Swapping sessions

If you need to change the screen or seating layout for a session after it is open for sale, you can perform a session swap in Showtime Manager.

A session swap occurs when you:

Move an open session to a different screen
Swap two open sessions with each other
Change the seating layout of an open session

After swapping the session, you have to reallocate any sold and held seats to ensure that every guest has an appropriate seat in the new layout.

Example: A session has been open for a few days and is selling out faster than expected. You swap it onto a larger screen and reallocate the seating automatically so that guests have similar seats in the new layout.

Note: If you are using Cinema Manager, you may not be able to swap an open session to a different screen (depending on your system settings). In this case, ask someone with Film Manager access for assistance.

Before you begin

Before you perform a session swap, review the following rules and limitations:

Attributes: The new screen must have the appropriate attributes to play this film (such as 3D, 35mm).
Capacity: You can only swap a session if the new seating layout has enough capacity for the seats that are already sold or held.
Seat allocation:
- If this session has allocated (reserved) seats, you must either reallocate the sold and held seats to the new seating layout or disable allocation for this session.
- If the session does not have allocated seats, you can swap the session without reallocating seats. You cannot change the session to allocated seating once tickets have been sold.
- If no tickets have been sold, there is no need to reallocate seats.
Multi-person seating: If the original seating layout has multi-person seats (such as sofas), the system will not automatically reallocate those guests to another multi-person seat or keep them together. When you reallocate seats, choose the Manually Allocate option to ensure that groups are kept together.
Wheelchair and companion seats: The number of wheelchair and companion seats will be automatically adjusted to match the new seating layout.
- If there are not enough wheelchair or companion seats for the tickets sold, normal seats will be converted as needed.
- If there are too many wheelchair or companion seats, the extra seats will be released for purchase as normal seats.
Sneak previews: Sneak previews do not support session swaps. As a workaround, temporarily close the session, change it to a normal screening, then perform the swap. After the swap, change it back to a sneak preview.

Note: While sessions are being swapped, they are locked from retail use and unavailable at POS or other sales channels.

To swap a session to a different screen:

In Film Manager or Cinema Manager, go to Showtime Manager.
Click and drag the session to the new screen.

Tip: If you drop a session on top of an existing session on another screen, the two will swap places.
Review the warning message and click OK.
If the session card turns red and displays a warning icon, you must reallocate seats before you save the schedule. Proceed to the steps below.
If the session card does not show a warning icon, no seats need to be reallocated. Click Save. The session status automatically changes back to Open.

To change the seating layout without changing screens:

In Film Manager or Cinema Manager, go to Showtime Manager.
Select the session and open the Session Properties panel.
Change the Screen Layout.
Review the warning message and click OK.

The session status changes to Unavailable.
If the session card turns red and displays a warning icon, you must reallocate seats before you save the schedule. Proceed to the steps below.
If the session card does not show a warning icon, no seats need to be reallocated. Click Save. The session status automatically changes back to Open.

Note: If the session swap fails with the error message "This session has a sale in progress", wait a few minutes before trying again. If this error message still appears after several attempts, there may be a stuck order or seat count error that is preventing the swap. Contact Vista Support for assistance.

Reallocating seats

If the swapped sessions already have ticket sales or holds, you must reallocate all sold and held seats into the new layout. Swapped sessions will be unavailable for ticket sales until you reallocate the seats.

Warning: You must reallocate all seats for every session that you have swapped before you save the schedule. If you reallocate seats for some sessions but not others, the sessions that haven't been reallocated can become corrupted. If this happens, contact Vista Support for assistance.

To reallocate seats:

Select the session. In the quick access toolbar, open the menu and select Seat Swap.
Choose one of the reallocation methods:
- Allocate Seats: Automatically reallocate seats based on priority. The system will attempt to assign each guest a seat with equivalent priority, but their seat numbers may change.
- Seat Match: Automatically reallocate seats in alphanumeric order. The system will attempt to keep each guest's seat number the same, but they may be placed in a lower- or higher-priority seat.
- Manually Allocate: Manually reallocate each seat on the seat map.
- Unallocate Seats: Remove seat allocations. Guests can freely choose where to sit when they arrive.
If some seats can't be reallocated automatically, manually allocate the remaining seats on the seat map.
Repeat this process for every session that you've swapped.
Once you've reallocated all seats in all swapped sessions, click Save. The session status automatically changes back to Open.

Tip: Run a Swapped Seat report and give it to your ushers so they can assist guests with the new seating arrangement.

See Also: