European away games ticketing policy

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Arsenal have just communicated to their fans

"
*IMPORTANT INFORMATION*
We are making some changes to the way tickets are issued to fans on our trips to
Europe. This follows a disappointing increase in anti-social behaviour by some
of our travelling fans.

As a result, the following process will be in place for all future UEFA
Champions’ League away matches:
•We will now require members at the time of booking to provide the following
information for all future UEFA Champions League away matches:
•The full name of the TRAVELLING SUPPORTER * using the Match ticket
•Passport Number
•Date of birth

*(TRAVELLING SUPPORTER) - We know that some members have more than one season
ticket registered in their own name or registered in a company name.
Consequently the details that the season ticket is held under will not be the
same as the supporter travelling to the game. You will need to supply details of
the travelling supporter.

Please be aware that if details are incorrect at the time of booking, the
booking will be cancelled and a full refund will be issued. You must ensure ALL
details are correct for the travelling supporter before completing the
transaction. The name and date of birth of the travelling supporter will be
detailed on each match ticket. Details of the travelling supporter cannot be
changed once the booking has been made.

All travelling supporters’ information (name, passport number and date of birth)
will be shared by the Club with the Metropolitan Police prior to the match to
help prevent further incidences of anti-social behaviour.

Matchday checks at the away ground turnstiles:
•Checks will be carried out before entering the stadium
•Your passport number/ID must correlate to the name on the ticket otherwise
entry to the stadium will be refused

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. This process will be
continually reviewed and may change for future UEFA Champions’ League matches in
Europe.

 

[Bozzie]

As a 14,000 pointer who's previously missed out on match tickets having pre booked travel and accommodation I'm obviously in favour of the collection system because of the benefits it's brings personally. That doesn't mean to say I can't see the the problems with the way the system is being managed or admit they exist. The club need to realise that they can't adopt a 'one size fits all' policy for European away games because each tie presents its own unique set of challenges, what would work in Barcelona doesn't necessarily work in Glasgow and clearly won't work in Monchengladbach. The club shouldn't be looking at this from a 'what's easiest for us' perspective they should be looking at it from a 'what's easiest for the fans' perspective. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that they should have foreseen the potential problems in Glasgow or that they address the potential problems in Monchengladbach.

 

[pedigreeblue]

A lot of people are being sidetracked by the points whore issue, although this has perhaps been the only positive outcome from the ticket distribution fiasco can we keep it separate as it has no bearing on the clubs policy.
The facts are UEFA insist that clubs put procedures in place which guarantee they have the name and address of each ticket user, so methods needed to be put in place to stop transfer of tickets. City seem to have adopted the sledge hammer approach with what the vast majority of fans see as a disrespectful, thoughtless and badly thought out method. City need to have a rethink, some way of issuing the tickets by post, so everyone has their own ticket before travelling. One way would be for city to stamp the tickets with the supporters passport number and then simply show the ticket and passport on entry, anyone found flouting the rules had their season ticket taken off them ! Celtic, Barcelona and now it would seem Arsenal do not expect their fans to queue up abroad ! City need to come up with a official statement as to why they do it this way to stop speculation and give a good reason why other methods cannot be put in place !

 

[DTKOAG]

As a 14,000 pointer who's previously missed out on match tickets having pre booked travel and accommodation I'm obviously in favour of the collection system because of the benefits it's brings personally. That doesn't mean to say I can't see the the problems with the way the system is being managed or admit they exist. The club need to realise that they can't adopt a 'one size fits all' policy for European away games because each tie presents its own unique set of challenges, what would work in Barcelona doesn't necessarily work in Glasgow and clearly won't work in Monchengladbach. The club shouldn't be looking at this from a 'what's easiest for us' perspective they should be looking at it from a 'what's easiest for the fans' perspective. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that they should have foreseen the potential problems in Glasgow or that they address the potential problems in Monchengladbach.

Fully agree.
I'm sure that given time the club will learn about how the ticket collection can be improved to satisfy the people who are against it.
On the 3 occasions that i have had to collect it was handled very efficiently by the club employees.

