Seb Coe

[maltaseagull]

I guess they can go to any event they like which means there are 2 empty VIP seats at every other event taking place at the same time.

If that's correct it's pretty unfair.

Actually 3 as Kate seems to pop up all over the show.

 

[Hamilton]

Precisely this. Yes, it's a lottery and demand far outstrips supply. But the basic point that the organisers are missing is that the website is a joke. It takes hours to go through the process of attempting to buy tickets as there's no ability to search by price and, when your bid fails, you have to 'remove' that application and start all over again. The only way to speed this up is to apply for lots of tickets in one go, running the risk of a huge bill. In the initial ballot that was a cynical enough ploy but offset by the fact that people knew they would've able to resell for events they couldn't get to. At this stage, that's no longer the case (not legally anyway) do the system is just not fit for purpose.

I'm not just being bitter and twisted - I'm going today.

Agree with this. The website back end design is poor. It's not a user centred design. I'm guessing they have had to work with all sorts of restrictions though.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Hear hear. I'm afraid Coe is typical of the elite who run this country. He has no idea of life in the real world- the ticketing was a shambles from day one but guess who will walk away with a knighthood!

What benefit would a knighthood be to Lord Coe?

 

[Hamilton]

What benefit would a knighthood be to Lord Coe?

I suppose he could sell it on eBay?

 

[drew]

Personally, bearing in mind the scale of the operation, I think everything about the Olympics has been pretty much spot on, apart from the original ballot for tickets and, ergo, the ticketing website. I always thought that the applications for the original ballot should have included a priority rating for the events you chose so that once you had been allocated tickets for one event, you didn't get anymore until those that missed out on their first priority were awarded tickets. Still, they'll learn for next time! We were lucky, we only applied for two events and got one, the swimming last Friday.

 

[maltaseagull]

One thing I read was a suggestion that the IOC set up a specialised ticket selling site for all future Olympics to use rather than each country starting from scratch every 4 years.

What a good idea !

 

[Mo Gosfield]

When you think how many tickets are ' held back ' for competitors families, friends and entourage, let alone all the VIP's, you realise why it has been so difficult to get tickets for some venues.
The crowd shots in the velodrome were a who's who of well known faces. Likewise Wimbledon for the mens singles final and I'm sure it would have been the same for the rowing, if we had any crowd close-ups.
We all know it goes on and its exagerated when its the hottest ticket in town.

 

[maltaseagull]

I suppose he could sell it on eBay?

There would have to be a lottery system due to demand though.

 

[Simster]

If you applied in the original ballot and was organised there was no problem getting tickets. I watched the super saturday athletics session, boxing and football.

As others have said, this isn't true at all. Hardly anyone I know who applied for tix in the first ballot got anything at all (including me), except in the football. In the end, I got some very decent tickets - but only because I was awake at 6am in Spain on my holidays to apply for my tickets in the first come first serve second ballot.

Now there are loads of JCL's who showed no interest whatsoever when the tickets first came out panicking at the last minute trying to get tickets because they have all of a sudden realised this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the Olympics in this country. Not surprising that they are now difficult to lay their hands on.

This bit, however, I completely agree with. There are tons of people who have been swept along on the Olympic tide now clamouring for tickets which must be very annoying for those who applied 18 months ago without any success. I can't help thinking there could and should have been a way for those who applied all those months ago.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Name me a country where there isn't an elite of some sort running things. That's the point of an elite class - they're clever! We could of course have asked Fat Barry the burger flipper who lives at No. 28 to organise it and just give tickets away to everyone that 'deserved' one, but I'm guessing the IOC might not have seen that as a winning bid.

Funny because it's true. Also the same as people moaning that Wiliam and Harry found it easier than most to get good seats - no shit, they're the royal bloody family!

 

[ROSM]

In terms of sponsors - they have been caught out by the anti bribery laws that have people scared to accept freebies in case future contract awards are questioned. They have literally had to beg 'famous' people plus quickly arrange customer competitions to fill the seats.

As for some of the guff about tickets being freely available - they werent. However the system and approach used has been the same one since Sydney, the demand in the UK has simply been much higher than before. It does need amending based on what we've learnt and prioritising choices is one such method. Although the only people I know personally who failed to get anything in both the first and second round distribution were those who were very specific in what they wanted either by date or sport (I know people who wanted cycling at the velodrome and nothing else and given that there were 10 days of cycling with two sessions per day with say 4k tickets available at each that means there was max 80k tickets available).

 

[ATFC Seagull]

As others have said, this isn't true at all. Hardly anyone I know who applied for tix in the first ballot got anything at all (including me), except in the football. In the end, I got some very decent tickets - but only because I was awake at 6am in Spain on my holidays to apply for my tickets in the first come first serve second ballot.
.

Exactly this - except I was camping in the middle of a field as part of work when that 2nd batch went onsale!

The only mistake I will own upto is that, in hindsight, I should have picked up some random tickets for something (e.g. handball) when the 3rd/4th/5th batches were going onsale, but by that point I had missed out on velodrome and boxing, which were the ones I was really interested in.

Of course there are some people who did ok, but when so many people are angry with the ticketing system, you have to accept it was a wrong.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

Personally, bearing in mind the scale of the operation, I think everything about the Olympics has been pretty much spot on, apart from the original ballot for tickets and, ergo, the ticketing website. I always thought that the applications for the original ballot should have included a priority rating for the events you chose so that once you had been allocated tickets for one event, you didn't get anymore until those that missed out on their first priority were awarded tickets.

This.

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

Anyone who applied in the first ballot can have no excuse about not getting tickets. There was a ten day long priority period earlier this year for all those who missed out and at the end of that period there were tens of thousands of tickets left unsold.

If you didn't apply in the first ballot then frankly you're just a jcl and had to take your chances.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

Anyone who applied in the first ballot can have no excuse about not getting tickets. There was a ten day long priority period earlier this year for all those who missed out and at the end of that period there were tens of thousands of tickets left unsold.
.

These were for pretty random stuff though. As I've said above, in retrospect I'd have snapped up something like handball but at the time I was disappointed not to get the stuff I am particularly interested in. A lot of these tickets were grandstand events for stuff that was free as well.

 

[User removed 4]

There should have been one day set aside for Londoners only out of the UK allocation , they paid for it and are putting up with most of the disruption .

 

[ATFC Seagull]

There should have been one day set aside for Londoners only out of the UK allocation , they paid for it and are putting up with most of the disruption .

I thought the money was coming from central government? If not though I got no problem with that - should have been a priority system as mentioned above so that everyone gets an event that they have put down, then they drop back to the bottom of the queue - and London addresses go first.

 

[User removed 4]

I thought the money was coming from central government? If not though I got no problem with that - should have been a priority system as mentioned above so that everyone gets an event that they have put down, then they drop back to the bottom of the queue - and London addresses go first.

Olympic tax rebels face jail for 33.33 bill | Metro.co.uk

not all , but londoners have paid a surcharge.

 

[Brian Fantana]

I applied for a variety of tickets in the first two ballots, but got nothing. There were 20,000 of us in that situation, who were then given priority for the third ticketing phase. In this phase, 20,000 of us were allowed to buy straight away (not just apply for) up to 4 tickets for a single session. At this stage, there were 500,000 tickets left for various events, so if you were unsuccessful in the first two phases and tool advantage of this 10 day exclusive window, you were guaranteed at least one session. As it happens, I bought tickets for the men's 100m final, but could have got Opening Ceremony seats as an alternative; both in the cheapest category of prices. Persistence does pay off.

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

I keep seeing this thread and thinking it's about Seb Carole!