Exclusive:
Coach tickets sold out in half an hour despite being 50% more expensive than they were pre-Covid, leaving people frustrated at changes to the ticket purchase system
Glastonbury tickets will be in high demand when they go on general sale at 9am on Sunday morning – despite the fact they are now 50% more expensive than they were pre-Covid.
Tickets for the Somerset-based festival taking place from June 25 to 29 next year, will cost £373.50 with an additional £5 booking fee. This is 5% more than last year’s price of £355 and 50% more than in 2019 when they cost £248. Co-organiser Emily Eavis previously put the higher price down to increased costs of running the event, which attracts more than 200,000 revellers each year, while recovering from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
This year is expected to have higher demand for tickets, as 2026 is a “fallow year” for the festival, meaning it will not take place in order to enable the Worthy Farm site to recover. It is estimated that around 2.5 million people will try for tickets this year, with a new ‘queue’ system now in place rather than the previous method which involved repeatedly refreshing See Tickets until you got through.
Instead, people trying for tickets were randomly assigned a place in a queue before going through to the ticket purchasing page. On Thursday evening, the first batch of tickets which included coach travel were released – but thousands of fans were left disappointed when they sold out within around half an hour.
The new system has also come under criticism, as unlike with Oasis tickets fans were not given their queue number so had no idea how many people were ahead of them. Many said they were stuck on the page with two green bars that did not move, while others got through to purchase tickets only to be kicked off when putting in their payment details.
Social media users went to complain, with one describing the new system as worse than before. They added: “Punters hate it being out of their control. It’s horrendous.” Another said: “This Glastonbury ticketing system shows the country is in deep decline. How can you make an already terrible ticketing system worse with this nonsense?”.
Experts have also warned that fraudsters could prey on fans desperate for tickets. Lauren Hendry Parsons, digital rights expert at ExpressVPN, said: “With hugely popular events such as Glastonbury, people are often making rapid, time-pressured decisions, with high emotions because they don’t want to miss out – and we all know how quickly Glastonbury can sell out. Unfortunately, these kinds of rapid-fire, emotionally charged situations are ripe for exploitation.”
She advised that fans look out for deals that seem too good to be true, check if the website URL has any variations from that of a genuine retailer, such as misspelling and to report any suspected scam to your bank and the police. To avoid ticket touting, Glastonbury Festival tickets are only available through the official ticket seller See Tickets, with fans needing to register and provide a photo of themselves for the ticket.
Headliners for the 2025 festival have not been announced yet, but last year the festival saw Coldplay, Dua Lipa and Sza play on the famous Pyramid Stage. Fans who are lucky enough to get tickets for next year’s event will pay an initial £75 deposit to secure their tickets, with the remainder of the balance due in early April. Tickets that are not fully paid off will then be available to purchase in a re-sale once the lineup is announced.
Glastonbury Festival was contacted for comment.
