tickets

There are people reselling tickets to the World Cup final for 2.3 million dollars. Great news for FIFA

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It is still too early to know if the 2026 World Cup will be a success, a failure or will be added without pain or glory to the extensive chronicle of FIFA. What we can say at this point is that enjoying the tournament in situ it won’t come cheap. Especially if you aspire to see the final, which will be played on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The cost of your tickets it takes months embroiled in controversy, but the debate has soured after some positions have come to light resale market for the price of a 200 m2 apartment in the center of Madrid. All with the veiled pleasure of FIFA. What has happened? That although there is still more than a month until the opening match, the World Cup in North America (to be played between Mexico, Canada and the USA) is already earning the dubious honor of being the most expensive of history. The fans screamed in the sky last decemberwhen the first tickets were launched, but the rates that were offered then seem like a ‘bargain’ when compared to those that are now being achieved in the purchase and sale market. In this secondary trade, channeled through FIFA, there are passes that are offered for the same What does a 200 m2 apartment in Madrid cost? Does it sell so expensive? Yes. The news has advanced it the Associated Press (AP) agency, but it comes with taking a look at the buying and selling platform of tickets hosted on the FIFA website to verify it. If we look for available passes for the final on July 19, we will see that there are people reselling them for more than two million dollars. To be precise, there are at least four seats on sale in the lower stand (behind the goal) for a whopping $2,299,998.85. Not all tickets cost the same, but resale prices are generally not affordable for everyone. The cheapest seats, 3rd category, are offered for $10,900. If you want a position with better views and more comfort, you can add a few thousand more to that figure and purchase higher category passes for $16,100, $33,800, $43,200 or even $207,000. The prize goes to the entries of 2.3 million and 991,500, which is what a seller asks for seats located in the front area. On Wednesday FIFA itself put up for sale a new block of tickets on its direct sales platform, where it was possible to find seats for the final by $10,990. Who controls these rates? Direct sale tickets are launched by FIFA itself, but things change when we talk about the secondary market. There, in the so-called “Resale/Exchange Market” the federation does not control prices, although it does take a considerable part of the business. For each transaction you pocket a commission which is divided into two parts. One, 15%, is applied to whoever purchases the ticket. Another, of the same value, is borne by whoever detaches from the entry for resale. As they explain in Guardianthat means that if one of the tickets that cost 2.3 million is finally sold, FIFA would deposit $690,000 into its account. But… How is that possible? In other editions of the World Cup, the resale price of tickets was limited at face value, but this time FIFA has changed the approach. The reason? First, adapt to the market of the host countries, especially the United States, which is the one will host more games of the tournament. Secondly, FIFA hopes that by channeling the buying and selling itself, the use of portals such as StubHub will be discouraged. “FIFA has established a ticketing and secondary market model that reflects standard ticket market practices for major sporting and entertainment events in host countries,” alleges in a statement cited by the Associated Press. “Resale facilitation fees are aligned with industry standards in the North American sports and entertainment sectors.” Is it an isolated controversy? The controversy has now arisen due to the prices that are being reached in resale, but the truth is that the cost of the tickets has been a matter of discussion since the first phase of sale, activated in December 2025. The focus has been on both the prices themselves and the system applied by FIFA in the sale, the ‘variable pricing’similar to dynamic rates. Consumer organizations like the OCU have already raised their voices for that same reason. For reference, in December tickets for the final were already being sold for prices ranging from 4,185 and 8,680 dollars. And this despite the initial promise to offer them for 60 dollars in the group stage. “They only exist as ridiculous green splotches on the edge of seating maps, little more than mirages of inclusion,” ironizes Bryan Armen, from Guardian. Does it only happen with tickets? No. The tickets are so expensive because, FIFA allegesare one of their main sources of income. However, passes to matches are not the only thing that is valued at a gold price. In recent days, another controversy has arisen around the celebration of the World Cup in the US that revolves around something that has little to do with sport: public transportation. The New Jersey rail operator has decided that those who want to buy round-trip tickets to travel from Manhattan to MetLife and watch the July 19 final there will have to pay 150 dollars. It is almost 11 times more than what the same service costs on a normal day, when it is around $12.9. Images | FIFA and Wikipedia In Xataka | Mexico City is already noticing the economic effect of the World Cup: it is losing homes and gaining Airbnb apartments

We thought that the price of World Cup tickets in the US was going to be the biggest nonsense. Wait to travel by train

