I have a friend who got tickets to an event and will have
to have the email when she goes. They expect to scan a
barcode on her cellphone. Is there a way to save the "tickets"
on Android? She had the option to "save to Google wallet"
but can't figure that out. So I guess I'm asking about saving
an email file?

On 2024-03-12 23:04, Newyana2 wrote:
> I have a friend who got tickets to an event and will have
> to have the email when she goes. They expect to scan a
> barcode on her cellphone. Is there a way to save the "tickets"
> on Android? She had the option to "save to Google wallet"
> but can't figure that out. So I guess I'm asking about saving
> an email file?

It depends on how exactly the ticket was shipped.

In many cases, the email simply has graphics, and a dot code or bar code
which the scanner reads directly from the phone display. Printing the
email should also work.

In some other cases, the ticket is attached in PDF form. You can print
it, or simply display the PDF so that the scanner reads the dot-code.

In some cases, the email contains an attachment which is "shared" with a
compatible application, one of which is "Google Wallet". You obviously
need to install Google Wallet first. I have also used PassWallet, which
I prefer as it doesn't depend on the cloud, but sometimes it is not up
to me the choice.

In this case, in the email you should say to share or open the
attachment with some other app, which would be the ticket app, which
normally can save the ticket internally for easier/faster access at the
turnpike.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote

| It depends on how exactly the ticket was shipped.
| I don't understand this very well. The tickets came via email, but
they're not actually tickets or images. The email has remote
links to a company called Ticketmaster. The Ticketmaster app
to "store" the tickets malfunctions. When she tries to view the
tickets, sometimes it seems to work; sometimes the barcode is
missing. She's required to have the barcodes on her phone for
scanning at the door.

I just thought that if there were a way to get the images
representing the seat numbers and barcodes then she could save
that and cut out all these undependable, remote middlemen. But
when I opened the email I realized the images were only remote
links.

It appears that maybe she needs the Ticketmaster app? But
then that doesn't seem to work dependably. The idea of a PDF or
a printout makes sense, but apparently they won't allow that.

I'm sorry that I don't really know what I'm talking about here.
I don't understand why she should need any app or wallet if
she could just have an image file but perhaps that's really the
only option. Anyway, thanks for your efforts. Maybe I'll try to
help her with the Ticketmaster app.

In comp.mobile.android, on Tue, 12 Mar 2024 18:04:20 -0400, "Newyana2"
<Newyana2@invalid.nospam> wrote:

> I have a friend who got tickets to an event and will have
>to have the email when she goes. They expect to scan a
>barcode on her cellphone.

They may expect that, because it seems so many people live in their
cellphone these days and people love to show their phone, but I can't
believe they are insisting on it.

Just print the emails and show them the paper. If it's good enough for
boarding an airplane it should be good enough for them.

After all, who would have a paper copy who was't entitled to it?? But
if two people show up with the same bar code, you can fight it out on
stage. it will be the highlight of the event.

>Is there a way to save the "tickets"
>on Android? She had the option to "save to Google wallet"
>but can't figure that out. So I guess I'm asking about saving
>an email file?

if you want to get something from email to a phone, I'd put an email app
on the phone. I use K-9 but there are many. then I'd forward the email
to myself, and read it on the phone.

One should really have an email app anyhow, even if one doesn't live in
the phone, sometimes yuou need it. Are you sure your friend doesn't
already have one?

With some research I think I've figured this out. Ticketmaster
is very controlling. There are two options: Load the tickets
in the ticketmaster app at the door, or save them in Google Pay.
If she can get the Ticketmaster app to work again then she'll
do the latter. Thanks.

On 2024-03-13 00:54, Newyana2 wrote:
> "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote
>
> | It depends on how exactly the ticket was shipped.
> |
> I don't understand this very well. The tickets came via email, but
> they're not actually tickets or images. The email has remote
> links to a company called Ticketmaster.

I meant that the method depends on the ticket technology used. Ok, it is
Ticketmaster. I suggest looking on the Ticketmaster web page.

Yes, you need the Ticketmaster app. As I have not used them recently
myself I don't know if there are other methods.

However, a simple google "how to print ticketmaster tickets" gets you
the answer:

<https://help.ticketmaster.com/hc/en-us/articles/9700852414225-How-do-I-print-tickets-I-bought-online>

How do I print tickets I bought online?

If you have Mobile Entry tickets, you won’t be able to print them from
your online account, nor can they be emailed. You can visit the FAQ How
do I use Mobile Entry tickets? for more information.

