I’ve been waiting a while now for an opportunity to buy Hamilton tickets at a reasonable price. In New York, Hamilton has long been sold out and resale prices have been through the roof. I had seriously considered Extreme Stacking my way to cheaper seats (see: Hacking Hamilton), but even quadruple-dip rewards weren’t enough to make the prices reasonable to me.
Then, on June 7th, presale tickets became available to Amex Platinum and Centurion cardholders for the New York show. By the time I learned about that, though, it was too late. Only the $800+ seats were still available.
I knew that the show would soon be opening in Chicago as well, so I emailed the Platinum Concierge (Platinumrequests@concierge.americanexpress.com) and asked if presale tickets would be available for Chicago as it was in NY. And, if so, could I get a code? The Concierge answered, in part, as follows:
Unfortunately, there has been no official information released for the Hamilton on sale in Chicago at this time. The show dates have been uploaded to Ticketmaster, however no on sale date or time have been publicly announced. I would be more than happy to add you to the American Express Entertainment Access newsletter in order to keep you in the loop for the most up-to-date information regarding American Express presale events. If an offer code will be associated with the Chicago on sale, you can expect to receive that information via email well in advance to the on sale date/time – similarly to New York.
So, the takeaway was that nothing had been announced yet, but that he/she would add me to the “American Express Entertainment Access Newsletter” so that I would get a code if one were to appear.
Then, just 2 days later, the email with my offer code arrived! Shawn published a Quick Deal: Platinum cardholders who missed out on the NY Hamilton tickets get a second chance in Chicago.
My wife also has a Platinum card (remember that recent 100K offer?) but she didn’t receive an offer code. Friends wanted to join us, so on the night before the presale went live, she emailed the Platinum Concierge to ask for her code. It arrived in her email about an hour before the presale began.
We were both ready at 10am CT to jump in and buy tickets for our preferred date and time. We spotted two options for 8 seats together, but our first choice disappeared before we could grab it. We managed to buy our second choice though! Our tickets were $177 each (just over $200, after fees). Compared to New York prices, that was a steal.
Preparing for future Amex presale offers
For future opportunities, whatever they may be, it would be nice to simply receive an offer code via email without having to do anything special to get one. While recent Hamilton opportunities were limited to Platinum and Centurion cardholders, there’s always a chance that other cardholders will get access to other presale events. In other words, it may be worth enrolling even if you’re not a Platinum cardholder.
Here’s how to enroll:
1) Log into your Amex account and click “Account Services” from the top menu row
2) Click “Communication and Privacy Preferences”
3) Click “Subscription E-Newsletters”
4) Turn on “Ticket Access Newsletter”
The text claims that this gives you “Advance tickets and insider access to spectacular sports and entertainment events.”
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[…] you have a platinum card, sign up for the “Ticket Access Newsletter.” (This website walks you through the steps). This will put you on a mailing list for all the entertainment offers […]
this routine stinks.
I got the email codes for both our Platinum cards. I used these codes before a few years ago (I think I had to go in my Amex Acct and book it through their website though). Had a hard time getting anything for 4 seats (my family). Found 5 seats on one date, but they wouldn’t let me leave the 5th seat behind. Ridiculous. So ended up with tickets in March. But at least we will get to see Hamilton (in Chicago).
For future reference, you can trick the system into letting you leave a single seat behind: Open Ticketmaster in a browser you don’t usually use. Put the *unwanted* single seat in your cart. Don’t purchase! It will become “unavailable” for about five minutes while it’s in the cart. Meanwhile, you have about five minutes to open Ticketmaster in your normal browser and sign in. Open the show you want and see if your “unwanted” seat has gray-ed out as if it’s been sold. If not, reload that show until it becomes unavailable and only the seats you want are still there–it might take a couple minutes. Select the seats you want; they will be allowed now because the computer doesn’t know you’re leaving that single seat behind. Get your tickets and sign out. Then just close the first browser with your unwanted seat, which will reappear for sale.
[…] How to enroll in Amex presale offers. Don’t miss the next Hamilton (or whatever) opportunity. by Frequent Miler. I think we will see a lot more of these presale events from American Express from what I’m hearing. […]
One of your best posts and email alerts yet. I would never have known about this opportunity if not for you. I was able to snag 6 good seats at about $200 ea all in, all on desirable nights. My mom, GF and I are going to see Hamilton, and I can sell the other three seats to pay for it! Hah!
Now to score that Southwest Companion Pass so the airfare will be free too! 🙂
There was a presale for the tickets in Chicago… Man… Missed them both!
Received code by chatting with a rep online tonight. Took her 20 seconds to give me one. Went to Ticketmaster and got my tickets for a February show. Thanks for the info.
Signed up. Thank you!
Great advice, thanks!
Thanks so much for your prior post advising about this offer as I may have missed the email. I picked a weekend in March as well and had no problem even though I lost my internet connection and had to reboot. Still I saw dates in all months. Keep up the great work. If you’re looking for reasonably priced things to do in ORD check out my website or email me. Cheers!
I had already signed up for the Ticket newsletter but never received a code.
Waited on hold for 3 hours yesterday afternoon to get a code. I also tried emailing the concierge and received a code about 8 hours later (my first code stopped working, perhaps when they generated the second code sent via email – at that point the dates we were interested in were no longer available). I asked the concierge why I hadn’t received the code and was provided a wide range of reasons (spam filters, not signing up for marketing emails), none of which seemed to be accurate in my case (double checked my spam, trash, etc.). I have received other early access offers, most recently for the US Open at the end of May; not sure why I didn’t get this one.
I went online a exactly 10 a.m. CT yesterday and it was a horror show. I had two possible dates in October & my two seats kept getting taken away while I had to go through “I Am Not A Robot” and pick out pictures with trees, storefronts, etc. I was finally able to get two seats in the mezzanine for $140 each all in. I would doubt there are any seats left for the next six months.
You might have had better luck picking a date later in the schedule. We picked a weekend in March, for example. My guess is that October was in especially high demand since it is right after opening and weather may still be reasonably good at that time.