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The World Cup is a universal spectacle, but its prices during the tournament that will be held this summer in North America (United States, Mexico and Canada) will not exactly be within reach of all budgets. Especially if you want to enjoy the final, which will be played July 19 in it MetLife Stadium from New Jersey. And not just because their tickets are sold at exorbitant prices. The region’s public transportation operator has revealed that round-trip tickets between Manhattan and MetLife will cost 150 dollars. That decision has already generated a intense controversy. What has happened? That the celebration of the World Cup in the US is being marred by the enormous cost what it will mean for the fans. Until now we knew that those privileged who want to follow the matches directly in the stadiums will have to pay stratospheric sums for the tickets, especially if we talk about the final which will be played at the end of July at MetLife Stadium. That was relatively predictable. Now we know something else: even tickets to go to the stadium on public transport will be priced at the price of gold. Are they that expensive? Yes. A week ago The New York Times has already advanced that round-trip tickets to MetLife from New York’s Pennsylvania Station would cost more than $100, although the public transportation operator, New York Transit (NJT), was reluctant to confirm the information. The mystery did not last long. On Friday, when announcing the mobility plan for the World Cup, the company revealed (almost in passing) that the filtration of Times had fallen short. “Non-transferable, non-refundable, round-trip train tickets will be on sale exclusively to ticket holders on May 13 through NJ Transit for $150,” keep it up the operator when informing of the transportation services that will connect MetLife Stadium, renamed temporarily as New York New Jersey Stadium to conform to FIFA’s sponsorship policy. In the same statement NJT explains that round-trip bus tickets (also non-transferable and non-refundable) will be sold for $80. Is it more expensive than normal? A lot more. NBC News I remembered These days a round-trip ticket to MetLife Stadium usually costs $12.9, so the fare that those who want to use the train on the day of the final will have to pay will be 11 times higher than normal. The price will be very superior This is what fans who travel between Penn Station (New York) and MetLife pay to enjoy NFL Jets or Giants games. Although the price of bus tickets will also quadruple in Boston, where they will be disputed four gamesthere has been international competitions in which fans with tickets could freely use public transport. In the case of the USA, The Wall Street Journal remember that the original 2018 pact between host cities and FIFA included free transportation, but the requirement was relaxed a few years ago. Now fans must pay $150 for a trip that is covered in less than half an hour by car. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Has it generated controversy? Yes. Because of the amount itself (150), but also because the NJT plan does not contemplate Reduced rates, which means that children and seniors will have to pay the same amount as everyone else. It is important because MetLife Stadium will host a total of eight games of the World Cup in which the teams of Brazil, France, Germany and England (among others) will compete. Among those events also includes the most significant of all: the final. Those who want to skip the train or bus and go by car to MetLife will not have it easy either. The celebration of the World Cup will cut considerably the availability of parking in the area, which explains, among other things, that passes are being offered to park in the parking lot of a shopping center in the area for $225, such as has revealed NCB News. Why does it go up so much? That question connects directly with the political debate that has broken out in New Jersey around the World Cup, its costs for the public coffers and the return it will have for the region. Governor Mikie Sherrill (Democratic Party) assures having “inherited” an agreement by which FIFA “does not contribute a single dollar” for transportation and warned that NJ Transit will be forced to pay “a bill of 48 million dollars” to mobilize the tens of thousands of fans who will come to watch the games. MetLife Stadium seats more than 80,000 spectators and Sherrill’s message, just like the one NJT has transferred to the New York Times is clear: “The cost of the eight matches will not be borne by our regular users of public transport.” That is to say, the first step is for the fans (if not FIFA itself) to pay for the transportation required by the competition. Sherrill’s position has caused tensions with the federation, which warns of “deterrent” effect What will the train fares have and remember that MetLife has hosted other macro events without the organizers having to pay for transportation. During the debate, there was also talk of the income that FIFA will receive thanks to the tournament and the return for the USA. Is it just transportation? The truth is that no. The transport controversy is added to another that already goes back a long way: that of the price of tickets to enjoy the World Cup matches. A few weeks ago, FIFA already made headlines because tickets for the final were selling for up to $10,990. Not only are they astronomical figures that threaten to become “the most expensive in history”, as warns the BBC. They also far exceed those of a few months ago. In March, after the president of FIFA recognize that prices could “go up or down according to demand,” the OCU denounced the use of “dynamic pricing”. The rates already they have put on guard to Euroconsumers. Images | … Read more

If you want to travel through Europe with your pet, there will now be something more important than the suitcase or the tickets: your passport.

