Is anyone poised over the keyboard .... ???

[David-G]

Was lucky enough to land at position 440 (very musical) at 9.01. Possibly this was because I cheated and used the URL https://tickets.royalalberthall.com/ instead of the front page.

Mr B, I am interested and curious - what does this link achieve that the other doesn't?

[Richard J.]

Mr B, I am interested and curious - what does this link achieve that the other doesn't?

I doubt that it makes any difference. I would expect any access to the RAH site to be directed through to the waiting room, or to the "full" message. I wondered whether the process of repeating the attempt to access the site was made deliberately awkward in order to limit the load on the system.

I got into the queue at 09:07 at number 3896, and it only took 32 minutes to gain entry, which I think is a lot faster than previous years.

[Petrushka]

I think in previous years there was explicit advice not to use iPads and tablets, but it sounds as though mostly things have improved significantly for this year, though some people have still had some painful experiences.

That explicit advice is still there. It makes perfect sense anyway and I wouldn't dare risk it. My Windows laptop worked perfectly well and reading the messages here I can't see any 'painful experiences' being reported. It was, by far, the least stressful opening day I've yet had.

I agree that the holding messages are ambiguously worded and it should be made clearer that pressing F5 'refresh'all the time will not get you through. A bit of nifty fingerwork with the backspace and left mouse button was all that was required.

[Dave2002]

My Windows laptop worked perfectly well and reading the messages here I can't see any 'painful experiences' being reported. It was, by far, the least stressful opening day I've yet had.

I think there are indications from some on these boards that they didn't have much fun, but from what has mostly been written it does seem to have been a lot better than in previous years.

Our outsourcing of the work was by far the least painful way we've found of doing this. In previous years (several) it has felt like banging our heads against several walls repeatedly for long periods, together with the snakes and ladders - go back to the start phenomenon just to add to the frisson of excitement!

Maybe next year it'll be our turn to do the "work". Can't wait!

[David-G]

I agree that the holding messages are ambiguously worded and it should be made clearer that pressing F5 'refresh'all the time will not get you through. A bit of nifty fingerwork with the backspace and left mouse button was all that was required.

I am really curious as to what backspace and left mouse does!

[Petrushka]

I am really curious as to what backspace and left mouse does!

I had to come out of the RAH site and go back in again. The quickest way to do that was to click on backspace with my right hand finger which took me back to the 'frequent' boxes and then click on the RAH box with the left hand finger on the 'mouse' and then to 'Submit Plan' on the main RAH site. Once in a rhythm it was easy enough.

[Prommer]

Once in a rhythm it was easy enough.

[mrbouffant]

Mr B, I am interested and curious - what does this link achieve that the other doesn't?

Puts you straight in the queue rather than a redirect from the front page to the same URL. We are of course talking a matter of 1-2 seconds but sometimes that can make a difference between position 400 and position 1400.

[Cockney Sparrow]

So, we've got the best URL (need to check its the same next year) and I now know not to use refresh, but go into the web address afresh each time. Only takes a few years to get that right. That's without the assistance of the RAH; again without their input, for future reference, there is a useful plan of the RAH seats in this image here:

http://www.orionsoft.co.uk/Goldfrapp/RAH_2014_11_18/Royal-albert-hall-seating-plan_MAIN.jpg

I've copied that image (click on it, right click - copy - paste into doc (on a PC)) into a Word document, and zoomed the view to 500%, so the numbers on it become clearer.

Also, once you have checked the approx position, you can find precise seat numbers here:

http://www.theatremonkey.com/ROYALALBERTHALLbooking.htm

As I pay handsomely (what with the booking fee and commission) for stalls seats on the occasions I use them, I'm minded to check the chart/numbers for accuracy when I am next there.

[pureimagination]

To belatedly answer Petrushka's question in post #7, I live in London so as I have done for many years I took myself down to the RAH at midnight on May 6th and queued all night till the booking office doors opened at 9am [though they do open the cafe and toilets from 7.30am].
I was fifth in the queue got all the tickets I wanted in all the seats I wanted and didn't have to pay the additional booking fee thereby saving a few quid, and was finished before 9.10am. Not suitable for many but queuing in person still attracted several hundred by 9am [rather than the thousands in previous years].
I'm not going to as many proms this year: mum's unable to go now, the number of proms in the higher bands of ticket prices has increased [especially for the big name orchs, conductors, singers etc] and though there are some great works being performed the programmes for many individual proms are usually, in my personal opinion, made up of one or two pieces I would like to hear/see live and other pieces I'm rather underwhelmed about hearing/seeing.
I'll probably queue up on the night for the £6 arena/gallery tickets for a couple of the other proms that I didn't want to fork out £30 - £60 for. The rest I will enjoy listening to on radio/tv or bbc iplayer.
One thing I want to add is that I hope that criticisms of each prom/performer will come after the concert has occurred rather than before [some on this forum are quick to opine before the performance has even happened!]. Let's support artists/musicians and remember that the Proms aren't the only place you can hear the music you would personally like to hear, so hopefully it won't be necessary for some on this forum to continually be critical of what they don't want to hear, be considerate to artists of all genres and finally enjoy the Proms 2016 but please remember you're not expected to like all of it.

