2013 Worlds Tickets info

[professordeb]

Welcome to the Ontario of the HST folks.

And deb...You vastly understated what you said. We don't hate paying that. We despise paying it in every shape and form it is in.

Glad I decided not to go due to three straight bad experiences at that arena. I do feel for those here who were planning on it and just got a body blow delivered to them.

Ahhhh, despise is indeed a much more "colourful" means of describing how the majority of people feel about the HST.

Never having been to World's before, I kinda figured the cost would be more like the cost of Canadians or Skate Country. Colour me befuddled and with it costing this much, this in one Canuck from Southwestern Ontario who won't be make the 1 hour trek to see this comp.

[flowerpower]

From what I recall, Worlds (in Canada) has always been considerably more expensive than Skate Canada or Nationals. I'm not surprised at the prices.

I've only been to the John Labatt Centre once (for 2010 Nationals), but I thought that event was well managed. The staff were very pleasant, to me anyway. The downtown location is convenient and you can pop across the street to the Market for a great variety of food options throughout the day. I'm glad that they're offering parking arrangements - very much needed if you're driving. The train is a good option. I can hardly wait.

[luckiest1]

Sorry you won't be making it, professordeb. I am also kind of shocked at the prices, but apparently they are in line with previous years. I like the option of the payment plan, so I will definitely be taking advantage of that!

[flowerpower]

Also, if there are still tickets available, JGPF/GPF in Quebec City is a great deal.

Top skaters, and the all event ticket is just over $200. All seats in that arena will be good, due to the fairly small size.

[Coco]

so...does London, Ontario have a hostel? With ticket prices like that, argh!

[sk8er1964]

That is A LOT higher than I was prepared for. Time to rethink the 2013 plan.

No kidding. For that amount of money I would expect them to be paying for my gas to travel from Detroit, putting me up in a hotel, and feeding me for the entire time! I can get a week in the Carribean including an all inclusive hotel, food and airfare for that amount.

Glad I decided to go to Skate Canada this year because Worlds at that price is absolutely out of the question.

[pat c]

It's 13%, so $156 extra on the $1200 tickets. Is it me or is this dramatically higher than past years? I feel like I paid half that last time Worlds was in Canada.

I kinda remember Calgary being $800+taxes for upper bowl and $1000 for lower bowl. It appears to be similar. With the economy and all, I'm not surprised to see it higher.

I paid $615 for worlds in Vanc 2001, about $800 for Calgary 2006, and now $1356 in 2013.

It's not the tix price that is so terrible, but everything else is higher too. I highly doubt if I can fly into London for less than $800.00. It is the airfare, the hotel, etc that will be the make or break.

[SpeedySucks]

I paid $615 for worlds in Vanc 2001, about $800 for Calgary 2006, and now $1356 in 2013.

It's not the tix price that is so terrible, but everything else is higher too. I highly doubt if I can fly into London for less than $800.00. It is the airfare, the hotel, etc that will be the make or break.

And you'll get to see less of the top skaters in 2013 than you did in 2001 and 2006 as well. In 01 and 06, all-session tickets included seeing all of the men and ladies in the qualifying round, plus the compulsory dance (2 in 2001). In 2013, the qualifying round won't include any of the top skaters, and there's no more compulsory dance either.

I was planning to go to 2013 Worlds, but I certainly won't be going at those prices. There aren't many available hotel rooms in London either, so the hotel prices are likely to be sky high. I wouldn't have been able to attend the qualifying sessions, so I'd be paying over $150 per session to go to all of the short programs and free skates. That's way overpriced--even LA wasn't that expensive.

[beebee]

so...does London, Ontario have a hostel? With ticket prices like that, argh!

There is a hostel in downtown London and it's quite close to JLC. Name is ACBB London, though, I don't know anything about it. Found it when I was checking Tripadvisor for London hotels.

[b-man]

I had planned on an all event ticket. However at those prices, I will just buy individual event tickets. As a comparison, for the upcoming US Nat's, about 8 days of competitions, the best seats, with novices and juniors in addition to seniors, is about $600 USD. This includes the gala. The disadvantage with getting single event tickets for worlds is I may not be able to watch practices.

[dramagrrl]

Yikes, way pricier than the last two Worlds I attended (Calgary in 2006 and Vancouver in 2001, both excellent experiences). Ah, well, I won't be able to attend the whole event anyhow, so I'll be popping in for the dance events and whatever else I can manage.

I've only ever had excellent experiences with events at the Labatt Centre and the surrounding area in London is adorable (and easily walkable, PLUS there is public transit, which are both important factors to me), so I'm looking forward to whatever parts of it I'll be able to attend.

[flowerpower]

I highly doubt if I can fly into London for less than $800.00. It is the airfare, the hotel, etc that will be the make or break.

Can you fly into Toronto at a reasonable price (say on Porter, depending where you're coming from), then take the train from Union Station to London (only 2 hours, which puts you downtown in London)?

[Really]

There is nothing reasonable that flies from Western Canada to Ontario and beyond.

[flowerpower]

^
AirMiles?

[Really]

^
AirMiles?

