At TicketMaster, "Best" is a relative term

October 22, 2007 11:21 AM

How to get the best seats vs what Ticketmaster says are the best available?

OK, I reviewed some past Ticketmaster threads and haven't seen this addressed specifically.
I'm looking for tickets to a local small venue show, and Ticketmaster offers up 2 seats in Row N. I try again, same seats. Try a 3rd time, same seats.
Then I ask for 3 tickets instead of 2, and get seats 5 rows closer. I imagine I could play this game for hours, adding more seats, selecting specific theater sections, etc...but why am I not being offered the best available 2 seats in the theater?

Any tricks to really get the best seats available?

posted by genefinder to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (5 answers total)

use multiple pcs and/or multiple browsers, and keep booking tickets. it's haphazard, and you'll need to do it quickly, but sometimes it can help where your opinion of 'best seats' differs from TMs
posted by ascullion at 11:31 AM on October 22, 2007

Why do they do this? Because it's a lot easier to sell 3 seats together than it is to sell 2 + 1. The 2 is easy, the 1 is hard. As a ticket-sell, you don't want single seats scattered across the venue because the demand for single seats is low.

One way to get around this it buy the third seat.
posted by smackfu at 11:48 AM on October 22, 2007

If a block of 3 seats is available the computer will reserve it for bidders for 3 seats, rather than strand a single hard-to-sell seat.
posted by MattD at 11:49 AM on October 22, 2007

By the way, TM never gets the best seats for most shows. For theater the best tickets are held back for premium price sales through concierges and special programs; for bands the best tickets are held back for artist comps, artist fan clubs, and for radio stations to use with their advertising clients and contest winners -- and increasingly for premium tier sales as well, although this is not yet a fully developed market.
posted by MattD at 11:52 AM on October 22, 2007

I'm having the same issue when it comes to Broadway tickets. It keeps wanting to put me (looking for one ticket) in the furthest corner of the very last row. I often go to events and shows alone, so it either benefits me greatly (scoring one leftover seat in a great area) or screws me over (getting put in the corner).

I hate Ticketmaster. I prefer Telecharge for Broadway.
posted by cmgonzalez at 12:33 PM on October 22, 2007