View Full Version : Olympics Tickets
Anybody else putting their name down in the ticket lottery? I spent a little time looking around last night and put us down the Opening Ceremony, some Weightlifting and some Athletics including a few finals.
Doubt we'll get anything but you never know :)
So, anybody else trying to get some?
Probably for the opening/closing ceremony. :)
Let us know if you need a hotel for the weekend :p
We're only an hour away from Liverpool Street on the train :)
Despite my home nightmares, I'm still keeping money aside for this - my credit should be plenty good enough to get a loan for the house if I have to, but this only happens once. :)
Will probably do what I did for the Commonwealth Games - opening, closing, athletics and half a dozen others that I fancy. Last time I got all but one, but this time I doubt I'll be so lucky. I'll keep the Paralympics as a backup plan.
PS - Never mind Liverpool Street. Most of the activity will be at Stratford. Direct service from Braintree! Not for me though - I'll have an hour in and then two tubes. Might need that 'hotel' too! :)
semi-pro waster
18-03-2011, 19:39
I'll have to take a look but I'm planning on trying my luck getting tickets for a few events, how many other times will I get a chance like this to see what should be an awesome spectacle. At the moment I'm thinking the track cycling for definite and I'll see what else interests me at the time.
Velodrome was good at M2002. Definitely putting my name down for some more of that. :)
Might also try for sailing/rowing if I can figure out how to get there (it's the one event that's 'my' side of London).
Id be interesting the weight lifting, but i heard that phones and bringing your own food drinks will be banned which I find absolutely lamentable.
Psymonkee
19-03-2011, 01:05
I really want to go to the basketball but not sure if I can afford some halfway decent seats :(
The following is a non-exhaustive list of restricted items which may not be taken into a Venue (LOCOG reserves the right to amend this list, generally, or in respect of any Venue or Session): food (save for baby food), alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages (save for baby milk and other valid medical reasons), liquids in containers of greater than 100ml in size, needles (save as required for valid medical reasons), animals (save for guide dogs), weapons (including knives), illegal drugs, other illegal substances, fireworks, firecrackers, poles, flagpoles, sticks, photography tripods, bats, umbrellas and other blunt instruments, motorcycles, bicycles, roller-skates, skateboards, or other types of skates, electronic transmitting equipment, flags of countries not participating in the Games, large flags or banners, horns, whistles, drums, rattles, musical instruments, lasers or any other devices that in the opinion of LOCOG may disturb a Session (including mobile telephones), objects bearing trademarks or other kinds of promotional signs or messages (such as hats, T-shirts, bags, etc) which LOCOG believes are for promotional purposes, counterfeit products, balls, rackets, frisbees or similar objects, large quantities of coins, lighters, advertising or promotional material of any kind, printed matter bearing religious, political or offensive content or content contrary to public order and/or morality, bottles or containers made of glass or other material, flasks, thermoses, refrigerators, large objects such as suitcases or bags, and in general any material that LOCOG may deem dangerous or that may cause damage or disruption to a Session.
Yet another ban on food and drink then. I can understand restrictions, especially on alcoholic drinks, but that smacks of commercial exploitation (over-inflated monopoly venue prices thankyou please). Mobile phones needs clarification - if I leave it on mute, that's not going to cause a disturbance - so I'd assume that's allowed. Could be an awfully expensive assumption if I'm wrong though. :/
Images, video and sound recordings of the Games taken by a Ticket Holder cannot be used for any purpose other than for private and domestic purposes and a Ticket Holder may not license, broadcast or publish video and/or sound recordings, including on social networking websites and the internet more generally, and may not exploit images, video and/or sound recordings for commercial purposes under any circumstances, whether on the internet or otherwise, or make them available to third parties for commercial purposes.
So no posting on facebook or youtube thankyou. First time I've seen that in rules, and not sure how they'll enforce it, but there we are - you have been warned.
Not really bothered by any of that - been to plenty of venues with similar rules. The 'Visa only' and 'we'll take payment when we want to' rules, on the other hand, are both irksome. May have to apply for a card specifically for the purpose as I've only got Visa debit cards and don't want to risk my accounts getting emptied while I'm away.
They can **** themselves if they think people won't post on FB or other things. What a bunch of nazi *****.
Looking at the list I'm pretty sure the only way you can get in is naked with your hands on your head.
I really want to go to the basketball but not sure if I can afford some halfway decent seats :(
I'm not fussed about half decent seats, I just want to soak up some once in a lifetime atmosphere. Even if I don't get any tickets, I'll be heading in to the area just for a walk around :)
I agree with this sentiment. As usual, I'll probably not see much even if I do get tickets, but it's still worth it for the atmosphere and experience. And yes, I will be taking a camera - and a mobile phone.
Will, I read that as only video and audio they don't want on FB. That, along with the 'no commercial exploitation' rule, is common practice where media rights are sold - the FA probably do it, UFC do, TNA and WWE do, and so on.
Bunch of arse if you ask me.
I think i'll probably try and go away for a couple of weeks during the olympics. London will be hell.
I suspect a lot of London residents will join you in that view. Can't blame you for that - M2002 managed the influx quite well, but the Olympics is far bigger.
