all the collections have been in a central location, most people when arrive would either be on a train in the city centre or would be heading there from airport so its not exactly a massive detour
For Belgrade it took us longer than expected to get through the Serbian border and we didn’t get to our hotel, by the stadium, till 7. We didn’t go into the city cos we didn’t have time. We walked straight to the ground.
You may remember that hotels in Munich weren’t cheap. We were staying outside the centre. As it happened, our train from Prague stopped at a station by our hotel but we had to stay on to Hauptbahnhof to get our tickets, then pay €25 in a cab to get back to and check into our hotel.
For Porto, we’ve got a minibus departing Faro at 10.30. All being well should get to Porto at 15.30. If timescales are same as Munich, that’s too late to collect in the city.
Yes collection at the stadium is on option but people are uneasy until the ticket is in hand.
So collection in the city centre might have worked well for you and others, who get there the night before or the morning of the game, but it doesn’t work for us. It’s a pain in the arse and I don’t see why our travel routes should be restricted / more expensive because the club can’t find a more effective way of dealing with touts. Especially when the collection system can work for touts as long as they find their victim in advance.
Fancard scanning at Benfica worked to the extent that scanned fancards recorded on purchase history. Only problem was people scanning multiple cards. Strong stewards enforcing a one scan per person / ticket system would solve that..