Six Flags charges a printing fee

Six Flags, anxious to shed its heavy debt burden, appears to be doing it $5 at a time. That's the amount the theme park chain charges online buyers to print their own tickets. The printing practices of the New York company, which counts Magic Mountain in Valencia in its stable of parks, sparked a complaint to the Consumerist blog today:

We know Six Flags is desperately trying to avoid bankruptcy, but that's no reason to go all Ticketmaster on the people who want to have a good time at Magic Mountain in Los Angeles.

Jim writes,

I was on the 6 Flags website to purchase tickets for Magic Mountain (Los Angeles).
For the privilege of printing my tickets with my own paper and ink, I must pay $5. Granted, the tickets are $39.99 online compared to $59.99 at the gate. So, even with the $5 printing charge, I've saved quite a bit, but it still strikes me as very, very wrong.

The other online purchase options were:
      $10 UPS Ground
      $15 UPS Expedited
      $5 First Class Mail

If that $5 were spent instead on Six Flags stock, which closed at 17.1 cents today (so low that it recently was delisted by the New York Stock Exchange), you'd end up with 29 shares. Now that's a thrill ride.

-- Nancy Rivera Brooks

Photo: Construction workers build the Terminator Salvation ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain with the existing De Ja Vu ride in the background. The all-wood roller coaster, one of several new features at the park, is expected to debut on Memorial Day weekend.

Comments

[Ted]

Really? omg

Six Flags has been charging to print tickets for YEARS! Seriously, it's a pretty standard industry practice: Knotts charges to print, Disney charges for will-call, etc. etc.

[Jason]

It doesn't matter if "the other guys" do it, it's still wrong and sends a message of ill will. I hope people see this as the greedy money grab it is (how is this benefiting the patron?) and contact the company to change its policy.

[Jeremy]

This is old news!
Crappy Six Flags has been charging us to print out tickets for years.
It's ridiculous, but I don't see it going away.

Shame on crappy Six Flags!