New ticketing system

[MancunianAngels]

Absolute joke this.

My parents are still Season Ticket holders but didn't have a smart phone until last year but they essentially had to get one to carry on going to matches.

Feels like they're trying to force people out.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Josep Dowling]

Absolute joke this.

My parents are still Season Ticket holders but didn't have a smart phone until last year but they essentially had to get one to carry on going to matches.

Feels like they're trying to force people out.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Or your parents could get into the 21st century?

 

[MancunianAngels]

Or your parents could get into the 21st century?

Why should people be forced to?

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Why should people be forced to?

I mean, we could obviously still use the league match ticket book and have vouchers for cup loyalty.
We could also hand wash all of our clothes and get our news updates solely on the wireless.

 

[Freak]

Absolute joke this.

My parents are still Season Ticket holders but didn't have a smart phone until last year but they essentially had to get one to carry on going to matches.

Feels like they're trying to force people out.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Seems like you don’t want to put in the effort to teach your parents new skills.

 

[RoadTrip]

Brutal initial responses (but, largely fair, also).

 

[pocco]

Absolute joke this.

My parents are still Season Ticket holders but didn't have a smart phone until last year but they essentially had to get one to carry on going to matches.

Feels like they're trying to force people out.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

The responses say it all. I've been a season ticket holder for around 20 years and been going to games even way before then. And one thing you realise when you deal with United is how shoddy everything is, and that they don't give two shits about supporters. We had a busy up with them this season, to which they offered some sort of apology, but I was still made ineligible to apply for tickets to the semi final last week. It's always been a shit show.

 

[El Zoido]

It was better when you could add the tickets to your phone wallet, the app is bloated and a bit crap.

 

[MancunianAngels]

The responses say it all. I've been a season ticket holder for around 20 years and been going to games even way before then. And one thing you realise when you deal with United is how shoddy everything is, and that they don't give two shits about supporters. We had a busy up with them this season, to which they offered some sort of apology, but I was still made ineligible to apply for tickets to the semi final last week. It's always been a shit show.

It's ridiculous.

A bloke who sits near my parents nearly lost his season ticket because he missed a few games due to the death of his wife. He'd been in the loyalty pot for 20+ years by all accounts and was kicked out of that and had to fight just to keep his season ticket. They made him ineligible for the semi final and final tickets.

 

[pocco]

It's ridiculous.

A bloke who sits near my parents nearly lost his season ticket because he missed a few games due to the death of his wife. He'd been in the loyalty pot for 20+ years by all accounts and was kicked out of that and had to fight just to keep his season ticket. They made him ineligible for the semi final and final tickets.

They're so bad and have lost any ounce of the community club it one was. As somebody said to me, in these instances they should be calling to make sure everything is OK with you, not doing this shit. It was similar circumstances for me as to why I missed some games, legitimate reasons, and they just come steaming in. I've been close to telling them to stick their ticket up their arse a few times now.

 

[Hammondo]

Why should people be forced to?

Why should companies be forced to support people like your parents?

 

[DanNistelrooy]

Absolute joke this.

My parents are still Season Ticket holders but didn't have a smart phone until last year but they essentially had to get one to carry on going to matches.

Feels like they're trying to force people out.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

"Ticket QR code will become available 3 hours before kick off in the app"... feels like a disaster waiting to happen.

It's been said before but if STHs could nominate 5 names (family/friends) at the start of the season who they can forward their ticket to then a lot of frustrations with these restrictions would feel slightly more reasonable. Seeing stories of ID checks for STHs at turnstiles is concerning

 

[Red00012]

If it stops touting I don’t see the problem. Just download the app and get on with it

 

[Rood]

All these changes are mostly aimed at stopping touting so the right idea, but I can see this tech causing problems as we have seen at major finals when they tried similar stuff.

I'm guess it's not a major issue for 90% of people to have a ticket on the phone, probably more.

Even my GP now forces you to book an appointment though an app (which obviously doesn't work half the time). It's not helped much because Instead of a queue to get an appointment, there is a now a queue of people asking how the feck the app works.

 

[SouthMancRed]

"Ticket QR code will become available 3 hours before kick off in the app"... feels like a disaster waiting to happen.

It's been said before but if STHs could nominate 5 names (family/friends) at the start of the season who they can forward their ticket to then a lot of frustrations with these restrictions would feel slightly more reasonable. Seeing stories of ID checks for STHs at turnstiles is concerning

I take it if you can't show you're the season ticket holder you don't get in and ST holder gets slapped wrist? Is checking happening a lot? Asking purely out of curiosity obviously...

