E-Tickets Guide
So you’ve checked out our view-from-seat photos or used our best seats tool to pick your perfect seat, and secured an excellent deal by booking through SeatPlan – now it’s time to receive your tickets! Read our guide to e-tickets to know exactly what to expect.
What are E-Tickets?
An e-ticket is an electronic ticket – an emailed version of your theatre ticket, sent digitally ahead of the show. An e-ticket will usually contain a QR code or Barcode, as well as your seat numbers, which will be scanned by the staff at the venue and used to help you find your seat.
Ordinarily, an e-ticket should arrive via email within approximately 30 minutes of receiving your booking confirmation. The way e-tickets are sent varies depending on where you purchased them from. E-tickets are frequently sent as an email attachment, sometimes a PDF, but can also be embedded in the email or accessed via a link to download, depending on the ticket Supplier.
SeatPlan is a Ticket Search Engine
SeatPlan provides a platform to search for events, view photos and reviews and book tickets. Our availability system compares availability, offers and prices from several Suppliers to find the best deals – think Skyscanner or Compare the Market, but for theatre tickets!
Although the booking is made through the SeatPlan website, it’s fulfilled by one of our ticketing Suppliers, which means they process the payment and issue the tickets.
Because of this, e-tickets and confirmation emails are different for each Supplier. We will always first send you an email confirmation from SeatPlan, which has the details of your booking, including date, time and seat numbers, as well as which Supplier is fulfilling your booking. This is just a confirmation, and does not contain your e-tickets.
The e-tickets will then arrive in a separate email from the ticketing Supplier. Don’t worry if you lose this email, you can see all bookings made through our platform, and details on how to request an e-ticket re-send, in your personal My Tickets page.
Our Ticketing Suppliers
Each Supplier’s e-ticket email looks different and will arrive from a different email address. For full info on what to expect depending on your Supplier, how these tickets are sent, and how to contact your Supplier if you have any issues, please see our individual guides below:
🎟️ Ingresso
🎟️ See Tickets
If E-tickets Don’t Arrive
Tickets should arrive within 30 minutes, in a seperate email from the Ticketing Supplier. Ensure you have waited up to 30 minutes and checked your junk and spam folders first. If the tickets still haven’t arrived you will need to contact the Supplier. To do this you can get their information in 3 ways:
- Visit My Tickets and click on your booking
- Open your SeatPlan confirmation email
- Visit the appropriate Supplier page above
You can also always reach out to our team at help@seatplan.com, and we will be more than happy to assist you in contacting the correct Supplier.
The only exception to the 30 minute rule are bookings for venues owned by Nimax Theatres. Nimax operate a ‘check in system’, and so an email to check in and the e-tickets are sent directly from the venue, within 72 hours of the performance. Nimax venues include the Lyric Theatre, the Apollo Theatre, the Duchess Theatre, the Garrick Theatre, the Palace Theatre and the Vaudeville Theatre.
You’ll receive a series of emails from Nimax, asking you to check in ahead of the show. Once you have done so, you’ll receive confirmation.
If you’ve taken all of the above steps and the e-tickets are still not coming through, please don’t panic. The box office team at the theatre should be able to reprint you a paper copy of your tickets when you arrive on the day of the performance. We advise taking your order reference number and seat numbers to the box office, to make it easier for the team to locate your booking. These can be found in your SeatPlan confirmation email.
Handling E-Tickets at the Venue
When you arrive at the venue, the front-of-house staff will need to check and scan your e-tickets. Here are our top tips to keep your entry as smooth as possible:
🎟️Ensure your e-tickets are ready. Make sure you have easy access to the email containing the e-tickets, or a paper copy of the tickets if you choose to print them at home or at the box office. Have these ready when you arrive outside the venue – many theatres will now scan your tickets and do bag checks at the same time upon entry. The theatre is likely to be busy, so having these ready to scan will make entry quick and easy – more time for a pre-show drink!
🎟️ Keep your brightness up. Turn the brightness up on your phone or device so the usher’s scanners can pick up the barcode/QR code easily.
🎟️ Don’t switch on dark mode. Having your smartphone on dark mode can make it harder for the ushers to scan the tickets.
🎟️ Don’t screenshot. Some venues can’t scan screenshots of tickets, so try to ensure you keep the original tickets on your device. Some of our Suppliers will allow you to add tickets to your wallet, while some will not, so make sure you keep hold of your e-tickets email.
🎟️ Check your seat numbers. Keep the e-tickets ready until you have taken your seats – the ushers will likely check these again to help you find where you are sitting
🎟️ Don’t delete your E-tickets. Make sure you take a view-from-seat photo before the show begins, and keep hold of your e-tickets until after the show – you’ll need them to upload your perfect seat review and earn your Reward Points!
Frequently Asked Questions
You’ve received your e-tickets and know what to expect when you arrive at the theatre. But maybe you still have questions? Here are some of the most commonly asked e-ticket questions.
🎟️ Do I need to print my e-tickets?
There’s no need to print off your e-tickets, as you can show them on your phone or your device. While venues generally prefer to scan e-tickets as these are quicker and easier for their staff, you are welcome to print off a copy of your e-tickets if you prefer or if this is easier for you. Just make sure the barcodes or QR codes are legible and are still able to be scanned upon arrival. If you do print a paper copy, we’d advise keeping hold of the digital e-tickets too, just in case there are any issues with the printout.
🎟️ Can I add e-tickets to my digital wallet?
Some of our Suppliers allow you to add the e-tickets to your Apple or Google wallet, but some of them do not currently have this capability. You’ll see the option to add these on the tickets themselves if this is enabled for your Supplier.
🎟️ Can I collect my tickets instead?
Venues prefer e-tickets as they are quicker, more efficient and more environmentally friendly; however most venues can print you a paper copy of your tickets upon arrival if needed. Just make sure you take your order reference number and the exact details of your seat numbers to make it easier for the box office staff to locate your booking.
🎟️ What if I need to change my booking?
Firstly, you’ll need to check your Supplier terms and conditions to ensure that amending your order is possible. Visit My Tickets for a link to their terms and conditions and then get in touch with them as described above. Check out our guide to Refunds and Exchanges for further information.
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Now you’re ready to enjoy the show! Make sure to take a view from seat photo so you can add a review and earn Rewards Points. Any more questions around e-tickets? Just leave a comment below!
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