I shall be getting up at 3:00 AM tomorrow night in order to buy tickets for the Ballet which go on sale 9:00 AM Monday, Paris time. I know that before you give your credit card details, you can see a view of your seat. My question to anyone who has ordered on-line is.......I am trying for a balcony seat and if it is not assigned on my first try can I just wait for the 7 minutes to lapse and try for another seat assignment? Or will I just get the same one again?

I have tried for weeks to find a seating plan with seat numbers but there doesn`t seem to be one for Garnier. I am paying top ticket price but do not want to sit in Orchestra.

topping for goldwynn

I've never used this particular website, so I don't know how it works, but here's something I've done when ordering tickets on other websites. If I don't want the first seat I'm offered, I minimize the browser window (but leave it open), open a new browser window, and go through the steps for ordering again. The second browser window won't offer you the same seat, because that seat is still being held for you in the first browser window (at least, for 7 minutes).

I did this when ordering a ticket on Lincoln Center's website recently, and had to open six different windows before they finally offered me a seat on the keyboard side of the house for a piano recital.

Thank you for topping Underhill and Bree that IS a great suggestion you`ve given me. Now if I can only come up with a seating plan that has seat numbers.

Thank you very much once again.

I've used the website, and the above sounds like a good tip for getting an alternate seat, other than waiting a bit later. They do not have a seating chart online (or anywhere) that shows the seat numbers by section, unfortunately. You can only tell the general section you are assigned. I thought the balcony was a specific section you could specify, though, in your search request (basically by the price you choose). It is pretty much by price, although you may be calling some area the balcony that I think the Garnier calls something else (I think their term for the section you might call first balcony or what would be prime balcony seats is something else, but I might be remembering wrong).

Christina: It seems they separate the pricing for balcony and orchestra for opera and for only the extra-special opening night of that ballet. For the rest of the performances they lump both the balcony, 1st & 2nd loges and orchestra into the same price range of 80 Euro which is the top price scale. I`ll just have to have some luck. Thanks for your views.

This is an up-date to actually buying the tickets on-line at Opera Garnier and I did get up about a quarter of three this AM. And many thanks to Bree for the suggestion of opening multiple browser of windows. I opened 5 separate windows and struck paydirt on the final one. They offered up only Orchestra on the first 4 tries and bingo I got my Balcony seats Numbers 61 and 63 on the 5th registration. But boy, does it take a lot of juggling. I have searched mercilessly on the web, google, forums, architectual sites and even brought up the model which is displayed at Musee d`Orsay for anything that could give me seat numbers. All to no avail.......it would be nice to know where these seats are and have a plan for future bookings. I`m going to start a seat number plan and will draw one up after my visit to the Ballet. Anyone going this summer to do a tour of the Opera Garnier or can contribute to the Seating Plan, please let me know. I have already drawn up a rough plan and intend to mark the numbers in. Anyone else have thoughts on this..............???

glad it worked out. I didn't know balcony seats were in the top price range, I thought only lesser prices. Anyway, I've looked everywhere and there is no seating chart online with seat numbers. I know where a few are from my experience, but I've never been in the balcony so don't know about that.

They do have a seating chart at the opera at the ticket window so you can see exact seats if you buy there. I don't know why they don't put it online like most every other major venue I know. I know they have one (at least electronically, as they point to it on a screen to show you where your tickets would be).

I'm glad it worked out for you, goldwynn. Enjoy the performance!

Christina: A Balcony seat and 1st Loge at Garnier is even higher for an Opera being 160 Euros which is double the price of the same seats for a Ballet. If you do go to a Ballet in the future, being that bit higher up in a Balcony seat makes all the differece in the enjoyment of the full stage area. Thanks for your note of the seating plan being available at the ticket window......and I sure agree with you about other venues having their seating plan on-line.

I don't suppose they will give you a copy of the seating chart on-site, although you could ask if they have one. I only think it is online.

I know opera is more expensive than ballet, and have been to the ballet many many times in my life, so I know where I prefer to sit, but thank you for your opinions.

I, too, am surprised at the lack of a seating chart anywhere online. I'm trying to book tickets for the March 26 Concert Kreisler / Zemlinsky .
It's only offering seats in the Orchestra section- which is ok, but not what we'd prefer.

My main concern is where in the house our seats will be- we don't want to be all the way up against the wall.

I know odd numbers are on one side, even on the other, but what seats are in the middle? The only seats we're currently being offered are Orchestre 235-245.

Many thanks!

Trillian, I'm not positive about this, but I think the seats are just numbered sequentially in the orchestra, not within the same row, as is usual in most places. Of course, they do skip every other number, as odd numbers are on stage right. I mean each row won't have seat numbers 1-30, for example, only the first row does. Then the second row is 31-60 (or whatever).

I have some notes from my last time there, and I think seats 235-245 would be about 2/3 back, but there aren't that many rows in the orchestra to begin with (only about 12). I think they would be about row 8-9. I don't know exactly where in that row, as there are more seats in the back rows.

So, I think the location is fine as far as distance from stage, I just don't know if it's on the far side or not.