Calm down folks, it does say for commercial purposes :p
My dad has just said when I was entering ballot tickets:-
"Put me down for womens beach volleyball"
Dirty old bugger ........ he has a point though ;D
Haha good man.
I'm just not bothered about it. I might put my name in for a ticket but meh I'll see.
My dad has just said when I was entering ballot tickets:-
"Put me down for womens beach volleyball"
Dirty old bugger ........ he has a point though ;D
Sold out (http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/sport-headlines/volleyball-sold-out-201103163631/), apparently. ;)
Caution - link slightly NSFW. :)
Knipples
20-03-2011, 20:52
Bunch of arse if you ask me.
I think i'll probably try and go away for a couple of weeks during the olympics. London will be hell.
Can I borrow your place then? ;)
Flibster
20-03-2011, 21:15
Given that in the past a load of dutch supporters at the world cup *iirc* were forced to go into the stadium without any trousers on as the trousers they were wearing had the name of another beer company on.
I was looking forward to some of the events, but given the prices and the restrictions... **** that.
I wanted to bring my bat. She likes athletics :(
semi-pro waster
20-03-2011, 23:26
Given that in the past a load of dutch supporters at the world cup *iirc* were forced to go into the stadium without any trousers on as the trousers they were wearing had the name of another beer company on.
Was about to say that I hadn't heard of that one but on checking it seems that was the 2006 World Cup, the most recent one was also involving the Dutch but this time a group of women (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/world-cup-2010/7830319/World-Cup-2010-Police-arrest-women-in-Dutch-orange-dresses.html) who were apparently "ambush marketing". While I can see the point that advertising can be a bit unseemly I'd prefer it applied wholesale so it is vaguely more in keeping with the idea of the Olympian ethos rather than just allowing those who've coughed up sufficient cash...
Yeah, I think the Dutch incidents were fair enough in their way - quite clearly ambush marketing (common practice at these events), and those who fell for it should have read the ticket terms first.
I've entered for equestrian cross country day and I will also enter for a basketball match and possibly velodrome. Probably won't get leave but I think I'll have a headache, there's no way I'll miss this opportunity for me or my kids!
Another who can offer lodgings too, 35 mins to Liverpool St from here :)
How do you enter???
(I should probably know this) :p
BB x
Go to the website, create an account and then choose the events you're interested in. :)
Ceremonies, athletics, cycling, swimming, equestrian show jumping, and several others. Should get at least some tickets from that lot.
If I get them all it's over £1200, but I'm counting this as a holiday and that's half what I'd typically spend, so in hope I can avoid hotel stays I should have plenty for travel and entertainment. :)
Have applied for Basketball, Gynastics Rhythmic and the Opening Cermony :D
Was thinking about the Equestrian, as that would be nice and local, but think that´s enough money to be honest!
BB x
**** it. I've applied for the weight lifting comps on both saturdays (29th and 4th aug).
Not really that bothered, but it would be cool to see the weightlifting - although I feel dirty for having done it! ;D
I've applied for quite a few plus the opening and closing ceremonies.
I went to the Olympics in Barcelona so am curious to see how they will go in London.
Knipples
26-04-2011, 20:23
Same as you Paul, have applied for opening and closing ceremonies, some of the cycling, the last day of athletics and some other athletics ones.
Applied for 15 in the end (Opening, Closing, Athletics, Cycling and several others) - covered most of the venues in London. Would have liked to see the rowing too as it's local, but I'm being realistic and ruling out morning events (all of the rowing events start at 9.30am).
I've done a mix of 'popular' and 'less popular' events like I did for the Commonwealth Games (M2002). Worked then - I got all bar two of the tickets I asked for - so we'll see if my luck holds this time.
semi-pro waster
26-04-2011, 22:13
I applied a couple of days ago and I've put myself down for cycling, badminton, boxing, gymnastics (artistic), swimming, Taekwondo, weightlifting, rowing and canoe slalom with a mix between finals and earlier rounds. If there are any tickets up for grabs in the resale where there's some of the track and field events then I might try and get hold of them but for the moment I'd be happy if I could get to see most of the events I've chosen.
Decidedly unimpressed with the whole must use Visa thing (although I've had a Visa card for years) and that they charge you £6 for sending your tickets out to you - I'd go and pick them up but they don't offer that option. It's not that they're charging for it that bothers me so much as why they haven't simply built it into the cost of the tickets since everyone is going to have to use that option.
I was unimpressed with the 'Visa only' thing too - I'll have to use savings to pay for it all (one of my credit cards is still on interest-free).
Sounds like we'll not be getting ceremony tickets. Apparently the chances are we're all going to be disappointed. Mind you, with 50% of the tickets already spoken for, that's not surprising.
If you really want a ticket and don't mind what you see, early rounds of team sports seem to be a good bet with a lot of them not sold.
I wanted to bring my bat. She likes athletics :(
:d
Psymonkee
27-04-2011, 11:11
I didn't apply solely on the ridiculous rules. Was only interested in the basketball anyway.
I posted this (http://meandmybigmouth.typepad.com/scottpack/2011/04/dear-seb-coe.html) on my facebook yesterday as it seemed extremely apt.