If you chose Print-at-Home as your delivery method, follow these steps:

Sign into your My Account on Ticketmaster.com (desktop/mobile web).
Find your order under the My Tickets section.
When they’re ready to print, the Print Tickets button will appear.
Click Print Tickets and confirm your account by entering the code
we emailed you. You’ll need Adobe Reader to print your tickets, which
you can quickly download from this Adobe webpage.
Print your tickets and you’re set!

Your tickets can’t be printed if you bought your tickets over the phone,
no Print Tickets button appears, or from the app.

So, there is something called "Mobile Entry tickets" that can not be
printed, so watch for that.

Failing all that, they have a help phone. Depending on the country.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 2024-03-13 01:05, micky wrote:
> In comp.mobile.android, on Tue, 12 Mar 2024 18:04:20 -0400, "Newyana2"
> <Newyana2@invalid.nospam> wrote:
>
>> I have a friend who got tickets to an event and will have
>> to have the email when she goes. They expect to scan a
>> barcode on her cellphone.
>
> They may expect that, because it seems so many people live in their
> cellphone these days and people love to show their phone, but I can't
> believe they are insisting on it.

Everybody-has-a-phone™. Just don't fight it and join the crowd :-P

It just works. I have entered several theatres and places using a ticket
on my phone. It just works and is easy.

You buy the tickets at home or the hotel, no need to wait a queue at the
place to buy the tickets in advance. No need for a printer. No need for
a computer. The phone is all you need, and you always have your phone (TM).

>
> Just print the emails and show them the paper. If it's good enough for
> boarding an airplane it should be good enough for them.
>
> After all, who would have a paper copy who was't entitled to it?? But
> if two people show up with the same bar code, you can fight it out on
> stage. it will be the highlight of the event.

It doesn't happen. It is the same danger as two people faking and
printing the same ticket. In that case, they check the master computer
and it says who has the right to the ticket.

Oh, on some events you collect your tickets at the place. You simply
wave your credit/debit card at the machine, maybe it asks for a pincode,
and it prints the tickets for you.

....

--
Cheers, Carlos.

Newyana2 wrote:

> I have a friend who got tickets to an event and will have
> to have the email when she goes. They expect to scan a
> barcode on her cellphone.

Does the phone cache emails locally? If so, just view the email with
barcode within the email app (whatever that is) when she reaches the
entrance, scanners generally work OK from screens (maybe turn brightness
to max, which is what various card/wallet apps do for you).

Newyana2 wrote:

> when I opened the email I realized the images were only remote
> links.

save a screenshot while the barcodes are displayed (usually simultaneous
press of vol- and pwr buttons) that'll get saved to their photos/gallery
app and can be viewed from there without needing a connection ...

"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote

|
| Your tickets can’t be printed if you bought your tickets over the phone,
| no Print Tickets button appears, or from the app.
| | So, there is something called "Mobile Entry tickets" that can not be
| printed, so watch for that.
|

That seems to be the case. If I understand it correctly,
she now has a choice to scan her TM app at the door,
or save the "tickets" to Google Pay. Last night she couldn't
get the TM app to work properly. Hopefully that will work out
and she can save the tickets to Google Pay. She's taking her
granddaughter to the circus and is panicking over the prospect
of a problem at entry.

I'm repeatedly surprised by how much a kiosk device
cellphones are. Everything goes through an app. Simply
buying tickets to the circus is involving Ticketmaster and
Google. And still one doesn't actually have the tickets.
Accessing the "ticket" requires contacting one of those
companies. I guess I'd expected there to be an app that
would represent personal storage on the cellphone. Then
the tickets would be some kind of digitally signed file. Though
I suppose that also has limitations. If it were done that way
then losing the cellphone would mean losing the tickets.

I didn't know about the difference in method of purchase,
though. That's good to know. So, in theory, next time
she could buy the tickets online and skip the cellphone step.

On 2024-03-13 12:50, Newyana2 wrote:
> "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote
>
> |
> | Your tickets can’t be printed if you bought your tickets over the phone,
> | no Print Tickets button appears, or from the app.
> |
> | So, there is something called "Mobile Entry tickets" that can not be
> | printed, so watch for that.
> |
>
> That seems to be the case. If I understand it correctly,
> she now has a choice to scan her TM app at the door,
> or save the "tickets" to Google Pay. Last night she couldn't
> get the TM app to work properly. Hopefully that will work out
> and she can save the tickets to Google Pay. She's taking her
> granddaughter to the circus and is panicking over the prospect
> of a problem at entry.
>
> I'm repeatedly surprised by how much a kiosk device
> cellphones are. Everything goes through an app. Simply
> buying tickets to the circus is involving Ticketmaster and
> Google. And still one doesn't actually have the tickets.
> Accessing the "ticket" requires contacting one of those
> companies. I guess I'd expected there to be an app that
> would represent personal storage on the cellphone. Then
> the tickets would be some kind of digitally signed file. Though
> I suppose that also has limitations. If it were done that way
> then losing the cellphone would mean losing the tickets.

