards effort. The current system reduces that effort to the point that most people can do it and have a similar chance. Shops will always then have bias to those who live near them (it's less effort for them), people who live further but can drive (because there's no public transport that early in the morning), people physically fit enough to be able to queue...

It's rewarding effort, and the level of effort that people think should be rewarded always happens to be the level they're comfortable with making.

As ever with this, if you want to go down the line of rewarding effort then let's have people volunteer with specified charities for three days a year and they get a pre-sale a day earlier. Then at least that time can be used constructively instead of just standing in a queue for six hours to prove that you really want to go.

(And apparently we're fine with one person still buying 4 or 8 tickets, so in fact only 15-25% of people who get tickets will have been willing to make that effort. And the people at the back of the queue that only queued for 3 hours instead of 6 lose out to the girlfriend and best mate of the one who queued for 4 hours. Who are in bed. And that's fair apparently. Presumably because the people suggesting this system know that they'd be willing to do it but know that their mates wouldn't. And want a way to make sure their mates get in. And we'll pretend that's fair.)

[jonny2mad]

if you have been going to glastonbury long enough they didnt sell out for a good time normally , then they started selling online and they sold out first day .   internet sales created a hype I cant remember what year it was but late 1990s that sort of period

[incident]

Just now, jonny2mad said:

how did the system work before they started online sales , remember what I said i didnt que the year before they started online sales, no queue just walk in the door buy tickets, it was the whole online sales thing that started people having trouble getting tickets

No, obviously the online sales didn't cause people to have problems getting tickets. The great big fence that now encircles the site caused it, combined with increased overall demand driven by a growing reputation and more media coverage.

People have been able to buy online since at least 1999 (maybe earlier), and it wasn't until 2003 that it first sold out relatively quickly, and 2004 that it became a struggle.

[DeanoL]

7 minutes ago, jonny2mad said:

how did the system work before they started online sales , remember what I said i didnt que the year before they started online sales, no queue just walk in the door buy tickets, it was the whole online sales thing that started people having trouble getting tickets

Right, and that just happened to coincide with the superfence, which meant you now had to buy tickets for the festival rather than sneak in.

The reason the demand for tickets was low before online sales was because you didn't need one. The number of people on site in the pre-fence days was by many reports higher than it is now. They just didn't all have tickets.

[RobertProsineckisLighter]

Internet 'speed' makes rock all difference for a simple submission and transaction like this. 

[NoBallGames]

3 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

How is that fairest? That's rewarding effort. Same way the current system does just to a lesser extent. It rewards effort. The current system reduces that effort to the point that most people can do it and have a similar chance. Shops will always then have bias to those who live near them (it's less effort for them), people who live further but can drive (because there's no public transport that early in the morning), people physically fit enough to be able to queue...

It's rewarding effort, and the level of effort that people think should be rewarded always happens to be the level they're comfortable with making.

 

Well it is going to take us about 3 days of travel to make it to Glastonbury give or take. There are people coming from Australia, New Zealand, South America, the States. The shop que idea seems like the least fair of any. It just means people in the UK have by FAR the best chance while anyone else would be out of luck or very rich to afford to fly all the way out there for tickets and then fly all the way back again for a festival. 

[DeanoL]

Glastonbury does have a loyalty system, by the way folks.

If you've been going to the festival for ten years and made yourself a part of it, talked to people, figured out what you can bring to it and how you can contribute, you'll have figured out how to get a staff/performers ticket by now.

If you just go every year and just take from the festival, and don't give (and I'm not criticising, that's me too), then you don't deserve to be there any more than anyone else, and so you have the same shot at tickets. Trust me, the people that do deserve to be there more than us are sorted.