Knipples
27-04-2011, 12:29
I posted this (http://meandmybigmouth.typepad.com/scottpack/2011/04/dear-seb-coe.html) on my facebook yesterday as it seemed extremely apt.
Brilliant ;D
I posted this (http://meandmybigmouth.typepad.com/scottpack/2011/04/dear-seb-coe.html) on my facebook yesterday as it seemed extremely apt.
Very good. :)
I just spent ten minutes typing out a reply and got a 'you are not connected to the internet' message when I went to post. I bloody was as well.
The gist was that the link pretty much sums up my experience... blanket bombing events at the lowest priced ticket in the hope of getting some, when I may end up with all of them, some of which clash and will need to be resold next year... but not before sitting on the cost of them for twelve months. I could have gone for higher-priced tickets and applied for less, and may still have got them all since they will be lesser-subscribed... or may still have got none. Madness.
I've 'blanket bombed' too, but avoided conflicts so if I got them all, I'd use them all. Some of them are just because I want to see the venues (early round Tennis and Football). I've been to the outside courts at Wimbledon before but centre court tickets are usually like gold dust. Never went to the old Wembley but figured I'd like to see the new one. Here's hoping I at least get those two.
A further annoyance; money is taken in May and you find out which tickets you're getting in June. What?
Was only interested in opening ceremony until I saw the price, almost 2k :o So didn't bother, be a different storey if it was winter Olympics. Saying that any idea when winter tickets goon sale, I assume won't be until 2013. Would love to see some ice hockey and other winter olympics and it's in Russia so could be combined with a few other things I want to do up around that area.
Was only interested in opening ceremony until I saw the price, almost 2k :o So didn't bother, be a different storey if it was winter Olympics. Saying that any idea when winter tickets goon sale, I assume won't be until 2013. Would love to see some ice hockey and other winter olympics and it's in Russia so could be combined with a few other things I want to do up around that area.
There was a price scale for the opening ceremony from AA at £2000 or so down to D at £20.
Though, in keeping with the rest of the organisation style, there was no information as to what these really equated to, category D tickets could have been 2 miles away in a park or something.
I'm sure all the £20 tickets get you a seat far enough away that you just have to watch the monitors in which case you might as well have stayed at home! Though I guess you miss out on the "atmosphere" and can say you were "there". If I get tickets I'll go at least I'll be able to eat humble pie if I end up enjoying it.
Knipples
27-04-2011, 18:39
I bid for the cheapest tickets for everything, some were £20 the others were £50. I still don't think I stand a cat in hells chance of getting any, think my best bet may be via my sister who was able to bid for them via the corporate lot due to who she works for.
"What is most encouraging is that the majority of applications are for multiple tickets and for several sports, which shows that friends and family are planning to go to the Games together."
Were they expecting everyone to be going on their own or something? :/
I didn't bid for any, mainly due to the lack of info on the tickets. Given the distance I will need to travel, accommodation costs etc. I really want to know what I am actually buying. I couldn't justify the cost of the expensive tickets and the cheap ones... well I don't want to waste a shed load of cash only to find I may as well have watched it at home on the TV.
Though the only thing that really annoyed me... people bleating on about not being able to get tickets late on last night. Well why did you wait so long? They've been on sale for ages! Did it not occur that there would be a last minute rush and the website would struggle under load? People have had plenty time to enter the lottery for tickets, don;t blame the website being slow for not getting one.
Interesting article, and some mind-boggling amounts people are prepared to pay.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13206286
There was a price scale for the opening ceremony from AA at £2000 or so down to D at £20.
Though, in keeping with the rest of the organisation style, there was no information as to what these really equated to, category D tickets could have been 2 miles away in a park or something.
:'( I didnt realise that, I saw other events for cheap, but couldnt see any cheap ones for the opening ceremony.
I don't have a credit card- so we were screwed from the outset!!
camerajuan
27-04-2011, 23:42
VERY good chance I'll be working in the athletes village as support staff.
Giddy doesn't cover it. I've warmed up and competed alongside big stars before but walking around where they'll be living for a month and having them come to me for help will blow my mind.
:'( I didnt realise that, I saw other events for cheap, but couldnt see any cheap ones for the opening ceremony.
£2012, £1600, £995, £150, £20.12
Not that you'd have stood much chance anyway - the opening ceremony is ten times oversubscribed.
Put myself down for some expensive tickets at the track cycling and floor gymnastics. Not actually bothered that I had to use a Visa card, given that all of my cards are Visa anyway...
I don't have a credit card- so we were screwed from the outset!!
Debit - if it's VISA it's ok surely?
It said enter your 'credit' card details - who says I have a visa debit card anyways? :p point being there is little chance that I can keep a 'float' in my debit account just in case the tickets i applied for happen to be allocated to me. Plus. No insurance. I have a MasterCard I can use however that's not good enough, so that's us out.
Not that fussed anyway tbh just hate the Way they've organised it. All about making money and not about the event - but then people have gone along with it so they'll do the sane next time there's a big event too.
Same. Would have much rather used my Mastercards than have to use a debit card, but there we are. I'll dip into overdraft if the tickets do come through but that's all arranged.
