Ticketing (Assembly areas, not parking.)
Not all public venues, ticket sellers, and distributors provide the same opportunity to purchase tickets for wheelchair-accessible seats and non-accessible seats. Often the purchaser is directed to send an e-mail or to call a separate telephone number to request tickets. These policies make it difficult for those who require accessible seats to purchase tickets, especially for popular events that sell out in minutes. Venues are required to sell tickets for accessible seats in the same manner and under the same conditions as all other ticket sales.
Tickets for accessible seats must be sold during the same hours; through the same methods of purchase (by telephone, on site, through a website, or through third-party vendors); and during the same stages of sales (pre-sales, promotions, general sales, wait lists, or lotteries) as non-accessible seats. When a venue provides tickets to a third-party ticket vendor, including Internet-based vendors, the venue must include comparable tickets for accessible seats. If a section of the venue that has a lower ticket price is not accessible a proportional number of seats in an accessible location must be sold at the lower price. The ratio of the total number of seats in the non-accessible price level to the total number of seats in the venue is used to determine the number of accessible seats that must be provided in an accessible location.
Venues must provide the same information about accessible seats as provided about non-accessible seats, using the same text and visual representations. Typically information about location, price, view, and seat availability is provided. Accessible seats must be described in enough detail to permit the purchaser to determine if a seat meets his or her needs. If a venue has detailed maps or displays of seating configurations on its website or if it provides seating information in its pamphlets or brochures, including information for particular events or shows, it must include information on accessible seating in the same detail as is provided on non-accessible seating.
People purchasing a ticket for an accessible seat may purchase up to three additional seats for their companions in the same row and these seats must be contiguous with the accessible seat. Accessible seats may be used as companion seats. If contiguous seats have already been sold and are not available, the venue must offer other seats as close as possible to the accessible seat.
Venues cannot require proof of disability as a condition for purchasing tickets for accessible seats. However, venues and third-party vendors may take steps to prevent the fraudulent sale and use of accessible seating. For single event tickets, venues may ask purchasers to state that they require, or are purchasing tickets for someone who requires, the features of an accessible seat. For series of events tickets, purchasers may be asked to attest in writing that they require, or are purchasing tickets for someone who requires, the features of an accessible seat. These steps may be used in all sales, including those over the Internet.
The regulations also address the following: group sales, hold and release of accessible seating tickets, ticket transfer and secondary market ticketing. A public entity’s ticketing and venue policies should be reviewed as part of a self-evaluation.
Title II Regulations 28 § 35.138
Ticketing:
(a) (1) For the purposes of this section, “accessible seating” is defined as wheelchair spaces and companion seats that comply with sections 221 and 802 of the 2010 Standards along with any other seats required to be offered for sale to the individual with a disability pursuant to paragraph (d) of this section. (2) Ticket sales. A public entity that sells tickets for a single event or series of events shall modify its policies, practices, or procedures to ensure that individuals with disabilities have an equal opportunity to purchase tickets for accessible seating— (i) During the same hours; (ii) During the same stages of ticket sales, including, but not limited to, pre-sales, promotions, lotteries, wait-lists, and general sales; (iii) Through the same methods of distribution; (iv) In the same types and numbers of ticketing sales outlets, including telephone service, in-person ticket sales at the facility, or third-party ticketing services, as other patrons; and (v) Under the same terms and conditions as other tickets sold for the same event or series of events.
(b) Identification of available accessible seating. A public entity that sells or distributes tickets for a single event or series of events shall, upon inquiry—(1) Inform individuals with disabilities, their companions, and third parties purchasing tickets for accessible seating on behalf of individuals with disabilities of the locations of all unsold or otherwise available accessible seating for any ticketed event or events at the facility; (2) Identify and describe the features of available accessible seating in enough detail to reasonably permit an individual with a disability to assess independently whether a given accessible seating location meets his or her accessibility needs; and (3) Provide materials, such as seating maps, plans, brochures, pricing charts, or other information, that identify accessible seating and information relevant thereto with the same text or visual representations as other seats, if such materials are provided to the general public.
(c) Ticket prices. The price of tickets for accessible seating for a single event or series of events shall not be set higher than the price for other tickets in the same seating section for the same event or series of events. Tickets for accessible seating must be made available at all price levels for every event or series of events. If tickets for accessible seating at a particular price level are not available because of inaccessible features, then the percentage of tickets for accessible seating that should have been available at that price level (determined by the ratio of the total number of tickets at that price level to the total number of tickets in the assembly area) shall be offered for purchase, at that price level, in a nearby or similar accessible location.
