TKTS Ticket Booths: Pros and Cons

When Broadway show producers are desperate to sell their last unsold tickets - they make them available for sale on the day of the show at the TKTS booths at a substantial discount. You never see a local at the TKTS booth and there are a few reasons why:

The TKTS Ticket Booth: THE PRO'S:

1. Tickets are discounted from their face value and the tickets discount can be up to 50%
2. You can buy tickets to some great Broadway shows on the day of the performance (even at the very last minute)
3. You never know what show you will find selling tickets at the TKTS booth
4. You get to talk to a human over a counter (although there is recent talk of replacing them with AI kiosks due to labor cost)
5. A Fastpass gets you a week-long queue fast pass  - after you buy your first set of tickets at the booth
6. Lincoln Center is a quieter location (but with limited hours) than the Times Square location
7. Its a quintessential last-minute New York City tourist experience

The TKTS Ticket Booth: THE CON'S

1. Not all tickets are 50% off. Many ticket discounts are 40%, 30% or even just 20%
2. The top 10 Broadway shows are never sold at the booth, as they have already sold out or do not need to discount
3. The TKTS booths only sell 10% of all Broadway tickets - discount codes sell over 25%. so they are often a better bet for ticket buyers
4. Tickets are not allowed to be sold at the booth below a certain threshold, even though may be giving tickets away for free at the theatre itself
5. The tickets sold at the TKTS booth are the last of all the unsold tickets. They are often not the best value as they may have poor sight lines or poor audio or at the back of the theatre
6. You must buy these tickets in person - there is no online or phone sales for TKTS tickets - so out of towners this is a big time suck
7. You cannot choose where you will sit. At the booth they will offer you a  few ticket choices and you have 5 seconds to decide yes or no - or get out of line
8. The wait on lines can be long (2 hours +) and are outside in all weathers. The Lincoln Center location is smaller and is located inside
9. The TKTS line is often pestered by tourist company representatives selling everything from bus tours to adult clubs.
10. The TKTS booth in Times Square is prone to gang violence, so it becomes more dangerous at night
11. Limited ticket inventory - they just don't carry that many tickets, so by the time you get to ticket counter they may be sold out for the show you want
12. They will not sell any tickets after the official curtain time of the show - but the theatre itself will still sell them - sometimes the curtain goes up 20 mins late - so you wasted your time waiting on the line at the TKTS booth
13. Often they are not cheapest ticket - discount codes can be lower priced
14. TKTS charges a low per-ticket fee of $5, but there is no fee for tickets bought in-person at theatre itself
15. Broadway Show and TKTS representatives in the TKTS line will never tell you the truth about a show - they will never will tell you what shows suck and which ones are better