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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

London 2012 charging for babies

116 replies

DoodleAlley · 15/03/2011 09:16

AIBU to think its extortionate that London 2012 are charging full price for all people including babies for all but a few events.

How can they justify charging for a baby which won't take up a seat?

We'd love to apply for a ticket but are thinking about trying for a second child before, oh, the next year and a half. But buying another twenty pound plus ticket for a child which might not even be conceived or might be 6 months old seems crazy.

And we just dont have the option to leave a baby with family.

How can this be encouraging children to be involved?!

OP posts:
hollyhobbie · 16/03/2011 11:32

slightly off-topic, but I can't stand the thought of the self-satisfied high-fiving that must have gone on in the office when they decided to charge £20.12 for the basic tickets because it's in 2012. ugh.

pamelat · 16/03/2011 13:49

Not everyone can get a babysitter.

I would rather go without my young children as they will be too young to enjoy or remember it. However, I will probably take the older one as otherwise she will miss out on attending, probably her only, olympics!

laughalot · 16/03/2011 14:05

Withagoat you sound like a very nice person Shock !

4madboys · 16/03/2011 19:49

its crazy to have to pay full price for a baby! and also for a child under say ten? i thought the olympics was meant to be for everyone and to inspire children for the future etc, it certainly doesnt seem very accessible at all.

we have the problem that we have FIVE kids, so would need 7 tickets to any one event, which you cant do... its a joke, my kids will be 12, 10, 7, 4 and 18mths, we may be able to leave the youngest with granny, but the others ARE excited about the olympics, its being hyped in school etc and they would LOVE to go and see some events, but i think we will be priced out tbh.

tho i am going to have a look at tickets to outdoor events such as the bmx bikes etc which the boys will like.

DesertOrchid · 16/03/2011 20:02

I think the ticketing procedure is reasonably standard for the Olympics. It will certainly have been overseen by the Olympic Federation so will be in line with their policies.

I will have (all being well) a one year old and a three year old. If lucky enough to get tickets I intend to take neither. They will not remember the experience and nor will I be able to actually take in the sport I am watching whilst dealing with their needs.

I think it's important to remember that the Olympics is not a 'family day out'. It is an opportunity to watch sports people competing at the highest level. They have worked their whole lives to be involved at the Olympics and cannot possibly be expected to perform when surrounded by crying babies or tantruming toddlers who've been in the sun for two hours. Nor is it fair to other spectators, potentially. The venues are huge - it's not like you can duck out quietly and quickly.

For security reasons (and let's not forget the HUGE potential for terrorist activity at such events) everyone needs a ticket. Plus you take a child who takes up a seat, they are watching it the same as anyone else, they should pay the same. Charging large amounts for tickets reflects the demand for them, and allows them to make the impact on the tax-payer less. Your zone 1 travelcard is also included in the price of London venue tickets, which I think is very reasonable.

I don't see that everything that happens should be geared towards children. If my youngest were a babe in arms I simply would accept not attending the Olympics as one of those sacrifices that comes with being a parent, or find a way round it. I certainly don't expect other spectators, organisers and sports performers to compromised just so I can do what I want.

I do think the tickets are expensive, but that is what things that are popular and important cost. At least I don't have to pay to fly to another country to see them!

DesertOrchid · 16/03/2011 20:05

4madboys I appreciate though that if you have a big family who are old enough to go and enjoy it, that it becomes very difficult.

BoffinMum · 16/03/2011 21:50

No wonder in the UK kids disengage from most sports except football, which is shoved down their ruddy throats by big corporations.

cat64 · 16/03/2011 23:43

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maighdlin · 17/03/2011 00:18

Its a british event of course its going to be a bloody rip off.

ragged · 17/03/2011 08:13

One of the equestrian events has child tickets, I'm sure of it (I have it provisionally booked for me & DD...but I think I will instead go to a local equivalent now). I have a provisional booking to take will-be 8yo DS to one of the BMX events on a children's ticket, too.

DesertOrchid is right, these are standard prices. They are still very high. What do tickets to a Madonna concert cost? You're looking at the same kind of prices, I guess.

I never thought I'd get a chance to go to two Olympics in my lifetime, but it's happened. The summer Olympics will be in Europe again, probably twice more, within our children's lifetimes. We shouldn't look at this as a once in a lifetime opportunity, it isn't such, at all. Winter Olympics expected in Europe in 2018, too.

yousankmybattleship · 17/03/2011 08:17

You don't even have this baby yet and you're whining about not getting concessions for it! Jst buy the tickets you need and then this imaginary baby could be left with an imginary babysitter. A tiny baby would be a nightmare at a big event anyway. I also don't think a four year old would get anything from it either, but hey ho!

bronze · 17/03/2011 08:23

If only it was as easy as just leaving a baby with a babysitter.
I don't necessarily see why a tiny baby would be a nightmare either.

withagoat · 17/03/2011 08:37

HA HA. No baby yet!