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If you walk around a park or square in any Spanish city, you’ll probably notice a curious detail: it’s easier to come across people walking dogs than parents with children. Logical. The number of pets far exceeds to that of babies. It happens in Spain and in many other nations. Against this backdrop, Brussels has decided to reinforce the rules that pet animals that want to cross community borders must comply with. And that means something new. starting in April. What has happened? What Brussels has updated the rules that pets (dogs, cats, ferrets and pet birds) must comply with if they want to enter European territory from other countries or cross borders, going from one nation to another in the community club. The goal: harmonize EU rules. This is not a bureaucratic endeavor, but rather a matter of reinforcing laws that try to prevent the spread of diseases. It’s nothing new either. The latest changes are based on the regulations that Brussels has been approving in the last decade. Why is it news? If you have a pet, it is likely that in recent days you have come across news that talks about “rule changes” or one disturbance of the standards. The reality is more complex and less radical. To understand it, you have to go back at least to June 2013, when the Regulation (EU) 576/2013 of the European Parliament on the movement of pets. This regulation replaced a previous one from 2003 and is basically the one that has been governing the movements of pet animals in the EU in recent years. The reality is that the 2013 law was not the last law approved by Brussels on the subject. In fact, years later the regulation was repealed by a later standardmore focused on “animal health” and which (in order to facilitate its application in different countries) included a transition period. That is the key to making the topic news now. This adaptation period will end in less than a month: April 22, as the European Commission (EC) itself recalled at the beginning of this year, when it published the regulation which will govern from now on the movements of pets made for any reason other than commercial. And what does the regulation say? The document It covers 35 pages in which the Commission details the regulatory framework and legislative precedents, as well as describing the different scenarios in which a dog, cat, ferret or bird can travel through the EU. For example, the details of the ‘photo’ may vary depending on whether we are talking about pets from “third countries”, outside the Union, animals that are simply passing through the EU (on their way to their final destination) or others that move between nations of the community club. Your age also influences. From the outset, the regulation makes it clear that it does not represent a full stop, nor does it break with the previous framework. On the contrary. Its guidelines “largely reproduce the rules currently established in the EU.” The objective is not so much to completely change the framework as, the Commission legislators clarify, to “update” the regulation “taking into account the experience acquired” over the years. One of its greatest novelties in fact focuses on the ‘European pet passport’a document that is not far from new and with which the Spaniards who have dogs and cats they have been around for a while familiar. What is the most important thing? He new regulationpublished by the EC in January, above all emphasizes three requirements that pets (pet dogs, cats and ferrets) who want to travel between member states must meet. All this, let us remember, as long as the trips are made without commercial purposes. The first obligation of the EC is that the animal must be individually identifiable, something that is basically guaranteed through a chip. The second, that you have to be up to date with your vaccines, specifically with the rabies vaccine. The regulation is very clear in this regard: the animal must “have received a complete primary vaccination against rabies at least 21 days before the date of movement or have been revaccinated, in accordance with the established validity requirements.” If we also talk about a dog that will move to an EU area free of Echinococcus multilocularis (a species of tapeworm that can infest humans) must first undergo special treatment. Of course, to guarantee that it is ‘clean’ the animal must have gone through this procedure between 120 and 24 hours before arriving in its destination country. Are there more requirements? Yes. If the pet is a puppy less than 12 weeks old and does not yet have the rabies vaccine, the photo changes. Its owner will have to present a signed statement ensuring that the pet has not been in contact with other animals suspected of being infested. However, the main requirement contained in the community regulation has to do with the ‘baggage’ that the animal must carry with it. Just as we always travel with documentation, our furry companion must also go with “an identification document in the form of a passport.” What is that document like? “Such passport must meet the following conditions: be signed by the owner of the pet and have been duly completed and issued in the Member State in which the owner of the pet usually resides”, clarifies the regulations European. That is, the passport is an obligation. That is the main requirement included in the standard, along with which it clarifies that the animal must be vaccinated against rabies and have undergone, if necessary, internal deworming in the last five days. All of the above translates into something very simple: when you travel with your pet, it will no longer be enough for you to book tickets and hotels. You will also have to take care of the animal’s management. Is it that big of a change? Yes. And no. It is important to the extent that it updates community … Read more

Participate in our raffle and get two double Experience VIP tickets for the great technology event in Seville

