I can’t help but crib about my experience with Al Shatti Plaza which has been recently re-branded as City Cinema, Al Shatti. Knowing very well that we wouldn’t get seats at the last minute for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ yesterday, I stepped out after lunch at 2.30pm and purchased tickets for the evening show. The guy at the ticket counter said “free seating” and asked us to come at 5pm sharp.

When we arrived, there was a long queue waiting to get in which meant most of the tickets for the show were sold. Finally, we had to settle for a seating somewhere in the middle. My only concern is why keep ‘free seating’ on a weekend that too for a movie which is being well received by audience. During the show, I glanced around to find around 8-10 seats unoccupied in the whole theatre. They could have kept the seating numbers on to make life easy for people who took the pain to come early and book. If they can charge RO3 per ticket, they better get their plans right, all the time. They need to justify the pricing too. At RO2 per ticket, Ruwi Cinema was a lot better organized and consistent. How I miss Ruwi Cinema…