Thanks a lot. I guess the person I heard about was very lucky. I often manage to catch people leaving at Met intermissions and considerably improve my seat, but it's not surprising that Bayreuth audiences are a lot more devoted than Met ones.

Thanks for the very helpful information. I am contemplating trying to crash next summer, but it's pretty intimidating. Do you know anything about second-acting? Do a lot of people leave before the end and would they be willing to hand over their seats? A friend of a friend reputably pulled this off a few years ago but I'm not sure if it is advisable. -Zerbinetta (sorry, I will try to get this new sign-in thing to show my nom de blog correctly)