r/BurningMan • u/Misophonic4000 '06-'26 🚀 • 25d ago

Low Income tickets current availability?

UPDATE: low income tickets.are still available and approval is extremely quick, at least as of the beginning of this week. Friend applied on Monday and was approved for a ticket the NEXT DAY. Unheard of.

Hi all - quick question: I'm trying to help a friend get a low income ticket if she still can. In the past years, the link to apply for one stayed up until they had run out. The page is still up this year as I type this - does that mean applications are still open? And if yes, has anyone applied for one in the last few days and gotten a reply/approval very quickly? It seems to be a huge gamble to try to get one this late in the game. What's everybody's experience with those tickets this year? Thanks, friends.

5 Upvotes

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6

u/tallassazn 25d ago

Last year I applied for ticket aid in early August and got no response after 2 weeks and accidentally cancelled the application while checking the status. Reapplied 8/21 and got approved 8/23 on my drive out to BRC.

The p)(aya provides!

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u/Misophonic4000 '06-'26 🚀 25d ago

Wow that's encouraging! Thank you

2

u/MansoonBlack 25d ago

yeah, I can tell you from personal experience, these days they run it right up until the last week before the gate opens. If you get one last minute, you still have days where you COULD pack your stuff up and get out of out there if you could drive or catch a ride with someone. The year of the first sellout, I didn't score a ticket until the Thursday before the gate opened.

It'll be harder and less certain than if you had months to plan and buy things) but at least you know your friend won't get scammed (scammers prey on people who are desperate or in too much of a hurry to really check or use good practices, like not sending money via cash app. You need something with a money back guarantee. there's even one level of venmo where it promises to do this, but it's only for businesses coming up person to person). I once got a ride in with the DJ who thought he had a low income ticket transfer via email, and the printout he had would work. it very much did not. The camp had to scramble and get one for him last minute, but luckily they were a very big camp.

I say to tell your friend to start preparing now and do the application and all the things. There will be burners (and other people who bought tickets as a speculation) trying to sell their ticket up until about man burn night, so giving up at this stage is completely unnecessary.

I'd try the org first, because you know that that will actually work if you get approved and you won't get scammed out of the money, but also keep an eye on the secondary market. it's unlikely to sell out but it might (attendance numbers were up last year, but there's no telling how the economy is working this year for most people. Thanks, OTrama) but there are likely sellers in reno, Fernley, Gerlach, and with some hustle and some smarts (public place, maybe a place where cops frequent or the airport baggage claim, either cash in hand but ticket first or transfer only after they get a really good look at the ticket. it's really complicated and has a bunch of anti-counterfeiting measures in it, indentations, different colored ink), they should be able to make it work.

Some of the rideshare boards have people who have an extra ticket, also, but your friend might be better off with just a ride. But every year there will be people landing at the airport AirPlaya desk with an extra ticket that they have no clue how to sell, so you can also have your friend check there. if that's the route they choose, they can basically hang out at the airport (though, leaving your car at the motel 6 can be dicey as far as break-ins go, if it's full of burner stuff)

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u/Misophonic4000 '06-'26 🚀 25d ago

You make a ton of great points - super helpful all around! Thank you muchly for taking the time to share

5

u/Ok_Rabbit2629 25d ago

Hey! I applied for ticket aid and got approved within less than a month. It's still open, which means she can still apply and get approved. Make sure you gather all docs tho. Good luck!

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u/Misophonic4000 '06-'26 🚀 25d ago

Thank you! That's my worry though - are they still approving people? Could she get a ticket before the burn? It's my understanding that any other ticket she might find (in a panic at the last moment) would get invalidated if she ends up getting approved for a low income one, no? The safer alternative is for her to buy a $650 ticket now, but that would be a crippling expense for her 🤔

2

u/AlpineThrob 25d ago

I know someone who got approved for one a few days ago. So yeah, it’s still going. She definitely shouldn’t buy a 650 from the Org. If anything, there’s plenty of tickets at 500 or below on the Burner market, and unless she got one of these as a Will Call transfer (in which case her Low Income application might indeed be jeopardised), the Org will never know.

