Ticketmaster: using student tickets without a student ID.

April 27, 2007 11:25 AM

I bought two student tickets to a local ballet performance via ticketmaster. I already have the tickets in hand, and they say nothing about being student tickets. Will the ticket scanner verify our student IDs upon entrance? Or do I need to buy my 29-year-old girlfriend a fake ID to see the ballet?

I'm in grad school; my girlfriend is not. Next week is a prestegious (expensive) ballet performance that offered two educational discounts:

1. 50% off student tickets -or-
2. An adult/student combo: Buy 1 Adult; Get 1 Student Free. (read: 50% off both)

The adult/student combo required a promo code. When I called the local box office to request the code, the representative was unhelpful and rude -- through her odd, offhand comments, she essentially implied that I was a non-student trying to weasel the promo out of her illegitimately. I was not. She was just a Debbie Downer.

So I hung up and bought 2 student tickets (which, ironically, required no promo code). I'm not thrilled with my little fib, but my karma police were satiated because the 2 offers were priced the same, our eligibility for the combo ticket was legitimate, the seats were the same, and, well, my customer experience sucked.

I have the tickets in hand, and they say absolutely nothing about being student tickets. They're standard "print via email" Ticketmaster tickets. But since they have the little barcode on them, I realize they could be tied into the system as student tickets, and the ticketcheckerperson might scan them and say "Hold up! Lemme see your freakin' badges, er, IDs!" At the same time, I've never seen the doorman scannerperson charged with enforcing IDs -- usually, the IDs are verified at time of purchase/pickup.

Does anybody have experience buying student tickets from ticketmaster and/or know what the likelihood of our getting stopped at the door might be? If there are 10 different scanners around the building and we're all dressed in fancypants clothes, I imagine my social engineering skills might work as a fallback. But I'd like to know what I'm getting into.

posted by Hankins to media & arts (12 comments total)

First off, soothe your karma. It's Ticketmaster for god's sake.

Second, I never was asked for a student ID AFTER tickets were purchased. But this was also over 10 years ago that I was a student.

I would simply say I forgot my ID, and that nowhere on the ticket does it state that ID is required to use. (Right? Have you checked the ticket to see if it says anything about ID in the small print?)
posted by Ynoxas at 11:34 AM on April 27, 2007

I would just be prepared to explain a shorter version of what you explained here -- their rep was uncooperative in giving you the promo code that applied, so you were forced to choose the "2 student tix" option in order to get the price that was correct. Then just stand there and wait, as if you expect them to correct their mistake -- since, really, it is their mistake.
posted by occhiblu at 11:40 AM on April 27, 2007

Correct, there's nothing in the fine print about students or student IDs or anything. It's just the standard "No Resale, We can kick you out, don't take videos" verbiage.

I did, upon closer examination, find that within some random looking numbers by the bar code is the term "J-STUD," which, you know, is my nickname with the ladies, but doubtfully Ticketmaster knows this.

It's not an educational event; In fact, I'm confident very few of the audience will be students. If it were, say, a college basketball game, I would *expect* them to verify IDs. But I have enough bad luck that I get paranoid about things like this.
posted by Hankins at 11:45 AM on April 27, 2007

Nobody looks at your ticket anymore, they just aim their scanner and fire away. If the ticket isn't valid for that show, it won't work, but other than that, nobody is paying attention, or would even know about the different pricing. You won't have any problem here. Enjoy the show.
posted by sdrawkcab at 11:56 AM on April 27, 2007

lolballetnazis!

You'll be fine. Seconding sdrawkcab. Most places don't even bother to look. They don't care. There's no black market underground for ballet tickets (or is there?).
posted by cashman at 12:31 PM on April 27, 2007

Most likely, they aim a scanner at the barcode and listen for the beep indicating a valid ticket. I don't think these things make different beeps depending on ticket.
posted by reformedjerk at 1:23 PM on April 27, 2007

I really doubt they would ask, if they do just have her say that she left hers at home and the tickets didn't say anything about needed to bring it with you.
posted by thebrokenmuse at 3:11 PM on April 27, 2007

Let us know what happens, please.
posted by Hogshead at 2:21 PM on April 28, 2007

I work for Ticketmaster and I'm getting a kick out these replies--err, sorry, wrong site...

But seriously, I do, and I've seen the source code of the software that generates those bar codes, once you've got the bar coded ticket, you're in, so don't worry about the rest. Have fun!
posted by archae at 1:47 AM on April 29, 2007

My fear in posting this question was the thought of somebody on AskMe working for Ticketmaster and getting a kick out of invalidating tickets. Don't make me find you, archae! (And thanks for the insight.)
posted by Hankins at 5:53 PM on April 29, 2007

Hankins: Oh don't worry about anything like that, I'm all for sticking it to The Man, and besides, I have better things to do with my precious time, such as waste it on here!
posted by archae at 12:34 AM on May 1, 2007

Everything went off without a hitch. No bullying, no wrangling into a secret room, no getting tossed out onto the sidewalk. The only scare was that we went in behind a group of people figuring strength in numbers -- it turned out the group was with the press and each one was carded for their credentials. Freaked me out until I realized what was going on. Thanks for the confidence, everyone.
posted by Hankins at 10:07 AM on May 7, 2007