|
Ticket (admission)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
An unseparated ticket for the Kurkino in Berchtesgaden
A ticket is a voucher to indicate that one has paid for admission to an event or establishment such as a theatre, movie theater, amusement park, zoo, museum, concert, or other attraction, or permission to travel on a vehicle such as an airliner, train, bus, or boat, typically because one has paid the fare. Also a ticket may be free, and serve as a proof of reservation.
The first known tickets were used in the Greek period for events such as theaters.
A ticket may be bought at a ticket window or counter, called box offices in the entertainment industry (this term is also used for the total receipts). The ticket check may also be there, or it may be separate.
A ticket may be valid for any seat ("free seating") or for a specific one ("allocated seating"). Sometimes, e.g. for some train journeys, both are available, with an increased charge for a reserved seat. Free seating in a train means the risk that one has to stand, but in e.g. a cinema it means a seat is guaranteed, just not a specific one.
Paper or card is generally used, although plastic may be used instead for durability. Some have a barcode or magnetic stripe for keeping simple data stored on them, higher end ones use chips to store more data and prevent counterfeiting.
A paper ticket has often a perforation to separate it into two parts, one to be kept by the customer, and one to be kept by the ticket controller. Whether or not one can leave and reenter with the customer part only varies. It may not be allowed to avoid subsequential use of one ticket by multiple people, or even simultaneous use by giving the ticket to someone before the ticket check (if this is physically possible), but it may also be allowed, e.g. in a movie theater to buy, during a movie, a snack or drink before the ticket check and reenter.
Tickets may be printed in advance, or fully or partly printed when issued, or it may be a printed form that is filled in in handwriting (e.g. by a train conductor who does not carry a ticket machine, but just a supply of forms and a pen).
Counterfeit tickets are a problem at high-priced concerts and other events, so holograms are used on tickets for the Olympic Games, Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup and other high-profile events.
The fraudulent practice of passing-back a ticket can be overcome by making the ticket in the form of a tamper-proof wristband.
When paying online for admission one may get a code, or a ticket that can be printed out. At the premises it is made sure that the same right of admission is not used twice.
|
