2017 Ticket Sale

[incident]

14 minutes ago, Quark said:

Hmm.  Tricky one.  Have to balance up the option of an extra shot at a ticket against the possibility of shite travel times.  And presumably if you get through with a coach package then you can't attempt again in general sale, so it's all or nothing!

But as you say, if it means you get a ticket then suck it up!

You can try again with a different registration number, assuming you had the foresight to create one. You'll lose £25 in admin fees by doing so, though (£15 from the ticket, £10 from the coach) so may be worth it if you've got money to burn.

Personally I'd only consider trying for a Coach Package if I was still ticketless once it got to the resale - I love the idea of encouraging/pushing people onto public transport, and indeed I did go by coach this year myself, but I don't like all of the unknowns that go with it - it's not just the timing, but the location - for example the London National Express coaches go from Victoria, which is a fairly logical and central starting point that most can reach relatively easily, whereas the past few years the See coaches have gone from The O2 which for most people is probably more difficult to reach especially for a 4am ish departure, and on the opposite side of London to the Festival so will usually have a longer journey time.

[tjamest]

1 hour ago, Quark said:

Next year's going to be my first going by coach; does anyone have any views on whether the advance sale coach package is a better or worse deal than buying general and then booking a coach separately?

Thinking in terms of both price and the available travel slots, as I want to get there as early as possible!

Whatever you chose don't do what i did - panic and press for Thursday coach tickets not Wednesday

[Quark]

Appears that I have much to think upon!

Have to say that the two biggest worries are an early departure time from a London location I can't get to, and a stupidly early return on the Monday morning.  Getting there slightly later on the Wednesday I can deal with, albeit not ideal.

But an extra shot at a ticket is very tempting!!!

[arcade fireman]

4 hours ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

And officially if you do do the dual registration thing they will cancel your tickets if both successful. 

I say officially cos I can't see them enforcing this or even how they could if you were clever about it but you have to decide whether that risk is worth taking - no matter how miniscule. 

We did the dual registration thing this year - we had a few things going on that we weren't sure whether we'd go by coach or not. So ended up getting tickets in both sales.

They didn't twig and it was all okay. That said, this year will probably just coach it down, was perfectly decent. 

 

[Michaels denim shorts]

I've been on the weds 15.45 from Taunton the last 2 years. Hopefully we'll get an earlier one next time. I live closer to the site than Taunton so it seems a bit silly but the luxury of gate A is a nice bonus. & usually people going who can take my gear in their vans.

I apreciate the travel could be a massive ball ache from elsewhere in the country with the coaches but Taunton is the closest possible departure point to the site & it's felt good to have tickets sorted in the first couple of minutes of the coach sale on the weds/thurs before the general sale, I don't think I could pass on the sale having not got a sniff of a booking page in the general for others last year. + you see the desperation of folk on here after the resales waiting for secret sales & competitions & looking for work etc, it's good to be sorted early on. </ramble>

[Quark]

3 hours ago, Michaels denim shorts said:

it's felt good to have tickets sorted in the first couple of minutes of the coach sale on the weds/thurs before the general sale, 

Is there a bit less of a manic rush for the coach packages ?

[Michaels denim shorts]

39 minutes ago, Quark said:

Is there a bit less of a manic rush for the coach packages ?

There's a lot of people that don't want the coach so less trying, but also less tickets, so your guess is as good as mine mate

[Anarion]

On 31.7.2016 at 3:47 PM, Michaels denim shorts said:

Why not experience the joy of ticket day in the off season by clicking This handy link & pressing F5 till your fingers hurt 

 

Visiting that site just made me so nervous my stomach hurts. I really hate this period between the festival ending and not having tickets for next year.

[Quark]

14 minutes ago, Anarion said:

Visiting that site just made me so nervous my stomach hurts. I really hate this period between the festival ending and not having tickets for next year.

Hadn't tried it until now.  Still hate seeing that page sooooo much

[BeddyDriver]

On 7/30/2016 at 6:33 AM, deebeedoobee said:

As I said on another thread  -  The festival run is the 9th so we (the committee) have checked that it does not clash with ticket day. GF said they are working towards having ticket day on the 2nd.

From the horses mouth rather than hearsay

Well personally I think if they they do decide on the 9th that everyone partaking in the Festival run should just be allowed to pop into the office and pay their deposits in person  .....God I hope it is the 2nd or the Festival Run will be getting missed this year which would be a shame, as I really rather enjoyed it last year..

 

[Curlygirl]

@Quark I tried in the coach sale this year and was unsuccessful. I also had loads of people trying for me in different locations. I also failed in the main sale but thanx to the absolutely fabulous @tommywillo I got to go to the ball. I got national express from Lincoln. I personally have the fear this year as I had never failed before. I will be trying for Lincoln Wednesday seetickets coach. 

Has anyone left from Lincoln before? What times do they depart? 

[Wellyboot]

I have the fear too! It's soo scary! 

I have no experience of the coach sales, so can't help there! Just wanted to say I'm scared ha! 

