Posted on 08/09/2012 5:26:29 AM PDT by Tallguy
(Snip) There’s only one way to buy London Olympic tickets– through the ’official’ office that’s controlled by the government. They’ve even solidified their monopoly by making it a CRIMINAL OFFENSE for individuals to resell Olympic tickets.
The concierge at my hotel, an affable Italian named Paulo, explained to me that the police even came around to warn (i.e. threaten) him against helping hotel guests find tickets.
Paulo directed me to the government’s official website so I could buy tickets the legal way. I quickly found out how Byzantine it is– there are all sorts of ridiculous hoops to jump through; if you’re a resident of the UK, you follow one procedure. If you’re a resident of the EU, you follow another. If you’re a resident of other countries, you follow yet another.
Then after creating an online profile and giving them all sorts of personal information, they’ll actually MAIL (i.e. snail mail) the physical tickets to the address you give them in your profile… and only to the address of your legal residency. It doesn’t matter if you’re traveling.
The alternative is that you could spend a couple of hours going to one of the ticket offices, all of which seem to have been strategically chosen for being in the most inconvenient locations possible. (snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Ah, hang about. There’s a security aspect to this too.
Being able to match a ticket to the ID of the buyer is part of why the security at the Games doesn’t look like a TSA gropefest.
Imagine our medical care four years from now - with the same central management philosophy. I’ll be going offshore (hopefully to a for-profit hospital ship just outside the 12 mile limit) for any real treatment. That might actually save money and improve quality over today’s care, if we can also get outside the burden of the tort lawyers and frivolous malpractice claims.
I’m sure you’re right... that security considerations were the driving force behind this ticketing scheme. I guess if I had only 2 choices, this or the TSA grope-fest, I’d probably chose this. I absolutely avoid airports now.
Sounds like Romney was right.
I call BS on the security. I went to a world cup game a few years ago. I bought my tickets online. I chose hold at venue. I picked up the tickets at the stadium. I just had to present the credit card I used to purchase the tickets. I was not in the country of the games when I purchased the tickets.
Security was tight. You could not bring anything big inside. They checked all purses and bags. My buddy and I was in our seats in less than 15 minutes and that was including the wait to pick up the tickets. No TSA gropes either.
I had an extra ticket and sold it outside just before we entered.
Beat me to it. Thank you for your perspicacity.
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