 

[pedigreeblue]

Fully agree.
I'm sure that given time the club will learn about how the ticket collection can be improved to satisfy the people who are against it.
On the 3 occasions that i have had to collect it was handled very efficiently by the club employees.

Would you not rather save the hassle and have the ticket posted to you !!!??

 

[DTKOAG]

Would you not rather save the hassle and have the ticket posted to you !!!??

If it means going back to the system before the collections then a no from me.
For the PSG game my son who is 13 also managed to get a ticket on his points which are just shy of 8000.

 

[pedigreeblue]

If it means going back to the system before the collections then a no from me.
For the PSG game my son who is 13 also managed to get a ticket on his points which are just shy of 8000.

You are missing the point, the prevention of ticket whoring would still remain, it's the process of having to collect the tickets which is the issue, Arsenal, Celtic and Barcelona don't have to do it !

 

[DTKOAG]

You are missing the point, the prevention of ticket whoring would still remain, it's the process of having to collect the tickets which is the issue, Arsenal, Celtic and Barcelona don't have to do it !

How are you preventing the whoring then ?

 

[pedigreeblue]

How are you preventing the whoring then ?

Because the tickets would still be sold to the same points holders and would still be Untransferable

 

[jrb]

Again.

Print off your flight and hotel details.
Take them to the ticket office at the Etihad.
Pick up your ticket that you have already bought via your branch, online, or at the ticket office.
If you are a long distance blue, email your flight and hotel details over to City, and City can post your ticket out to you.
No need for City to hire a venue, take staff over, and arrange everything that goes with the current setup.

 

[pedigreeblue]

Again.

Print off your flight and hotel details.
Take them to the ticket office at the Etihad.
Pick up your ticket that you have already bought via your branch, online, or at the ticket office.
If you are a long distance blue, email your flight and hotel details over to City, and City can post your ticket out to you.
No need for City to hire a venue, take staff over, and arrange everything that goes with the current setup.

Why make it so complicated, just needs a passport number or season ticket number stamped on the ticket and they can be posted out in normal way

 

[jrb]

Why make it so complicated, just needs a passport number or season ticket number stamped on the ticket and they can be posted out in normal way

I'm guessing in this day and age, City wouldn't be allowed to stamp your passport number on a ticket. Data protection and all that. Security. Most people now print their fight and hotel reservations off. So you will have them anyway. Those who don't will ether get flight and hotel tickets sent, or will be able to show their flight and hotel details via their mobiles. Along with their passport of course. ;-) Everything can be done in Manchester, whether it's picking the ticket up, or posting it out. Like most City fans I'm not holding my breath. :-) This is of course the land that time forgot, or as we all know it, MCFC's ticket office. :-?

 

[Deleted member 77198]

As a 14,000 pointer who's previously missed out on match tickets having pre booked travel and accommodation I'm obviously in favour of the collection system because of the benefits it's brings personally. That doesn't mean to say I can't see the the problems with the way the system is being managed or admit they exist. The club need to realise that they can't adopt a 'one size fits all' policy for European away games because each tie presents its own unique set of challenges, what would work in Barcelona doesn't necessarily work in Glasgow and clearly won't work in Monchengladbach. The club shouldn't be looking at this from a 'what's easiest for us' perspective they should be looking at it from a 'what's easiest for the fans' perspective. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that they should have foreseen the potential problems in Glasgow or that they address the potential problems in Monchengladbach.

That's the thing, Monchengladbach is a little place and many fans (four of my mates are doing this) will be staying in different cities (Dusseldorf, for example) so how do the club expect fans to collect tickets for this?

 

[pedigreeblue]

I'm guessing in this day and age, City wouldn't be allowed to stamp your passport number on a ticket. Data protection and all that. Security. Most people now print their fight and hotel reservations off. So you will have them anyway. Those who don't will ether get flight and hotel tickets sent, or will be able to show their flight and hotel details via their mobiles. Along with their passport of course. ;-) Everything can be done in Manchester, whether it's picking the ticket up, or posting it out. Like most City fans I'm not holding my breath. :-) This is of course the land that time forgot, or as we all know it, MCFC's ticket office. :-?

