Paying for Glastonbury tickets: cards, Apple Pay and the 10 minute clock
What happens at checkout once you're through the queue, which cards have worked, how bank security checks can slow you down and how to be ready.
Getting to the front of the queue doesn't secure a ticket. Tickets are only allocated once payment has gone through, and there's a time limit. This guide covers the checkout part of ticket day, which is where well prepared groups win time and unprepared ones lose it.
The clock starts at the front
In the 2025 sale, once you reached the front you had 10 minutes to enter the lead booker's and up to five other people's registration numbers and postcodes, choose any options, enter payment details and complete checkout. Tickets weren't allocated until payment was processed. If the timer ran out, the transaction failed.
Ten minutes is plenty if everything is ready, and not much if you're scrolling a chat for numbers or looking for your card. The details you enter also can't be changed once you move on, so check them before you continue.
Before the day
- Know which card you'll use, and that it has enough available for a deposit per person. For 2027 that was £100 a ticket, so £600 for six.
- Have a second card ready in case the first is declined.
- Set up Apple Pay or Google Pay in advance if you want to use them. In 2025 they could appear as options depending on your device, but only if they were already set up.
- Know the payee name. In 2025 the payee could show as "The Way Ahead Group" rather than Glastonbury or See Tickets. Don't be alarmed by it, and don't let your bank's fraud check put you off.
- Keep your phone to hand for bank security checks, even if you're booking on a laptop. Many banks ask you to approve a payment in their app.
Which cards work
For the 2025 resale, UK buyers could use UK debit cards or Visa and Mastercard credit cards. International buyers could only use Visa or Mastercard credit cards. American Express wasn't accepted. Check the official FAQ for each sale, as this can change.
During checkout
- Paste each registration number and registered postcode. Check the names that come back are the people you expect.
- Confirm or amend the billing address.
- Enter payment details, or use Apple Pay or Google Pay.
- Approve the payment in your bank's app if asked.
- Accept the terms and complete the order before the timer ends.
Don't minimise the browser or open new tabs during checkout: the official advice in 2025 was that the session could expire if you did.
Messages you might see
- A plain holding page. Under heavy traffic a reduced, minimal page can appear. In 2025 the festival said this didn't mean the site had crashed.
- "All available tickets have now been allocated". In 2025 this meant no new booking pages were available, but orders that failed could be released. The official advice was to refresh the page.
- "SOLD OUT". All purchases have been processed and no more tickets will be released in that sale.
- A locked registration. In 2025, registration numbers could be locked for up to 10 minutes after errors, duplicate attempts or a timeout.
In the resale
Resale tickets are paid in full at the time of booking, not with a deposit. That's a much bigger payment for a group: for four people at the 2027 price it would be over £1,600. Check your card limit beforehand and tell your bank if it usually flags large payments.
Get your group's details ready