MrsH75 · 17/03/2011 11:44

I'm hoping to take DDs1 and 2 who will be 7 and 3 to Athletics, Swimming and Equestrian. Have put down morning/afternoon sessions and picked the ones where you could get child tickets - apart from the swimming where we would be paying full price but I wanted to see Rebecca Adlington and thought they could relate to it as they have swimming lessons.

I disagree that a 3 year old would have no concept or memory of it- I can remember certain things quite clearly from being 2/3. I think when they are older and learn more about the Olympics they will enjoy knowing they were a part of it.

I think the organisers have tried hard to get a range of prices and tickets, and some of the events will end up being free or very cheap when they need to put bums on seats nearer the time. They need to strike a balance between recouping the enormous costs of the games and making sure people want to actually buy the tickets.

DebiTheScot · 17/03/2011 21:40

I know it's not quite the same but as I've already mentioned my 2 and 4 year olds go to lots of rugby matches and they love them. They've been to big events at Murrayfield and the Millenium Stadium too and the 4 year old certainly got that it was a bigger deal than just a standard match.

And I hardly think a crying baby disrupting the competitors is an issue. Unless you are paying for the most expensive tickets you'll be nowhere near the competitors. And they are used to performing in front of large noisy crowds.

DesertOrchid · 17/03/2011 21:55

Well I agree they are unlikely to disrupt the footballers or hockey players. But I suspect a crying baby during a match point serve for the tennis gold medal would be a little irritating.

KnitterNotTwitter · 13/12/2011 21:48

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Ashoc · 24/01/2012 14:02

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fredatt · 24/01/2012 15:19

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Fozza · 24/01/2012 22:07

Just read tonight that the Olympics organisers are 'looking into' the issue of babies conceived after the tickets were sold in 2011. Here's hoping. I'm due a few months before, won't have anyone to leave such a small baby with for the day, travel time, let alone manage feeds, etc. - we already have 3 tickets for our family and I'm desperate not to miss the Games in my own city just because I've inconveniently gone and got pregnant in, oh, a YEAR...

I wouldn't let a baby cry & disturb the sports - my DH or I can take turns taking it out - I'd just like to be able to bring it into the Games 'in arms' and be treated like enough of an adult to work it out once in there...! Rather than crossing fingers that maybe, just maybe, there's a new ticket on sale for the exact session we're going to, in the same ticketing block, that the baby's not even big enough to sit in anyway (so I'll be wasting it for someone else). Mumsnet - can you hassle someone important for this please?!

ElusiveCamel · 25/01/2012 00:18

I really think charging full price for all kids for most events is putting this completely out of the reach of ordinary families who are paying for the event through their taxes.
Government funding went towards the building of the venues and infrastructure (via the ODA). LOCOG, who actually bear the whole cost of staging the games, is a private company that receives no public money and has to come up with the money to pay for everything about the events (that isn't a building) through ticket sales and merchandising.

RobSmith · 25/01/2012 11:30

I can't think of anything worse than settling down to watch the Olympics (a once in a lifetime oppertunity, and one so many people have put a lot of effort into getting tickets for) and having to sit next to a screaming baby.

You are seriously telling me that you don't know a single person who can babysit for one day? You are seriously complaining that you want free tickets as well for your baby?

Stop being so selfish!

W0rmy · 25/01/2012 14:33

Great disguise Hopkins Hmm

Redbecca · 27/01/2012 17:25

I spoke to one of the ticketing people about this as I didn't realise we'd have a baby by the time the Olympics came round. We were told the reason why they need a ticket is for health and safety and capacity reasons - they need to know how many people go in a venue and if there's an emergency, how many people to account for. The only way to do that is by tickets. I completely understand that argument.
That said, our baby will be roughly 4 months old and still nursing regularly so going to some of these events without him and expecting me to express milk, if I had chosen to breastfeed solely, is a bit ridiculous. Especially if he's going to be attached to one of us by a baby carrier or sitting on our laps the whole time. I don't necessarily think he should come in for free, but I do think it's silly to pay for a seat that will be empty next to us (they said that the seating allocations will happen after April when the sell back tickets will be available to buy) that is depriving someone else of an Olympic experience.
Yes, we've thought of babysitters, and we may do that for some events, but I don't see why we can't pay some kind of administrative fee for a paper ticket to account for our little one and fulfill all health and safety/capacity regulations while not having to pay for a full seat that someone else can enjoy.
The article in the Guardian today about this scenario (www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jan/27/coe-olympics-tickets-babies-london) hopefully will sort out a decision to allow babies-in-arms or babies under a certain age that are required to sit on the laps of the parents. Airlines charge 10% of an adult ticket for babies flying in a bassinette or sitting on the parent's lap. Why can't this organisation do something similar?

ElusiveCamel · 27/01/2012 19:22

If the event is licensed for 50,000 people and 2,000 of them are children paying a nominal amount - then that's 2,000 full-price tickets they lose revenue for. And it's ticket revenue (plus merchandising) that has to pay for everything.

Every event has had to get a license from the local council and they're for stipulated numbers of people - not sure that babies are exempt (from the councils' points of view) from counting towards the number but hopefully they'll look into it and at least provide a better explanation.