Going to see the Arsenal? Want to?

[pookspur]

Maybe not if you are willing to attend the derby and wear our kit in your part of the stands (and you can't explain why...).:D

somehow i don't think that an explanation would get me off that particular hook. :o

a cheap-ass dump in st pancras it is, then. :(

[GunneRy]

I've gone in March once and in April and both times decent fares were found in November and then again in January. A tip: the travelocity farewatcher email feature will email you when the fare goes down by $25 or more.
thanks for the tip.

[mcc410x]

I've gone in March once and in April and both times decent fares were found in November and then again in January. A tip: the travelocity farewatcher email feature will email you when the fare goes down by $25 or more.

i'm not sure this works any more unfortunately. i lived off of this, too, but travelocity now tells me that b/c of gov't regulations they can't give european fares w/o specific travels dates -- therefore nullifying this feature. if fact, if you go on there and do a flexible dates search, the engine will return nothing. helpful, eh?

[deaner1971]

i'm not sure this works any more unfortunately. i lived off of this, too, but travelocity now tells me that b/c of gov't regulations they can't give european fares w/o specific travels dates -- therefore nullifying this feature. if fact, if you go on there and do a flexible dates search, the engine will return nothing. helpful, eh?

Thanks for the info. I used to have London as one of the destinations for which I got fare info on my My Yahoo page. I wondered why one day it just stopped listing fares for London but all my other wones were working.

[canadagooner]

Some interesting stuff from DiamondGeezer's blog on Oyster cards for the tube\buses

The annual London fare rise 'scandal'

Every Autumn, London's Mayor announces next January's fare rises for tubes and buses. Every Autumn, certain sections of the media complain very loudly. Check out the 2007 column of the following tables and you might see why...

Cost of a single central London tube journey
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
£1.40 £1.50 £1.50 £1.60 £1.60
2004 2005 2006 2007
Oyster £1.60 £1.70 £1.50 £1.50
Visitor £2.00 £2.00 £3.00 £4.00

Cost of a single central London bus journey
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
70p £1 £1 £1 £1
2004 2005 2006 2007
Oyster 70p 80p 80p £1
Visitor £1 £1.20 £1.50 £2

The good news: If you have an Oyster card (and millions of Londoners do), tube and bus fares are still at 2000 prices.
The bad news: If you don't have an Oyster card (and the vast majority of visitors and tourists don't), tube and bus prices have doubled in just three years.

The Evening Standard says: "£4 TO GO ONE STOP ON THE TUBE"
A rational human being says: Well yes, but you'd have to be pretty stupid to travel one stop on the tube in central London. Or very lazy. Or the sort of Evening Standard reader who doesn't usually travel with the plebs but is sometimes forced against their will to use the tube when there are no taxis.
A taxi driver says: Come January, a group of three tourists will be able to take a taxi across town more cheaply than take the tube. Lovely jubbly.

The better news: You can buy an Oyster card online and have it posted to your home address anywhere in the country (offer coming soon to India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, Portugal and the USA)
The bottom line: You can't get hold of an Oyster card without paying at least £13 (that's £10 of pre-pay and £3 refundable deposit)

Some background: Cash is now used to pay for only 5% of bus and tube journeys in London.
The potentially scary bit: If you have an Oyster card, somebody at Transport for London knows precisely whereabouts in London you were last Saturday morning (and every single day since you bought one).
The small print: If you're on pay-as you-go and forget to touch in or out, the amount you'll be charged rises to £4 in November.

The good news: If you have an Oyster card (and millions of Londoners do), tube and bus fares are still at 2000 prices. Which is bloody impressive really.

http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/

[Frankgarrison]

Thanks for the info. I used to have London as one of the destinations for which I got fare info on my My Yahoo page. I wondered why one day it just stopped listing fares for London but all my other wones were working.

I thought this was just a temporary measure in response to the most recent disruption of the terrorist plot in London. Oh well.

I've gotten cheap (ie, less than $500) fares from Jackson, MS for travel in late Feb/early March and April. I paid a bit more for a december trip, but even that was just $700. I have flown Northwest in the past, but have switched to Delta.

[deaner1971]

I thought this was just a temporary measure in response to the most recent disruption of the terrorist plot in London. Oh well.