That only works if you have Air Miles and have been collecting long enough to have enough points to buy more than a blender.

[flowerpower]

True, of course, but it can be worthwhile to collect them. I've flown return to Western Canada 3 times already on AirMiles. Still have to pay the taxes and surcharges (approx. $200 return) but good savings nonetheless. Their flight rewards are much better value than merchandise rewards. Just a thought.

[pat c]

Can you fly into Toronto at a reasonable price (say on Porter, depending where you're coming from), then take the train from Union Station to London (only 2 hours, which puts you downtown in London)?

Seat sales aren't really seat sales from where I am, the best is usually about $500 return to TO. And I have visa airmiles, and have used them. The kicker about them is that you don't get seat sales using them. So, you pay full price for the ticket. But rule of thumb, use your air miles in Canada, or to get your to the plane to fly out of Canada.

(Porter doesn't fly in Western Canada).

There is nothing reasonable that flies from Western Canada to Ontario and beyond.

I can fly cheaper to SA than I can to SC. Last year I went to SA, missed my flight, paid the difference so I could catch the next one and it was still cheaper than flying to TO. I'm looking at going to 4C's and the flight is about $300 return. To fly to QC for the GPF (which I'd love to go to) is about $600 plus.

It sucks flying west to east.

[Habs]

Seat sales aren't really seat sales from where I am, the best is usually about $500 return to TO. And I have visa airmiles, and have used them. The kicker about them is that you don't get seat sales using them. So, you pay full price for the ticket. But rule of thumb, use your air miles in Canada, or to get your to the plane to fly out of Canada.

(Porter doesn't fly in Western Canada).



I can fly cheaper to SA than I can to SC. Last year I went to SA, missed my flight, paid the difference so I could catch the next one and it was still cheaper than flying to TO. I'm looking at going to 4C's and the flight is about $300 return. To fly to QC for the GPF (which I'd love to go to) is about $600 plus.

It sucks flying west to east.

It's very, very expensive to fly domestically within Canada.

I was expecting ticket prices to be in line with previous Worlds in Canada. MamaHabs and I each paid less than $700 for great seats in Calgary in '06. With the increased price and travel, I think we'll have to skip this one.

[snobben2345]

The sticker shock over ticket prices has caused Skate Canada’s CEO to “defend” the cost in this interview with the London Free Press.

http://www.lfpress.com/sports/others...-18888716.html

They are using the cost of Leafs hockey tickets as a comparator. What nonsense.

Tickets are priced this high because they picked a venue that is too small to hold Worlds, especially in a pre-Olympic year. In order to get the income stream that they want, ticket prices have to be high because there are only a small number of seats that can be sold.

Previous venues for Worlds have been in much larger cities with bigger arenas and/or ample hotel space. So you can have ticket prices spread over a range to accommodate a wider range of budgets.

If Habs bought a ticket package for $700 for Calgary Worlds, that works out to $773 in 2011 dollars. Not comparable to $1200. There is an all event package for 2012 Worlds for 435 Euro which is roughly $600. Package price for London Worlds is either $1000 or $1200.

SC expects the venue to sell out because it has always sells out for Nationals. It is stupid to assume that if local people will buy a (Nationals) ticket package for $200, they can afford (and will cheerfully spend) *five or six times* as much for Worlds tickets, especially in this economy. Otherwise, why does the CEO feel that he needs to “defend” the pricing?

According to the article, SC is expecting 3,000 to 4,000 tickets to be bought” internationally and by bus tours”. Where are these people supposed to stay? The city of London only has about 3,300 hotel rooms *in total*. What about the competitors ? Officials? Federations? Media? Not to mention other demand (business travel, etc) that does not stop because a skating comp is in town.

If you think that tickets are expensive, wait until you try to get a hotel room at a reasonable price. If people have to stay in another city and commute, that just adds to the inconvenience and cost.

None of this surprises me. I was very critical of the selection of London as a venue. Sorry to see that I was right.

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...=72403&page=14

I am fortunate that I can easily afford $1200 for a ticket package. I’ve been to Worlds before. But there is no way that I am going to pay that price and a four star rate for a two star hotel room or incur the trouble and expense of a daily out of town commute during the competition.

I find it absolutely galling that SC thinks that it can treat its customers so dismissively by charging premium prices and then expecting them to cope with the inconveniences of inadequate hotel space. So, Skate Canada, you’ve lost another customer. I refuse to reward such poor planning by purchasing your product in these circumstances.

[Carolla5501]

Is this american dollars?

Also check your credit card before you charge. Some of them charge EXCESSIVE fees for "foreign currency transactions" I use USAA which is more resonsable as is Capital One.

I was thinking about this event until snobben bought up the hotel room issue. Considering that "tour group" speculators can block rooms farther in advance then the average consumer this weighs heavily in the "uh maybe not"

(Since I pay for US Nationals the pricing doesn't seem as "high" LOL! Guess I am used to being ripped off by my federation Just looked Worlds in LA cost from $235 to $2270.. and for $235 you really could not see ANYTHING LOL! And the pricing for this year's Nationals for the best seats is $647 without the exhibition. Which I think wasa lower then some years actually, but not sure )