Buy Or Don’t Buy

Selling more tickets than you actually have available is common practice for the airline industry, because usually not everybody shows up. (Although I was thisclose to being stranded alone in Amsterdam one day last March because for once, everybody did.) It kind of sucks, but sometimes you can get a free upgrade to business class if you’re willing to wait for the next flight.

Apparently the organizers of the 2009 Inauguration Ceremony thought they’d take a page out of American Airways’ book and do the same for the inauguration. Several friends of mine who’d received tickets “guaranteeing” them a prime spot (ie, in front of the Jumbotrons) at Obama’s big moment through their Congressional connections were turned away from the gates after waiting in line for hours.

For them, it wasn’t that big of a deal. They could head to a bar somewhere downtown and watch the ceremony on a tv. They hadn’t sacrificed anything to be there, other than sleeping in on a day off.

But A LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE DID. For weeks the media’s been going on and on about how thousands - maybe even millions - of people would be descending upon the city hoping to catch a glimpse of the back of Obama’s head, or maybe a piece of gum that Joe Biden chewed, or something. They didn’t spend hundreds of dollars on transportation and lodging so that they could be turned away even when they actually had a legitimate ticket. (Here’s some more about the gate closures.)

So what was the purpose of giving out 300,000 inauguration tickets when the designated areas couldn’t hold that many people? Beats me. Airlines make profits when they oversell. But these tickets were free - and I’m pretty sure nobody would be comforted by being offered an upgrade if they wait for the next inauguration.