Ticket Agency Fees

Recently I bought two tickets advertised at $21 each to see Midnight Oil at the Universal Amphitheatre. By the time Ticketmaster was through with me, those same tickets cost $28 each. For those of you scoring at home, that’s a full 33% surcharge.

Consumers need and deserve protection from Ticketmaster and Ticketron, which between them control the entertainment ticket industry in our state.

TOM ORTENBERG, Studio City

A Ticketmaster executive said the charges above the $21 ticket price were : a service fee of $4.25; a handling fee of $1.50 per order (in this case, 75 cents a ticket); and a facilities surcharge of $2 that went to the Universal Amphitheatre.