Ok so they stamp your supporter number !

 

[cptaidan88]

I think the only way round the queuing system is if you can provide your travel details in advance (which I accept would have been tricky if you were driving to Scotland). Also problematic as people unsure of getting a ticket as they would have to take a chance of shelling out to go and ending up without a ticket. Unless we get someone like Plzen where it is touch and go, I'm generally alright so I would prefer this system to the current one.

They can print whatever they want on my ticket - even a picture of my face and I'd have no problem with that, but it would still add to the checks at the ground - and those checks already take long enough when everyone turns up 10 minutes before kick off. It would just be shifting the queuing time - not removing it.

 

[pedigreeblue]

I think the only way round the queuing system is if you can provide your travel details in advance (which I accept would have been tricky if you were driving to Scotland). Also problematic as people unsure of getting a ticket as they would have to take a chance of shelling out to go and ending up without a ticket. Unless we get someone like Plzen where it is touch and go, I'm generally alright so I would prefer this system to the current one.

They can print whatever they want on my ticket - even a picture of my face and I'd have no problem with that, but it would still add to the checks at the ground - and those checks already take long enough when everyone turns up 10 minutes before kick off. It would just be shifting the queuing time - not removing it.

It would add very little time to queuing at the ground , and id rather queue once than twice. You could have city staff going down the queue outside the ground checking season cards/passport/tickets and issuing a bloody wrist band if they like

 

[Bill]

the queue would disappear if they had enough staff on.

 

[cptaidan88]

It would add very little time to queuing at the ground , and id rather queue once than twice. You could have city staff going down the queue outside the ground checking season cards/passport/tickets and issuing a bloody wrist band if they like

You end up queuing twice though anyway. They printed your name on your ticket at Juventus last year - so there was a queue as you got off the bus where they had something stupid like 3 people checking everyones ticket then let you through a tiny gap so there was a massive bottleneck there, and I think I spent at least 25 mins queuing to get through that. Then when you got through you had to queue to get searched and your ticket was checked again. Finally you were able to actually go through the turnstile.

Just to be clear I think we're in agreement on the main issue as I dont like the current collect in the city idea, I just don't think adding to the queuing time at the ground is a better solution.

 

[dancity19]

A lot of people are being sidetracked by the points whore issue, although this has perhaps been the only positive outcome from the ticket distribution fiasco can we keep it separate as it has no bearing on the clubs policy.
The facts are UEFA insist that clubs put procedures in place which guarantee they have the name and address of each ticket user, so methods needed to be put in place to stop transfer of tickets. City seem to have adopted the sledge hammer approach with what the vast majority of fans see as a disrespectful, thoughtless and badly thought out method. City need to have a rethink, some way of issuing the tickets by post, so everyone has their own ticket before travelling. One way would be for city to stamp the tickets with the supporters passport number and then simply show the ticket and passport on entry, anyone found flouting the rules had their season ticket taken off them ! Celtic, Barcelona and now it would seem Arsenal do not expect their fans to queue up abroad ! City need to come up with a official statement as to why they do it this way to stop speculation and give a good reason why other methods cannot be put in place !

I don't understand how your idea would stop points whoring mate?
How does that stop someone who had a ticket bought for them going? No way are stewards at the ground checking if you are the points holder or not.
I get the points issue may not be why City have done this, but it has been a positive from this. I managed to get to the semi at Real - no way would I have got to that without this being in place.

 

[jrb]

Ok so they stamp your supporter number !

But they will still require proof of travel and hotel. Just buying a ticket via enough loyalty points is no longer emough. We must prove we are also going. Taking a passport down, and or having your number stamped on the ticket isn't enough.

I think City need to look at giving tickets out at the Airport Arrivals terminal when City play in Europe. That way flight times, fans arriving, and queues will be staggered. And once you get your ticket and wristband, if the club carry on with it, then it's all done and dusted, and everyone can enjoy their trip. Obviously UK based CL ties are a different matter and need to be looked at differently.