"Flex" vs "Reserved" Birdland Memberships -- your opinions?

[AdamK]

Searched the forum but the last time there seemed to be a thread about this topic was 2019... apologies if I missed something.

Typically, I have purchased tickets on a game-by-game basis through the club or 3rd parties, but I am starting to consider more of an upfront investment as my family is showing strong interest in attending more often. We live about 90 minutes to the northeast, so getting to a dozen games (or so) would be possible. Feels like each game attended runs about $300-$350 for a family of 4 (2 adults + 9 year old and 12 year old) when factoring in tix, parking, food/bev. Cheaper experiences are possible, I realize, but these figure in seats that aren't very good. Personally, I am a sucker for good seats but have been enjoying just being in the ballpark, wherever, if I am being honest with myself.

 

Anywho...I'm awaiting outreach from the club to help me navigate the options, but was hoping this community could share your learnings/experience with what you've decided works (or doesn't work). 

Looks as if there are two levels -- Flex and Reserved -- and best I can tell:

• A Flex Membership deposit seems to go towards:
  • paying for non-specific game tickets in advance, at a discount 
  • varying deposit amounts essentially serve as credits that can mean more games with cheap seats or fewer games with better seats
  • seats and games depend on availability
  • once your deposit runs out, you are back to paying on a game-by-game basis like normals
  • post-season pre-sale opportunities exist of varying levels 
• A Reserve Membership deposit goes towards:
  • a fixed price for specific seats at specific games I determine before the season starts
  • pricing depends on how many games I am reserving (13,  29 or 81) and quality of seat
  • post-season pre-sale opportunities exist of varying levels

 

Assuming I have all that correct, what are you guys doing? Are you sharing reserved plans with family or friends and coordinating on who goes in advance? Is that a pain in the rear? Anyone regret plunking down the upfront money?

 

[SteveA]

I was a season ticket holder from 1988-2003 then quit.

I rejoined this year at the $1200 flex level and it was great.   Whenever I wanted to go to a game I could get the tickets I needed, and the discount was good.   I sat in various places around the ballpark.

And yes, after you run out, you do go back to paying on a game by game basis, but you still get the ticket discount associated with your flex plan.

The concessions discount is good too.

[CynBeth]

My mom became a 13 game season plan holder for the 2 of us when I was a teenager after we lost my dad unexpectedly and have been ever since. When I married my husband we knew realistically that all 3 of us would not want to go to 13 games so did not add an extra just kept the 2 seats. In the past we would rotate but as of late she does not like going to evening games so he and I go to some and sometimes we trade in so the 3 of us can go on a few Sundays. We have been very happy with our rep. Everyone is different so there are some people who like having the same seats with the reserve and knowing what the games are and being able to switch but there are others who like being able to do the flex. Select what works best for you. Good luck!

[AdamK]

2 hours ago, SteveA said:

I was a season ticket holder from 1988-2003 then quit.

I rejoined this year at the $1200 flex level and it was great.   Whenever I wanted to go to a game I could get the tickets I needed, and the discount was good.   I sat in various places around the ballpark.

And yes, after you run out, you do go back to paying on a game by game basis, but you still get the ticket discount associated with your flex plan.

The concessions discount is good too.

Thanks @SteveA. The $1200 Pro-level is what I was leaning towards too. Out of curiosity, how long did the $1200 last you (how many games did you attend)? And have you received postseason presale info yet?

[AdamK]

1 minute ago, CynBeth said:

My mom became a 13 game season plan holder for the 2 of us when I was a teenager after we lost my dad unexpectedly and have been ever since. When I married my husband we knew realistically that all 3 of us would not want to go to 13 games so did not add an extra just kept the 2 seats. In the past we would rotate but as of late she does not like going to evening games so he and I go to some and sometimes we trade in so the 3 of us can go on a few Sundays. We have been very happy with our rep. Everyone is different so there are some people who like having the same seats with the reserve and knowing what the games are and being able to switch but there are others who like being able to do the flex. Select what works best for you. Good luck!

Appreciate it @CynBeth. Can you tell me more about the trading in process? Is it basically a financial equivalent you receive of the 2 tickets you can use towards how ever many else you need?

 

[foxfield]

I was a 13 game ticket holder for 6 seats out by the bullpen from 2001-2009.

I just signed up for the Flex plan at $2500.  Have not seen more than one game or so a year in some time.  Coming Saturday for the first time in the Adley Rutchman era.

$2500 may ultimately be a bit much.  My hope is to use better seats for fewer games...and family is getting larger as kids become adults.

 

Edit to add, by doing this now, at the "Veteran" level, I can purchase up to 4 tickets to up to 2 games per playoff series.

I have attended Oriole games since 1968 and have never seen a Home Opener nor ever seen a playoff game in person.

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by foxfield

[SteveA]

12 minutes ago, AdamK said:

Thanks @SteveA. The $1200 Pro-level is what I was leaning towards too. Out of curiosity, how long did the $1200 last you (how many games did you attend)? And have you received postseason presale info yet?