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In just a few days (March 19 and 20) the first edition of CTx Tech in Seville, a great technology, innovation and talent event with more than 400 hours of content that will welcome more than 15,000 attendees. Xataka is the official Media Partner of the event and, to celebrate, we are going to raffle two double Experience VIP tickets for two people and their respective companions. These tickets, valued at 180 euros each, will allow you to make the most of the event and access everything, from the themed hubs to the VIP terrace, including premium and exclusive areas. To be precise, this is all it includes: Full access to the venue during both days. Innovation HUB (thematic agoras, tech, entrepreneurship and innovation). Public & Social HUB (Auditorium of institutional contents). ADA Auditorium with great speakers and star content. General networking within the CTx ecosystem. Access to Investment Hub Thematic Auditorium (investment, AI, tech). VIP terrace with exclusive service. Premium visibility area to the ADA Auditorium. High-level networking with strategic profiles. As is obvious, it is a great opportunity for both technology lovers, entrepreneurs and professionals. And to add something else, on March 19 at 8:40 p.m. in the ADA Auditorium you can attend, if you wish, the live recording of a special program of Infinite Loop with Javier Lacort and Antonio Ortiz, founder of Xataka and co-presenter of Stochastic Monkeys. How to get two double VIP tickets for CTx Tech Image | CTx Tech Participating in the raffle is extremely simple: you simply have to sign up at this form by entering your name, surname and email. It is important to verify that it is written correctly, since it will be that email that we write to in the event of winning. The deadline to participate will end next Tuesday, March 17, at 9:00 Spanish peninsular time. The winners will be chosen at random through EasyPromos, they will receive an email informing them that they have won and must confirm their attendance within 24 hours. If they do not confirm attendance within this period, the tickets will be distributed to the substitutes also chosen at random. To win, in addition to registering correctly on the draw website, you must be of legal age and resident in Spain. There is no geographical limitationso residents of the peninsula, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla will be eligible for tickets. It should be noted that the prize is two double VIP Experience tickets, but travel, accommodation and per diem expenses are not included. That will be in the hands of the attendees. For more details about the procedure you can consult the legal bases of the draw. Images | CTx Tech More information and registration | CTx Tech

BTS returns after its members have gone through military service. Now the real war begins: get tickets

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After almost four years of silence, the flagship group of the k-pop phenomenon returns. And he does it in a big way: announcing a world tour of unprecedented dimensions that will travel through 34 countries between April 2026 and March 2027. The announcement was made at midnight on January 13 and marks the official return of the South Korean group after complete mandatory military service of all its members, with a new album scheduled for March that will be their first joint work since 2022. A huge tour. The magnitude of the event transcends the merely musical. The tour will begin with multiple dates in Goyang (South Korea) and Tokyo before traveling across all continents, culminating in Manila in March 2027. The group’s website It also anticipates additional dates in Japan, the Middle East “and more regions”, suggesting that the final scale could be even higher than initially announced. A different panorama. The world of Korean pop that welcomes BTS in 2026 has experienced a radical metamorphosis compared to how they left it in 2022. What was then an emerging phenomenon in the West has been established as mainstream global cultural. When BTS momentarily disappeared, a phenomenon like ‘The K-Pop hunters‘, a film that became the most viewed in the history of Netflix and whose soundtrack dominated the sales charts for weeks. Every day we are more. BTS’s competition has intensified dramatically. Groups like Stray Kids have broken multiple records previously held by BTS: with eight consecutive albums debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 (compared to six for BTS), they have become the group with the most number one albums of any band of the 21st century. Seventeen was the best-selling K-Pop artist in 2025 and his world tour generated $142 million. The evolution of the genre has also transcended linguistic and national borders. Katseyethe global group created through a collaboration between Hybe and Geffen Records, represents this new direction: formed after a selection process that attracted 120,000 applicants from around the world, its six members hail from the United States, the Philippines, South Korea and Switzerland. Her repertoire was documented in the Netflix series ‘Pop Academy: KATSEYE’, and her repertoire is mainly composed of songs in English, aimed at the Western market. And let’s not forget that ‘APT.’Blackpink and Bruno Mars’ Rosé’s 2024 hit, was a best-seller with Grammy nominations. How are the sales? The BTS tour comes amid a deeply deteriorated ticket sales outlook. The last three years have shown that the global technological infrastructure for mass events is facing systematic crises. It all started with Taylor Swift’s debacle with Ticketmaster in November 2022, when the pre-sale of ‘The Eras Tour’ collapsed the system: the platform received 3.5 billion requests on the day of the sale, causing millions of users to be expelled with error messages after hours of waiting. The controversy ended up in the US Senate and Live Nation’s monopolistic dominance in the industry was questioned. Dramas in Europe. The Oasis case, in 2024, showed that Europe was not exempt from similar problems. Tickets advertised at 150 pounds escalated to 355 because of dynamic pricing, and he had to intervene on the issue the british competition authority. In Spain, the most notable cases have been those of Rosalía and Bad Bunnyseasoned with presence of banking institutions giving favored treatment to their clients. K-pop, in short, has not been immune: Blackpink had its own difficulties with the topic, and although the random selection system characteristic of K-pop is fairer, it also generates brutal speculative secondary markets. The strategic dimension. Furthermore, the return of BTS transcends the merely artistic to become a corporate rescue operation. Hybe, the group’s parent company, has seen its position shake during the hiatus of its main assets: the controversy with NewJeans, which we already explained hereeroded market confidence, and the reputational scars are on the table. The ensuing legal battle publicly exposed internal tensions over the treatment of artists and corporate practices. The key is BTS. However, BTS has potential that many of the groups that have continued their legacy cannot replicate. To begin with, they arrived first: they were the ones who transformed K-pop from an Asian niche into a global phenomenon mainstream. They are considered pioneers. But in addition, their fan base has matured economically: ARMYs, as they call themselves, who were 16-20 years old in 2018 are now 23-27, with significantly greater purchasing power. A test return. The BTS tour poses a definitive test for the infrastructure of live music in 2026. Will current anti-bot systems be enough to cope with unprecedented demand? The US BOTS Act of 2016 imposes fines of up to $16,000, and The European Union banned ticketing bots in 2019. But there is much more to take into account, such as international coordination that requires synchronizing not only ticketing technology but also radically different laws, with different regulations for secondary markets, for example. A real challenge that will put one of the biggest musical events in the world to the test. In Xataka | The economic phenomenon of BTS is so gigantic that you can now invest in them on the stock market

