Logistics: Pre-sale ticket, third party, burner express

[melodiousdirge]

Hi all; I have a bit of a logistical conundrum on my hands with burner express, my tickets, and my brother.

I purchased two pre-sale tickets for us way back when, so he could plan his travel based on surely having a ticket. He is flying into Reno on 9/2, and riding the burner express into BRC. Now, he needs to have his ticket in hand before he can get on the bus, but I'm not sure I'll have time to get his ticket into his hands between when it gets to me, and when I leave for the desert myself. I'm also not sure whether when he goes to book his burner express ticket, how exactly they verify that he has a ticket lined up (Front page says you MUST have a ticket to book a seat on the bus). Can anyone offer any insight, or personal experience on when pre-sale tickets are likely to arrive in advance of the event (I assume they are like regular sale tickets and arrive in late June-July), and what information exactly he will need to secure a burner express ticket?

[tamarakay]

When we bought presale they shipped when everyone else's tickets shipped. I don't know about burner express.

[VultureChow]

Will you be arriving on playa first?

If so, worse case scenario is to leave his ticket at will call. I think you can do that.

[melodiousdirge]

Will you be arriving on playa first?

If so, worse case scenario is to leave his ticket at will call. I think you can do that.

Yes I will be, and I had no idea you could do that. Can anyone corroborate that? That would give me a plan A (mail ticket to him as soon as I get it) AND a plan B, which is sort of my preferred playa minimum of readiness.

[some seeing eye]

I believe the BE has an electronic connection into the ticket database available to them at the boarding time and place. They are an extension of Gate. I'm sure you could email them and ticketing to work out a plan.

[tamarakay]

Does burner express stop at will call? Doesn't that kill the whole Express part?

[some seeing eye]

TK, I have not followed this closely, but I believe the BE load points are virtual will call (with no line). The Black Rock City galactic spaceport is the same. The internets!

[tamarakay]

So he couldn't leave a hard ticket at will call for someone on Burner Express to pick up then. He would have to find a person or place off playa that his brother could pick the ticket up from before he got on the bus.

[melodiousdirge]

So he couldn't leave a hard ticket at will call for someone on Burner Express to pick up then. He would have to find a person or place off playa that his brother could pick the ticket up from before he got on the bus.

Ah, yes, this. The burner express page says "Will Call tickets will be available for pick up at the point of embarkation." I guess I could find some way to leave it for him in Reno, though it seems like an unnecessary convolution I'd rather avoid. I'll already be semi-impressed if he manages to get himself on the bus in the first place, nevermind having to track down a ticket in Reno.

I don't suppose I can convert one of my pre-sale tickets to a will-call ticket for him just by getting ahold of the right person hmm? I seem to recall some verbiage stating all tickets purchased in one order had to stay together or something. I'll have to re-read the fine print.

[melodiousdirge]

I believe the BE has an electronic connection into the ticket database available to them at the boarding time and place. They are an extension of Gate. I'm sure you could email them and ticketing to work out a plan.

I sent an email to support right before I posted this, so we'll see what they say about it.

TBH I'm more immediately concerned with how he's going to prove he's got a ticket in order to buy a bus ticket. Hopefully support can answer me that as well.

[caffeineslinger]

Perhaps you can book the Burner Express for him since you are in the system as a ticket holder, and then mail him the ticket as soon as you receive it so he has it with him.

[Eric]

I don't suppose I can convert one of my pre-sale tickets to a will-call ticket for him just by getting ahold of the right person hmm? I seem to recall some verbiage stating all tickets purchased in one order had to stay together or something. I'll have to re-read the fine print.

Unless they've changed something from previous years, you cannot convert one ticket to will-call. It would either be both or nothing (no splitting of orders). Once you got to will-call you would have to have them hold the second ticket for him under his name - except this wouldn't work for him with BE.