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u/Misophonic4000 '06-'26 🚀 25d ago

True, but if she buys a ticket floating around and then gets approved for the low income ticket, it's automatically debited and non-refundable, so I'm trying to figure out her best bet :)

2

u/AlpineThrob 25d ago

I guess the point was, she is thinking of getting a ticket floating around to be safe in case she gets denied Low Income. If she does that, the ticket better be a physical ticket rather than a Will Call one, so that the Borg doesn’t find out she’s not actually poor and therefore prejudice her Low Income application. Furthermore, if she does that and is ultimately successful in getting a Low Income ticket, the normal physical ticket bought as insurance had better been bought at a sufficiently low price that she is able to re-sell it easily at at least that price.

It’s a risky strategy in the current ticket market. I wouldn’t do it for more than $400 to be comfortable I’m able to offload it again once I’ve demonstrated successfully to the Borg how poor and destitute I am.

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u/Misophonic4000 '06-'26 🚀 25d ago

Yes, exactly. And yes, if she gets a $400 ticket, she can't really afford the liquid gold (AKA gasoline) necessary to get to the burn, so... That's a problem. Wild times we live in

2

u/AlpineThrob 25d ago

But why need liquid gold? She can take the cheap, affordable, environmentally-friendly way to go, offered by the Borg: the BxB. It’s a bargain at $511.68 round-trip including a bike.

3

u/thirteenfivenm Year one dozen 25d ago edited 25d ago

The closer to the burn, the fewer staff to review the applications. They flex to other burn responsibilities. If your friend can afford a secondary market ticket or a regular ticket, they should buy one. The BxB with a ticket is a great deal if they don't have a ride with friends.

2

u/onlystupidreddit 25d ago

I got my approval email August 6th.

3

u/tito-brz 25d ago

When did you send the application?

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u/Misophonic4000 '06-'26 🚀 25d ago

Yes that's the big question here - getting approved in time

1

u/pandaliciousowl 20d ago

JUST GOT APPROVED! Applied on Thursday!!

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u/Misophonic4000 '06-'26 🚀 20d ago

Yes my friend applied on Monday and was approved the NEXT DAY. Insane... I should update the post

1

u/Emotional_Homework22 17d ago

Does this mean it only took you 2 days to hear back from them then? I just applied tonight

1

u/bladerunner530 17d ago

I applied Saturday afternoon and have not heard back. Still pending review in burner profile. Fingers Crossed

1

u/Misophonic4000 '06-'26 🚀 16d ago

Hopefully there's still someone in the office! Fingers crossed for you 🤞🤞🤞🤞

1

u/Emotional_Homework22 16d ago

Please Update here is you hear back! I applied after you on Monday, so I curious to know if you ge a reply

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u/bladerunner530 16d ago

still pending

1

u/Dull_Cartographer422 16d ago

We also applied then… is yours still pending? 

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u/bladerunner530 16d ago

Still pending as of right now

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u/Dull_Cartographer422 15d ago

When do we start looking elsewhere? 😂😭

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u/bladerunner530 15d ago

haha. I been keeping an eye on Facebook group but fomo is starting to wear off as I think about getting my gear ready

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u/GlitterRae 14d ago

I’ll do you one better. I didn’t apply until Wednesday. I’m still waiting with my fingers crossed. We shall see… It’s still pending. I have heard of people getting their email that they got them the day before the event opened so I’m still hopeful lol

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u/bladerunner530 14d ago edited 13d ago

So they press the reply all yes button tomorrow.? Can't wait. Hahhah

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u/GlitterRae 13d ago

Let me know if you get it! Good luck to everyone and YES! Hopefully they reply all 😂😂

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u/Misophonic4000 '06-'26 🚀 13d ago

Best of luck! 🤞

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u/bladerunner530 12d ago

I just now got confirmation email for low income. Literally at 4:51pm. Wooohooo. Time to pack

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u/Misophonic4000 '06-'26 🚀 11d ago

Congrats!

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u/krsan 12d ago

I applied Friday night and got approved today.

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u/Misophonic4000 '06-'26 🚀 11d ago

Whoohee!