This year was kind of a special situation.   A few years a friend of mine who is a big Pirates fan bought a luxury box for both a Friday and Saturday night game up there and invited a bunch of us to share it.

So sort of to repay, I did something a bit similar though not as extravagant.   I bought 6 tickets each to the Friday and Saturday night Pirates games, in very good seats (club for Friday night and lower box Saturday night) and invited that same bunch of friends up for that weekend, we hit some local breweries and restaurants each afternoon.   So I spent about 600 of my 1200 plan just on that weekend.

I won't be doing that every year.

I still finished my 1200 up in August.  Now typically when I go I go with a couple friends, so I buy the tickets, say 2 or 3, and then they pay me for theirs.   So I get a good chunk of the 1200 back when my friends pay me for their tickets.   If I hadn't spent the 600 on the Pirate weekend, I probably would have gone to more other games this year.   So using up the 1200 is not a problem for me.

I think I've been to 12 games this year, that includes the 2 Pirate games and 2 games I got separately from outside my plan.   So the other 8 games used up the non-Pirate $600 portion of my plan and went over a bit

I have been told that I can buy up to 4 tickets to 1 game in each postseason series.   The presale will be sometime next week, or the information on when it is will be released next week, and I think it will be staged (so the ALCS and WS presale won't be next week).

Edited September 14, 2023 by SteveA

[AdamK]

1 minute ago, foxfield said:

I was a 13 game ticket holder for 6 seats out by the bullpen from 2001-2009.

I just signed up for the Flex plan at $2500.  Have not seen more than one game or so a year in some time.  Coming Saturday for the first time in the Adley Rutchman era.

$2500 may ultimately be a bit much.  My hope is to use better seats for fewer games...and family is getting larger as kids become adults.

Doesn't sound like this will happen to you with that many people in tow, but any guess as to what happens if you have a balance at the end?

[foxfield]

13 minutes ago, AdamK said:

Doesn't sound like this will happen to you with that many people in tow, but any guess as to what happens if you have a balance at the end?

I would imagine that it becomes the property of our good friend John Angelos.

Here is the flyer that came with my package.

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by foxfield
flyer to jpeg

[SteveA]

4 minutes ago, AdamK said:

Doesn't sound like this will happen to you with that many people in tow, but any guess as to what happens if you have a balance at the end?

Buy as many of the best seats as you can under the balance to the last game of the season and sell them for whatever you can get.

Or let Angelos keep the money, I'm sure he'll spend it on improving the team.

Honestly, it would likely be something you could see coming as the season went on and you could adjust... buying tickets for friends to games you can't attend, or getting more expensive seats than you normally would.

I guess if you were sailing along in August on pace to use it up and got hit by some sort of illness or emergency that meant you couldn't go to any more games, you could be in a bit of trouble.

[AdamK]

3 minutes ago, SteveA said:

...So sort of to repay, I did something a bit similar though not as extravagant.   I bought 6 tickets each to the Friday and Saturday night Pirates games, in very good seats (club for Friday night and lower box Saturday night) and invited that same bunch of friends up for that weekend, we hit some local breweries and restaurants each afternoon.   So I spent about 600 of my 1200 plan just on that weekend.

I won't be doing that every year....

That's a pretty darn good value for two nights! Especially since they were both wins and with a Wells > Cano > Bautista shutout thrown in there to boot.

[SteveA]

3 minutes ago, AdamK said:

That's a pretty darn good value for two nights! Especially since they were both wins and with a Wells > Cano > Bautista shutout thrown in there to boot.

We had a great weekend, although the two friends in the group who are diehard Pirate fans were not as happy about the outcomes.

I had never seen anyone hit for the cycle in person before until Cedric did it that Friday night.

[AdamK]

Just now, SteveA said:

We had a great weekend, although the two friends in the group who are diehard Pirate fans were not as happy about the outcomes.

I had never seen anyone hit for the cycle in person before until Cedric did it that Friday night.

LULZ.

It's been a memorable season, for sure. Little did we know in May how it would play out.

[AdamK]

Genuinely appreciate the insight as well as the creativity to recoup some of the costs. 

 

 

[foxfield]

15 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Buy as many of the best seats as you can under the balance to the last game of the season and sell them for whatever you can get.

Or let Angelos keep the money, I'm sure he'll spend it on improving the team.

Honestly, it would likely be something you could see coming as the season went on and you could adjust... buying tickets for friends to games you can't attend, or getting more expensive seats than you normally would.

I guess if you were sailing along in August on pace to use it up and got hit by some sort of illness or emergency that meant you couldn't go to any more games, you could be in a bit of trouble.

This is literally what I plan to do.  And if you need to use them, you can also book tickets and sell here.  Id rather get my money back by passing on savings to someone at the OH than say sell a ticket to some Yankee.  But making a buck is also an option.  

You will have to manage if you use the flex.  In reality even if you do fixed tickets, the Orioles are pretty flexible.