 

[MancunianAngels]

If it stops touting I don’t see the problem. Just download the app and get on with it

The touting problem is massively overstated. A fairly high % of "touting" is usually just lads passing tickets onto a mate on the day of a match when they can't go due to last minute emergencies.

Very few end up in the hands of actual touts.

If it ends up with season ticket holders having tickets taken off them, the club will just re sell them as part of hospitality packages that they'll sell for £150.

 

[TheNewEra]

Absolute joke this.

My parents are still Season Ticket holders but didn't have a smart phone until last year but they essentially had to get one to carry on going to matches.

Feels like they're trying to force people out.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

They're not really forcing anyone out though, at some point the world moves on.

Smartphones have been around 18 years now so its not unreasonable to transition especially to cut printing costs.

In all technologies eventually they do change to a different method, especially when the older generation passes. If not we'd all still stuff our money under the mattresses and not trust banks, we'd still use a horse and cart.

In general with technology adapt to it, because the world changes, we can't expect the world will stay the same because we grew up in a different era.

Sorry that your parents feel that way but, 92% of people in the UK as of October 2023 own a smartphone, it really isn't unreasonable.

 

[K Stand Knut]

So people are complaining because they now have to use an app on the smartphone that they already own to show their ticket rather than using the ticket that is in a wallet on the same smartphone?

Makes sense!

 

[Havak]

I'm probably not the most informed on the matter, but I know a group of ST Holders and they all agree that the method of forwarding their ticket onto someone else is quite poor. The person that receives 'their' ticket doesn't automatically get their seat apparently, which seems bonkers. The club may sell that seat to someone else first and give a different seat to the person in question. This group of people obviously have friends/family who they generally give their ticket to, and they all know each other. It seems silly when that person may be forced to sit elsewhere when they'd obviously want to sit with the people they know. This often leads to people sharing screenshots of their ticket instead of doing it through the system.

If you miss two games, you are at risk of losing your ST for the next season. Another outrageous decision in my opinion. It just feels very anti-consumer. Trying to stop touting and invalid sharing of tickets, but probably hurting just as many die-hard fans, whom have been long-term ST holders in the process.

That's the general gist I get from talking to fans and ST holders. Nobody likes it.

 

[tomaldinho1]

I didn't actually realise people still had normal phones, I thought everything was 'smart' now?

 

[Cassidy]

Why should companies be forced to support people like your parents?

Because they sold them a product so it should continue to work without someone buying additional equipment which isn’t cheap.

 

[Big Andy]

What if it's a junior ticket and they don't have a phone because they're 7 years old? How does that work?

 

[Hammondo]

Because they sold them a product so it should continue to work without someone buying additional equipment which isn’t cheap.

That's nonsense, it's normal to buy things that require additional equipment.

 

[Cassidy]

That's nonsense, it's normal to buy things that require additional equipment.

Not after the sale its not

 

[The Mitcher]

Absolute joke this.

My parents are still Season Ticket holders but didn't have a smart phone until last year but they essentially had to get one to carry on going to matches.

Feels like they're trying to force people out.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

It's not malicious, it's techno-optimism. An over-reliance and overly optimistic view that tech will solve everything and be great. It's failing in this regard.

 

[Hammondo]

Not after the sale its not

You are suggesting there are no other products that require other products to use? Seriously?

 

[Rood]

I'm probably not the most informed on the matter, but I know a group of ST Holders and they all agree that the method of forwarding their ticket onto someone else is quite poor. The person that receives 'their' ticket doesn't automatically get their seat apparently, which seems bonkers. The club may sell that seat to someone else first and give a different seat to the person in question. This group of people obviously have friends/family who they generally give their ticket to, and they all know each other. It seems silly when that person may be forced to sit elsewhere when they'd obviously want to sit with the people they know. This often leads to people sharing screenshots of their ticket instead of doing it through the system.

If you miss two games, you are at risk of losing your ST for the next season. Another outrageous decision in my opinion. It just feels very anti-consumer. Trying to stop touting and invalid sharing of tickets, but probably hurting just as many die-hard fans, whom have been long-term ST holders in the process.

That's the general gist I get from talking to fans and ST holders. Nobody likes it.

Most of that isnt true - if you forward your ticket to someone then they get your seat, no idea who has told you any different

Making sure seats are used and not left empty is a good idea IMO

 

[Rood]

What if it's a junior ticket and they don't have a phone because they're 7 years old? How does that work?