Depending on the response you get from your email, this may be a situation where you bite the bullet & ship the ticket either USPS 2-day (which is relatively cheap for an envelope, and I've never had it go wrong for me) or FedEx overnight (which is very much not cheap at all).

[melodiousdirge]

this may be a situation where you bite the bullet & ship the ticket either USPS 2-day (which is relatively cheap for an envelope, and I've never had it go wrong for me) or FedEx overnight (which is very much not cheap at all).

Thanks Eric; Priority shipment is sort of my less preferred, but likely necessary plan of attack. I dislike mailing time sensitive one-off expensive and critical things (especially across a border - he lives in Canada), but sometimes there's really no other way.

[Eric]

I've never done the USPS 2-Day Priority across a border, so I don't know how quickly it moves once it hits Canada. You might want to do a test-mailing with an envelope & maybe a birthday card (the type of set-up I'd use to mail a ticket so it wasn't as obvious) to check how long it takes. It could save a huge chunk of change (FedEx wanted to charge me over $100 for a package I shipped USPS 2-day for $12.65). You would probably have to declare it because of value either way.

[melodiousdirge]

I'm not sure about declared value on something like a ticket... *scratches chin* there's probably some legalese to interpret there.

Anyway thank you for your thoughts so far; hopefully I hear back from burner express support before they start selling tickets.

[Jovankat]

Another option is to find soeone local to you who you trust who has a single ticket booking, if you give them your second ticket when it arrives and they transfer their booking into your brother's name for will call that should work.

[Ratty]

Late year 'Spacetime posted an informative accounting of his ride on the BXB. It covers just about everything. This is just the will-call part. Anyone riding the bus this year would be smart to read the whole thing. You'll find it here. https://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic ... 8#p1047028

Ticketing
Will Call ticketing for BxB was handled much differently than standard Will Call. BxB does not approach the gate so everyone had to be ticketed at Gerlach.

The BxB workers in Gerlach were not properly equipped for a night-time handling of tickets for hundreds of people. There were only two people working under a small EZ up tent and one guy out coordinating all the buses. It wasn’t lit properly and BxB could have had twice as much staff at Gerlach and it still wouldn’t have been enough to smooth out the operation.

Also, it is worth noting that I specifically tried to resolve this issue in advance with BM's official ticketing support line and failed.

Gerlach Will Call for BxB
Image

Leading up to being let off the bus, people were making (sort of) jokes about revolting against the BxB organizers because of the conditions and caged feeling people were getting. Some people were genuinely frustrated but by and large people accepted the issues as part of the journey.

Crucially, because I bought my tickets in the OMG sale, I had an extra BM ticket I needed to get to the real Will Call for a friend arriving later in the week. The BxB people would not transfer my ticket for me, instead telling me I would need to get out to the main gate and drop it off in. This is not a practical way to handle ticketing.

I do not know what the solution to Ticketing for Burner Express and Burning Man is, but I hope the ops group is thinking heavily about how this can be handled better.

Ticketing in Gerlach was one of the top three problems I experienced with BxB this year. I read BMORG is considering print-at-home tickets for international and OMG sales next year. Some combination of this and having “will-call only” buses might be things to explore.

[Eric]

Ticketing
Will Call ticketing for BxB was handled much differently than standard Will Call. BxB does not approach the gate so everyone had to be ticketed at Gerlach.

While well-meaning, this is 2014 information, and no longer valid.


The current information is:

Q. How does it work?

A. You MUST have a Burning Man ticket to board the Burner Express. Will Call tickets will be available for pick up at the point of embarkation.

emphasis mine
To me that sounds like no more stop in Gerlach. It sounds like you have to have a physical ticket in-hand (or at will-call in a way that can be verified) before you get on the bus. I don't work for either BXB or BMorg, so I can't say that as fact, but it sure reads that way.

I cannot state this enough: talk to Ticketing & Burning Man Express directly if the information you need isn't clear enough online or covered in the FAQ. They've changed how they do things from last year and you don't want to get the wrong information. As well informed as the people on the board are, few, if any, of us are true "insiders".