I have tried to buy one of the 7 euro Renfe tickets. And Renfe has done Renfe’s

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January 8 in Madrid. A cold that cuts the face. Traffic jams everywhere with the children returning to school. Back to normal, to the office. To the computer. Depression. We Madrid residents need few excuses to flee the city. Perhaps that is why the Renfe discounts sounded like a swan song. Beach and paella. It almost doesn’t matter if it’s in May, April or the next weekend in January. Aware that It would be almost impossible get a ticket at that price, I missed the opportunity to avoid unwanted frustrations. Let’s try tomorrow, see if… And here I am, hooked on the Renfe website, with thousands of people ahead of me in a virtual queue that leads nowhere. I was looking for a relaxing weekend. An appetizer to put in my mouth during this return to routine. And right now I feel like I’m in line at Doña Manolita on December 21, two kilometers from the door and 20 minutes until the lottery administration closes. Seven euros (or many more) And well, here we are. I go to the Renfe website. I select the offer that promises tickets for seven euros. And we have to wait. Seven minutes and just over 3,000 people. It could be worse, I think. Much worse, in fact, because since yesterday the website has been crashing. Of course, They are not the more than 166,000 people which my colleague Javier Pastor encountered in April 2022. Then the tickets cost 15 euros and there were 100,000 seats available to buy in three days. This time Renfe The number of seats has not been made public. but it has confirmed that the reduction with seven euro bills will be active until January 18. I think that with ten days of margin, the volume of people who aspire to buy their ticket will be somewhat lower. Time, in fact, seems to be working in my favor. The minutes are falling. A little slower than what is stated on the sign above but just over 10 minutes after logging in, Renfe confirms that I have started the purchase process. According to them, it should have been on the platform for a couple of minutes. I therefore have 18 minutes left. Or I should wear them. Because I confirm that I want to access the site as soon as possible. “Yes please”. The screen refreshes. Another minute has passed. We have 17 minutes left. “Yes please”. Wow, it seems that my turn has expired despite having waited patiently and confirmed all the steps without leaving the active tab (whatever might happen). And here we are, starting the whole process again. Again seven minutes ahead and more than 3,000 people in the virtual queue. My paella is starting to choke. Again, same screen: “Yes, please” This time yes. This time it seems that I have been able to access the platform. Obviously, the tickets are not as I expected. I sail between weekends. The only seven euro tickets on a Friday are those that leave at 6:30 am. I discard that option because I have the bad habit of working on Fridays. I choose to leave on Saturday at that same time. The relaxing weekend starts with an early morning, but hey, we’ll disconnect until Sunday night. But to return on Sunday night there are no offers. Accepting that I will have to spend more than 14 euros to go and return, I stretch the gum to the maximum. I tell myself “I’ll take Friday off on vacation but I’ll take full advantage of the weekend.” I’m going to June. I select departure at seven euros at 6:30 in the morning. But dynamic prices have done their thing. Returning on Sunday at the last minute will cost me over 60 euros. There are no longer even weekends at bargain prices. And assuming that hotels will be much more expensive, I return to the month of January. I think that going for seven euros and returning for 35 euros from Valencia is not bad at all. I have already taken the bait of compulsive buying and I’m not willing to let go. I select the departure on Saturday at 6:30 in the morning. I eat that paella. I select the return after 9:00 p.m. I’ll see what I do until that time, Alberto’s problem from the future. Mech. Mistake. Yes, I have selected the one-way ticket but Renfe tells me no. I refresh and go back. I select the idea again. I select the return. Now, I go one step further. It remains to fill in the traveler’s information and pay. I would like to do it but At this point the website freezes. It starts to malfunction. The scrolling is jerky and it is impossible to press any button. I can’t fill out the form. It won’t let me change the email. Of course, it doesn’t let me go to the payment platform. Soda. I have 4245 people in front of me. Photos | Renfe and Xataka In Xataka | Renfe is obliged to compensate for delays of more than 15 minutes starting January 1. The Government wants to prevent it

