[Albion] Do you think the Albion's loyalty system for away tickets is fair?

[Bozza]

We've had a lot of talk but I'm not sure we've had a poll.

Let's resolve that.

(Hold your horses - poll incoming)

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Do you mean the number of tickets the home team give us, or the level of points required by our club, to be able to buy?

 

[Taybha]

No , simply because data was available to the club from the withdean era , therefore all loyalty points should have been started from when the club started collecting such data .

 

[Bozza]

Do you mean the number of tickets the home team give us, or the level of points required by our club, to be able to buy?

The latter.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Any scheme can never be entirely fair, maybe two thirds of allocation to the highest points holding fans and one third on general sale? Thus allowing newer fans the opportunity to at least begin to build their points total.

 

[pb21]

Yes.

I think it could in theory be better though, maybe 5% available to fans who live local to the away team and 5% available in a lottery to keep new fans enticed, also no loyalty points awarded if you don’t attend! Not sure if that could work in practice though.

 

[Husty]

As fair as can be hoped for. I imagine there are a very small number of committed exiles who regularly make 6 or 7+ away games a season but don't have season tickets who will be missing out this season but as far as I can see that's the only group this system let's down.

Edit: Unless you were to go down the route of capping the number of away games people can attend to say 5 per season therefore giving more people the opportunity to attend games but I can't picture that being popular somehow.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Oh Bozza, we've gone on and on Its not necessarily about fairness, its just could it be done a little more equitably.

For me, if they didn't give new loyalty points out to games that sell out in the top two tiers, then they wouldn't have had a Bournemouth situation and tickets would be more spread around, and we probably wouldn't be arguing

After that the loyalty point system is fair - top priority to those who go to all the games - already in place, tick. Second priority to those who go to most of the games, already in place, no problem.

After that we get to the crux of a lot of people's issues - does a season ticket holder who almost never goes away, perhaps a couple of local away games each season, deserve higher priority than someone who regularly goes home and away but doesn't have a season ticket?

For me the answer is that priority shouldn't distinguish between these people and they should have equal opportunity to buy a season ticket, which is where an away membership, or a ballot-style process could be implemented.

 

[Ron Manager]

Yes. It is.

 

[fosters headband]

No , simply because data was available to the club from the withdean era , therefore all loyalty points should have been started from when the club started collecting such data .

This.

They used this data to decide the order you were invited along to purchase your Amex ticket, so yes they had such data.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

No , simply because data was available to the club from the withdean era , therefore all loyalty points should have been started from when the club started collecting such data .

The second year at the Amex, a lot of data was lost, including dates of birth. I suddenly reverted to being adult price, when I was a senior citizen. I had to go to the ticket office and get it corrected.

 

[Simster]

Broadly speaking, yes it is.

It needs tweaking though: games where the tickets are exceptionally cheap (Bournemouth in the cup) or where the game is clearly considered a glamour fixture (Arsenal away) should not attract additional loyalty points in my view. Apart from that, I have no issues with it.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Not really. Although it means well.

It needs to be possible for a greater percentage of the fan base to have even a slim chance of a legally bought away ticket.

 

[Foul Play Rocks]

Yes it is. You’ll never please everyone and there will always be somebody who can’t get a ticket for one reason or another.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Broadly speaking, yes it is.

It needs tweaking though: games where the tickets are exceptionally cheap (Bournemouth in the cup) or where the game is clearly considered a glamour fixture (Arsenal away) should not attract additional loyalty points in my view. Apart from that, I have no issues with it.

Exactly this, plus one further, imo: close the loopholes/eliminate ambiguity in the scheme's rules. Say precisely what you mean, don't contradict yourself, and be clear.

 

[Munkfish]

I think it is fair, However I would like to see a percentage of tickets go on sale to all ST holders to give everyone a chance for each game.

If I wasnt in the top 2 tiers I would be gutted that I wouldnt be able to see Albion away more than a handful of times.

 

[The GIF dude]

In general, I think it's fair.

However, as others have pointed out, I often attend away games as a group, and on occasion someone might pull out close to the game, from now is it okay to pass on a ticket to an Albion supporting friend? Or does the ticket owner risk punitive action if 'caught'?

 

[S'hampton Seagull]

In general, I think it's fair.

However, as others have pointed out, I often attend away games as a group, and on occasion someone might pull out close to the game, from now is it okay to pass on a ticket to an Albion supporting friend? Or does the ticket owner risk punitive action if 'caught'?

Sod loyalty points, when is your next gif?

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[happypig]

I don't do away games much (work/family commitments) but I think it's somewhat unfair that a 1901 member who pays extra money for extra product at home should get preference for away games.

I think home loyalty points and away loyalty points would be a better, albeit more complicated, way to work it. Home points would give non-STH dibs on attractive cup fixtures and away points would give dibs to those who have done the less attractive awaydays in the past.

 

[Arthur]

No , simply because data was available to the club from the withdean era , therefore all loyalty points should have been started from when the club started collecting such data .

The trouble is all the time demand outstrips supply then someone is going to miss out so there will always people who deem the system unfair because they are missing out. I'm sure the club have data going back past the Withdean era specifically when it comes to season ticket sales but there has to be a start point somewhere.

You say about going back to the Withdean days and using that as a start point but none of us have any idea what state that data is in or what sort of resource would be required to get it in to a usable format with the current system. If it wouldn't be too much work then yeah why not but if you were to then jump up the ladder above someone who's had a season ticket for the last few seasons that person is then going to get the hump. It really is a no win situation for the club all the time people are missing out on tickets.

Several people on here have moaned about it but I don't recall ever seeing anyone coming up with a better solution than what the club have in place. The only alternative I could potentially see working is if they adopted the englandfans model where when a game is oversubscribed 70% goes to the most loyal and the remaining 30% goes into a ballot. Can imagine that would be disliked more than what we have now.