Some kind of digitally signed file is actually used, depending on the
particular protocol the venue uses. And the file is saved locally, and
displayed by an application designed for the purpose.

>
> I didn't know about the difference in method of purchase,
> though. That's good to know. So, in theory, next time
> she could buy the tickets online and skip the cellphone step.
>
>

--
Cheers, Carlos.

Newyana2 <Newyana2@invalid.nospam> wrote:
[...]

> I'm repeatedly surprised by how much a kiosk device
> cellphones are. Everything goes through an app. Simply
> buying tickets to the circus is involving Ticketmaster and
> Google. And still one doesn't actually have the tickets.
> Accessing the "ticket" requires contacting one of those
> companies. I guess I'd expected there to be an app that
> would represent personal storage on the cellphone. Then
> the tickets would be some kind of digitally signed file. Though
> I suppose that also has limitations. If it were done that way
> then losing the cellphone would mean losing the tickets.

Of course I can't speak for this specific scenario (US, Ticketmaster),
but in general, it's *not* "Everything goes through an app.", it *can*
be done via an app, but doesn't have to.

I have yet have to see a case where you can buy a ticket via a website
- i.e. also from a computer (or tablet) - where the ticket can not be
shown (at check-in) in printed form or as a screenshot.

So all this is about *more* flexibility, not less.

In another response, you said: "But when I opened the email I realized
the images were only remote links.". Assuming you meant images of the
ticket(s), you could have made screenshots of the images and she could
have put those screenshots on her phone (or printed them out).

[...]

On 2024-03-13 14:38, Carlos E.R. wrote:
> On 2024-03-13 12:50, Newyana2 wrote:
>> "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote
>>
>> |
>> | Your tickets can’t be printed if you bought your tickets over the
>> phone,
>> | no Print Tickets button appears, or from the app.
>> |
>> | So, there is something called "Mobile Entry tickets" that can not be
>> | printed, so watch for that.
>> |
>>
>>    That seems to be the case. If I understand it correctly,
>> she now has a choice to scan her TM app at the door,
>> or save the "tickets" to Google Pay. Last night she couldn't
>> get the TM app to work properly. Hopefully that will work out
>> and she can save the tickets to Google Pay. She's taking her
>> granddaughter to the circus and is panicking over the prospect
>> of a problem at entry.
>>
>>    I'm repeatedly surprised by how much a kiosk device
>> cellphones are. Everything goes through an app. Simply
>> buying tickets to the circus is involving Ticketmaster and
>> Google. And still one doesn't actually have the tickets.
>> Accessing the "ticket" requires contacting one of those
>> companies. I guess I'd expected there to be an app that
>> would represent personal storage on the cellphone. Then
>> the tickets would be some kind of digitally signed file. Though
>> I suppose that also has limitations. If it were done that way
>> then losing the cellphone would mean losing the tickets.
>
> Some kind of digitally signed file is actually used, depending on the
> particular protocol the venue uses. And the file is saved locally, and
> displayed by an application designed for the purpose.

As I mentioned on another post, yesterday I went to the cinema and I
bought the ticket online. I can buy on site at arrival, but the place is
50 Km away, and I'd risk a line up or not getting a seat placed where I
like (or even none at all if the show is very popular). This way I got a
place right at the axis, in the very perpendicular line to the screen
centre in all directions.

(why 50 Km away? I can see the same movie locally, but dubbed to
Spanish. The only place that shows them in English is 50 Km away).

I got the ticket in several forms.

* I got an html email, nicely formatted, with all the information and a
dotcode for the scanner. The code is labelled with a text code, a 7 char
word. I probably can tell the person at the entrance that word and get
in, but I'm not going to try and put her on difficulties by being a
weirdo :-p

The email can be directly scanned as is at the entrance, but I had to
increase manually my mobile luminosity.

The ticket formatting has a design problem, though:

Entradas: 1 x -Miércoles al cine VIP (6,70 € - 710)

The "710" is the seat code: row 7, seat 10.

* The email had a PDF attached with the invoice. This PDF doesn't
include the dot code.

In previous years, the email did not show the dotcode; I had to open the
PDF for that. They have reversed it.

* The email can be printed at home, and use the paper at the entrance.

* Making a photo of the computer display is not mentioned on any of the
instructions. I don't think they like that system.