Renfe is obliged to return money after 15 minutes of delay. Its president warns that this “would make tickets more expensive”

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The president of Renfe, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, assures that the company will not apply from January 1 the new compensation approved by Congress. He argues that the measure is “unconstitutional and generates inequality against Iryo and Ouigo.” Conflict. In November, Congress approved a PP amendment to the Sustainable Mobility Law that forces Renfe to recover its old compensation for delays. These are 50% refund of the ticket from 15 minutes of delay and 100% from 30 minutes. Currently, after the change which the operator made in July 2024, only returns money after 60 minutes (50% of the amount) and 90 minutes (100%). The amendment, which had the support of Vox, Junts, ERC, PNV, Podemos and BNG, sets January 1, 2026 as the date of entry into force. Renfe’s position. Fernández Heredia, has declared in RNE that “in principle, no” there will be changes next Thursday in the travel conditions. According to the president of the operator, the State Attorney’s Office is studying legal formulas to avoid applying the provision. “We have a legal opinion that clearly says that it is unconstitutional,” he said. explained in El País, arguing that it violates principles such as equal treatment, freedom of enterprise and two European regulations on rail transport services. The economic cost according to the operator. The president of the institution estimates the impact of the measure at more than 125 million euros annually, well above the 43 million that Renfe paid in compensation during 2023. As Fernández Heredia clarifies, the increase is not only due to more incidents, but also because the amendment extends compensation to all long-distance commercial services, including Avlo, Alvia and Intercity, not just the AVE. “Whoever wrote this didn’t know what he was doing,” pointed out to the middle. The consequences for the traveler. The president of Renfe warns that applying the new compensation would cause a 10% increase in fares and would displace up to 5% of passengers towards the competition. In addition, it warns that “deficient services that Renfe maintains in areas where Iryo and Ouigo do not operate would be put at serious risk.” “If we want it to be cheaper, provide deficient services and stop where no one stops, what we don’t want is liberalization,” declared in RNE. Inequality. The core of Renfe’s argument is regulatory asymmetry. And while this operator would have to return part of the money from 15 minutes late, Ouigo begins to compensate from 30 minutes (with purchase vouchers) and Iryo from 30 minutes as well. Both competitors only refund 100% of the amount after 90 minutes of delay, just like Renfe does now. “I don’t think this is being done because we want to improve the conditions of travelers, but rather because of an attack on Renfe,” he said. affirmed Fernández Heredia in El País. Legal battle underway. Sources from the Ministry of Transport they qualified the amendment to the media 20 Minutes as “demagogic and populist.” Minister Óscar Puente announced after the approval of the law that they would look for formulas to prevent its application, something that Fernández Heredia has confirmed is being studied. The president of Renfe regrets that the company “is not entitled to appeal to the Constitutional Court, which creates insecurity when it comes to defending ourselves.” He inherits the mark of ppolitical opulism. The president of Renfe was very critical of the parliamentary groups that supported the measure. “It was a slap in the face of Renfe to the Government,” as collected The Country. “It is a populist measure because they do not say that this measure implies ‘raising prices’ and that it will benefit the ‘other two companies,’” added in the interview on ‘Las Mañanas de RNE’. The president of the operator has asked the PP, Podemos and BNG for explanations about why the obligation only affects Renfe. “If we want to provide a guarantee policy and better compensation, the logical thing is that it should be for all travelers.” In Xataka | Public transport faces 2026 with extended aid and the approved Single Pass: there is still one step ahead

Since Iryo and Ouigo compete with Renfe, we have had ultra-cheap high-speed tickets. Everything has an end