I've gotten cheap (ie, less than $500) fares from Jackson, MS for travel in late Feb/early March and April. I paid a bit more for a december trip, but even that was just $700. I have flown Northwest in the past, but have switched to Delta.

Last year I flew American over, I believe, and was really pleasantly suprised by the quality of service. It got to the point that I was actually getting very annoyed with the frequency of service. They must have come by at least 20 times during the 8 hour flight. Maybe I just had very kind attendants but it really was amazing.

Do you recall how much the April flight was? Also, if anyone out there could give me the timeline for Spring in London, that would be great. I plan on staying about a week to do quite a bit of photography so I would like to come when I can expect some quality foliage (last trip was in fall/winter).

[DLee]

Anyone have recommendations for hotels in early December in the under 100 pound range? Will be staying about a week and prefer small botique hotels to the big chains. Thanks.

[Frankgarrison]

Last year I flew American over, I believe, and was really pleasantly suprised by the quality of service. It got to the point that I was actually getting very annoyed with the frequency of service. They must have come by at least 20 times during the 8 hour flight. Maybe I just had very kind attendants but it really was amazing.

Do you recall how much the April flight was? Also, if anyone out there could give me the timeline for Spring in London, that would be great. I plan on staying about a week to do quite a bit of photography so I would like to come when I can expect some quality foliage (last trip was in fall/winter).

My flight in April was actually free because after 10 years of loyal use of Northworst, I had enough for a r/t ticket to Europe. Previously, a couple of years ago, I went in Feb/March and my fare was just over $300

I now bank Skymiles with Delta. Northworst is the worst.

[Frankgarrison]

Anyone have recommendations for hotels in early December in the under 100 pound range? Will be staying about a week and prefer small botique hotels to the big chains. Thanks.

I can highly recommend the Europa Hotel in Tufnell Park, North London. It is a nice family run small hotel on a quiet residential street. It's close to the Tufnell Park tube station on the northern line (about 5 blocks) and just two blocks from a bus stop that will take you to Finsbury Park and 2 blocks from another stop that will take you south into the city. My single room, which included free full English breakfast, and a shower and toilet in the room, was 30GBP per night (5 night stay, booked through bluehound or something. If you do a search, you can find the discounted rate). A number of the Emirates Stadium workers stayed there. It was exceptionally quiet, the shower was small but with good pressure and hot water. The TV was not particularly good, but who cares, I wasn't there to watch tv!

My review, with some photos, is here (first review): http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g186338-d571359-r5002928-Europa_Hotel-London_England.html

If that link doesn't work, you can search tripadvisor london for Europa Hotel. The address of the hotel is 60 Anson Road, London N7 0AA, England. Here's another link to the hotel: http://www.europa-hotel.co.uk/faq.php

I wish I could go this season, and if i could I'd stay here, but with the wife expecting in February, it looks like the 07/08 season will be my next Arsenal trip!

Enjoy!

P.S. DEpending on the length of your stay, it may make more sense to rent a flat. In December I rented a flat in Notting Hill. It was a bit more expensive, but it was roomier, had a washer/dryer and full kitchen so I saved a bit on eating out.

[pookspur]

quick question.

i presume that every arse match at the grove thus far has sold out - well in advance i'm guessing. but have any tickets as of yet gone onsale to the general public, or have all sold out prior?

[brooklyngunner]

As an aside comment, please will people (I know it's not possible all the time) book from Friday to Tuesday for a weekend game. The games can be moved to the Monday night and two people were not able to see games when they were over last year because of games being moved. The Readig game is fine as there is a CL game on the Tues/Wed so it won't be moved.

I just put in a request for this same Reading match (March 3, 2007). When you say this game is "fine" for not getting moved to Monday, is it pretty much 100% impossible that it won't get moved, or just that it's unlikely that it would get moved, because Arsenal will probably move through and be playing in the CL at that point?

I'm using my rudimentary (at best) understanding of CL draws/scheduling as an excuse here for asking what is likely a simple question.

Thanks!

[Rick B]

I just put in a request for this same Reading match (March 3, 2007). When you say this game is "fine" for not getting moved to Monday, is it pretty much 100% impossible that it won't get moved, or just that it's unlikely that it would get moved, because Arsenal will probably move through and be playing in the CL at that point?

