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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Full price babies at the Olympics

311 replies

littlepinklizard · 06/01/2012 15:12

I'm shocked by the conversation I just had with the London 2012 ticketing poeple. My dh and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the horse jumping on 8 August. Our baby is due 2 June, so was enquiring about what I need to do about tickets for the new baby.

They said eveyone needs a ticket - fine.
Children's tickets are £1 - fine.
But there are no children's tickets for the horse jumping so I have to pay £95 to have a 3 month old in a sling!!!
I said I was planning to bf and couldn't go without the baby.
They said the only alternative was to re-sell my ticket or give it to someone else.

I can't justify £95 and I know lots of people who would love the ticket so I guess I just have to transfer it. But I am fuming.

AIBU or are the 2012 people?

OP posts:
AChickenCalledKorma · 06/01/2012 18:57

"korma babies in slings do not use seats, it is not a matter of choice but a fact of life."

I am aware of that, but the organisers have decided, for whatever reason, that each human being present has to have a seat allocated to them. Madness, possibly, but quite clearly stated on the ticketting website.

TeWihara · 06/01/2012 19:00

I imagine it is about fire safety numbers or whatever they call it.

We have a similar situation in that we didn't order any paralympic tickets for our DC2 who will be 8mthsish, but by that age hopefully we will get away with a few bottles and some solids with a local to the event babysitter...

coraltoes · 06/01/2012 19:19

Of course £95 makes fire safety so much easier to manage Hmm

mollymole · 06/01/2012 19:48

If you were able to get your baby into the event what would you be planning on with regards to changing bags, feeds etc. How do you plan on doing this within the very small confines of allocate seating, bearing in mind that you will be seated next to someone who has also paid £95 for their ticket and may well not expect a small babe in arms so very close to them.

And please don't flame me, I love children and try to expose them to all kinds of events and scenarios, but there are some places where it is simply not practicable.

WhiteTrash · 06/01/2012 19:55

'Express and leave the baby at home.'

Like its that simple. So rarely is it that simple.

When people say that it makes my teeth itch.

BackforGood · 06/01/2012 19:56

I agree with Molly. If I'd saved and chosen to spend a lot of money to enjoy a big sporting event, and of course had made arrangements for my children to be looked after elsewhere, I would be very unimpressed with someone trying to squash a baby and all the paraphanalia into a seat next to me. As parents, you sometimes have to accept that you can't just do everything you'd like to do, once you have a baby - sometimes it's just time to think that unfortunately you'll have to give this one a miss, but it's all worth it for the great experience that is, being a parent, however, once a parent, life does change, part of that change is fantastic, and part of it means you are no longer a totally independent adult, but you have to think about what's going to be practical.

marblerye · 06/01/2012 20:05

Its very annoying and ill conceived. We wanted to see a popular event where the cheapest tickets were £50 which would be £300 for all of us so we decided not to bother. However we knew how many dcs we would have with us before the Olympics starts so we could plan accordingly. Its not reasonable to charge for babies in slings who weren't conceived at the time of ticket release.

edwinbear · 06/01/2012 20:11

I was expecting DD when we bid for tickets, she will be 9 months when we go. We also have DS who will be very nearly 3. We couldn't get the age specific children's tickets so had to buy 4 full price, at an eye watering cost of nearly £400. It does seem a lot when half of the party will barely register what's going on, but as I'm fast figuring out, life with 2 kids just is bloody expensive - this is just one more in a long line of rip offs.

GruffalowsMammy · 06/01/2012 20:27

Write to Boris about it.

golemmings · 07/01/2012 16:38

We're taking our dcs to the canoe sprints at eton. Dd will be 2 and DS 10 months. We're going for the heats only because I was too tight to pay for full price tickets for the kids especially DS since he will have no clue as to what is going on. Dd on the other hand will be a seasonned veteran of watching canoe racing since she comes racing with me most weeks.

A1980 · 07/01/2012 17:07

Horse Jumping? One of my horse mad friends missed out on tickets so you can give her hers if you like? She knows what it's called.

I don't blame them for making a 3 month old baby have a seat. It isn't just the baby is it? It's all the equipment a baby needs. Huge nappy bag and god knows what other clobber you'll have to bring with you. It would help to have another seat to put your stuff on. If I was sat next to someone with a baby in a sling, a huge bag at her her feet and the annoyance of her crying baby, boobs in, boobs out, burping, puking baby next to me when I've paid nearly £100 for seats I'd be fuming. People pay a ticket to see the sport not the irritation a young baby's needs.

Seeing as they can't give you a seat, I wouldn't pay £95 to take a baby in a sling. 3 months isn't all that young: just for once express and leave him/her with a sitter. I think you'll find neither you nor the baby will die.

SardineQueen · 07/01/2012 17:26

It is generally accepted that a new baby is an adjunct of its mother, especially if BF.

Except at some weddings, and apparently the Olympics.

Stupid policy.

SardineQueen · 07/01/2012 17:27

A1980 are you the person who came up with this policy by any chance?

Gigondas · 07/01/2012 17:31

Or the person who sat behind me at rugby saying dd had no business being there....

SardineQueen · 07/01/2012 17:38

Is it that bloke from Hi-De-Hi who recently berated a MNer for BF and attracted a sustained wiki attack?

SardineQueen · 07/01/2012 17:38

Or King Herod?

SardineQueen · 07/01/2012 17:38

Got it:

The baby eating Bishop of Bath and Wells.

SaraBellumHertz · 07/01/2012 17:40

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet.

anonacfr · 07/01/2012 17:43

What is the correct name?

anonacfr · 07/01/2012 19:26

Well?????

gettingagrip · 07/01/2012 19:47

www.britishshowjumping.co.uk/

unless it's

www.britisheventing.com/

NinkyNonker · 07/01/2012 19:53

Who cares what she called it, I mean really.

Gurraun · 07/01/2012 20:05

I know this is all a bit tongue in cheek, but imagine OP called it horse jumping so that the 99% of MNers who are not horsey had a vague clue what she was on about (not because she doesn't know the name). If I tell people my hobbies are eventing, show jumping, dressage and team chasing they have no idea what I'm on about - if I tell them I like prancing about on ponies, and even more like charging about on them leaping over hedges and fences they understand (although still think I'm unhinged!!)

pootlebug · 07/01/2012 20:10

Same problem here. We have tickets for an event where our children had 'pay their age' tickets. So the 4 year old is £4, the 2 year old is £2. I had initially assumed that the (not yet conceived at the time of ticket purchase) 3 month old would under the same criteria be £0 and sit on my knee, until I read the threads before Christmas on here.

Given that there are 'pay their age' tickets, blatantly there is no problem admitting small children. If I had applied for a ticket for a zero year old at the time on the off-chance of having one, presumably I would have had a chance of being allocated 5 tickets instead of 4, thereby stopping a person who wanted a seat and really wanted to go from getting a ticket. Mad.

foreverondiet · 07/01/2012 21:04

It would be cheaper to take a babysitter with you (£8 an hour?) they sit with baby in pram outside. You both have phones and you leave to fed when needed.

No way would I want a 3 month old on my lap for something like that £95 or not.