Woman spends $533 on 10 opera tickets, shocked to find seats double-booked
A woman who spent $533 on 10 opera tickets was shocked to find that other audience members held tickets for the same seats and date when she arrived at the venue.
Ms Jin (transliterated), 23, told Shin Min Daily News that her relative had bought the tickets directly from a performer on Aug 30 for Songs of Our Ancestors 3: The Drama of Voices, held at the Esplanade Recital Studio on Sept 26.
The show started at 7.30pm, and the group arrived around 7pm, said Ms Jin.
After scanning their tickets and taking their seats, they were approached within 10 minutes by a group of elderly audience members claiming they had the same seats, she added.
"We checked their tickets and saw the same seat numbers. Since they were older, we gave up our seats," she said.
To make matters worse, several of her relatives were still stuck outside the venue after their tickets failed to register when the QR codes were scanned.
They approached staff members, who said they had never encountered such a situation before. They told the group that the venue was full.
"Later, they said there were seats available, but we could only be let in during the actors' changeover," said Ms Jin.
When they finally entered, Shin Min said the family found only temporary seats at the back of the hall available, leaving them disappointed.
"We paid to watch the show, but didn't get the seats we booked and had to deal with all this confusion," she said.
Incident likely caused by human negligence
In response to Shin Min's queries, Mr Wu Hanwei (transliterated), artistic director of Lirica Arts, clarified that the performance had assigned seating. Audience members who encounter issues can approach staff for assistance, he said.
Addressing the complaint, Mr Wu confirmed that the tickets were purchased through one of the performers. "As for how that performer handled the ticketing process, we are not responsible for that. The complainant should contact the performer directly," he said.
He added that Lirica Arts maintains strict standards in ticketing, promotion and production quality, and would never make such an error.
Mr Wu said the issue was likely caused by negligence on the part of the performer who handled the sale.
When contacted by Shin Min, Ms Jin said she was unable to share the performer's contact information.