I'm using my rudimentary (at best) understanding of CL draws/scheduling as an excuse here for asking what is likely a simple question.

Thanks!

If you read my comment exactly you will see I said that it is fine for people to book just the weekend as the game won't be moved as there is a CL game on the Tues/Wed. Obviously if we fail to qualify then there could be an issue, but although we have a very tough group I'd doubt very much we won't qualify.

[Rick B]

quick question.

i presume that every arse match at the grove thus far has sold out - well in advance i'm guessing. but have any tickets as of yet gone onsale to the general public, or have all sold out prior?

We have a membership which is basically the same as General Sale called Red Membership. Anyone can get one and buy tickets when they go to Red Members (1 per member). So far most of the games have gone to Red Members before selling out. The reason for this is that the membership level above that is called Silver Membership. The vast majority of Silver Member holders were on season ticket wait lists and therefore have season tickets at the new stadium. Therefore although they have kept their memberships in case of buying extra tickets for friends/family they are not being used much. This is good as it is a lot fairer in who gets tickets.

[pookspur]

We have a membership which is basically the same as General Sale called Red Membership. Anyone can get one and buy tickets when they go to Red Members (1 per member). So far most of the games have gone to Red Members before selling out. The reason for this is that the membership level above that is called Silver Membership. The vast majority of Silver Member holders were on season ticket wait lists and therefore have season tickets at the new stadium. Therefore although they have kept their memberships in case of buying extra tickets for friends/family they are not being used much. This is good as it is a lot fairer in who gets tickets.

thanks, rick.

does that mean that red memberships are free? that seems odd, as the club apparently distinguishes between red member sales and general public sales. what, i am wondering, is the benefit to the club of having these 'red members'? i must be missing something.

[Bluto11]

does that mean that red memberships are free? that seems odd, as the club apparently distinguishes between red member sales and general public sales. what, i am wondering, is the benefit to the club of having these 'red members'? i must be missing something.
Red Membership isn't free, it is just that more red members have access to tickets now because of the bigger stadium

[pookspur]

Red Membership isn't free, it is just that more red members have access to tickets now because of the bigger stadium

ah! (thanks, bluto)

may i presume, then, that the answer to my original question - have any matches yet gone to 'general sale'? - is "no"?

[mickygooner]

hi everyone , first post from a new member here , am a silver member and brother is gold member which is a season ticket holder , been going up the arsenal for nearly 25 years now . Last few years every home game is normally sold out in approx 4 hours , but a first has happened this season , Arsenal have started to grade the games , grade A being the best games ,like against Chelsea , Liverpool , spurs and Man U . Prices have been hiked up for these games and for first time i can remember the liverpool and spurs home game did not sell out on first day of tickets going on sale , the cheapest ticket was £60 i think , and they are still on sale now to silver members , with the cheapest ones available at £70 hence why they have not been sold yet ! these will go on sale to red members soon and if they do not get snapped up they will then go on general sale .

[Rick B]

hi everyone , first post from a new member here , am a silver member and brother is gold member which is a season ticket holder , been going up the arsenal for nearly 25 years now . Last few years every home game is normally sold out in approx 4 hours , but a first has happened this season , Arsenal have started to grade the games , grade A being the best games ,like against Chelsea , Liverpool , spurs and Man U . Prices have been hiked up for these games and for first time i can remember the liverpool and spurs home game did not sell out on first day of tickets going on sale , the cheapest ticket was £60 i think , and they are still on sale now to silver members , with the cheapest ones available at £70 hence why they have not been sold yet ! these will go on sale to red members soon and if they do not get snapped up they will then go on general sale .

Welcome here. Enjoy the forum, there is a mix of about 10 or so season ticket holders that post here, a couple more English and about 800 Americans, 400 or so of which have come over to see the Arsenal at some point in the past 4 years. All ticket info is obviously gratefully received.

[mickygooner]

Welcome here. Enjoy the forum, there is a mix of about 10 or so season ticket holders that post here, a couple more English and about 800 Americans, 400 or so of which have come over to see the Arsenal at some point in the past 4 years. All ticket info is obviously gratefully received.


may know of a couple of spares for watford game ;)