Glastonbury Festival ticket resale post updated 8th April 2019

So back in October you woke up early (for a Sunday) with a fuzzy head from the night before, and sat at your computer waiting for 9am to roll around. And for the next 30 minutes you sat bashing the refresh button without even a sniff of the Glastonbury Festival ticket page. 

Well, you’re not alone! With roughly 2 million people trying for just 135,000 tickets Glastonbury Festival is one of the most popular and well known festivals on the planet. With over 100 stages, 1000s of acts and 24hr entertainment for 6 days you can see why people are clambering over each other to get a golden ticket. But long gone are the days of paying someone a tenner to help punt you over the fence, so here are the legit ways you can still get a Glastonbury Festival ticket.

Official Glastonbury Festival ticket resale

If you’re not aware, the way Glastonbury Festival ticket sale works is that everyone pays £50 deposit in October, then you pay the remaining balance during the payment window in the first week of April. Anyone who doesn’t pay their balance in time loses their ticket and it gets resold at the end of April. This year the dates for the official Glastonbury Festival ticket resale are Thursday the 25th April for coach package tickets, followed by a general ticket sale on Sunday 28th April. The festival have said in previous years that 10-15 thousand tickets go back in to the resale, so there is still a good chance for you to get those golden tickets, but you have to be fast! I wrote a detailed post here on how to be fully prepared and give yourself the best possible chance to be successful when the ticket page re opens.

Secret resales

Shhhhhh it’s a secret! Ok well not anymore. If you were still unlucky in the official Glastonbury Festival ticket resale there is still a chance in the “secret” sales. Ticket holders can get a refund up until midnight the 3rd of May, and those with ticket insurance can get a refund even later. Any tickets returned go back into the pot and will sporadically pop up on the ticket page, typically from the the following week after the cut off. But you need to be quick as the number returned is very small! Some times these small ticket sales will be announced on Twitter, but by that point I’d say it’s probably too late. Best to set up a page monitor such as follow that page or Visual Ping so you get an alert when the ticket page changes. I have a few friends who have been successful this way, so it is absolutely legit!

Volunteer

Working for free during the festival is a mugs game, right!?! Nope. There are thousands of volunteer positions at the festival, with many people returning time and time again, preferring to volunteer than buy a ticket. Organisations differ, although typical shifts are usually 3x8hrs over 5 days, and with 24hr shift patterns and 24hr entertainment there’s still plenty of time to hangout with your mates and see all of your favourite acts. Added perks of volunteering at Glastonbury are; dedicated campsite with hot showers and proper toilets, free food and drink whilst on shift, access to the crew bars that serve super cheap alcohol plus many more. Companies to contact are; Festaff who supply volunteers to wristband at the gates, Oxfam provide volunteer stewards.

Work

Not the same as volunteer jobs, working at Glastonbury you will be paid for your time and probably need to work every day of the festival. However, it’s a fun and relaxed environment and there are still plenty of opportunities to enjoy the festivities. Plus, think of all the extra dough you’ll have after 5-7 days work. BONUS.

A few suggestions for job opportunities; Cash and traffic Management employ people from the Sunday before the festival till the Monday after to run the carparks. Similarly DC Site Services employ people to run the camper van fields and manage vehicle access on site. Natural Event run “The Poo Crew”, which is exactly as it sounds! Not very glamorous, but essential for any large event. and if you do a good job you could travel the world doing all of the major festivals with them. And finally, if you have medical or first aid experience you could work with the Festival Medical Service.

Hospitality

Want to splash the cash? this is the perfect option for you then! All of the neighbouring land owners are given a hospitality ticket allowance and many of them now run luxury campsites just outside of the perimeter fence. You can camp in style in a winnebago, yurt, tipi or bell tent, with a proper bed, Egyptian cotton sheets, proper toilets, room service, private bar and chauffeur service to the entry gates. Accommodation package plus hospitality ticket, which allows you access to private bars and some back stage areas can set you back anywhere between £1200 – £11,000.

Check out Yurtel who have a range of luxury accommodation available, prices include a pair of hospitality tickets, transport to and from the hospitality area at the Pyramid stage, access to a luxury spa and a private chef, Heaven! Want to arrive in style like an A list celeb? Fly Glastonbury will helicopter you in to their luxury campsite Winding Lake, stay in an old Airstream or state of the art RV. Woodlands Retreats offer luxury yurts and cottages just 15 minutes walk from Gate C, with a champagne and canapé reception on the Thursday evening.

Competitions

“I’ve got no chance with this one”, I hear you say. Well you’ve got to be in it, to win it! Competitions with radio shows, national newspapers, and some of Glastonbury’s brand partnerships (Thatchers, National Express etc) all have ticket giveaways closer to the festival date.

GWR, the train company who run people to and from the festival by train, currently have a competition to win a pair of tickets and return train travel to Glastonbury. All you have to do is enter a few personal details into this form by May 6th for a chance to win. Easy!

I will update this section with more links as competitions are announced, so keep checking back!

And if all else fails then you should try jumping the fence…. KIDDING! Kidding…. there’s always next year 😉

Have you been unlucky in the main ticket sales and been successful in still going to Glastonbury? Do you have any other tips for bagging a last minute wristband? let me know in the comments section below. See you all on the farm!