How to read a Korean concert seat map

On a Korean ticketing site, the seat map is where a sale is won or lost. You have seconds to find seats that are still free and fit what you want. Knowing how the map is drawn saves those seconds.

Floor and stands

• Floor (플로어): the flat area in front of the stage. At many concerts it has seats; at some shows it is standing room. The sale page says which.
• Stands (1층, 2층 …): the raised seats around the arena, counted from the lowest level up. Higher floors are usually cheaper and further away, but often have a clearer view over the crowd.

Grades and prices

• Korean concerts usually sell seats in grades such as VIP, R, S and A, from most to least expensive. Each grade has one price and its own color on the map.
• The exact grades, prices and colors change from show to show. Always check the price table on the sale page.
• TicketKST uses VIP, R, S and A with made-up prices, so you can practise matching a budget to a color quickly.

Blocks, rows and seats

• The map is split into blocks (구역), such as A, B, C or numbers like 101.
• Inside a block, rows (열) are counted from the stage outward, and seat numbers (번) across the row.
• Aisle seats (통로석) sit at the end of a row, next to a walkway. Fans like them because it's easier to get in and out, and there is nobody on one side.
• Seats together (연석) are seats side by side in the same row and block. They go fast, because groups of friends need them.
• Restricted view (시야제한석) seats are sold when part of the stage is hard to see from them. The sale page marks them.

On sale day

• Decide before the sale what you'll accept: grade, budget, together or alone, aisle or not. Hesitating costs more seats than anything.
• Colored seats can disappear while you look. If you get "이선좌" (seat already taken), pick the next seat right away.
• Practise exactly this in TicketKST: each request asks for a different kind of seat while the hall sells out.