Allocation of tickets to away games.

[Royal Lady]

Do Star know how the club allocate seating for away games? We got our tickets on the first day they were available for today's game at West Ham and had 3 of the worst seats imaginable. Right next to a wall and the corner flag was miles to our right. An away season ticket holder that I know had tickets a few rows behind us and my sister who also bought tickets on the Wednesday (first day they were being allocated) was further back still.

surely the club should allocate the best seats in the away ends to AST's first and then on a first come first served basis to others, otherwise it's just a lottery.

[PieEater]

Sounds like decent seats for West Ham, you could of been in Row A below pitch level and wet.

[Jerry St Clair]

How would the club know which the best seats are?

You'd assume that A would be the front but that's not always the case (Pompey?). Other than that how could RFC possibly know that your seat was to the far left of the corner flag?

FWIW, we got our tickets about 4 days after they went on sale and we were behind the goal about halfway back.

[HereWeCome]

I got my ticket a few days in and ended up middle behind the goal, very good seats. When speaking to the ticket office i tried to request a certain area and they have no idea where each row is. To do this they would have to work from a seating plan of the away ground which would just be more work for them (unlikely) and isn't benfiting the club as essentially they are just sellng for the away team!

[moo]

Lets not be stupid, they just have a huge roll of tickets and not in much of an order. The best they can do really is assure that people can sit next to tickets they book with.

It IS a slight lottery, obviously for the better stadiums it doesnt matter as much. For example if we were an away team visiting the Madjeski, I dont see how there could be a bad seat

[M4 Junction 11]

they would have to work from a seating plan of the away ground which would just be more work for them

I wonder where they could get a seating plan?

[HereWeCome]

they would have to work from a seating plan of the away ground which would just be more work for them

I wonder where they could get a seating plan?

I never said they couldn't get a seating plan but can you really imagine the ticket office using it to sit everyone exactly where they want

[EASTENDER MARKY]

I know what you mean RL, I got tickets at lunchtime on the first day of sales and my seats couldn't of been far from you. I was row Z seat 7. Not too bad of a view but could of been better.
I think the club has to sell the tickets how the home team wants them to for segregation purposes.

[STAR Liaison]

Do Star know how the club allocate seating for away games? We got our tickets on the first day they were available for today's game at West Ham and had 3 of the worst seats imaginable. Right next to a wall and the corner flag was miles to our right. An away season ticket holder that I know had tickets a few rows behind us and my sister who also bought tickets on the Wednesday (first day they were being allocated) was further back still.

surely the club should allocate the best seats in the away ends to AST's first and then on a first come first served basis to others, otherwise it's just a lottery.

Yes we had a dialogue with the ticket office (as it was then ) about this a couple of seasons ago when there were about 70 ASTs.

The big problem (and it must be even bigger now with 700 ASTs) is that everyone has a different opinion of which are the best seats. There are a few givens but very few.

Another problem is that they are told by the home club the order in which to sell the tickets (as they want to make sure if it is less than full that the away fans are sitting where they want) and so they tried to sell some first and then allocate the ASTs but this may be more difficult now there are so many ASTs.

If this continues to be a problem please send us an email at info@star-reading.org and we will raise it at the next meeting we have with the club, especially if you can find a good set of criteria to apply rather than just 'the best seats' as that is so subjective.

[sheshnu]

I would have thought that for starters the tickets at the back could be sold first as these are (99% of the time) a million times better than front row seats. I think everybody would agree with that, unless they were particularly old or infirm.

[The 17 Bus]

I think everybody would agree with that, unless they were particularly old or infirm.

which is where your comment falls down, felled by your own sword

[BLUES & ROYAL]

I think you will find that they sell the corner ones first and work their way towards the centre.
If alll the tickets arent sold, they sell the ones nearer the centre and next to the home fans, to the home fans.

This is why they asked for more from Pompey because we sold the sections nearer the corner first.

AST holders may be guaranteed a seat , but not the best views.

Thats my theory anyway.

[reading98]

Do Star know how the club allocate seating for away games? We got our tickets on the first day they were available for today's game at West Ham and had 3 of the worst seats imaginable. Right next to a wall and the corner flag was miles to our right. An away season ticket holder that I know had tickets a few rows behind us and my sister who also bought tickets on the Wednesday (first day they were being allocated) was further back still.

surely the club should allocate the best seats in the away ends to AST's first and then on a first come first served basis to others, otherwise it's just a lottery.

It is always pot luck. Least you were not stuck at the back row with fans who seats were down the front but didn't want to sit in them cause of the rain, then have them moaning at me for having a fag in the last ten minutes, and to cap it off had a F**ING roof in my view and then took twenty mins to get out of the s**t hole and thats the third time I have been. As I said pot luck I would do it all again to get 3 points

[M4 Junction 11]

Would be a nice start if they could confirm in advance the system they're going to use.

[readingbedding]

I think you will find that they sell the corner ones first and work their way towards the centre.
If alll the tickets arent sold, they sell the ones nearer the centre and next to the home fans, to the home fans.

This is why they asked for more from Pompey because we sold the sections nearer the corner first.

AST holders may be guaranteed a seat , but not the best views.

Thats my theory anyway.

I agree, AST holders moaning that they should choose their seat?
For the reasons above, practically it couldn't happen.