Digital ticketing
Friday’s announcement of the Club’s approach to digital ticketing provides welcome detail to all supporters ahead of the new season which is now only three weeks away.
Ever since Fulham confirmed towards the end of last season that they would be switching to digital ticketing for 2024/25, we have been working hard to understand how the system will operate and also to feed key supporter requirements into the decision making and communications work at the Club. We now have a first view of the new Ticketmaster digital ticketing system being rolled out and, with thanks to the Club’s ticketing and communications teams, answers to most of your questions have been included in the FAQ.
Given the increasing problems we have seen in recent years with away fans in home areas, we fully support the move to digital ticketing as a key tool in the fight against touts. It should now be much easier for the Club to understand who is in possession of each ticket and how they are being transferred. However we were always clear that, aside from a system that works quickly at the turnstiles to minimise delays, the two critical requirements for supporters were the ability to continue to share season tickets legitimately with family and friends and alternative entry methods for those without smart phones, particularly juniors, seniors and disabled supporters. We are pleased that the Club has embraced these requirements.
There is a lot of information now on the Club web site and we encourage you to read through the guides and FAQ to familiarise yourselves with the new system. There are no tickets on sale yet, but the Club plans to send out our digital season tickets, which they are calling digital season passes, by email in the week commencing 5th August; the process then should be no more than a download into our Apple or Google phone wallet and the ticket will be able to be read at the turnstiles by tapping as we previously did with our plastic cards. The fact that our tickets are not based on QR codes or barcodes means that they are less easily shareable by touts which has to be a good thing.
As the ticketing system provider has now changed from SecuTix to Ticketmaster, we do all need to re-enter our Friends and Family links so that we can buy tickets for each other and share season tickets when needed. We encourage you to do this as soon as possible both to make sure that you can log in to the new system and also that you are ready for the new season. The Club has published a Friends & Family guide which explains how to do this, for which you’ll need the client reference numbers of your friends and family from their season ticket cards. We’ve noticed that, at least for the time being, the old ticketing system is still live and so you can check your old Friends and Family network there. [Update – this has now been removed].
We also strongly encourage anyone without a smart phone in the exemption groups to request their alternative card as soon as possible using the form on the Club’s web site.
Ultimately the success of the system will be determined by how easy it is to use on non-match days and how it operates on match day. We know that other clubs have had teething problems with digital ticketing when first rolled out, but we’re hopeful that the fact that the turnstile infrastructure has not needed to be changed will minimise this. It is a shame though that there doesn’t seem to be a home friendly to use as a test event.
Almost all of the queries we have received so far have been addressed in the Club’s FAQ, but if you have others which you can’t find there, please let us know and we will look for answers either at the next Club meeting on Wednesday 31st July or separately.
Thank you for your support of the Fulham Supporters’s Trust.