[Petrushka]

To belatedly answer Petrushka's question in post #7, I live in London so as I have done for many years I took myself down to the RAH at midnight on May 6th and queued all night till the booking office doors opened at 9am [though they do open the cafe and toilets from 7.30am].
I was fifth in the queue got all the tickets I wanted in all the seats I wanted and didn't have to pay the additional booking fee thereby saving a few quid, and was finished before 9.10am. Not suitable for many but queuing in person still attracted several hundred by 9am [rather than the thousands in previous years].
I'm not going to as many proms this year: mum's unable to go now, the number of proms in the higher bands of ticket prices has increased [especially for the big name orchs, conductors, singers etc] and though there are some great works being performed the programmes for many individual proms are usually, in my personal opinion, made up of one or two pieces I would like to hear/see live and other pieces I'm rather underwhelmed about hearing/seeing.
I'll probably queue up on the night for the £6 arena/gallery tickets for a couple of the other proms that I didn't want to fork out £30 - £60 for. The rest I will enjoy listening to on radio/tv or bbc iplayer.
One thing I want to add is that I hope that criticisms of each prom/performer will come after the concert has occurred rather than before [some on this forum are quick to opine before the performance has even happened!]. Let's support artists/musicians and remember that the Proms aren't the only place you can hear the music you would personally like to hear, so hopefully it won't be necessary for some on this forum to continually be critical of what they don't want to hear, be considerate to artists of all genres and finally enjoy the Proms 2016 but please remember you're not expected to like all of it.

Thanks for the info regarding the arrangements for personal booking on day 1. I'd imagined there might be some element of overnight queuing but there was no information to be found anywhere. I had thought about doing this last year but chickened out in the end. Now that the online system has so greatly improved it looks unnecessary unless one wants to avoid those booking fees.

[Anastasius]

I doubt that it makes any difference. I would expect any access to the RAH site to be directed through to the waiting room, or to the "full" message. I wondered whether the process of repeating the attempt to access the site was made deliberately awkward in order to limit the load on the system.

I got into the queue at 09:07 at number 3896, and it only took 32 minutes to gain entry, which I think is a lot faster than previous years.

It's not 'deliberately' awkward as such but the unwillingness of the RAH to spend the extra money needed for greater capacity in the waiting room for a "once a year" event.

"We are a charity" was the reply from the CEO last year when I queried why the waiting room had a limited capacity for 'waiting'.

[LHC]

It's not 'deliberately' awkward as such but the unwillingness of the RAH to spend the extra money needed for greater capacity in the waiting room for a "once a year" event.

"We are a charity" was the reply from the CEO last year when I queried why the waiting room had a limited capacity for 'waiting'.

The Albert Hall's charitable status is pretty questionable, given that members of its governing body can make personal profits of up to £100,000 a year from re-selling their tickets, and so have an incentive to act in their own interests, rather than in the interest of the Charity:

At present the 19 voting members of the hall’s 24-strong council are elected by the holders of 1,276 of the hall’s 5,200 seats that were bought in 1856 for £100 on 999-year leases by investors to help build the hall. Since then the seats have been inherited or traded.

Hall documents show that council members and their families control approximately 128 seats, each worth an average of £100,000 on the open market. They can sell unwanted tickets through the box office, which can yield between £4,000 and £5,000 a year per seat, or on the internet, which can yield more than twice that.

A small number of council members control, with their families, seatholdings that run into dozens and can earn £100,000 a year or more on the open market through tickets including those for popular shows such as Adele, Eric Clapton and Cirque du Soleil.

http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/charity-commission-yet-act-royal-albert-halls-missed-deadlines/governance/article/1381792

[PhilipT]

The Albert Hall's charitable status is pretty questionable, given that members of its governing body can make personal profits of up to £100,000 a year from re-selling their tickets ..

I think this confuses two things: How the governing body behave, and how the leaseholders behave. If those running the charity do so inappropriately then the Charity Commissioners might take an interest. The leaseholders have rights in the property they own - and they do have to stump up a serious annual service charge, like all other leaseholders of property. Is it wrong of Her Majesty to give away tickets for her box to members of the Royal Household (after payment of a modest charge to cover administration costs)? Any criticism of the leaseholders runs into the problem that if the leases hadn't been sold in the first place there would have been no money to build the Hall.

There is a story that a minister in a Labour Government once suggested passing legislation to deprive the leaseholders of their rights and re-sell the leases at great gain to the public purse. It had to be pointed out to him that the existing arrangement was established not by legislation but by a Royal Charter, and that Her Majesty might not take kindly to the suggestion.