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There is a problem in the supply of high-speed trains in Spain. We believed that with the arrival of competition to Renfe we ​​would see ticket prices reduced. This has been the case during the last four years and in different regions, but now the three operators have begun to raise their rates in most corridors during the third quarter of 2025, according to the latest report of the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC). The change of trend. In the Madrid-Barcelona corridor, the busiest in the country, prices rose by an average of 25% compared to the same period in 2024. Iryo led the increases with an increase of 52.9%, placing the average ticket at 63.82 euros. Renfe AVE raised its fares by 13.3% to 70.58 euros, while Ouigo, traditionally the cheapest option, increased its prices by 20.2% to reach 51.86 euros on average. The context that explains the rise. The withdrawal of Avlo, Renfe’s ‘low cost’ brand, from the Madrid-Barcelona corridor in September after cracks were detected in the bogies of its Avril trains, has reduced the supply of tickets economical on the most popular route. This has caused the remaining operators to adjust their rates upwards. Despite the increase in prices, tickets are still 26% cheaper than before the liberalization of the sector in 2020, as indicated by the CNMC. The exception: Andalusia. In this Autonomous Community, the evolution is different. The entry of Ouigo in January 2025 on the Madrid-Seville and Madrid-Málaga/Granada routes caused a price war which has kept rates down. On the Madrid-Málaga route, only Iryo raised prices (+2.6%), while Renfe AVE lowered them by 8.9% and Avlo by 15.3% to compete with the 32.54 euros on average offered by the French operator. In Madrid-Seville, the average price fell by 2.8% despite the fact that individual operators such as Iryo (+12.5%) and Renfe AVE (+0.9%) did make their tickets more expensive. The Levantine corridor. Regarding routes to the Valencian Community, these show moderate increases. In Madrid-Valencia, prices rose by 1.3% to 30.56 euros on average, the cheapest ticket on the entire network. In Madrid-Alicante, the increase was 1.5% to 37.96 euros. Iryo was the one that increased its fares the most on both routes (with increases of 24.6% and 23.9% respectively), while Ouigo maintained its low price strategy with slight reductions. The thing is about profitability. The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has been publicly demanding this price increase in recent months, going so far as to accuse Ouigo of operating at losses and dragging Renfe into an unsustainable dynamic. And while the rest of the operators have been gaining ground, we are now at a point where they are looking for the economic viability of their operations, and that is where the price increases come in. The balance of passengers. Despite price increases, demand remains robust. High speed will reach almost 40 million travelers in 2024, 77% more than in 2019, before liberalization. In the third quarter of 2025, routes such as Madrid-Málaga/Granada (+17.7%), Madrid-Seville (+13.2%) and Madrid-Alicante (+8.9%) reached record passenger numbers. Only Madrid-Barcelona registered a slight decrease of 0.3%, possibly weighed down by the withdrawal of Avlo and the increase in fares. The future of the sector. After four years of aggressive offers by the rest of the high-speed operators, the sector seems to be entering a phase of maturity in which it seeks to attract travelers without losing sight of the sustainability of the business. Renfe maintains a market share of 62% in most corridors, although in Madrid-Valencia it is already at 50%. It will be very interesting to know the figures in the coming quarters to know how the panorama evolves. Cover image | Jose Garcia Nieto In Xataka | High speed in Madrid is at risk of collapsing. And that’s why Adif wants to send her to Parla

Buying tickets for Rosalía’s tour has been chaos for everyone. Except for Banco Santander clients

