Discounted tickets are available to children, school students and students up to the age of 25, provided they show their student ID. This information is displayed, among other places, on the cinema’s website and by the ticket office. It happens that young people, especially during the holidays, forget to take their IDs from home. In that case, a cinema employee cannot let into the auditorium someone who does not have the required document. However, the ticket is not forfeited. At the ticket office, it is possible to arrange a new date for using the purchased ticket and return to the cinema with the student ID to watch the film.

Although the ticket is not forfeited, people turned away at the cinema auditorium often feel disappointed. The daughter of one of our Readers found herself in this situation; he informed us about the matter. In an email to the editorial office, he wrote:

I would like to inform you about the practices used at the Forum Cinema of the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre. On 12 August […] my daughter (15) and her friend bought discounted tickets for the 3D film “Step Up.” At the time of purchase, they were not informed that they had to have their school IDs. However, the person admitting people to the auditorium stated that they could not enter without their IDs. After speaking to the ticket-office staff, it turned out that they could neither pay the difference for full-price tickets nor receive a refund for a service they had not used. The women at the ticket office stated that they were not obliged to inform customers that student IDs were required because this was included in the service regulations (an A4 sheet placed on a pillar near the ticket office) and written in “tiny print.”

I should add that the girls had used the cinema before and had not been required to show their IDs; most cinemas in Poland do not have such a requirement either. I understand that regulations exist, but I believe that the conduct of the Forum Cinema employees and the regulations themselves are exceptionally unfriendly to customers and constitute questionable publicity for BOK and the city. Several more teenage girls found themselves in a similar situation.

Entering a cinema with a discounted ticket without the document entitling someone to the discount is not possible in any cinema in Poland. At Helios in Legnica, the student ID must be shown at the ticket office, but any other employee checking tickets has the right to ask to see the document. The same applies in cinemas in Wrocław. Every cinema may be inspected by distributors checking that free admission is not being given or that people who are not entitled to discounts are not using cheaper tickets.

“Our employees behaved entirely correctly in this situation,” says Iwona Bojko, deputy director for artistic management and promotion at BOK-MCC. “Without student IDs, we cannot admit people who have bought discounted tickets to a screening. In the same way, we will ask to see a document, just as a conductor or bus driver would, to use the simplest comparison. The employees fulfilled their duties. They could not have acted differently.”

Such situations happen frequently. The only way to ensure that the ticket is not forfeited is to change the date and return with the student ID. “The most important thing is that the ticket is not forfeited. Therefore, no money is lost. On that day (12 August), around eight people took advantage of changing the date. They will all watch the film and enter with a new ticket, which is exchanged free of charge at the cinema ticket office. We are showing the film “Step Up” through 18 August inclusive,” informs Iwona Bojko.

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(information from Grażyna Hanaf)