Help with Vienna Opera standby ticket/booking
 

I would like to do the standby ticket/booking on the website: http://www.staatsoper.at/Content.Nod...h=11&year=2009 We will be in Vienna in Nov. On the form it tells me to fill in my wishes. Desired price for single seat from ___Euro to ___Euro. So if I want to spend the 32 Euro amount do I enter 32 in both blanks. Question about some of the other questions: I assume that the "line of site obstruction seats, means we can't see the stage unless you lean or stand? And does the corner seat mean sitting on the end of a row? I hate to be so dense, but I don't understand. Would like to do it correctly. After I do this I assume that I press enter and then am I charged the amount that I have written that I am willing to pay? Thanks for any help you can give me.

Obstructed view will mean that you will not fully see everything on stage (either left stage or right stage views will be obstructed) but you'll see almost everything that is on center stage and the left/right that you can see.

Are you interested in seeing the full performance? If not, you can buy standing tickets to see the last scenes at a reduced price. No need to dress up... go in during the last scenes and stand in the back of the house.

I have the luxury of just going to the box office for tickets . But I try to assisit with the little I know about this procedure.

Firstly obstruction view.
These are almost al confined to the 2nd and 3rd row of the boxes along the side of the venue.
The first row - no trouble you can see - 2nd row can not really stand as you then block view of thise perhaps behind you. 3rd row box - you can stand but this does not help much- the problem is the wall of the box next to you and due to the location you see just a portion of the stage- not good at all . For those boxes close to the stage this can be a big problem and you do not see that much. Some say the sound is distorted too- but I do not think is really a problem.
I would not really recommend these seats as it does not add to what should be a fantastic evening.
corner seat - the end of a row to my knowledge

Standing Room only goes on sale 80 minutes before the actual performance- cheap but not comfortable - can be very warm and a tradition- one can " reserve " your place by tying a scarf or similar around the metal railing posting in front of the space. This carefully observed by the local regulars.
The Standing room not just for the end but for the entire performance.

Yourstand by ticket order is confirmed by e-mail and only then are you charged on your credit card for the price of tickets allocated.
Just insert your price range - if it is just 32 euro - place that in each and of course the number requested.

You may wish to take your chance and wait for the direct ordering by phone - advice to do this and times available on the website. Remember time difference from your home to here

molker has given you very good information.

Which performance are you interested in? Is it the ballet? If it's the ballet, then the 32 euro ticket is for Cat 6 seats. If you look at the seating plan here:
http://www.staatsoper.at/Content.Nod...00_stop_06.gif

Cat 6 tickets are the light-green seats. There are a bunch of 2nd row and 3rd row light-green seats in the Mittelloge.

If you don't want the uncertainty, you can always try for online ticket sales exactly 1 month before the performance.
http://www.staatsoper.at/Content.Nod...rkauf/7590.php

I did that a few years ago and was able to buy the last 2 full-view seats for The Magic Flute. Double check what time online ticket sales start (not sure if it's MN or 10am CET).

Thank you-all so much for explaining all this to me. I have gone back into the website, printed the seating and the Cat. chart and studied it and now I understand. Actually I think the Cat. 7 (21 Euro) seats would work just fine. A few years ago we got standing room tickets and saw "Turandot" and it was one of the highlights of our whole trip! Just thought it would be fun to sit down.

So you think I might be just as well off to wait until exactly one month before the performance and get on the website and book it then? (I don't want to phone overseas.) I can figure out our time difference. It would be interesting to know if anyone has had good luck doing the standby ticket/booking on-line. I'll maybe give it a couple days and post that question.

Again, thank all three of you for enlightening me. See, we can learn something everyday.

Fodorite annhig did the standby ticket for Aida and got them:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...do-we-wear.cfm

The one month prior option allows you to choose the exact seats, though provided there are still tickets available. I don't know what time the online tickets go on sale, whether it's 12MN or 10am CET. When I did that a few years ago, I assumed 10am CET, so I set my alarm clock for 2 or 3am Central time to get up to purchase those tickets.

If you choose that route, I highly recommend you to familiarize yourself with the online ticket website, and perhaps even do some dummy booking trial. It certainly would have helped in my situation when I was half-awake at 3am!

bookmark

We were told what time to come to buy standing room only tickets. All other tickets were sold out. We arrived at that time and purchased our standing room only tickets. It was very cheap - like 4 or 5 Euro.

The standing room area is made up of railings and marked off by numbers for each person standing - like you were seated only you stand. It can be very crowded.

We left at intermission as the performance wasn't too interesting and we had been on the go all day and we were tired of standing. But we saw the opera house and enjoyed being there. I would not buy standing room only tickets again - but this was the only way we could see any performance at the time we were there.

joannyc, thanks for the suggestion to stand for just part of an opera-- maybe I'll do that for the last act of Gotterdammerung (won't stand for the whole thing again-- I learned my lesson after two times). I didn't want to devote over five hours of a short trip to that, but three euros to pop in for a little while would be nice, especially when our hotel is almost next door to the opera house. Is there any way to find out what time the intermissions are? (I can't even find start times for most of the evening performances on the website).