Oh don't get me wrong, as you all know, I'm far from a fan. Though I was offered a 12 month secondment to work with LOCOG which would have given me pretty much unrestricted access. However the T&Cs were not really inviting enough, and abandoning my team during a national project roll out seems not really conducive to a good career choice - though who knows what that LOCOG might have opened up to - however, team > *.
semi-pro waster
28-04-2011, 18:47
Not that fussed anyway tbh just hate the Way they've organised it. All about making money and not about the event - but then people have gone along with it so they'll do the sane next time there's a big event too.
I agree that the way it has been organised stinks and it's crass commercialism of the worst sort. However I'm afraid it's something I've promised myself I'd go see since I was little and I'm unlikely to ever get a better chance so I'm trying to ignore any murmurings from my principles.
There's also a certain amount of pragmatism at work in that even if I made a stand and decided not to go they were always going to get sufficient numbers to keep doing it the way they have been going hence it would just be me missing out.
Yep, no point cutting off your nose to spite your face.
£2012, £1600, £995, £150, £20.12
Not that you'd have stood much chance anyway - the opening ceremony is ten times oversubscribed.
Yeah I heard that the other day. Opening ceremony is the only thing I went for too. I may pick up some dirt cheap tickets for some of the more minor events just before the actual games as I reckon they'll have a fire sale at stupid prices rather than have visibly empty seats on TV.
What's never been adequately explained is what the price tiers mean. When I initially heard about the five price levels for the opening ceremony, I assumed each tier would be for a certain class of seating but this has never been confirmed.
What I now suspect is that the seating for each tier is effectively the same, there are just more tickets available at certain tiers than at others. So, for example, you could try at £150, as I have done, and find yourself sitting next to someone who went for £20. The difference is that there'll be far fewer tickets at £20 so you stand a better chance if you're prepared to pay a bit more.
I've gone for four tickets at £150. Whilst the ceremony is ten times oversubscribed, I'm hoping that my assumption above is correct and that a large number of those who went for the ceremony did so at the £20 level thus making my chances somewhat better than 10-1 :)
At least, by going for one event, I'll know by the end of May as the money will disappear from my account :)
LeperousDust
16-05-2011, 12:56
Money being taken, anyone here in shock yet? :D;D
No money taken, no email. NOT SURE IF GOOD OR BAD!
LeperousDust
16-05-2011, 13:16
Classic case on he news just then, some guy had £10k taken and is worried he might not be able to pay for them, or want them all... Hmmmm
*actually quite excited here* :D
Nothing taken today but will wait and see :)
Only got about £500 worth and it's on a credit card anyway. Will keep the tickets I really want and then either get family to pay for the rest or sell them back on the official website when it launches. Not sure what the problem is but then I did it the sensible way rather than booking £10,000 worth of tickets and crossing my fingers.
semi-pro waster
16-05-2011, 19:06
No money taken here yet but it's supposed to start from this week so potentially I'm just further down the list or my bank is slow at updating. Hopefully I'll have got at least some that I wanted and then to add to the excitement it'll be another few weeks before I find out which ones they are.
Knipples
16-05-2011, 19:30
Mine was put on a credit card, nothings been charged to it yet though.
No sign here either but they'll be allocating tickets up until June 10th and payments to June 24th, and there's no indication as to what order they're using to take payments.
I like to think they're all sat in a giant room doing an 'ippy-dippy'.
Don't payments normally take 2-3 days to show on a credit card too? :)
Mine's a debit card, and in either case transactions can reduce the 'available credit' instantly. :p
I'll not be able to go but I should hopefully get to see the olympic torch as it will be in Inverness on 9th June 2012. From a design point of view if anyone is interested I found an interesting article which shows all of the olympic torches from 1936-2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/08/01/sports/20080802_TORCH_GRAPHIC.html?hp)
On an email this morning:
Card payments
Visa payments will only be taken for successful applications. If your card has been lost or stolen or there are any issues with collection of payment, we will contact you by 10 June 2011 to arrange an alternative Visa payment.
I would say this is a convenient way of not having to have the money in your account if you don't think you'll be able to afford the tickets immediately. Phone your bank and get your card cancelled because you 'lost' it and there's no need to have the money in your account. Tell the wife to hide your card somewhere and you're technically not lying to the bank either :D
Of course if you don't have the money by 24th June then tough - you ain't getting the tickets - allocated or not.
Anyone had any money taken yet? Apparently 60% were supposed to be done by yesterday. :(
And today they're selling more tickets before they've even finished with the current debacle! Priorities!
Knipples
26-05-2011, 21:41
Nothing here. :)
I've finally seen some evidence of what I think might be LOCOG. There's a pending transaction for £533 on my account and since there's no transaction of that size due until next week I can only assume it's them.
If that's all I'm paying then that means I've failed in all the 'good' tickets I wanted (Ceremonies, Athletics, Tennis). :(:(:( Hopefully they're just taking the 'easy' ones and will come back for more (did indicate that was a possibility).
£306 gone out today. Wonder what I'm going to see?
