Miserable couple in Die Hard 4.0

[cinema guy]

I was asked by a couple to double check their tickets because someone else was sitting in their seats. They were under the impression that there might have been a double booking. I went into the screen and asked the couple sitting in their seats (on the back row) if I could see their tickets. Their tickets showed they should be several rows forward. I asked them to move.

Miserable man: "I paid for premier seats."
Me looking at the prices on the tickets, "No. These show standard seat prices."
MM: "Well I was shown back row seats on the screen."
I look around and see there are still a few vacant seats. "If you come to the box office, I'll try and find you some premier seats."
MM: "I'm not paying the difference. I'll have a refund."

I've twigged what happened, the Premier seats have sold out and he has been shown the standard seat selection on screen and chosen seats on the back of the standard section, beleiving he has bought back row seats. Of course he and his wife/GF have tickets with seat numbers printed on them in large letters, and haven't bothered to look at them when they enetered the screen.

Anyway a team leader buckled and gave him two house seats which suited his needs without charging him the extra for being in luxury. But I was amazed he was prepared to ruin his entire evening over where his seats were allocated.

He was the only SC in a night of Harry Potter, understaffing and schedule F*** ups.

[napoleana]

Wow. ALL our theaters here (including the IMax, big nice one, and old special one) are "seat your own damn self." I see it as a reward for those who show up early. (and therefore may be more likely to buy concessions)

I didn't know there were any movie theaters with assigned seats. Is your theater huge or something?

Still, if you KNOW the theater has assigned seating you need to look at your ticket. It sounds to me like the guy KNEW he was in the wrong seat since he refused to "pay the difference" even after he claimed he "paid for premier seats." Plus, even if you think you're in that row, how do you find which seats if you don't look at your ticket?

[tendomentis]

I remember every theatre I went to in Europe and England had assigned seating (even the little theatre in Llanberis). It was nice to be able to show up three hours ahead of time and buy good seats.

In American theatres, you get people pushing and running to get the good seats when they open the theatre. I really miss assigned seating as it kept things civil.

[Soulstealer]

I didn't know there were any movie theaters with assigned seats. Is your theater huge or something?

It's standard practice in a lot of countries outside the U.S. The rule in those circumstances is you go to your assigned seat and if the theatre isn't to full you can move to a different location later but if someone has tickets to those seats you move.

[napoleana]

I have been educated... Cool!

Meh, I still like the non-assigned way. (I've never seen anyone seriously push their way to seats or try to beat people ahead of them; I think they'd get yelled at. Still, I imagine it does happen a lot, as a good chunk of the population is utterly rude.)

Still, I can see the good points of the other system.

Thanks for explaining!

Back to the topic...

[cinema guy]

Having numbered eating does allow the cinema to offer premier seats which are slightly larger and in the back, centre of the cinema. And of course charge a little extra.

[CaroPhoenix]

The 2 favorite theaters hubby & I go to have what is called "stadium seating". The seats are large, the arm rests can be raised so you can snuggle without having an arm rest dig into you. No extra charge. No assigned seating. Stadium seating is the way to go in the States.

[cinema guy]

Those would be our premier seats.

[Hon'ya-chan]

I count you lucky. I went to see Die Hard 4, and all thru the movie, some inconsiderate bitch kept konking her son/nephew/whatever every so often to shut him up about 4 rows ahead of me. There were points that the kids audio range almost drowned out the explosions.

[Gurndigarn]

Up in Ft. McCloud, Alberta, there's a really old theater that does a mix of live drama and movies... they have the original seating from seventy or eighty years ago (recovered, probably refurbished, but...)

Anyway, the seating in there was done in a staggered fashion-- you were half a seat off from the row in front of you. Since it's not stadium-style, that means you're less likely to have your view blocked by the row in front of you. Nice setup... except for the end of the rows. Each row has one end seat that's about a seat and a half... but they counted it as two seats, because that means one more potential ticket sold per row.

Yes, it had assigned seating. And yes, if you got a late ticket, you might be squished up against whoever was in the other half of your seat.

They said that at least one marriage came out of it. Rather proudly. Though I suspect there were plenty of times when marriage was the last thing on anyone's mind afterwards.

[BookstoreEscapee]

There's one theater near me that has those 2-person seats at either end of the last row in the front section. Then there's a middle aisle that goes across the theater and stadium-style seats in the back section. When you come in the doors you're in the middle so you can either go down or up.

[Starlord]

I use a Pride Victory mobility scooter, and on teh few occasions we do go to the movies, they allow us to use the area that would have been where the orchestra pit was in the old days. Actually, it is too close to the screen, but it is better than not being able to get in at all. There is no other place in the theater that my scooter will fit in.

[Pagan]

The 2 favorite theaters hubby & I go to have what is called "stadium seating". The seats are large, the arm rests can be raised so you can snuggle without having an arm rest dig into you. No extra charge. No assigned seating. Stadium seating is the way to go in the States.

Century Rio has stadium seating, too. I don't know if yours does this, but our seats recline just a bit. Really nice!

[Andara Bledin]

Mmmm.... stadium seating is great.

Pretty much all of the theaters I've been to that were designed with stadium seating have the offset seats so you're never directly in front of or behind somone. Plus, the entry comes out in the middle, so you can go up or down to find seats, and if you're in a wheelchair, you can take one of the gaps that is available along the row at that middle point and your friends can sit in seats either next to you or behind you, depending on availability and crowd.

^-.-^