Empty seats at Proms

[Lat-Literal]

There speaks two lots of experience and with helpful advice. I didn't even notice the Daphnis and Chloe. The next stage up is to manage life without a mobile phone and a watch. It's a marvellous experience and I have a pyramid of sorts but not the sort that is making Tom Cruise "immortality mission possible". I looked at Tango night. That Lennox Berkeley one has sadly disappeared without trace so I wonder if this will be its moment? Worth highlighting in case. But it's probably a 10pm affair. My preference is for afternoons and early evenings. I rarely think trainers but I hope that blue deck shoes convey the right mixture of naivety, mystery and he might know slightly more than he appears. Elsewhere, scuffed walking boots.

[Nick Armstrong]

Cheers Cali

One further question.

I'm thinking about 'on the day'. is it best to go online on the morning of the day of the concert, or rock-up at the RHA a couple of hours beforehand and queue at the box-office for a physical return ticket?

I'd always do it online personally, to be sure of getting the exact seats I'm after thanks to the accurate seat-by-seat online plan (don't fancy having to take the pot-luck of who might or might not turn up 2 hours before with something, far too many acoustically-crap seats in The Prince Consort's Bathroom) - and to be sure of having something before setting out for the RAH.

[Beef Oven!]

I'd always do it online personally, to be sure of getting the exact seats I'm after thanks to the accurate seat-by-seat online plan (don't fancy having to take the pot-luck of who might or might not turn up 2 hours before with something, far too many acoustically-crap seats in The Prince Consort's Bathroom) - and to be sure of having something before setting out for the RAH.

Ok, so online it is!

I'm not back to the UK until the 15th but I really want to attend that Debussy, Boulanger & Ravel concert the same night. I'll try online as soon as I can and if I get no joy with that, I'll pop along and take my chances in the arena queue and box office. Worse that can happen is that I don't get in and have to retreat to some French/Polish/continental bistro and then get Uber to take me home

[Dave2002]

I'd always do it online personally, to be sure of getting the exact seats I'm after thanks to the accurate seat-by-seat online plan (don't fancy having to take the pot-luck of who might or might not turn up 2 hours before with something, far too many acoustically-crap seats in The Prince Consort's Bathroom) - and to be sure of having something before setting out for the RAH.

I agree - if it works. I have found the box office people can be helpful in getting the "right" seats if done in person, for example in concert intervals, but one has to take time to assess the situation, which might upset others in a queue behind. Avoid - if possible - any attempts to give you "the best available seat" (often a computer generated option - but could be a human's judgement in some situations) - as in my experience these are often anything but - though if they're the only seats available, then there's no choice. With more time, if one happens to be in the area (e.g. of the RAH) - then dealing directly with the box office people during the daytime may be a good option, but of course most people don't live close enough for this to be either feasible or economic. Similar considerations apply at other venues - Barbican, RFH, ROH, Glyndebourne [ to avoid having to repeat largely the same comments for each venue ...]

For beefy it has to be online right now - which is not a bad option anyway, though note that for many venues availablity is fluid and dynamic. Persistence often pays off in getting reasonable or good seats. Seats are usually "locked" for a short period - maybe 10-20 minutes once selected on a web site, but will be released to others if not then paid for. This is one reason, but not the only one, why availability can be so dynamic.