£196 taken. Can only mean one of two things; basketball finals, or heavyweight boxing finals. :)
Still a mystery £533 and still not expecting any of the £150 tickets I'd asked for, which is a big downer. Still, at least I'll be there and at least there's the paralympics.
Money 'saved' will be spent on a new shower. ;D
Update - mystery solved - www.tickets.london. That'll be Olympics tickets then!
Still nothin here...ah well.
semi-pro waster
01-06-2011, 07:33
Just checked right now and there's £56 out so either I've got one of the bigger finals only or a combination of two of the smaller events and that's it - unless they're still not finished and will be taking more later.
Knipples
01-06-2011, 08:08
Still nothin here...ah well.
Same here. :(
Its dog****.
Even the Kiwi sitting opposite me has tickets.
Absolute joke.
BB x
Well can't seem to see anything from my account. I take it it comes up as olympics or something in the reference? Anyway, irrespective of that, there are no transactions in the last few days anyway.
TinkerBell
01-06-2011, 09:32
They have said that they will be taking money out between the 10th May and 10th of June. So isn't there still time for you guys to have got tickets?
I'm assuming they may be taking money one event at a time, so not only might people still be getting tickets, but those of us with money already taken may get more... though as £6 postage is added I'm then inclined to think otherwise, unless they're charging £6 per set of tickets you get, which I wouldn't put past them.
Do we know what the admin charge is? I thought it said a cheeky £26 on one of the news websites.
As far as I'm aware it's the just the cost of the tickets plus £6 'postage'.
That's either one posh envelope or some heavy tickets! :p
... or some very well paid envelope stuffers. :p
semi-pro waster
01-06-2011, 19:01
Its dog****.
Even the Kiwi sitting opposite me has tickets.
Absolute joke.
BB x
Dem pesky foreigners, coming here, buying our tickets... ;D
Well can't seem to see anything from my account. I take it it comes up as olympics or something in the reference? Anyway, irrespective of that, there are no transactions in the last few days anyway.
Something along the lines of 2012 Tickets should be in the description, I don't think it says Olympics specifically though.
As far as I'm aware it's the just the cost of the tickets plus £6 'postage'.
That's what it's supposed to be, I'd be happy to go and pick them up to save them the cost but it wasn't an option. I don't see why they couldn't have just factored it into the cost of the tickets in the first place, I know you'd still be paying it but it would somehow seem less like they were taking the urine.
01 Jun 11 WWW.TICKETS.LONDON ** **** DEB 533.00
For the benefit of anyone else trying to find the transaction. :)
Nothing taken for me so guess I missed out :(
I'm sure I read a while back that 80-90% would be processed by the end of May but they weren't guaranteeing all monies would be taken by then. Now everything I read suggests that, if you've not had money taken by now, you're out of luck :(
Apparantly around half the applicants got nothing at all.
1.8m apply for 6.6m tickets and 900,000 people get nothing at all.
What a **** up, absolutely hilariously badly managed from start to finish. Still, screwing up simple tasks - that's the British way, why make the Olympics any different?
Whether or not the system was 'fair' (and on balance, it may well have been, because I suspect a fair number of those who got nothing just went for 'blue riband' events like the 100m final, for which they were almost doomed to fail before they even started), it's been an utter PR disaster from start to finish. :/
I've got tickets because I understood the game and played it correctly, but in ranking my requests in order of preference I think the best I got was 5th or 6th on the list. At the very least I believe I've missed out on ceremonies, athletics and tennis.
I suppose that at least I'll get a better view.
I've got tickets because I understood the game and played it correctly,
This is what annoys me. It's not a game, so why are they treating it like one. I'm glad it's been a PR disaster, they tried to be too clever and should have just sold the tickets, first come, first served for each event. Works for every other event, and this way seems even more unfair - we know the majority won't go to the public anyway, they'll be snapped up by businesses, politicians & the filthy rich who will probably be invited for free via comps.
For the people, my arse, the people who will PAY for it for the next x amount of years, most of them won't get to see anything, apart from the faint glimmer of the Olympic flame as it passes by their hometown.
Disgraceful, imo.
Trouble with that approach is that the system goes into meltdown. Imagine 1.8 million people all trying to get tickets at the same time - instant distributed denial of service. Most sites can barely handle an event with 60,000 tickets - let alone one with 100x that.
In addition, woe betide anyone wanting tickets for one event - by the time you've fought your way through the system to get one, all the others have gone.
Ticket lotteries can and do work - there wasn't all this mess with M2002 which also used a lottery for oversubscribed events. Big difference there - it didn't make headline news every day - so they must have got something right. This one could have worked too had they:
Told you what you were getting before taking payment.
Not made it VISA-only
Not given away all the best tickets to their cronies
So what if some allocated ticket sales fail for lack of payment. That's what the second-chance sale is for. Their botched-up system doesn't avoid that problem anyway. Fail!
I meant, event by event, not all at once.
That'd work, providing the servers don't melt, but would make for some interesting logistics. You'd also get complaints from a different quarter - those who work and can't get online at 9am (when most ticket sales seem to start).
You're never going to please all of the people all of the time but I can't believe they couldn't develop a better system that didn't result in 6.6 million tickets leaving 900,000 out of 1.8m people with nothing.
