White Plains CitizeNetReporter - Moviegoer Critiques Automatic Seating at City Center Cinema De Lux

WPCNR SCREEN GEMS. WHITE PLAINS VOICE. September 20, 2004: Saturday was definitely a movie day, and a moviergoer relates his experience taking his daughter to the City Center De Lux, finding the consumer at somewhat of a disadvantage:

I took my 19 year old daughter, home from college for the weekend, to
the movies the other day. Without checking any times, we arrived early for
a 9:20P showing of Sky Captain. Seeing a long line at the register we went
to the machines on the opposing wall nearer the piano. Paying 24- for (2)
movie tickets is a little steep I'll admit, but after all it
would be in the "directors hall". We went to a restaurant on Mamaroneck Ave
for dinner and came back in plenty of time to see our chosen flik.

I must say, the directors hall is no big whoop. I mean I paid extra for
us to sit in this "special room" with what seemed like fake leather seating
with identical paper murals of San Francisco bay on each side of the room
and then had to sit according to our assigned seating while only two other
people were in the theatre.(three rows up from Center aisle and the extreme
left)

When you buy from the machines it doesn't ask where in the hall you'd
like to sit based on the still available seating, apparently the machine
seems to give you what IT thinks is next. Maybe there's a little more to it
than that because after all, we weren't in the first row looking up but
based on the time the tickets around, where we would have chosen to be had
we been asked, were sold (ours were bought 2 hours before show time), the
two tickets we got were (sort of) arbitrary.

We waited for the show to start and just moved in on the many still
unfilled seats in the middle of the house in our aisle plopped down for a
good old fashioned adventure. Except for the woman seated near me who seemed
to have missed the part about suspending disbelief at the door and couldn't
help herself from reminding the theater goers around her that she wasn't
fooled or her male partner, we actually had a good time in spite of the
price gouging, the inappropriate seat assignments or some theater goers
incapable of shutting up.

Had I gone to the real live person with the long line, they would have
asked, of the still available seats, which seats did I want for 24 dollars
at 9:20P show. Being that a corporation is saving on personnel in this
exchange the machine purchase (with the arbitrary seating) should be less
expensive then with a real person at the register or be giving the same
options as the real person.

Movie theater goer


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