Senior Week tickets sold out during early bird session

Adithi Iyengar, Staff Reporter

This year, Senior Week tickets sold out surprisingly quickly, with many events closing within hours of the start of early bird ticket sales. The problem angered many seniors, who took to the Senior Week Facebook Page to express their frustration.

Early bird sales began on Monday, April 14, selling the Senior Week tickets at a discounted price. The Senior Week committee planned on selling tickets at full price starting April 21.
The committee used information about past ticket sales to decide how many tickets to offer per event. Usually, early bird ticket sales have been small, with tickets still remaining when regular sales opened.

“We did not anticipate that all the tickets would be bought during Early Bird sales,” said Gabriella Chandra, Class Officer Collective president for the class of 2014, who headed the committee.

All of the tickets for each event were available at the early bird pricing, with no tickets reserved for when regular ticket sales opened.

“I, like other seniors who had issues, know that Early Bird tickets are a subset of tickets that are set aside to be sold at a lower price,” noted senior nursing student Allison Luoma. “I was under the impression that I had a whole week to worry about getting my tickets.”

“What angered me the most was that they refused to admit that they made a mistake,” she continued. “No one could have predicted the response they got with the increase in ticket purchases, but they could have at least apologized for falsely advertising and not making it clear.”

The Senior Week committee offered 19 events for students this year, up from 14 last year. Events include a wine tasting, a trip to Cedar Point, and a Goodtimes cruise. Tickets were sold individually for each event.

In response to the problem, the committee increased the number of tickets for some events by working with event companies and transportation venues. These extra tickets were offered starting on April 22.