I assume it will be same as now where one phone can hold multiple tickets

 

[Cassidy]

You are suggesting there are no other products that require other products to use? Seriously?

Im suggesting no other product you buy then after the sale decide to change usage of item which includes additional purchase of more products without also supporting existing owners of the product.

 

[AdamColeBebe]

It's partly why I never bother going (plus expense of travel etc), just cannot be arsed with the faff of it all

 

[jojojo]

"Ticket QR code will become available 3 hours before kick off in the app"... feels like a disaster waiting to happen.

It's been said before but if STHs could nominate 5 names (family/friends) at the start of the season who they can forward their ticket to then a lot of frustrations with these restrictions would feel slightly more reasonable. Seeing stories of ID checks for STHs at turnstiles is concerning

I hate the idea. I want everyone to get their QR code downloaded and happily stored in their wallet while they're on their home/hotel WiFi. The idea of relying on the queue outside OT all having had their mobile data switched on and working in that kind of narrow window is miserable. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic.

It just seems like a recipe for "on the day" disaster for some ticket holders and potentially for lots of them especially if there's a problem with the app or the rollout of the code.

I guess it's one step up on the UEFA app that left thousands on Liverpool fans locked out of a CL final. That expected data connectivity and Bluetooth to both be working reliably on everyone's phones at the stadium gates and didn't bargain for a Bluetooth failure on some of the turnstiles themselves.

 

[Havak]

Most of that isnt true - if you forward your ticket to someone then they get your seat, no idea who has told you any different

Making sure seats are used and not left empty is a good idea IMO

Just from the ST holders I know who have done the process before. The club apparently can and do sell your 'transferred' ticket and relocate the person whom the ticket was forwarded to. Might be hogwash, but I'm not sure why I would be told this from someone who has done it.

 

[MancunianAngels]

Making sure seats are used and not left empty is a good idea IMO

The problem with this is it has now become more difficult to forward tickets on.

Asking people to become members just to receive tickets from a family member/friend is an appalling cash grab.

 

[Utd heap]

Our ticketing system continues to be word leading.

No loyalty schemes, bloated memberships, broken apps, and the club touting tickets.

Great stuff.

 

[clarkydaz]

Clamping down on ticket touting, so the club can do their own ticket touting

 

[Rood]

Just from the ST holders I know who have done the process before. The club apparently can and do sell your 'transferred' ticket and relocate the person whom the ticket was forwarded to. Might be hogwash, but I'm not sure why I would be told this from someone who has done it.

It is hogwash, I've both forwarded and received dozens of tickets so believe me I know how it works

 

[Rood]

The problem with this is it has now become more difficult to forward tickets on.

Asking people to become members just to receive tickets from a family member/friend is an appalling cash grab.

From my perspective as a ST holder the official forwarding system is a positive move

Used to be a right hassle to have to retrieve your ST card after passing it on

Yes the ticket office is often a bit shit and I've had a right hassle with them myself on several occasions but you have to be realistic at some point - wanting no price rises ever, no admin fee for systems to forward tickets etc is not realistic

 

[TheNewEra]

I hate the idea. I want everyone to get their QR code downloaded and happily stored in their wallet while they're on their home/hotel WiFi. The idea of relying on the queue outside OT all having had their mobile data switched on and working in that kind of narrow window is miserable. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic.

It just seems like a recipe for "on the day" disaster for some ticket holders and potentially for lots of them especially if there's a problem with the app or the rollout of the code.

I guess it's one step up on the UEFA app that left thousands on Liverpool fans locked out of a CL final. That expected data connectivity and Bluetooth to both be working reliably on everyone's phones at the stadium gates and didn't bargain for a Bluetooth failure on some of the turnstiles themselves.

This is the poor design, since yes you're not going to readily be able to get the ticket within 3 hours.

that's 75,000 requests to a server to download the tickets, so we hope the provider can keep up with demand, probably some cloud company like AWS so it should be fine.

But for traveling fans, or people coming from overseas they may not have data so that's a problem in itself praying to get WiFi at the stadium

 

[noodlehair]

Thought it'd be something logical like an apology for the poor performance being automatically printed on the back of the ticket, or tickets to watch the other team play being automatically issued to the United starting line up.

 

[Ayush_reddevil]

Can anyone explain that for someone with a membership who goes to a couple of games a season by taking tickets from ST holders does this make it more difficult or impossible in any way ?