[pink]

The rest of his posts, especially how he packed to get all his stuff there within the luggage limitations is priceless though. He was a virgin burner and brought EVERYTHING he needed, including water and shade, on the bus.

[Ratty]

I was VERY impressed by the fact that he practiced putting up his tent in the dark.

[delle]

Write the Express Guys and ask them.

Although the bus used to have a WillCall stop in Gerlach, it looked to me at last read that they will have WillCall tickets in hand at the airport to give them out pre-boarding. My guess would be that this is where the ticket would need to be, if not in his hands.

Only they could really say, tho.

[melodiousdirge]

Support just wrote me back more or less saying they don't know yet how tickets will be verified prior to BX ticket purchase. They suggest waiting till the tickets go on sale and trying to get one and if there are any problems writing them again. Heaven forbid anyone wants to get their shit figured out before it goes sideways...

[Eric]

Support just wrote me back more or less saying they don't know yet how tickets will be verified prior to BX ticket purchase.

This does not bode well...

[melodiousdirge]

Support just wrote me back more or less saying they don't know yet how tickets will be verified prior to BX ticket purchase.

This does not bode well...

On the plus side it gives me the impression that BX tickets won't be on sale all that soon, giving me a bit of time yet to chase this down.

[lucky420]

Support just wrote me back more or less saying they don't know yet how tickets will be verified prior to BX ticket purchase.

This does not bode well...

On the plus side it gives me the impression that BX tickets won't be on sale all that soon, giving me a bit of time yet to chase this down.

I bought mine right before the site went down. Unfortunately I have my son returning to SF not Reno. He lives in Reno. I contacted tix support to fix my error. They said to hang tight and should be able to fix it once system is restored/fixed.

[melodiousdirge]

I bought mine right before the site went down. Unfortunately I have my son returning to SF not Reno. He lives in Reno. I contacted tix support to fix my error. They said to hang tight and should be able to fix it once system is restored/fixed.

So, I know they have said the ticket verification method is changing and all, but what was required when you went through checkout?

[lucky420]

website stated that person must have bm ticket. Then it asked for the name of the person riding burner express. I put my sons name in that field. I also bought a return ticket from brc to reno for my daughter. Put her name in the "who's riding" field.

I opted for the print at home tickets. when I looked at them there is no where that I see either my sons name or daughters on their ticket. Just shows my name under purchased from. Maybe their names are embedded in the bar code?

[melodiousdirge]

Finally got another response from the support email; apparently he'll need the ticket number or order confirmation number.

[Dr. Pyro]

This may be modestly off-topic, but I didn't want to start an entirely new thread. Three of us are driving in with early arrival passes on Saturday. One of us has his tickets at Will Call. Since we'll be in a box truck we'll have everybody's stuff. Can the one person going to Will Call, with his early arrival pass in hand, then be allowed to ride a bike to Barbie Death Village rather than the other two of us waiting for several hours (if last year is any indication) for him to get his ticket? I would think that should be OK, but I've never heard it addressed. Anyone?

[Madgirl]

This may be modestly off-topic, but I didn't want to start an entirely new thread. Three of us are driving in with early arrival passes on Saturday. One of us has his tickets at Will Call. Since we'll be in a box truck we'll have everybody's stuff. Can the one person going to Will Call, with his early arrival pass in hand, then be allowed to ride a bike to Barbie Death Village rather than the other two of us waiting for several hours (if last year is any indication) for him to get his ticket? I would think that should be OK, but I've never heard it addressed. Anyone?

I wouldn't count on it. I had to wait for my passenger at will call last year and there was much discussion about whether it was okay to drop people off to pick up their tickets and have them walk/bike through the gate...the consensus answer that we received from everyone we talked to was no. I don't know what the official answer is but I suspect that you will be required to wait for your will call person.