Should've given one ticket to each person.
LOL
BB x
That'd work, providing the servers don't melt, but would make for some interesting logistics. You'd also get complaints from a different quarter - those who work and can't get online at 9am (when most ticket sales seem to start).
So don't put them on sale at the same time. Problem solved. Sorry, I fail to see any reason why it had to be such a ridiculous, convoluted process leaving so many with nothing. Just to cover up how few tickets the public will actually get IMO.
You think the organisers could come up with such an intelligent solution? :)
Perhaps you could suggest it for the Paralympics. I expect they'll try the same debacle all over again come September.
I don't think there was a major problem with the system as such, I just don't like the way the tickets seem to have been distributed. Some people will end up with multiple tickets whilst others end up with none. Surely it must have been quite simple to say "right, J. Bloggs has got his first 4 tickets, no more for him, next person please". Instead, some people seem to have ended up with more tickets and others with none at all.
I agree with Desmond. No reason for some people to get a sizeable stash to leave others with nothing.
I don't think there was a major problem with the system as such, I just don't like the way the tickets seem to have been distributed. Some people will end up with multiple tickets whilst others end up with none. Surely it must have been quite simple to say "right, J. Bloggs has got his first 4 tickets, no more for him, next person please". Instead, some people seem to have ended up with more tickets and others with none at all.
A reasonably simple preference system would have probably helped loads, allocate an event at a time, people who put it as first choice get first stab, then second choicers if there are some left etc.
When you have tickets, you're not entered into further ballots unless it's one of your choices and is hugely under-subscribed etc.
A bit of thought and development and they could have produced a much more robust system I feel.
Just seen on the news that there is still chance as a lot of people who got tickets had their payments declined/rejected.
Fingers crossed over the next 2 days!
TinkerBell
08-06-2011, 23:21
They said that all along, that the people who had got too many tickets and either couldn't pay for them or wanted to sell them, then there would be a chance for the people who hadn't got tickets to get those tickets. Not the best situation but still a chance for people.
Del Lardo
09-06-2011, 00:10
You're never going to please all of the people all of the time but I can't believe they couldn't develop a better system that didn't result in 6.6 million tickets leaving 900,000 out of 1.8m people with nothing.
The problem with numbers is that without context all you have is newspaper headlines.
Let's just say for example that the 900 000 people left with nothing only applied for premium events like the opening/closing ceremony & the men's 100m final. All of a sudden it's hardly surprising that they got nothing, I'm certainly not claiming that occurred and certainly some people who applied for a lot of tickets and got nothing have really lost out but lets not forget that whenever there is a big sporting event people who want to and deserve to go loose out, it's in no way unique to the Olympics.
Given that we know they could have sold 1m tickets for the 100m final, I'll wager a fairly large proportion (maybe the majority) of those 900,000 did exactly as you say. Even if we assume that those who applied for the 100m final asked for, on average, 3 tickets (a very reasonable assumption IMHO), that's still 320,000 disappointed applicants.
So it's a question of who you **** off - those who want tickets to one event and can't get them because it's sold out, or those who want lots of tickets and can't get them because you've said they can only have tickets to one event (or one popular event plus 'dregs').
As LOCOG is essentially a business, I know where my bet would be - and it isn't ****ing off the people who can afford lots of tickets, and merchandise, and at-venue concessions, etc...
Von Smallhausen
12-06-2011, 12:28
Heavyweight boxing wouldnbe my choice to see Jonny.
Heavyweight boxing wouldnbe my choice to see Jonny.
I would say Jonny is more light-welterweight...
Von Smallhausen
13-06-2011, 00:14
Few pints and a curry should sort that.
Just had an email come through saying I have tickets! Apparently I'll know by the 24th :)
The results are finally out, and I have:
Wrestling - Freestyle (C)
Football (A)
Boxing (C)
Beach Volleyball (C)
Athletics (B) - Afternoon session
Tennis (B) - Wimbledon Centre Court :)
Swimming (C)
Basketball (B)
I didn't get:
Opening Ceremony
Equestrian - Eventing
Cycling - Track
Athletics - Evening session
Gymnastics - Rythmic
Modern Pentathlon
Closing Ceremony
Didn't think I'd get Tennis, so happy about that. :) Swimming is a nice surprise. :)
Obviously disappointed at the ones I missed out on, though expected most of them. Most disappointed about Equestrian and Cycling. :(
Though I got 53% of the tickets, the total cost was only about 37%, so I got all the cheaper tickets and missed all the really expensive ones. I suppose that's a good thing, right! :)
Glad to see some people are getting some through :)
semi-pro waster
22-06-2011, 07:29
Well I've just checked and I got the track cycling for the 6th of August but that's the only ticket I got - sort of happy in that cycling is one of my favourite events at the games along with the rowing but a bit surprised that I didn't get any of the less popular sports I picked at all. I obviously made a bad choice in going for a number of events but picking only category C or D tickets - benefit of hindsight and all that, however at least I've got something so can't be too disappointed with that.
