After days of hyping the beginning of advance ticket sales for Star Wars Episode 3 beginning midnight last night, the Odeon still managed to screw up a simple pre-booking process.
There I was at half-eleven looking to get a head start in securing the best seats for the traditional first midnight showing of the new Star Wars film at the grand-daddy of them all, the Odeon Leicester square. Now before you start, it HAD to be this cinema for two reasons, 1) it is the choice of the premiere, 2) it is the only cinema with a Digital Light Projector, thus equipted to show the film as George Lucas intends.
Needing to book ten seats next to one another, I contacted the Odeon Cineline - called the number, was told that no operators were working and there was no pre-booking option for starwars using their automated service - tried the same just after midnight, still no joy... GREAT!
Then after midnight I tried the Odeon's website - phew! it didnt crash! but doh!, it only displayed June dates for the film even though it opens on 19th May!!
I kept on refreshing the webpage wondering if the website had not been updated yet and one by one, every 15 mins, one of the June dates would disappear until eventually no dates were left and Episode 3 was removed from the film listings all together! - GREAT!
I went to bed, set my mobile alarm to go off by the hour so I could check the website once again, right through to the morning, nothing had changed - GREAT!
I knew that humans only begin to answer the Odeon's ticket booking line from 9am onwards, once again I called at 8.45am to get a head start. I DID get through to someone who informed me that there would be NO MIDNIGHT SCREENING even though Odeon had been bragging to the contrary for days on end.
I inquired about the 8pm opening night screening only to be told that all tickets for this film had been jacked up in terms of price by a further £4 due to a 'refurbishment' and that the Royal Circle (the best seats) were all sold out!
I promply complained, cursing the Odeon and their shambolic pre-booking system - I was told that people had queued up outside the cinema itself overnight to get first grabs and that I could speak to a manager if not happy.
I speaks to the manager and am offered 10 seats in the rear circle, just behind the royal circle balcony but we would have the front row and be seated in the middle meaning no heads in front of us! I grabbed these right away, still vexed for losing out on the royal circle but happy that second best was better than no seats at all.
So thats ten tickets at £13.85 (including booking fee) each for second-rate seats. The royal circle would have set us back a whopping £17.85! MORE THAN THE BLOODY DVD WOULD COST!!!!!
I have to take my credit card to the odeon anytime now to pick the tickets up - the Odeon website has no viewable seating plan so I booked on hazy memory and blind faith. Will check the plan once I get the tickets - FINGERS CROSSED!
Anyway, drama aside - May 19th NOT SO LONG NOW!!!!
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