Are TKTS discounts real?

[felipenor]

Posted: 1/30/14 at 11:27pm

Are TKTS discounts what they're actually advertised as? I still can't wrap my mind around those prices. I was looking for tickets for Cinderella and they're went as cheap as 55 bucks on the website (for today's performance). The same type of seat was 68 dollars on TKTS, even though they claimed it was 50% off.
The phantom of the opera was $27 on the website, and $71 on TKTS (also advertised as 50% off).

So how doees this work exactly?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 1/30/14 at 11:47pm

The TKTS prices are based on the actual value of the ticket, not any discounts that the producers may apply to the tickets if you are buying from their box office (or ticket sales outlet, as it were) directly.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 1/30/14 at 11:55pm

The $27 Phantom seats were the last couple of rows of the Mezz. The TKTS seats were either Orchestra or Front Mezz which are $137 at full price. TKTS is always 50% (or whatever percentage they indicate it is discounted) off the value of the ticket plus a $5 TKTS fee (actually I think it is $5.50 now which includes a $1 Broadway League fee for most theaters).

Updated On: 1/31/14 at 11:55 PM

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 1/31/14 at 12:23am

Shows hardly ever send lower-priced tickets to TKTS, at least early in the day. The discounts are nearly always from the highest-priced tickets, so yes, 50% off $137 is going to be around $75 with the fees and such.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 1/31/14 at 12:00pm

The @TKTS twitter feed said something about them having the cheapest seats for a Broadway show in their history recently, so maybe they did get some of those Rear Mezz or Balcony cheap seats but I imagine that's gotta be rare.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 1/31/14 at 12:34pm

This is one of the best thread titles I've ever seen.

[felipenor]

Posted: 2/2/14 at 1:31am

So basically TKTS offers better seats, but if I buy directly from the show's website I might find cheaper options (even if those are not great seats). Is that correct?

[blaxx]

Posted: 2/2/14 at 1:41am

Yes, what TKTS will give you is a better price on the preferred seats. Not necessarily the cheapest.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 2/2/14 at 7:46am

I always wondered how a theatre determined seats they give to TKTS and what they keep at theatre box office.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/2/14 at 8:05am

I'm sure it's pretty standard for each show...they've figured out what they are likely to sell at the box office for that from each price range, and the rest goes over. At at least one other point during the day, they reassess and might send over more -- which is why you could actually end up with better tickets late in the day. Sometimes just before curtain.


I also seem to remember being told, that there are minimums that TKTS will accept, too. It has been, however, a looong time since I've known anyone that worked there.


Not too long ago, I was at the box office picking up my tix for that evening's show, when the BO person was on the phone with TKTS telling them whether they would be releasing additional tix.

Updated On: 2/2/14 at 08:05 AM

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 2/2/14 at 2:35pm

I was at the TKTS window a few months ago. Pippin was on the board but the person in front of me was told they just ran out. After they too forever to decide their next choice I got to the window. I asked what the best single seat they had was and was told "just got a new block from Pippin" and got 8th row orch on the aisle.

It is a very fluid process

[darquegk]

Posted: 2/2/14 at 2:42pm

How Can TKTS Discounts Be Real If Our Eyes Aren't Real?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/2/14 at 2:52pm

I've always wondered how they decide what gets put on the TDF membership list.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 2/2/14 at 5:29pm

So is it possible then you might have a good chance of getting a show's "$200+ premium seats" at TKTS at the last minute for up to 50% off a normally priced orchestra seat (roughly $135)?

I'm still trying to figure out this new premium pricing system since THE PRODUCERS opened. Last month for PIPPIN on a Friday night the only decent seats available that afternoon were their premium seats selling for around $275 each. When I went online a few hours later, four great seats in center orchestra, row E, were reduced to $165 each yet the four available seats directly BEHIND them were still priced at $275 each. Made no sense. What was even more perplexing was that when my three friends and I were seated, those four same seats behind us I'd seen earlier remained empty. It appears they preferred to not sell them rather than putting them on TKTS (unless the ticket holders never made it to the theatre which I highly doubt). I've come to the conclusion that the best way to see Broadway theatre in the best seats at the best prices is to live in the NY area and just saunter up to the box office that day, take a chance at TKTS or have a lap top with you. I sure miss the days when all you had to do to get a great seat was to purchase your tickets months in advance. I guess it's all a crap shoot now.

[Patash]

Posted: 2/3/14 at 9:42am

More than once I've gotten a ticket at TKTS for a premium seat that would have been something like $300, for something like $68, despite it saying that it was 50% off.
Newsies comes to mind -- 5th row center orchestra.

My biggest complaint is that most of the sellers there really don't want to tell you exactly where your seat is. The very last row against the wall will be described as "the 14th row 8 seats off the aisle", which may be true, but if you don't know the theatre, it still seems very misleading. And they very well may say "wonderful seat in the center of the orchestra which ends up being in the last row next to the sound board glaring in your face.