I’ve noticed everytime I go to book a viewing at the cinema, wether that be Vue, Odeon, Cineworld, there’s always like 5 or 6 seats reserved, like row I?
But no one ever comes and sits in them, and it’s the same in multiple cinemas, multiple screens, multiple films?
Why are these seats always reserved?
5 comments
Maybe someone with an unlimited card just wants to be very annoying
Are they located near the wheelchair spaces? Could be for carers?
I worked in a cinema for years. We used to keep 20-25 seats unsold for various reasons. Occasionally you’d get broken seats or seats that have had juice or food spilled on the, so can’t be used. You’d also get people with tickets to other films skipping in or people with bad seats sit on someone else’s seat and refuse to move. It was nice to have slate seats you could use if necessary.
House seats. There’s 4-8 per screen for use in case of issues with booked seats such as spilled drinks or damage.
Staff can’t sell them to you, but if they’re empty when the feature starts, you can sit there.
House seats, in case there’s any issues with other seats in the screening, so people can be moved if necessary.
Occasionally for high risk films, or screenings that’ve had issues, a staff member would sit for the duration of the performance to respond immediately if there were further issues (at least 10 years ago when I worked for Cineworld).