[Curlygirl]

2 minutes ago, Wellyboot said:

I have the fear too! It's soo scary! 

I have no experience of the coach sales, so can't help there! Just wanted to say I'm scared ha! 

I'm feeling your pain. I've never been as scared before as I've never failed before. Now I have, I know it can happen again. 

[arcade fireman]

Coach sale + camplight was a good combination this year. We were limited by what we could take by hand, so to not have to take a tent was great, allowed us more room to take booze! 

[Wellyboot]

1 hour ago, Curlygirl said:

I'm feeling your pain. I've never been as scared before as I've never failed before. Now I have, I know it can happen again. 

I've never not got a ticket yet, but every year I get more and more scared that my lucks going to run out! So scary! X

[DropBeat]

I've also got ticket day nerves already. Feels stupid being nervous about something you can't do anything about for 2 months, especially when even when it comes around it's mostly down to luck. But I can't help it, kinda wish I could forget about it for 6 weeks but that's not gonna happen! ha!

[Quark]

3 hours ago, Wellyboot said:

I've never not got a ticket yet, but every year I get more and more scared that my lucks going to run out! So scary! X

Yep, this. Always made it on T Day as well, never had to go resale. Sure my luck must run out one day!

[Wellyboot]

No word of a lie last year I got myself so worked up had a banging headache, which resulted in accidentally overdosing on painkillers and getting taken home from work on the Friday before! Woke up I'm bed at like 6.30 wondering how I got there and where was my car ha!

Not sure this year's run up will be any smoother!

God, I'm such a dick!

[djdavejohnson]

9 hours ago, Quark said:

Yep, this. Always made it on T Day as well, never had to go resale. Sure my luck must run out one day!

I had managed to get mine on T Day since 2013 until last year when I missed out. For the first time I experienced 'the wait' until resales... was horrible! When resale day hit stress levels were through the roof! I didn't even get through until they had sold out - luckily I had roped my brother into helping the day before. He isn't the most techy if you know what I mean, but the bro pulled it off! Forever thankful. 

Edited August 3, 2016 by djdavejohnson

[stuartbert two hats]

The annoying thing about the coach packages is that they're far inferior to National Express. No choice in times, totally rammed coaches with no space for luggage. This was my first year on national express for a long long time and was brilliant compared to See Coaches. Some sort of voucher scheme would be much better, but presumably GFL get more of a cut this way. 

[arcade fireman]

Our coach from Manchester was pretty good actually. Only annoying thing was they stopped at the shittest services with only a Costa and a McDonalds. But enough space, good driver etc.

Not choosing time was annoying but that's why we did camplight...

[Zoo Music Girl]

I'm very nervous about this year, after missing out in the main sales twice now...

Add to that it's one of my best friend's weddings on the likely coach sale day (29th) and I'm even more freaked out. I haven't had luck in the general sale for years now. I'm hoping that even if they make the 2nd the main sale, they might do coaches after? There's no precedent for that is there?

Speaking from my own experience, I usually find the coach sale a lot easier. Last year was the only time I didn't get through and it felt like there was some kind of technical glitch as every time I got to the coach selection page it wouldn't let me select anything... and as Scruff says I prefer to give myself two attempts. One year I got through to the coach sale for a friend, deciding I'd wait until the general sale, and was unsuccessful. Absolutely gutting.

There's a few downsides to the See coaches - they're more expensive for one, and the O2 location is a huge pain in the arse - but I come from London so can at least choose a time. Thinking I might actually opt for a later time this year anyway as I think the shlep across London for an 8am coach just compounds my general tiredness. I've always found they had plenty of space on the See coaches though, so that's never been an issue.

If I didn't get coach tickets I'd still come by coach. I've seen those car parks and heard about the queues... no thanks.

Oh and you don't have to get a return coach ticket from memory. So you could always select a National Express at a more convenient time for the way back. I've never had anyone check my coach ticket for the return journey, though, they just seem to fill up with whoever is waiting. 

[giantkatestacks]

Yes this year we came down by See Coach and then got the train back. You dont have to get a return. Would agree that the O2 is much much worse than Victoria Coach Station not least as we were on the M25 for at least an hour and a half whereas it is pretty much straight out from Victoria.

[Zoo Music Girl]

1 minute ago, giantkatestacks said:

Yes this year we came down by See Coach and then got the train back. You dont have to get a return. Would agree that the O2 is much much worse than Victoria Coach Station not least as we were on the M25 for at least an hour and a half whereas it is pretty much straight out from Victoria.

Yeah this is the thing that always frustrates me - it takes at least an hour to get out of London that way, so it really adds to the journey time. 

I think, again from memory, that when you book a London return you have to choose the same time there and back. For the coaches that have times allocated later it doesn't seem to be the case?

[DropBeat]

Hmm I might try and convince my group to try for a coach ticket this year, the second chance is tempting but it does sound a bit painful overall. But I think we'll be staying at Worthy View so at least we can carry more booze without tents. Can you still purchase 6 tickets in one transaction for coaches?