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The sale of tickets for the concerts in Madrid and Barcelona Rosalia have generated the expected collapse. An apocalypse of people running out of tickets, waiting at the seventy-something thousand stall in a virtual queue, and a lot of resellers rubbing their hands. We had the precedent of Bad Bunny, but not only have we not learned, but we have made it worse with an exclusive pre-sale that has left those who have approached through the general sale almost without tickets. He ritual than usual. Frozen screens, virtual queues that exceeded 50,000 people and the frustration of thousands of fans who after hours of waiting were left without access to the many seats available for pre-sale last Tuesday the 9th for the eight Rosalía concerts scheduled in Madrid and Barcelona between March and April 2026. Just 48 hours later, the general sale on Thursday the 11th replicated the same scenario, but much faster: all the tickets sold out in a matter of minutes. The immediate result was predictable: platforms resale offering seats for up to 1,200 eurosmore than ten times its original value. The bank account as an entrance to culture. In September 2023, the Banco Santander launched SMusica platform that links financial services with exclusive offers linked to concerts and musical events after close deals with relevant industry brands, such as Live Nation (owner of Ticketmaster), Universal Music, the Los 40 radio network and festivals such as Primavera Sound and Mad Cool. The mechanism is as simple as, in its essence, exclusive: Bank customers get early access to tickets 48 to 72 hours before the rest of the public. In practice, this means that when the general sale opens, most of the best-located seats (and sometimes all the capacity) have already been purchased. For her part, Rosalía simultaneously activated an “Artist Presale” through prior registration on her website. In this way, two privileged channels were generated before the official sale. But… how many tickets went to pre-sale? There are no official public figures. However, an expert (Chema Lamirán, director of the Master in Digital Marketing at the European University of Valencia) provides data about the usual operation of this system: “as a general and ethical rule of the industry, a quota should always be reserved for general sales.” According to their analysis, between 15% and 20% of the total capacity is usually reserved for general sales. But “in phenomena like Rosalía, where demand exceeds supply by 10 or 20 times, that 20% flies in seconds, giving the sensation that there were no tickets.” This would explain why in social networks comments abounded like this one: “They’re making fun of us, they must have sold all the Lux Tour tickets in the pre-sale, otherwise I can’t explain it.” The system also established differentiated limits: a maximum of two tickets per person in the Santander pre-sale compared to four in the general one, which in theory should leave more seats available for the general public, but in practice it barely makes a difference when the demand is so disproportionate. The precedent of Bad Bunny. May 8, 2025 marked a turning point in public perception of the ticketing system in Spain. What began as the announcement of three Bad Bunny concerts ended up becoming twelve dates spread between Barcelona and Madrid, an improvised increase on the fly while the Ticketmaster website collapsed under the weight of hundreds of thousands of simultaneous users. At 12:45, fifteen minutes before the official start of the pre-sale, the platform began to display errors 503 and 500, leaving buyers trapped in a digital limbo where virtual queues exceeded 400,000 people. But the technical chaos It was just one dimension of the problem. The OCU filed a formal complaint before the Ministry of Consumer Affairs after documenting how an entry initially announced at 79.50 euros It ended up costing 269 euros by including management fees (€36.50), “suggested” donations (€3.30) and additional VIP charges (€150). FOMO and banks. The phenomenon of concerts, without a doubt the “place to be” (and one of the few entertainment sectors that not only enters into crisis but also grows without apparent roof), extends its appeal to entities such as banks. The concerts of Rosalía or Bad Bunny are not considered as recitals for fans, but rather as massive events to which one must go, with the music being only a circumstantial element. The essential precedent of Taylor Swift (whose Eras Tour generated in Spain similar episodes of uncontrolled demand) has established a pattern where megaconcerts are perceived as unrepeatable events that banks, always on the hunt for young customers, are willing to take advantage of. In Xataka | Rosalía has entered her Catholic phase: she is only the latest in a long list of Spanish artists and filmmakers

so you can get two free double tickets to attend this event about AI

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freepik is one of the leading Spanish companies in artificial intelligence and this year at Xataka we are Media Partner of Upscale Confthe AI ​​event that the Malaga firm organizes between November 4 and 5 in its hometown. It is going to be an event full of conferences, panels and networking opportunities with AI as the protagonist and from Xataka we want you, our xatakeros, to be able to experience it with us in the first person. So, with the help of Freepik we are going to draw two double tickets so that two lucky people (and their respective companions) can live this experience. How to win two double tickets to Upscale Conf Upscale Conf | Image: Xataka This is the third edition of Upscale Conf. The first took place in Malaga last November, the second was in San Francisco and this time Freepik has once again bet on its land. During these two days, attendees will be able to enjoy conferences from industry personalities and creators, panels and conversations, practical workshops and hands-on sessions and networking opportunities. A very dynamic event whose agenda and participants you can find now on the official website. Minor spoilers: there will be designers, creative directors, founders and CEOs of companies such as ElevenLabs, Google Cloud, The Dor Brothers, SpeciaGuestX or GenreAI, among many others. Upscale Conf | Image: Xataka As we said, the event will take place between November 4 and 5 at the Sohrlin space Andalusia and it will be packed with AI. It sounds really good, even more so when you can win one of two double tickets that we are raffling off. Be careful, each entry has a value of 500 euros (350 euros in early bird). Participating is extremely easy and the mechanics are as follows: Sign up in this form before October 15 by entering your personal information (make sure you enter your email correctly!) Each entry will be assigned a number. Once we have collected all the participants, 25 random numbers will be chosen. The chosen numbers will be the winners of a double entry and will be contacted by the organization The draw includes two double tickets. Travel, accommodation, meals and other associated expenses are the responsibility of the winners. Upscale Conf | Image: Xataka If the winner does not respond to the organization with his or her acceptance of the prize within 48 hours, a new draw will be held. If the second party does not get in touch, a third party will be contacted and if the second party does not respond either, the prize will be declared void. You can consult the legal bases here. Let’s remember: Upscale Conf will take place on the days November 4 and 5 in space Sohrlin Andalusia in Malaga. You can find all the schedules and agenda on the event website. Good luck and see you at Upscale Conf! Images | freepik

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