Season Tickets

[Risso]

There's no date/version on the website. It certainly has been updated as elements of the other T&Cs are explicit in their reference to 23/24 season.

It still doesn't mention digital tickets.

[Ads]

Too much reliance is placed on technology. Fans shouldn't have to justify any request for a physical card. It's almost pointless taking a mobile phone anywhere near the stadium on match days as the wifi is virtually inaccessible on many networks.

See 3.8- you have an obligation to ensure the season ticket is downloaded to your wallet. You won't need WiFi or 4/5g for access.

From their point of view, you're not going to ensure migration to digital by allowing a second and substantial system.

[Ads]

There's no date/version on the website. It certainly has been updated as elements of the other T&Cs are explicit in their reference to 23/24 season.

It still doesn't mention digital tickets.

It does at 5.2. "Season tickets are digital...". 5.3 deals with plastic cards under exceptional circumstances. 5.3 had a spelling mistake too.

[frank black]

I always had the impression that they didn’t want folks to have cards. They don’t advertise the fact you could apply for one and they made the process (fill in a form and pay) a little inconvenient. I didn’t bother because I didn’t have a good enough reason. Very few people do not have smartphones now, a tiny minority (probably) and this is why they’ve only issued a few and not charged.

What is interesting is that they’ve obviously gone down the route of assuming everyone has a smartphone, even if they’ve stated that they haven’t. Basically saying tough, buy yourself one!

[Drummond]

Edited as hadn't read everything above!

[Dogtanian]

They definitely want everyone to go digital, and understandably so.

If you buy a season ticket you get a discounted seat. They want you to turn up or they want to re-sell the seat to someone who will. Particularly as it's a double whammy if you don't turn up as they have discounted your seat and lost the opportunity to take your money off you for food and drink on the day.

I expect over the next season or so they will be assessing the data to determine how much revenue they are losing through ST holders not going or transferring their ticket to someone else.

People accuse away fans of buying tickets for games they know they can't attend and stopping other fans having a chance to buy them. The same will be happening on season tickets.

And there are 25k+ season ticket holders compared to less than 1k full history away fans.

[chrisw1]

People accuse away fans of buying tickets for games they know they can't attend and stopping other fans having a chance to buy them. The same will be happening on season tickets.

I hadn't thought of it like that tbf.

But one issue is they have made the club resale almost redundant as they won't put them on the market whilst there are still a lot of GA+ tickets available.

I've used the resale a fair bit over the last few years and my ticket almost always sold, but it was noticeable in the second half of last season (when I think there must have been some sort of policy change in pushing the GA+ seats) that many people were saying that the resale seats just weren't going.

So making it harder to pass on your seat and at the same time making resale less likely does seem a bit short sighted.  But yes, the option of phoning the club to get a paper ticket does work.

I've never really understood why people leave their seats unused when resale was (previously) so easy.

[Ads]

The digital move I assume is in the belief it's harder to pass on and tout. My Kopite mates tell me you just see tourists getting phones off the touts in envelopes now rather than plastic cards. Makes no odds, they will find a way.

[Dogtanian]

Yeah, they will. But the every day folk won't.

Wait until face recognition cameras get put on the turnstiles!

[VillaTim]

The digital move I assume is in the belief it's harder to pass on and tout. My Kopite mates tell me you just see tourists getting phones off the touts in envelopes now rather than plastic cards. Makes no odds, they will find a way.

So can you download the tickets from one phone to another ?

[Ads]

No, its all one phone. Touts at Anfield have a tout phone that the individual uses. The club does have all our photo ID now, so it is probably only a matter of time.

[Dogtanian]

They don't even need photo ID, really. They can just set it up to log your face every time you use your ticket and then check for differences.

That raises a flag which means a human then takes a look and sees how often it really is you or triggers someone at the gate to ask you for ID sometime.

[Risso]

No, its all one phone. Touts at Anfield have a tout phone that the individual uses. The club does have all our photo ID now, so it is probably only a matter of time.

Presumably you can change phones though?

[johnc]

They don't even need photo ID, really. They can just set it up to log your face every time you use your ticket and then check for differences.

That raises a flag which means a human then takes a look and sees how often it really is you or triggers someone at the gate to ask you for ID sometime.

It sounds like going down the Villa will be akin to a bit part in Minority Report. Its a right PIA because my brother, my nephew and two other friend groups are continually swapping tickets. I am sure there will be some way found around it

[Chico Hamilton III]

All sounds like a big overreaction by the club to something that isn’t really a serious issue at Villa