Matblack
22-06-2011, 10:56
The results are finally out, and I have:
Wrestling - Freestyle (C)
Football (A)
Boxing (C)
Beach Volleyball (C)
Athletics (B) - Afternoon session
Tennis (B) - Wimbledon Centre Court :)
Swimming (C)
Basketball (B)
I didn't get:
Opening Ceremony
Equestrian - Eventing
Cycling - Track
Athletics - Evening session
Gymnastics - Rythmic
Modern Pentathlon
Closing Ceremony
Didn't think I'd get Tennis, so happy about that. :) Swimming is a nice surprise. :)
Obviously disappointed at the ones I missed out on, though expected most of them. Most disappointed about Equestrian and Cycling. :(
Though I got 53% of the tickets, the total cost was only about 37%, so I got all the cheaper tickets and missed all the really expensive ones. I suppose that's a good thing, right! :)
Congratulations
Much as I would like to conmiserate with you about the tickets you didn't get I think you should count yourself bloody lucky, I applied for 15 sessions for Heather Amelie and I and got precisely none. If I had got even one of the sessions you got I'd have been ****ing extatic because my daughter would have been able to tell her children that she'd been to the Olympics when they were in the UK.
I honestly think there is something wrong with a system which will allocate 53% of sessions to one person let leave a significant number with none at all. :angry:
MB
TinkerBell
22-06-2011, 11:35
Congratulations
Much as I would like to conmiserate with you about the tickets you didn't get I think you should count yourself bloody lucky, I applied for 15 sessions for Heather Amelie and I and got precisely none. If I had got even one of the sessions you got I'd have been ****ing extatic because my daughter would have been able to tell her children that she'd been to the Olympics when they were in the UK.
I honestly think there is something wrong with a system which will allocate 53% of sessions to one person let leave a significant number with none at all. :angry:
MB
I agree with you Matt! It is a very unfair system and I think it is pretty harsh for you to moan Mark when you have received alot of tickets and some people got nothing.
Knipples
22-06-2011, 12:31
The whole thing has been an absolute farce. Even if I'd got just one ticket for something I'd have been happy, so as Matt says, I don't begrudge you any tickets Mark, but the fact you got several, whilst most of us got none, frankly stinks.
Agree with Matt!!!
Totally PO that I didn't get anything!
Absolute joke!
If you got two tickets to the Basketball and need someone to go with you know where I am lol ;)
BB x
Some people will end up with multiple tickets whilst others end up with none. Surely it must have been quite simple to say "right, J. Bloggs has got his first 4 tickets, no more for him, next person please". Instead, some people seem to have ended up with more tickets and others with none at all.
Much like I said here. It's great that Mark has got tickets for various events, but it would have been fairer for him to have tickets to one event and let other people have the others instead of nothing.
Matblack
22-06-2011, 13:18
In a system where you want as many people to be involved as possible I don't understand why that once a person had tickets for 1 or 2 events they didn't take them out of the running for futher allocations. It makes no sence at all.
The legacy of the Olympics for many of the people in the UK who wanted to go will be the odd sad little event in their town centre when the torch goes past and watching it on the telly feeling agrieved they didn't get to see anything live. Whilst we have people getting tickets for multiple events.
It seems LOCOG were so desperate to fill all the events first time around that they shafted the majority in favor of a few lucky recipients of multiple events.
MB
To be honest I don't see there being a problem with a system where people get a single event only. Anything seems better than what we have just whitnessed.
Sure you might want opening ceremony and get table tennis quarter finals etc but the appeal for me was to be at the games, soaking up the atmosphere, looking around the multi-million pound developments, mixing with sport fans from all over the world....
Except for the Olympic torch's fleeting encounter with Bristol, the games might as well be in another country for all I will be able to see :'(
Nevertheless, I'm still excited about watching it all and I'm greatly anticipating what will be pulled out of the bag for ceremonies! :D
I guess a lot of people applied for weekend tickets too (I know I did). So the availability will be less.
Whilst I am disappointed, and think the system is ****, and it would have been nice to have been at the olympics at some stage in my life, I guess it just won't be 2012.
Boat Drinks International Olympic Holiday 2016! :D
Where is it going to be in 2016?
Is anybody entering the first come first serve thing at 6am on Friday? Lines open or applications are accepted from 6am.
The stupid thing is, apparently lots of events haven't had tickets issued even though they were applied for!? WTF is that about? There are spaces available yet they didn't offer the tickets? So even though some events are oversubscribed those that are under subscribed still didn't get tickets? I don't get that at all...
Knipples
22-06-2011, 19:28
Im going to try on Friday, not expecting anything though after the shambles we've all had so far.
semi-pro waster
22-06-2011, 19:44
I agree with you Matt! It is a very unfair system and I think it is pretty harsh for you to moan Mark when you have received alot of tickets and some people got nothing.
I read it slightly differently to you, I don't think it was a moan as such. I'm sure Mark knows that he's very lucky to have received so many of the tickets that he applied for but that doesn't mean that they were the ones he wanted to see most if that makes sense.
Where is it going to be in 2016?
Rio 2016, they've got a pretty silly logo too although it's probably better than London 2012.