(d) Purchasing multiple tickets. (1) General. For each ticket for a wheelchair space purchased by an individual with a disability or a third-party purchasing such a ticket at his or her request, a public entity shall make available for purchase three additional tickets for seats in the same row that are contiguous with the wheelchair space, provided that at the time of purchase there are three such seats available. A public entity is not required to provide more than three contiguous seats for each wheelchair space. Such seats may include wheelchair spaces. (2) Insufficient additional contiguous seats available. If patrons are allowed to purchase at least four tickets, and there are fewer than three such additional contiguous seat tickets available for purchase, a public entity shall offer the next highest number of such seat tickets available for purchase and shall make up the difference by offering tickets for sale for seats that are as close as possible to the accessible seats. (3) Sales limited to less than four tickets. If a public entity limits sales of tickets to fewer than four seats per patron, then the public entity is only obligated to offer as many seats to patrons with disabilities, including the ticket for the wheelchair space, as it would offer to patrons without disabilities. (4) Maximum number of tickets patrons may purchase exceeds four. If patrons are allowed to purchase more than four tickets, a public entity shall allow patrons with disabilities to purchase up to the same number of tickets, including the ticket for the wheelchair space. (5) Group sales. If a group includes one or more individuals who need to use accessible seating because of a mobility disability or because their disability requires the use of the accessible features that are provided in accessible seating, the group shall be placed in a seating area with accessible seating so that, if possible, the group can sit together. If it is necessary to divide the group, it should be divided so that the individuals in the group who use wheelchairs are not isolated from their group.
(e) Hold-and-release of tickets for accessible seating. (1) Tickets for accessible seating may be released for sale in certain limited circumstances. A public entity may release unsold tickets for accessible seating for sale to individuals without disabilities for their own use for a single event or series of events only under the following circumstances— (i) When all non-accessible tickets (excluding luxury boxes, club boxes, or suites) have been sold; (ii) When all non-accessible tickets in a designated seating area have been sold and the tickets for accessible seating are being released in the same designated area; or (iii) When all non-accessible tickets in a designated price category have been sold and the tickets for accessible seating are being released within the same designated price category. (2) No requirement to release accessible tickets. Nothing in this paragraph requires a facility to release tickets for accessible seating to individuals without disabilities for their own use. (3) Release of series-of-events tickets on a series-of-events basis. (i) Series-of-events tickets sell-out when no ownership rights are attached. When series-of-events tickets are sold out and a public entity releases and sells accessible seating to individuals without disabilities for a series of events, the public entity shall establish a process that prevents the automatic reassignment of the accessible seating to such ticket holders for future seasons, future years, or future series so that individuals with disabilities who require the features of accessible seating and who become newly eligible to purchase tickets when these series-of-events tickets are available for purchase have an opportunity to do so. (ii) Series-of-events tickets when ownership rights are attached. When series-of-events tickets with an ownership right in accessible seating areas are forfeited or otherwise returned to a public entity, the public entity shall make reasonable modifications in its policies, practices, or procedures to afford individuals with mobility disabilities or individuals with disabilities that require the features of accessible seating an opportunity to purchase such tickets in accessible seating areas.
(f) Ticket transfer. Individuals with disabilities who hold tickets for accessible seating shall be permitted to transfer tickets to third parties under the same terms and conditions and to the same extent as other spectators holding the same type of tickets, whether they are for a single event or series of events.
(g) Secondary ticket market. (1) A public entity shall modify its policies, practices, or procedures to ensure that an individual with a disability may use a ticket acquired in the secondary ticket market under the same terms and conditions as other individuals who hold a ticket acquired in the secondary ticket market for the same event or series of events. (2) If an individual with a disability acquires a ticket or series of tickets to an inaccessible seat through the secondary market, a public entity shall make reasonable modifications to its policies, practices, or procedures to allow the individual to exchange his ticket for one to an accessible seat in a comparable location if accessible seating is vacant at the time the individual presents the ticket to the public entity.
(h) Prevention of fraud in purchase of tickets for accessible seating. A public entity may not require proof of disability, including, for example, a doctor's note, before selling tickets for accessible seating. (1) Single-event tickets. For the sale of single-event tickets, it is permissible to inquire whether the individual purchasing the tickets for accessible seating has a mobility disability or a disability that requires the use of the accessible features that are provided in accessible seating, or is purchasing the tickets for an individual who has a mobility disability or a disability that requires the use of the accessible features that are provided in the accessible seating. (2) Series-of-events tickets. For series-of-events tickets, it is permissible to ask the individual purchasing the tickets for accessible seating to attest in writing that the accessible seating is for a person who has a mobility disability or a disability that requires the use of the accessible features that are provided in the accessible seating. (3) Investigation of fraud. A public entity may investigate the potential misuse of accessible seating where there is good cause to believe that such seating has been purchased fraudulently.
User Comments/Questions
Add Comment/Question