Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Trying to Buy Tickets in Korea

I can see why baseball games here don't get the attendance they do in the west, getting tickets is extremely difficult online.

As a foreigner is it all but impossible. First of all you have to create an account, which in itself should be easy, although to start you need an Alien Registration Card number (sorry tourists). You then have to create an account where knowledge of Korean is mandatory even on the English page, since typing your address in English is not allowed. Fortunately I can do that, but good luck to anyone who doesn't have intermediate Korean vocabulary ("sorry, this ID is already taken" is not really basic Korean IMO). Anyway, I get through it and set up an account. Then off to buy nine tickets using my visa. Nope and nope. 6 tickets (referred to as "sheets") maximum. Okay, well since there's no assigned seating I'll get 6 sheets and then 3 more sheets after. So I select 6 sheets. I am asked do I have LG, for example? Good thing I know that LG, in addition to being an electronics brand, a baseball team and a gas station is also a discount card, and that there are several such cards. No. Select method of payment. My options are Domestic Card or a blank space (I really wonder why they made me select it). I can't use visa to buy tickets online........ Well good thing I can just transfer cash from my bank account. Select option. A page pops up entirely in Korean, and this level of Korean is well beyond my understanding.

So I'll head up early to buy them and then hang out at Olympic Park (not a bad idea in itself) but it just amazes me that a country that is so advanced in so many ways won't let me buy 9 tickets to a baseball game using a credit card.

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