Glastonbury announces big change to ticket booking

The Glastonbury festival has announced changes to its booking process, with the introduction of an automatic queue system.

The change means that fans will have to be online before ticket sales begin on 14 and 17 November.

Rather than refreshing a holding page, they will be “randomly assigned a place in the queue” once tickets are available. People who join later will automatically be placed at the back of the line.

The system is similar to the one used for major concerts by Taylor Swift, Coldplay and Oasis. By cutting out the need to constantly refresh the website, it will reduce the load on the ticketing system and may even speed up the process for users.

As in previous years, fans need to be registered for tickets in advance.

The cost of attending the festival in 2025 will be £373.50, plus a £5 booking fee. Fans who make it to the front of the queue can buy a maximum of six tickets.

No acts have been confirmed for the festival’s line-up, but demand will be high – as 2025 is the last chance to attend before the event takes a fallow year in 2026.

Last year, general admission tickets sold out in just 58 minutes.

The changes to the booking system were revealed in a post on the Glastonbury website on Tuesday, 5 November.

Some fans expressed concerns about the changes, recalling negative experiences with similar systems.

“This screams problems,” wrote one on X.com. “I got through for Oasis then kicked out after trying to pay. Cannot bear that this is possibility for Glastonbury now.”

“This is just a ballot by the back door. Awful,” added another.

“At least the old system rewarded persistence,” observed a user on Reddit. “Now anyone can join and have an equal chance, including the people who otherwise would leave and complain after a few mins of refreshing [the website]”.

Others disagreed, saying the new system “rewards people who are organised and prepared”, who are likely to be “the ones who most want to go” to the festival.

“I’m okay with this change,” said another Reddit commentator. “I have tried and failed the last three to four years. At least this way you don’t waste the whole morning agonising over it.”

“I’m going to reserve judgement on this until ticket day,” concluded the top-rated comment, “where my opinion will be dictated by whether I got a ticket or not.”

In its ticket-buying guide, Glastonbury warned that people who use multiple devices to access the sale could harm their chances.

“Refreshing the page, using multiple tabs or many devices can look like suspicious behaviour and can harm your chances of getting through by triggering anti-bot software,” the festival warned.

Users who reach the front of the queue will have 10 minutes to complete their details before the session expires.

Tickets will only be allocated after a payment has been made (with a minimum £75 deposit per ticket).

The sale will take place in two phases. Combined ticket and coach packages go on sale at 6pm (GMT) on Thursday 14 November, while the general admission tickets go on sale at 9am (GMT) on Sunday 17 November.