Is anybody entering the first come first serve thing at 6am on Friday? Lines open or applications are accepted from 6am
The stupid thing is, apparently lots of events haven't had tickets issued even though they were applied for!? WTF is that about? There are spaces available yet they didn't offer the tickets? So even though some events are oversubscribed those that are under subscribed still didn't get tickets? I don't get that at all...
At a guess the reason for the free spaces at events that are oversubscribed is because people chose to only go for the cheaper tickets, if the option had been taken for any band A-D then presumably the person would have got one of the tickets - maybe at a higher price than they'd ideally have liked though.
The above is however a guess based on a logical system being followed and I've got no guarantees of that being the case.
TinkerBell
22-06-2011, 19:54
Just found this if anybody is interested, they are selling tickets as well as hotel bookings as one. So may well give some people the chance to go :)
http://www.thomascooklondon2012.com/2-events-1-night-holiday-inn-heathrow-m4-/2944?utm_medium=textlink&utm_campaign=bestseller
Not bothered about tickets now. Had a stab at getting some originally but I'm not THAT fussed about it. Still plan to just pop in to town one day for a look around though :)
leowyatt
22-06-2011, 21:50
I just hope the only olympic sport I want to watch is on TV
Del Lardo
22-06-2011, 22:23
Mark, congrats on getting the tickets. Hope that those who are disappointed that they didn't get anything in the first round don't get you down, unfortunately I suspect you'll hear a few more negative comments in the next year :(
Much as I would like to conmiserate with you about the tickets you didn't get I think you should count yourself bloody lucky, I applied for 15 sessions for Heather Amelie and I and got precisely none. If I had got even one of the sessions you got I'd have been ****ing extatic because my daughter would have been able to tell her children that she'd been to the Olympics when they were in the UK.
To be abundantly clear, I am only disappointed in so far as not getting what I'd applied for. I'm delighted I got what I did - especially tennis and swimming.
But, five of the eight events I got tickets for haven't sold out (though most have sold out of the 'cheap seats'). It's not really my fault if I get tickets for events that aren't sell-outs, is it? Anyone could have applied for those tickets, and got them.
Also, only one of my events (Wrestling) has any medal rounds. Obviously, everyone wants to see the medals, so they naturally gravitate towards them and they're thus massive sell-outs. I'd have loved to have done that too, but compromised to help my odds. Again, anyone could have done that.
Yes, I'd have loved it even better if everyone got tickets (even at the expense of some of mine) but if 1m people want the blue riband athletics and most of them don't want anything else, a lot are going to be disappointed.
Im going to try on Friday, not expecting anything though after the shambles we've all had so far.
Easy (assuming it doesn't all go **** up - which I wouldn't place odds on either way even if I were in to betting):
Before Friday, go here (http://www.tickets.london2012.com/schedule.html) and find events you're interested in that still have availability (Football still has 1.7m tickets available, so that's a good bet).
As soon as possible after the window opens on Friday, go buy the tickets. :)
There will be a rush on some of them, especially the limited availability, but it's first come first served, so there's no lottery to worry about this time.
I didn't get track cycling in the end, I got some expensive opening ceremony tickets. Must have clicked down the wrong range of seat prices or something because I didn't intend to spend that much on the opening ceremony. Will be putting them back up for sale at face value when the official resale wotsit opens.
Had really high hopes, so I'm feeling a bit sad about it now :'(
It's getting to the point where it'd just be easier to be really good at a particular sport. :D
Knipples
24-06-2011, 07:11
Well I just submitted my request for a ticket for the Mens football quarter final at Cardiff. Lets see what happens. They gave me a confirmation number, but its no guarantee about actually getting one.
Matblack
24-06-2011, 07:22
I've put us down for hockey and weightlifting, so we can say we were there. All child concessions gone so had to pay full whack for three of us for high level tickets. Im sure it will be both it though :) Fingers crossed we get them!
I just hope the only olympic sport I want to watch is on TV
I'm sure the womens beach volleyball will be on TV ;D
I'll be sure to take some photos if not! :p
leowyatt
24-06-2011, 10:22
I'm sure the womens beach volleyball will be on TV ;D
Result! ;D I've now got 2 sports to watch ;)
Knipples
24-06-2011, 10:48
Got this just now
You will receive an email within 48 hours confirming which tickets, if any, you have been allocated, subject to successful payment.
Knipples
26-06-2011, 10:36
Got my ticket for the football :D
Matblack
26-06-2011, 11:17
Got tickets for a prelim hockey, which is great, don't care who we see, it will just be great for us to be able to see the facilities and show our support and Amelie will be able to say she went :)
MB
Didn't get any. I only applied for equestrian cross country day for all of us but we weren't allocated any sadly. There wasn't really anything else that all of us would enjoy (or that I could afford) in the follow-up sale so we won't be going. I didn't see the point in spending fortunes for tickets to see a sport that we have no interest in. I'd have liked to see the dressage or cycling but the girls wouldn't have enjoyed it.
TinkerBell
26-06-2011, 15:55
Exactly the same as me Karyn. I like very little of the olympics, equestrian being the only real interest. I didn't want to spend loads of money on something I wouldn't even watch on the telly. So I won't be going! Hey ho.
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