* The email has a link for "display the ticket online". This link, if
used on the phone, opens a web page that among other things has another
link to add the ticket to Google Wallet. This is simply a download file
that is handled by that application locally. You don't need to be online
for displaying the ticket with the app.

In my case, this only works with Google browser, Chrome, not with
Firefox, because I never login to Google on FF. You need a google
account active in order to download the ticket to Google Wallet, apparently.

I tested this procedure out of curiosity. The ticket is still available
there. Tapping it displays the ticket and dot code with maximum
luminosity. Now I selected "archive this ticket" and it is stored out of
view.

It mentions that it can not be shared with other apps.

* This same download to Wallet option was available on the purchasing
web page, but as I did this on the computer, the option would not have
worked (and I was not logged to Google on the computer, either).

There are other ticket applications, but this venue has chosen Google
Wallet, so that's it.

So, there are several methods to produce the ticket at the entrance, and
all of them worked for me. No problems at all.

The ticket can be purchased on other web pages, which may use different
methods for the ticket.

The ticket includes a small fee for handling. This is a part that I
don't understand, as no human intervened. It is me the human that puts
the work, not them. If I was using a third party site for obtaining the
ticket that would understandable, but not if it is the cinema own web
site. However, at 7€ I am not going to complain.

Oh, we can buy the popcorn online, too. Identify yourself at the venue
and you get your order completed.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

[About electronic tickets for a movie theatre, bought on-line:]

[Many options deleted:]

> * Making a photo of the computer display is not mentioned on any of the
> instructions. I don't think they like that system.

The quality of a photo can be a problem for reading the code. I.e.
fuzzy, bad lighting, too long exposure / movement, etc..

We've tried that sometimes for other 'tickets' - for example when
picking up a parcel of some on-line purchase - because the e-mail was on
the wrong device and it was too much effort to get it on the right
device. But we stopped doing that.

Just today, we had another such case and I made a screenshot on my
wife's computer and used the computer's WhatsApp program to send it to
to her phone.

See, I managed to sneak in yet another use of WhatsApp! :-)

[...]

> So, there are several methods to produce the ticket at the entrance, and
> all of them worked for me. No problems at all.

Several methods? And they all worked? Newyana2 won't like that one
bit! :-)

[...]

> Oh, we can buy the popcorn online, too. Identify yourself at the venue
> and you get your order completed.

Can you pass on the popcorn? We need some in this group.

On 2024-03-14 21:40, Frank Slootweg wrote:
> Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
>
> [About electronic tickets for a movie theatre, bought on-line:]
>
> [Many options deleted:]
>
>> * Making a photo of the computer display is not mentioned on any of the
>> instructions. I don't think they like that system.
>
> The quality of a photo can be a problem for reading the code. I.e.
> fuzzy, bad lighting, too long exposure / movement, etc..

And distortion.

>
> We've tried that sometimes for other 'tickets' - for example when
> picking up a parcel of some on-line purchase - because the e-mail was on
> the wrong device and it was too much effort to get it on the right
> device. But we stopped doing that.
>
> Just today, we had another such case and I made a screenshot on my
> wife's computer and used the computer's WhatsApp program to send it to
> to her phone.
>
> See, I managed to sneak in yet another use of WhatsApp! :-)

:-D

>
> [...]
>
>> So, there are several methods to produce the ticket at the entrance, and
>> all of them worked for me. No problems at all.
>
> Several methods? And they all worked? Newyana2 won't like that one
> bit! :-)

:-D

>
> [...]
>
>> Oh, we can buy the popcorn online, too. Identify yourself at the venue
>> and you get your order completed.
>
> Can you pass on the popcorn? We need some in this group.

🍿

:-)

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 2024-03-13 00:54, Newyana2 wrote:
> "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote
>
> | It depends on how exactly the ticket was shipped.
> |
> I don't understand this very well. The tickets came via email, but
> they're not actually tickets or images. The email has remote
> links to a company called Ticketmaster. The Ticketmaster app
> to "store" the tickets malfunctions. When she tries to view the
> tickets, sometimes it seems to work; sometimes the barcode is
> missing. She's required to have the barcodes on her phone for
> scanning at the door.

Yesterday I heard on the radio about Ticketmaster being prosecuted for
monopolistic practices in the USA.

Spanish:

https://www.diariocritico.com/economia/eeuu-lleva-juicio-ticketmaster-presunto-monopolio

English:

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/justice-department-sue-ticketmaster-live-nation-alleged-monopoly-ticketing-industry-report

https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/1c5jbvw/justice_department_to_sue_ticketmaster_live/

--
Cheers, Carlos.