Junk Fees

Imagine my shock when I showed up at Walt Disney Concert Hall to buy a ticket for the Halloween night screening of the 1925 classic “The Phantom of the Opera” billed as “Horror in the Hall.”

The real horror was not the price of a seat in the last row of the balcony ($64) or the flickering images of Lon Chaney lurking in the catacombs of the Paris Opera. It was the $5 surcharge for a printed ticket.

“It’s not a junk fee,” said a representative for Disney Hall. “It’s a print fee.”

A junk fee at the point of sale amounts to a shake-down straight out of “The Sopranos.” Granted that a $5 print fee is chump change compared to the “processing” and “service” fees that my friends paid for a pair of tickets to a Metallica concert.

On Oct. 7, Gov. Gavin Newsom outlawed this racketeering enterprise when he signed Senate Bill 478, which bans junk fees, effective July 1, 2024. No more shake-downs when you book a cruise, check into a hotel, order tickets for a concert or sporting event or simply show up at the box office.

No more horror in the hall.

Les Hammer
Pasadena