How to apply for Olympic tickets

The new turf is laid onto the field event area in the Olympic Stadium, picture taken by the Stadium webcam on Monday 28 March. Photo: ODA

This article titled “How to apply for Olympic tickets” was written by Rupert Jones, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 12th April 2011 07.59 UTC

There are now just over two weeks left to apply for “the greatest tickets on earth,” so if you are planning on being at next year’s Olympic Games, you need to set aside some time to go through the events schedule in detail, work out your budget (and then blow it, of course) and submit your application.

The ticket application process kicked off on 15 March and will remain open until 11.59pm on 26 April. Games organisers made clear there was nothing to be gained from applying on the first or the last day of the booking window, as tickets are not being issued on a first-come, first-served basis.

It would seem wise not to leave your application to the very last minute, just in case too many other people have the same idea, and this puts a strain on the website (www.tickets.london2012.com).

First things first. A Visa card (credit, debit or prepaid) is the only payment method accepted when applying online. Many will feel a credit card is probably best, bearing in mind the sums of money involved. If you don’t own any Visa plastic, and you can’t rope in a friend or relative, there is probably just about time to buy a prepaid card. Moneysupermarket.com recommends a “pay as you go” Virgin Prepaid Card, which costs £9.95. You load money on to it and then use it to buy your tickets. You pay a 2.95% fee for each transaction, but it is free to top up by debit card or at a post office. Virgin says you should allow up to seven days for it to arrive.

With 8.8million tickets available across 670 sessions, taking in 26 sports and 34 venues over 19 days next year (25 July to 12 August inclusive), you will probably want to take your time planning what you want to see, and discuss it with family and friends.

Once you broadly know what you are doing, you ideally need to set aside a couple of hours and clear some space on the table so you can compile your final wish list and start doing your application. It’s a bit like doing a tax return, except more fun. If you don’t have a ticketing account, you will need to create one (it only takes a couple of minutes).

The website is very user-friendly, though it will help if you are armed with a copy of the Guardian’s London 2012 ticket guide and schedule.

There will be a ballot for events where demand exceeds supply to ensure everyone has an equal chance of getting the hottest tickets. The organisers say that to increase your chances of being successful, you should apply for more than one or two sessions and for a range of sports – though for a family, that will be an expensive business.

Many people who can afford it will want to take a punt on some of the most popular events such as athletics, track cycling and swimming, while hedging their bets by also applying for some of the less coveted sports such as handball and water polo. With the most in-demand sports, going for the heats rather than the semis and the finals is clearly a good idea.

You can get an idea about which sessions are expected to be the most popular from the ticket limit displayed next to each one – and the prices being charged.

An evening of athletics on 5 August that includes the much-anticipated 100m final will set you back between £50 and £725 a ticket, and you can only apply for a maximum of four. By contrast, most of the football matches start at £20 per session (comprising either one or two matches), rising to £40-£60 for the best seats, and you can typically apply for up to 30 tickets per session. The size of the venue is also a factor – the Olympic Stadium will have a capacity of 80,000, while the new velodrome seats just 6,000.

Which price category you go for depends on how deep your pockets are, though some will take the view that they have a better chance of success if they go up a band or two from the cheapest seats – eg £65 swimming tickets rather than the £20 and £40 ones. The 2012 tickets website has a useful feature that allows applicants to opt for a higher and/or lower price band in the event that your preferred price category isn’t available. So you could plump for £40 tickets but have an option on the £65 and £20 ones if they are sold out.

At more than 200 sessions, special prices are available for youngsters and older people (it’s usually the cheaper seats). Those under 16 on 27 July 2012 will “pay their age,” while those aged 60 and over on that date pay £16.

It’s a maximum of one application per email address and Visa card, and you need to make sure you have sufficient funds available to pay for everything you have requested. If you are hoping to get to quite a few events, you will find it’s not hard to rack up a potential bill of several hundred pounds – or a lot more.

Once you’ve done your application, you can save it and add or remove events before you press the ‘submit’ button. The processing period runs from 10 May to 10 June, and this is when the money will come out of your account or be charged to your card. You will be notified about which tickets you have been allocated by 24 June. If you are successful in all your applications you are committed to buying all the tickets, which won’t actually be posted out until the summer of 2012.

If you end up with tickets you can’t use, you should be able to return them to get a refund via an official ticket exchange that will be set up nearer the time. They will then be officially resold.

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