M Fifi, that is interesting - no listing of starting times for the opera! As for the intermissions, perhaps once you arrive in Vienna, you can go to the box office and inquire?

hi sueks,

yk put me onto your thread which I had missed.

the main thing about stand-by is that you don't need to accept what you are offered - you have a window [20 mins?] to think about it, and reject if you don't want them. then you can start again.

from my own experience in Madrid where were had reduced view seats and were VERY frustrated at not being able to see half the stage, except on a big screen [a bit like a football match, LOL] i would rather stand with a god view than go through that again.

we didn't get a start time for Aida until about a month before the performance - it was at 7pm.

do feel free to ask me any other questions.

regards, ann

PS - there is a ticket box outside the staatsoper which [I think] sells tickets for that day's performances at the 4 main burgtheater in vienna. I assume that they are discounted prices.

<<you have a window [20 mins?] to think about it>>

annhig,
Do you mean they email you when something becomes available and you have to respond within 20 minutes? If so, wouldn't it be almost impossible to respond in time?

For start times , intermissions , total time of the opera-

You will find this information under the State Opera website for the complete season.
under monthly program by date - the start time noted there- usually this will be 7:00 or 7:30 PM
clicking on the highlihted Opera offering by date you will find

length ( spieldauer )example 2 stunden 45 minuten - 2 hours 45 minutes

intermission ( pause ) 1 , 2 -

fifi - I may have misremembered.

I had a look at the website to try to find something about this but they didn't mention it. but i do remember that when they told us what tickets we had been assigned, the message included an instruction that if we decided we didn't want those tickets, we should let them know quickly. I agree that with e-mail, a 20 min window doesn't make much sense. as you are buying quite a long time before the performance you want to attend, presumably they are confident that they will be able to resell anything you reject.

regards, ann

as a Vienese, i can tell you that it's really difficult to get opera tickets. Please, don't take obstructed view, usually you don't see alomost anything. If you are on a budget, standing tickets are a better option.
The ticket office in front of the opera house starts selling tickets 1 month before the performance, they offer no reduction. The problem is, often tickets for popular performances are not available even on day 1, except for the very expensive ones. This is so, because there are many subscribers (Viennese love opera). A good tipp is to try a private ticket office, there are many of them and some sell online too, for example Z&Z at http://www.concertvienna.com. The private ticket offices always have tickets, but sometimes they are more expensive than face value, if the performance is sold out.

I bought the standing room only tickets as well. I got in line about an hour and half early and the line was already very long. I was hoping to buy 3 tickets (husband and daughter were wandering around Vienna - I didn't see the point in all 3 of us standing in line for a couple of hours). When I got to the front of the line they would only sell one ticket per person, so I was only able to get 1 ticket. So, if you do standing room only, make sure you have your entire group with you when you buy tickets.

As I recall three of us waited in line for standing room tickets at some side entrance and then in another line to get in whereupon we tied a scarves/sweaters at the railing to reserve our spaces and went off for dinner. Then we came back for the performance. I thought the visibility was excellent as the stage seems closer than it for many house seats. I will confess we didn't stay for the whole performance since it was a long opera...but enough for me.

Ozarksbill [email protected]

Standing room tickets go on sale 80 minutes before the beginning of the performance for those interested.
I do not agree that it is almost impossible to obtain tickets to the state Opera.
In most instances tickets to the State Opera can be obtained.
Whether one wishes to use the " Standby " ordering system or the direct telephone purchase , it can be done.

I just refer to the September 2009 schedule. Most all offerings show tickets still available.

Certainly premieres or a performance by a particlar performer or like can be very hard. But these are much fewer.

In Vienna, one has access to varions ticket offices for the State Opera and others.
While a ticket office is in the Foyer of the Opera House, the main ticket office is just across the street on Operngasse.
They also have hours when the Foyer is often closed like Sundays, Holidays.

The Box Office at the Burgtheater and the Volksoper also sell State Opera tickets having access to the same computer system.
I often go past the State Opera and see an extensive line waiting to buy tickets on the first day of avaiibility of most popular offerings.
I continue by and go to the Burg Theater also on the Ringstrasse and find no line or just one or two people waiting . The same Opera , same tickets, same price - no waiting.

One small tip. You will often find single tickets seating available , even close to the performance date.
If you look for 2 tickets without success, ask about single tickets. If you are still 2 people you still meet at the pause and still see your opera.
Ticket brokers are in business to profit from ticket sales.
Their premiums are very high. Use them only as a last resort.

molker - I think that your advice holds good for people who want to go to the opera. any opera.

However, if you want to see a specific opera, that's when the stand-by system that we used would work better.

when we got to Vienna, I took my confirmation to the ticket office in the opera building itself [no queue, just touts outside!] only to be told off because my printer had missed off some of the vital information. I played dumb [not very difficult] and it turned out not to be so vital after all. the clerk just needed my name, and bob's your uncle - our precious tickets.

your information about there being tickets available for Septmeber is interesting - is the recession affecting sales, do you think?

regards, ann

the confirmation said that we could use the ticket offices that you mention too, to do the same thing, but there was no need.